The Republic of Colombia has recently accessed the Euro market. On February 11th the Republic successfully completed the issuance of £100,000,000 aggregate principal amount of a series of 9.75% Notes due 2008, reaching with this placement the total amount of US$1.2 billions in notes issued under the EMTN program.

The operation was led by Barclays and CS First Boston followed by another six major international banks.

The Republic is preparing a new placement under the EMTN program for the near future. This time the selected currency is Italian Liras, the operation is being managed by J.P. Morgan and Chase, and it is also expected to have good success.

The final terms of this transaction are still pending for definition (the government authorized an amount of up to ItL.600 billions, but no final amount has been determined). The closing is expected to happen during late February or at the beginning of March.

Gomez Pinzon & Asociados has been actively participating in these operations as Colombian Legal advisor of the Banks in both transactions.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide but specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

GOMEZ PINZON & ASOCIADOS
Carrera 9 No. 73-24 Pisos 1,2,3 y 5
Santafe de Bogota, Colombia

Telephone : 571- 3107055/ 5066
Facsimile : 571- 3106646/6657
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/GOMEZP_LAW