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Austria Creditanstalt, HSBC and Union Bank of Switzerland have won the coveted mandate to arrange a Asch7.5bn project finance facility for Connect Austria, the consortium developing Austria's DCS 1800 network. Connect is owned by TeleNor, Tele Danmark, Viag and Orange. The deal is in due diligence and the arrangers expect to launch financing later in the second quarter. France

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* Paribas has been mandated for the ratings advisory and lead management mandate for the debut Eurobond for the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. The French bank has won out against competition from Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, Nomura, and UBS, whittled down from an original group of 14 bidders.

* Paribas has been mandated for the ratings advisory and lead management mandate for the debut Eurobond for the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. The French bank has won out against competition from Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, Nomura, and UBS, whittled down from an original group of 14 bidders.

Market report Compiled by Gerard Perrignon, RBC DS Global Markets, London. Tel: +44 171-865 1759

* International Finance Corp Rating: Aaa/AAA

* Instituto de Crédito Oficial Guarantor: Kingdom of Spain

AS FIRST quarter earnings reports started to pour in this week, US stocks pulled back from two consecutive days of record highs - with the Dow Jones closing down yesterday (Thursday) by more than 85 points. The US market was also affected by the sell-off in Asian markets overnight on Thursday - especially by the Nikkei's fall below 16,000 - although the Dow continues to trade above the psychologically important 9,000 level.

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FRANCE'S bid to become the issuer of reference in Europe's single currency market received a substantial boost this week with the successful completion of its offer to consolidate over half its Ecu denominated debt into four highly liquid lines. More than 60% of the eight illiquid OAT and BTAN lines were exchanged for one of the four alternatives, a proportion that exceeded the French treasury's, and most bankers' expectations. Over Ecu10bn ($10.97bn) of the old lines was exchanged for Eu11.5bn of the liquid lines. Unlike more recent Ecu issues, the lines exchanged do not have parallel French franc bonds to merge into after Emu.

ARRANGERS and providers of syndicated loans for Russian borrowers have found 1998 a complete contrast to 1997. Russia, with the economies of central and eastern Europe, led the way in terms of demand for new borrowing via the loan market in 1997. Indeed, in 1997, 331 loans worth over $32bn were signed from the region, with Russia weighing in with $14.5bn of deals signed.

* European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Rating: Aaa/AAA