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THE FRENCH Trésor this week again sold one of its small residual holdings through a bought deal -- and once more obtained an extremely tight bid for the shares on offer, a 5.8% stake in tobacco company Seita. Deutsche Morgan Grenfell was the winning bidder, beating half a dozen other contenders including Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Société Générale as well as several other French firms.

* Fortis Bank Nederland NV Rating: A1/AA- (Moody's/IBCA)

Czech Republic Bankgesellschaft Berlin, Bayerische Vereinsbank and Deutsche Bank have launched general syndication of the DM50m five year term loan for Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka (CSOB). The arrangers have invited relationship banks into the deal and expect them to show strong demand.

THE ITALIAN government's fourth sale of shares in Eni, the national oil and gas group, will begin in June, it was announced this week. That timetable marks a quickening of pace; the deal had been widely expected by the market to emerge some time in the summer, but not quite so promptly. The deal will involve the sale of around 12% of Eni's equity capital and will result in the government's ownership level falling to 39%.

* The Spanish government intends to target retail investors in the forthcoming sale of stock in the national electricity utility, Endesa. The deal, which is being run internationally by Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, will be launched next week and the authorities are keen that some 85% of the shares on offerare placed with small domestic buyers.

One of the few issuers to match, or even beat, the volume of Fannie Mae's funding needs is Federal Home Loan Banks. When FHLB issued a $2bn three year transaction via ABN Amro in early March and subsequently increased that deal to $3bn, some bankers speculated that FHLB was set to join its fellow agencies in setting up a regular issuance programme. Such speculation is probably misplaced.

FINNISH Power Grid has established a $750m Euro-MTN programme making it the second Finnish corporate to enter the MTN market. Established at the end of 1996 to control, operate and develop the high voltage transmission lines held by the public grid Imatran Voima (IVO) and the privately owned grid Pohjolan Voima (PCO), Fingrid is a relatively new name in the capital markets.

* Banco Español de Crédito SA Rating: A3/A-

ABN AMRO gave the Deutschmark sector a jolt on Monday when it upped the price of the Länder 5 transaction by a massive five points, instigating a short squeeze that divided bankers involved in the market. Launched last Thursday by ABN Amro with joint bookrunner Commerzbank, the DM1bn 12 year transaction was judged tightly priced at 23bp over the 5.25% January 2008 Bund -- a spread that was held once the deal was free to trade.

THE ASIAN Development Bank successfully launched its largest ever bond issue this week, but had to reduce the deal to $2bn and widen the spread to avert disaster as investors once again lost confidence in Asia.

THE ASIAN Development Bank successfully launched its largest ever bond issue this week, but had to reduce the deal to $2bn and widen the spread to avert disaster as investors once again lost confidence in Asia.

Since its inception, the Euromarket's leading issuers have searched for ways to gain access some of the world's most powerful investors -- namely funds which only buy government bonds. Until recently, the Euromarket was unable to provide sufficient liquidity to attract these investors. In 1998, issuers may have found the answer -- superliquid bonds. These global bonds are bigger than anything the international market has seen before. Many bankers believe they are here to stay. But is biggest always best? Are investors becoming overburdened with supply? Are the bonds truly global in nature? Or is much of the current vogue for superliquid bonds just arbitrage masquerading as benchmark issuance? Clive Horwood reports.