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* Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten NV Rating: Aaa/AAA

* Air Canada Rating: Baa3/BB-

FOLLOWING THE listing last week of the first bond issue on the Botswana Stock Exchange, news emerged this week of the first bond issue which will be traded on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE). The East African Development Bank, majority owned by the governments of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania and headquartered in the Ugandan capital Kampala, has become the first entity to issue medium term Ugandan shilling risk with the launch of a Ush10bn ($10m) four year issue via arrangers Cedef Assets of the UK and Uganda's Nile Bank

Bulgaria The International Finance Corporation has completed a $23.3m loan facility for Luxury Hotels for the construction of a Hilton hotel in Sofia.

* DSL Finance NV Guarantor: Deutsche Siedlungs- und Landesrentenbank

Market commentary Compiled by ANZ Investment Bank, London. Contact: Jerome Booth, tel: +44 171-378 2959

Belgium Arranger Sumitomo has signed the $200m term loan for Sidmar NV. The five year facility, which is priced at 32.5bp over Libor, was oversubscribed and increased to $250m.

* Société Generale has completed two equity linked debt deals, raising a total of Ffr1.65bn this week. The first transaction, for Européenne d'Extincteurs, was a Ffr300m convertible bond with attached warrants. The seven year bonds offer investors a coupon of 4-1/4% with a conversion premium of 17.95%. The paper is being sold to existing investors on a two-for-13 basis. SocGen was joined by Banque du Vizille as co-manager.

THE FLOTATION of shares in Energis, the telecommunications arm of the UK's National Grid, has been completed this week with lead manager Dresdner Kleinwort Benson pricing the shares at 290p. The final pricing represents the mid-point of the 250p to 325p indicated price range which was revealed in the pathfinder prospectus. As a result, the flotation raised net proceeds of just over £200m to repay loans from the parent and puts a value of around £850m on Energis.

* Groupe André Amount: Ffr900m (increased 10/12/97 from Ffr800m)

STRONG demand for French retailer Groupe André's debut this week allowed Crédit Lyonnais and Merrill Lynch to increase the size from Ffr800m to Ffr900m, making it the largest French franc high yielder to date. The deal surfaced on Tuesday at the bottom end of initial price talk of 150bp to 180bp over Pibor. "The pricing demonstrates the strength of demand," said a syndicate official at Crédit Lyonnais. "Even at 150bp over we had to scale back allotments."

HAVE PEOPLE forgotten about the FOMC? Bond markets have put in stunning performances over the past couple of weeks, with the DTB March Bund future reaching a contract high several times and the US long bond flirting with the 6% yield level. Much of the strength has been driven by renewed troubles in Asia, particularly Korea, and in world stockmarkets. The flight to quality on Thursday following Korea's overnight downgrade spurred government bonds in the US and Europe to new heights, and safe haven currencies such as the Swiss franc are again in vogue.