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* The southwestern Polish town of Legnica, home to leading copper producer KGHM, has announced plans for a municipal bond programme. The town, which will use the proceeds of the planned issuance to modernise communication systems, is looking to issue up to Z21m ($6m) of two, three and four year debt. * Fitch IBCA this week upped its long term foreign currency rating for the Republic of Kazakhstan to BB from BB-. The London-based ratings agency cited the central Asian state's improving economic fundamentals as the basis for its decision, noting positive GDP growth on the back of increasing oil, gas and minerals output, falling inflation and a stabilising exchange rate for the Kazakh currency, the tenge.

* Bayerische Hypothekenbank Rating: Aa2/A+

FRUSTRATED in its efforts to tap the public Eurobond market, the Slovak Republic this week returned to the private placement market, launching a $200m six month zero coupon issue via Nomura International. The transaction was priced to yield 6.625% at the issue/fixed re-offer price of 99.77647, equating to a pick-up of 100bp over six month dollar Libor.

NOMURA THIS week launched the first international sale of stock from Estonia, a GDR offering for Union Bank of Estonia (Uhispank) that could raise up to $50m of new capital for the bank. Nomura will sell 11.1m shares through the deal and the GDRs will be listed in Luxembourg. UBS and ABN AMRO Rothschild are co-lead managers while Robert Fleming and BT/NatWest are co-managers.

United States The refinancing package for the Fibre Optic Link Around the Globe project (Flag) arranged by Barclays, is to be signed today (Friday).

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi has formed a new division comprising loan syndications, structured finance (project finance, aircraft finance and lease driven finance) and corporate finance (corporate advisory, M&A and acquisition finance). The division will be called the European Investment Banking Division and will headed up by A Ishigaki, Ishigaki reports to M Yamada, resident managing director for Europe.

THE POLISH government is poised to announce which consortium of investment banks will run the sale of stock in Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA) -- arguably the most prestigious mandate to emerge from eastern Europe so far this year. The equity capital markets were this week buzzing with excitement in anticipation of the deal after a short list of candidates cleared an arduous and bureaucratic first stage.

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.