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* SBC Warburg Dillon Read has revealed the selling syndicate for the forthcoming flotation of Rhodia, the specialty chemicals unit being spun off by French corporate Rhône-Poulenc. The deal, which will raise around $1bn for the parent, will take place in the next month and will involve a large international placement. After the IPO, Rhodia will be listed in Paris as well as New York (in a fully registered deal), where some 30% of Rhodia's shares will be traded. The lead manager will have sole books and will be joined by DLJ, Bear Stearns, Bankers Trust Alex Brown, Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs, Paribas and Crédit Agricole Indosuez as co-lead managers. BNP, Crédit Lyonnais, ABN Amro Rothschild, CCF, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Nomura will be co-managers.

* National Australia Bank Ltd Rating: Aa3/AA

SEVERAL US equity issues were delayed or reduced this week as the US stockmarkets were dragged down by investors' fears of an increase in interest rates. For instance, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter delayed its $432m IPO for Unicapital Corp, which it had expected to complete yesterday, for another week. Although the firm completed its secondary offer for JDA Software Group the deal stumbled in the uncertain market and the selling shareholder decided to withdraw the 400,000 shares it had intended to sell. A total of 2m shares were sold, down slightly from the original 2.4m, raising a total of $92m. The company's stock price had already traded down last week to $50.5625, from the $52 at which it was launched and it continued to slide this week. The lead manager priced the shares at $46, a small discount to the close on Wednesday of $46.125.

VENEZUELAN state oil company PDVSA stunned the markets this week by issuing a record $1.8bn bond, the biggest 'corporate' offering from Latin America. The deal, led by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, employed a structure which enabled PDVSA to catapult itself into the investment grade world with an A2 rating, the highest any similar structured deal out of the region has ever achieved, and a staggering seven notches higher than the sovereign rating.

Domenico Lellis, head of loan syndication for Europe, Africa and the Middle East at Paribas has moved to London to set up a syndications team. The team will focus on international syndications for leveraged finance, media and telecoms, project finance, commodities and other corporate and sovereign transactions.

* European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Rating: Aaa/AAA

SBC WARBURG Dillon Read this week won the mandate for a sale of shares in Helsinki Telecom, one of two international share issues this year in Finnish telecoms operators. The deal will raise around $250m and is to come to the market in June. Helsinki Telecom was originally formed as a mutual society and was owned by its members before its IPO which incorporated the group as a public company. This forthcoming transaction will involve the sale of primary and secondary stock which will be targeted at international and local investors. Joining the lead managers will be Enskilda Securities as international co-lead manager with Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and HSBC as co-managers. The second deal is in national group, Telecom Finland, which is to arrive on the markets this autumn in an offer which

SAUDI Basic Industries (Sabic) and Exxon this week set a pricing benchmark of 45bp over Libor for their $1bn Kemya petrochemicals expansion project in Saudi Arabia. The pricing is the lowest yet awarded to project related debt in the Middle East and is certain to send shockwaves around the syndicated loan market. The $700m enhanced corporate credit facility, which will finance the expansion of the ethylene cracker plant, was awarded late Wednesday night to Barclays (documentation), Citibank (bookrunner), Riyad Bank (bookrunner), Saudi American Bank (bookrunner), Sumitomo (co-ordinator), Al-Bank Al-Saudi Al-Fransi, Arab Banking Corporation, Arab National Bank, Apicorp, GIB, Industrial Bank of Japan, JP Morgan and Saudi British Bank.

* De Nationale Investeringsbank NV Rating: Aa3/AA+ Amount: Sfr200m

Arrangers Chase, HSBC (agent) and Société Générale has closed the £500m five year revolving credit for LucasVarity plc. The loan was a blow-out in general syndication with over £750m raised and the facility was increased to £600m.

GENERAL syndication of the $10.9bn loan facilities backing Texas Utilities' acquisition of the Energy Group has been launched by arrangers Chase Manhattan, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. The facilities consist of a £3.625bn portion and a $5bn portion. In retail, senior lead managers are invited to take $150m pro-rata for a fee of 22.5bp, lead managers $100m for a fee of 17.5bp if they commit pro-rata or 15bp if they don't and managers $50m for a fee of 12.5bp if they commit pro-rata and 10bp if they don't.

* Moody's Investors Service has appointed Kathryn Kerle as representative director of its office in Singapore. She will be responsible for maintaining the agency's relationships with its clients in southeast Asia and will report to Edward Young, managing director Asia-Pacific. Kerle succeeds Patrick Winsbury, who is joining the agency's east Asian banking team as an assistant vice president.