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THE new issue pipeline from central and eastern Europe is starting to build up again, with bankers forecasting a heavy supply of paper in the second half of the year. Emerging market specialists say that generalist investors -- whose appetite for central and eastern European equities had been gaining steadily before the Asian meltdown last October caused the region's markets to slump -- are starting to return.

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THE Republic of Colombia will today (Friday) lead a slew of Latin sovereign dollar issues due in the weeks ahead with the launch of a $500m 8.625% 10 year deal led by Goldman Sachs and Salomon Smith Barney. The offering, launched at 296bp, the highest end of its 275bp to 295bp spread talk, and a reoffer of 99.854, comes as Uruguay gears up to issue $200m to $300m 10 year bonds in the coming week.

Croatia HBOR, the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is in the market for a DM100m loan. Arranging banks have been approached and a decision on the winner should come in early April. The deadline for co-arrangers to submit their commitments to the DM100m or DM150m credit facility for Hrvatska Elektrprivreda (HEP) is today (Friday). Banks are offered takes of DM10m as co-arrangers.

THE EIB's attempt to extends its eurofungibility programme to the lira market ran into a barrage of criticism this week. Market makers were angered by a request they sign a trading agreement committing them to trade the bonds at a 10 cent spread. Displeasure centred on the claimed lack of consultation by the borrower and lead managers, with a number of Italian houses refusing to sign the agreement.

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THE LANDMARK Eu6bn loan facility for GEC Plc has been closed and signed by the borrower and its eight arranging banks -- SBC Warburg Dillon Read, Barclays, Banca Commerciale Italiana, Banque Nationale de Paris, Chase Manhattan, JP Morgan, Midland and WestLB. Signing took place on Wednesday at GEC's headquarters in London. With the signing comes the long-awaited list of co-arrangers and senior lead managers that were brought into the loan at the beginning of March.

GRUPO Minero Mexico (GMM) and Pemex were both forced to launch their collective $1.2bn worth of dollar deals this week at the widest end of spread talks as investors began to take profits and baulk at the recent lack of spread premiums offered on Mexican paper. Pemex came to market on Wednesday with a $700m Yankee offering. That was split into: a $350m seven year bond via JP Morgan and SBC Warburg Dillon Read at 275bp over Treasuries, compared with a spread talk of 270bp to 280bp; and a $350m 20 year Yankee via JPM and Goldman Sachs at 335bp over Treasuries, from a spread talk of 320bp to 330bp.

EQUITY offerings from Finland's HK Ruokatalo and Denmark's Neurosearch, Licenergy and Vestas will provide what little activity there is in the Nordic region's equity markets. The supply of primary and secondary equity from corporate issuers continues to look thin, with regional salesmen saying that international investors are waiting for activity to pick up with a view to topping up their investments.

THE Italian insurer, Ina, which was privatised five years ago, this week revealed details of its plan to pull out of its property businesses. As foreshadowed in Euroweek last month, the group will form a separate company for its property activities, which will be known as Union Immobiliare SpA. Ina will then float a minority of the new company's equity capital on the Milan bourse. Morgan Stanley has been nominated as the global co-ordinator of the transaction, which is not expected to reach the markets before the last quarter of this year. Continental European stock salesmen argued this week that if the current economic recovery and the upward movement in property prices continues then this will be a stock worth waiting for.

* At its annual general meeting on Thursday, IPMA elected its new board of directors and named its committee chairmen. The board of directors are: Jonathan Greenwood (ABN Amro); Mario Arnaboldi (Banca Commerciale Italiana); Carlos de Pedroso (Banco de Negocios Argentaria); Jean-Pierre Wellens (Banque Bruxelles Lambert); Cyrus Ardalan (Banque Paribas); Roman Schmidt (Barclays Capital Group); Robert Edge (CIBC Wood Gundy); Olivier Allard (CDC Marchés); Henri Kuppers (Credit Agricole-Indosuez); Adrian Cooper and James Leigh Pemberton (Credit Suisse First Boston [Europe]); James Siracusa and Anthony Wilson (Daiwa Europe); Hans-Werner Voigt (Deutsche Morgan Grenfell); Bracebridge Young Jnr (Goldman Sachs); Gerhard Abel (Dresdner Bank); Robert B Gray (HSBC Markets); Tsunehiro Nakayama (IBJ Intl); Joseph Cook (JP Morgan Securities); Robert E Kiernan III (Lehman Brothers Intl [Europe]); David Tory (Merrill Lynch); Eden Riche (Morgan Stanley); Philip Brown (Nikko Europe); Andrew Asbury (Nomura Intl); Gregory Nottle (RBC Dominion Global Markets); Mark Watson (Salomon Brothers Intl); Stephen West (SBC Warburg Dillon Read); Helle Breinholt (Unibank) and Erwin Sell (WestLB).

India SBI International Merchant Banking Group has completed five fundraisings. * A $30m amortising loan for Raymond Ltd was signed on March 17 in Bombay. State Bank of India took the whole amount and may sell down at a later date.