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Bahrain The $200m five year term loan for Arab Banking Corporation has been increased to $250m. The deal was well supported in general syndication as well as at the co-arranger level. Some $225m was raised from nine co-arrangers and $205m was raised in the general syndication. Arrangers are Chase Manhattan, JP Morgan, NatWest, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and Paribas. Co-arrangers, who were offered takes of $15m each for fees of 30bp are Arab Bank, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Bayerische Landesbank, Deutsche Bank, Gulf Bank, Gulf International Bank, National Bank of Bahrain, National Bank of Kuwait and WestLB.

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* ASB Bank, the Auckland savings bank, has signed a $750m Euro-MTN programme in a bid to diversify its sources of funding away from the domestic New Zealand market. Growing funding needs prompted ASB's decision to extend its medium term borrowing operations into the offshore markets, said an official at the bank: "We have been experiencing large annual growth rates over the past three to four years. That has prompted a need to look around."

LATE Friday (April 17) night Merrill Lynch was forced to pull the $100m facility for Ina, the Croatian oil company. The problem was a lack of appetite in syndication. According to a source at Merrill Lynch, $75m of commitments from eight banks were in by the April 10 deadline.

* Kazkommertsbank, Kazakhstan's largest private sector bank, will next week become the first financial institution from Central Asia to launch an international bond. The B2/B+/B+ rated bank this week hosted presentations in London, Zurich and the US for the ING Barings-led $100m Euro/144A issue which is now expected to emerge with a five rather than a three year tenor.

* Grupo Jose de Mello, the private Portuguese group with interests in finance, insurance and food production, will sell up to 9.1m shares in Cia de Seguros Imperio on the Lisbon stock exchange. The deal will represent around 20% of the insurer's equity capital. Grupo Mello holds around 73.7% of Imperio through a variety of sub-holdings. Gan of France owns 10.2% and Imperio already has a free float of around 16.1% in Lisbon

THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank will today launch a partly paid sterling bond to be led by HSBC Markets as bookrunner and PaineWebber as joint lead. The maturity will be five years and the spread 11bp over the Gilt. Some 25% of the deal will be paid now with the 75% balance settling in a year's time.

Argentina * Banco Hipotecario Nacional

* SüdwestLB Capital Markets plc Guarantor: Südwestdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale

* Deutsche Bank Finance Guarantor: Deutsche Bank

* Inter-American Development Bank Rating: Aaa/AAA

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