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Lead arranger Credit Lyonnais has brought in a final ticket to round out syndication of a $106 million Colorado project loan for Calpine. Denver-based CoBank has come in with a small ticket, which one banker describes as sub-$25 million. A banker in the deal says the commitment takes allocations for lenders to below their designated take-and-hold levels. Calls to Credit Lyonnais were not returned and officials at CoBank declined comment.

The French government is reportedly looking to mothball plans to float Electricité de France to avoid tackling thorny economic and political issues associated with billions of euros of unfunded pension and nuclear decommissioning liabilities, according to bankers. "The IPO will die," asserts one senior power banker, who's held talks with EdF management recently. The government will not announce a dramatic U-turn, he predicts, but instead will quietly push the IPO deadline into the distant future or fudge any decisions over the sale timetable. "This won't grab the headlines, but it's aborting the sale by another means," he argues.

Electricity retailing, until now a safe-haven in the stricken U.K. power market, could shortly be thrown into crisis by falling rates and increased competition, cautions Standard & Poor's.

Following is a directory of upcoming projects and related financing in the Latin American power sector. To report new deals or provide updates, please call Amanda Levin, Reporter, at (212) 224-3292 or email: alevin@iinews.com

BNP Paribas and Société Générale will launch retail syndication of InterGen's EUR625 million ($622 million) Rijnmond project loan this week, having finally closed out the sub-underwriter round with eight other lenders. A syndicate banker in Paris says the aim is now to coral six to eight more banks to provide some EUR100 million plus of take-and-hold commitments.

The lead arrangers of Tractebel's pending $1.6 billion multi-loan project financing are reportedly looking to sweeten the deal's terms following a lukewarm response from prospective participants.

The banking syndicate that funded British Energy's acquisition of the 2 GW Eggborough power plant in 2000, last week held an extraordinary meeting to determine how best to protect their interests on the GBP550 million non-recourse loan. The merchant nature of the plant combined with BE's financial woes have left the project loan looking increasingly sickly.

E.on will hold a bank meeting at its head office in Dusseldorf today to launch what is widely regarded as the largest ever energy sector corporate loan facility. Yet despite the EUR15 billion size, the lead arrangers have little doubt that the bank market can digest the monster debt package. "There are so few strong names left in this sector. If you want to have a strong utility credit portfolio you have to own this name," enthuses one syndicator in the six-strong lead arranger team of Barclays Capital, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, HSBC and J.P. Morgan.

Barely two months since closing syndication and before drawing down on the loan, Conoco Power has decided to close out its GBP275 million ($430 million) Immingham project loan and replace it with cheaper balance sheet financing. The move is an unexpected bonus for the four lenders involved in the lending syndicate as they will be able to keep the upfront commitment fees associated with the U.K. project.

Centrica subsidiary, British Gas Trading, has put in place a large multi-season winter weather hedge that uses a daily collar structure, rather than the more traditional heating degree-day index, to determine season-end payouts. Gearoid Lane, head of electricity supplies at Centrica, who helped put together the deal, says the collar structure allows coverage to be much more concentrated in particular high risk months, such as January. "We were able to sculpt the coverage much more to our risk," he adds. One weather official says collar structures are gaining popularity because of that flexibility.