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* The number of flotations by privately owned Italian companies is picking up steam, with SBC Warburg Dillon Read this week pricing its offering of shares in Beghelli, a manufacturer of consumer electronics safety devices. The issue has broken all records with the volume of subscriptions reaching $2.8bn for a company whose sales last year were just Lit172bn. The 17.5m share retail tranche was 27 times oversubscribed while the institutional tranche was 16.5 times oversubscribed. Only the flotations of Telecom Italia and the third sale of stock in Eni have attracted greater interest from Italian retail.

* Landesbank Schleswig-Holstein Girozentrale Rating: Aa1

United States Chase Securities Inc and Barclays Capital have arranged a $500m revolver for Joint Energy Development Investments II LP. Pricing for the three year loan is based on the company's total capital and asset coverage ratio. The Libor margin range is 65bp to 162.5bp. The Houston, Texas-based joint venture between Enron Corp and California Public Employees Retirement System will use the loan to finance its purchase of the preferred stock of Costilla Energy Inc.

LEAD managers CSFB and IMI have launched the sale of stock in Eni, the fourth government divestment in the Italian oil and gas group attempted in the last three years. The authorities will slim their current shareholding of around 51% of the company to 38% through the sale of 1bn common shares. After one week of bookbuilding the Italian state and its bankers have indicated the tranche sizes. It revealed that some 750m shares are to be targeted at local retail investors, 90m will go to Italian institutions, 65m to US institutions, 55m to UK buyers and 40m to accounts in the rest of the world. The deal also has a 97.5m greenshoe option.

ING Barings has hired John Percival in its loans syndication team, reporting to Michael Clarke, head of syndications for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Percival joins from UBS where he worked most recently as a member of the bank's asset sales and trading team focusing on loan sales.

Guarantor: Philip Morris Companies Rating: A2/A

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* WestLB Finance Curaçao Guarantor: Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale

GOLDMAN Sachs, ABN Amro Rothschild and BPI this week launched the Esc450bn ($2.45bn) sale of stock in Electricidade de Portugal (EdP), the Portuguese electricity utility that was floated last year. The government, which is selling 120m ordinary shares to cut its stake from 70% to 52%, is hoping for a repetition of the success of the IPO.

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THE RUSSIAN Federation launched its largest ever international bond this week -- a $2.5bn 30 year puttable offering, which marked yet another gutsy raid on overseas markets by the B1/B+/BB rated sovereign.

THE RUSSIAN Federation launched its largest ever international bond this week -- a $2.5bn 30 year puttable offering, which marked yet another gutsy raid on overseas markets by the B1/B+/BB rated sovereign.