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* Banque et Caisse d'Epargne de l'Etat Luxembourg Rating: Aa2/AA-

MTN ORIGINATION teams are pitching for the mandate to arrange an MTN programme for the Generalitat Valenciana, the first such facility to be set up by a Spanish region. Questionnaires sent out by the authority were submitted by the end of January and the region is in the final stages of the decision process.

Asset backed securities: * Leon

AMERITECH, the Chicago based telecom company, has begun the sale of its 24.95% shareholding in Telecom New Zealand via a global secondary share offering that should raise around NZ$3.5bn ($2bn). Credit Suisse First Boston and Merrill Lynch, which have been advising the US company on the sale, will be joint global co-ordinators of the bookbuilt offering which is to be completed at the start of April.

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China CCIC Finance has been mandated to arrange a $15m loan for Flying Dragon Investments Ltd, an investment trading company wholly owned by Guangdong Finance International Trust & Investment Corp, which is providing a letter of support. Proceeds are to finance the import of paper manufacturing equipment from Finland to be used in the borrower's plant in Guangdong province, China. New Century International Leasing Co Ltd is tapping the market with a four year $31.5m loan arranged by Crédit Lyonnais. The four year amortising loan pays a margin of 125bp.

Australia Pioneer International Ltd has launched a $350m self-arranged facility through subsidiaries Pioneer Investments BV, Pioneer International Finance Ltd and Pioneer International Finance USA Inc. The five year facility features a guarantee from the parent company and pays a margin of 13bp, front end fees of 5bp and an annual line fee of 12bp.

SIX BANKS have won the coveted mandate to arrange a £3bn credit facility for Bass plc, the UK company with interests ranging from brewing to holiday travel operations. As reported in Euroweek 540, Bass will use the loan to back its agreed £2.9bn bid for Inter-Continental Hotels, owned by the Saison Group of Japan. JP Morgan, Barclays, Lloyds, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, Citibank and Midland won the mandate last week and have since been preparing the deal's journey through syndication.