The ratings by both services have been upgraded since Texaco's last debt sale in December.

The debt sale is the Italian bank's first in the American capital market.

The debt sale, the first ever for the company, is being managed by Merrill Lynch & Company.

His personal finances aside, the proposed stock and debt sale faces daunting obstacles.

It was the company's first debt sale and came after a 1.5 billion euro ($1.3 billion) equity offering in July.

Russia conducted its first international debt sale since 1998 in April 2010, raising $5.5bn on the international markets.

This week, the Government raised more than $1 billion in a debt sale that included one-week bills yielding just under 40 percent.

"In the next six weeks we either have an announcement of a new debt sale, or an auction," one government securities trader said.

Italy raised a total of €7bn in four separate auctions after a successful short-term debt sale on Wednesday.

In the municipal bond market, a $1.2 billion debt sale by New York City was the center of attention.