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THOMSON Corporation, the Canadian publishing group, this week confirmed it will float its holiday business on the London Stock Exchange and that SBC Warburg Dillon Read will be the lead manager. The deal will reach the markets in early May, but has been rumoured for months since the group announced last year that it was going to reorganise.

* CIR International SA Guarantor: CIR -- Cie Industriali Riunite SpA Tranche 1: Lit130bn

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FORTHCOMING benchmark transactions for KfW and DtA received a boost this week when it was revealed that the two German development agencies will soon benefit from a direct guarantee from the Federal Republic of Germany. KfW will launch its DM4bn January 2009 transaction next week, with DtA's 10 year deal for up to DM2bn scheduled for the week after.

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Argentina Arranger SBC Warburg Dillon Read has been joined by BancAmerica Robertson Stephens as co-arranger before general syndication of its $250m three year loan style FRN for Banco de Galicia. Banco de Galicia -- $250m

* Crédit Local de France Rating: Aa1/AA+

MERRILL Lynch is poised to launch an international offering of Egyptian equity, testing demand for a sector that fell more than most emerging markets when stockmarkets collapsed last winter. The deal is for Ameriyah Cement, which has fallen a further 12% in the past three months and was trading this week at E£71. But bankers insist that demand for Egypt is picking up. Research on the company will be published next week and pre-marketing is due to kick off towards the end of March. Merrill, which won the mandate to run the books on the privatisation last year, will sell the stock to the international markets in the form of London or Luxembourg listed GDRs.

THE United Mexican States virtually wrapped up its 1998 financing needs this week with the successful issue of Lit750bn worth of 15 year notes led by Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. The long-awaited offering -- mandated last October -- was launched at a fixed reoffer price of 99.85 to give a spread of 240bp over 15 year lira Libor, and traded up to 100.10 bid.

Bahrain The co-arranger syndication of the $200m five year term loan for Arab Banking Corporation arranged by Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Chase, JP Morgan, NatWest and Paribas is heading for a heavy oversubscription. Syndication was launched to co-arrangers on March 3, with eight banks already committed realising a $195m commitment. More banks should come in before the end of this week.

MORGAN Stanley Dean Witter this week launched three hugely successful convertible bond transactions totalling $960m, doubling this year's level of primary issuance from Europe and providing the markets with some desperately needed paper from a variety of corporates.