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THE FINAL details of the Spanish government's Pta340bn ($2.24bn) divestment of the financial services group, Argentaria, were unveiled this week with observers saying the deal is moving toward a successful conclusion. Led by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, Banco Santander and Argentaria, the issue will consist of some 35,764,129 ordinary shares, representing 29.2% of Argentaria's equity capital. Although the sale is still in a relatively early stage the local retail market has already subscribed for enough shares to fill the deal twice over. This now customary enthusiastic response from individual retail investors first emerged three years ago for deals such as Repsol, Endesa and Telefónica -- and can now be relied upon to propel even the most sluggish sale to a successful conclusion.

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ITALY'S EXPORT credit agency SACE inaugurated a new asset class this week -- the sovereign CLO. SBC Warburg Dillon Read brought $650m of FRNs for Optimum Finance BV, a Dutch registered SPV, backed by Paris Club debt from 20 emerging market countries.

INDUSTRIAL BANK of Japan brought the first big ticket collateralised loan obligation of the year with Prime Funding Ltd, backed by loans from its US branches. Investors in the US and Europe, attracted by a robust structure and high quality assets, gobbled up $1.165bn of triple-A rated paper in a few hours.

* Morgan Stanley Dean Witter brought a $184.32m home equity deal for Block Financial, a subsidiary of H&R Block. Block Financial 1998-1, the company's third securitisation, offered five small fixed rate tranches and a $92.32m floater priced at 23bp over Libor with a three year average life. The deal was wrapped by MBIA.

DEUTSCHE Morgan Grenfell brought two more bonds from its Earls Three repackaging vehicle in a Euromarket private placement last Friday. Series 12 offered DM403m of 10 year paper callable from June 1998, with a coupon of 81bp over three month Libor and issue price of 99.353.

CITIBANK issued $665m of five year global paper from its Credit Card Master Trust, completing the fixed rate credit curve it has built up this month with deals at three and 10 years. Lehman Brothers brought the $625m senior tranche of Citibank Credit Card Master Trust Series 1998-3 at 43bp over Treasuries, with an issue and fixed re-offer price of 99.925 and a 5.8% coupon.

As its name suggests, risk-adjusted return on capital analysis (RAROC) is a method for factoring risk into the computation and evaluation of financial returns.

AMP Ltd, Australia's largest insurance and fund management group, announced a new corporate restructuring this week following the first stage of its demutualisation earlier this year, moving the company closer to listing on the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges. The company will divide into four financial services categories: Australian Financial Services, UK operations, asset management and general insurance.

The major rating agencies dealt a new blow to Indonesia's crippled banking sector this week following the announcement of a wave of mergers to shore up the sector. On Tuesday, Standard & Poor's placed its B+ rating on Indonesia's largest private bank PT Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) and its Bpi long term rating on PT Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia (BNDI) on CreditWatch. Under the terms of the merger which is subject to regulatory approval, the two banks -- BII, owned by the Sinar Mas group, and BDNI, owned by the Gajah Tunggal group -- will absorb three small banks, namely PT Bank Tiara Asia, PT Bank Sahid Gajah Perkas and PT Bank Dewa Rutji.

DALIAN REFRIGERATION'S $40m B-share IPO is still set to come to the market, although its pricing and listing schedule has been delayed as lead manager DBS Asia Capital negotiates with the issuer to lower the price range. "It's not a bad company and it has good fundamentals, but Dalian will have to choose between raising money now or waiting for the market to revive," said one Hong Kong based analyst. "B-shares are touching new lows."

ROGER DAVIS, the former chairman and chief executive of BZW Asia, has been appointed to a similar role in Barclays Capital Asia Pacific. Barclays Capital is the reformed investment banking division of the Barclays Group which integrates international debt, lending and risk management products.