WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 24 -- The International Finance Corporation (IFC) launched a Luxembourg franc zero-coupon bond issue with a face value of LUF 2 billion on October 23, 1995. The bonds have a final maturity date of December 19, 2001, and were issued at a price of 70.50 percent of par, resulting in net proceeds of US$48.3 million equivalent. This is IFC's third issue in the Luxembourg franc market. The proceeds of the issue will be swapped into U.S. dollar floating-rate funds. The joint bookrunners of the issue are Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, Banque Generale du Luxembourg, and ABN Amro Luxembourg, with Credit Commercial de Belgique and Generale de Banque as joint-lead managers. An additional nine banks completed the syndicate. This transaction brings IFC's market borrowings to about US$1.8 billion for its current fiscal year, which began on July 1, 1995. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest multilateral source of financing for private sector companies in developing countries. Its
long-term debt is rated triple-A by both Standard & Poor's Corp. and Moody's Investors Service.