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Egypt Syndication of the $11.5m amortising term loan facility arranged by Bayerische Vereinsbank for the Export Development Bank of Egypt has closed oversubscribed. The arranger has brought in five co-lenders. They are Creditanstalt, Erste Bank, Gulf International Bank, ING Barings and Misr Europe.

THE US stockmarkets remained cautiously optimistic this week after a sustained rally on Wall Street. Following two days of record highs by the Dow Jones which reached 8314.55 on Wednesday, stocks started weaker yesterday (Thursday), initially losing some 70 points. By the close of the market however, stocks had soared again to reach 8369.60. While acknowledging that the continued threat posed by the problems experienced in Asia remained, several banks agreed that it remained under the surface and was not directly deterring investors.

* Fitch IBCA this week added further pressure to the ratings outlook for the Russian Federation with the news that it had placed its BB+ rating on negative RatingWatch.

Ghana Standard Bank London and the Commonwealth Development Bank have arranged a $42.5m project finance loan for Glencar Mining which will finance the development of Glencar's Wassa gold mine.

China CEF Capital has been mandated to arrange a five year project financing for Anggang Second Power Plant Technology Conversion Project in Liaoning, China.

Australia NatWest Australia has been mandated to arrange a A$75m five year fundraising for Australia Pacific Airports Corp's bid for phase two of the Melbourne airport privatisation.

Market commentary Compiled by Gerard Perrignon, Hambros Bank Ltd, London. Tel: +44 171-865 1759

INTERNATIONAL and regional investment banks are racing to secure their share of a brace of mandates expected from the Nordic region for privatisation and corporate equity issues. International bankers began focusing more on the region after the Norwegian government announced plans last year to sell further stakes in its partially privatised banking industry.

GREEN TREE Financial this week brought its first home equity deal of the year, through Salomon Smith Barney. The company rode out the bad press it has received in the US to raise $400m of fixed and floating rate funds. Green Tree Home Equity Loan Trust 1998-A offered nine tranches of bonds, including one $75m floater with a 2.45 year average life, priced at 25bp over one month Libor. Standard & Poor's and Fitch rated that class and four fixed rate tranches at triple-A.

FOLLOWING last week's successful tender for residential mortgages, the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation may buy a portfolio of mortgages privately in the next two weeks, to be followed by a possible further public tender. The corporation's decisions will depend partly on movements in Hong Kong interest rates. A week ago three month Hibor came down below Prime, and it has since stayed below 9% -- on Thursday the rate was 8.375%.

MERRILL LYNCH roadshowed a new asset class in London and Milan this week -- film library revenues. The bank will likely sole manage a Lit450bn bond the week beginning February 23 for Italian media group Cecchi Gori, backed by earnings from a library of 1,200 films. The portfolio comprises both Italian films to which Cecchi Gori has rights, including many which it produced, and international films which Cecchi Gori has the exclusive right to distribute in Italy.

* DKB International, the London investment banking arm of Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, will likely launch its first asset backed bond on February 23. Oscar Funding Corp is a securitisation of Japanese auto loans originated by Orient Corporation, the country's second largest independent consumer credit company. The deal will probably total $300m, and will mature through a 5% clean up call on March 10, 2003, with an expected average life of 1.8 years.