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Two American Electric Power (AEP) subsidiaries delayed the launch of a $350m equivalent Australian dollar bond issue this week. The transaction, which was to have been launched by SG Australia's ACE Funding vehicle, was to be backed by dollar bonds from Appalachian Power and Kentucky Power.

The Standard Chartered share placement draws to a close today (Friday), with listing in Hong Kong set for next Thursday. Hong Kong bankers this week said there was only moderate interest in the offer, which could raise up to $400m in an offer of up to a maximum 5% of Standard Chartered's enlarged share capital, depending on demand. However, they said there was sufficient investor appetite for the deal to proceed. Cazenove and Goldman Sachs are arranging the share sale. ABN Amro Bank, BNP Paribas, BOCI International, Merrill Lynch and UBS Warburg are also involved.

Deutsche Bank this week launched what it described as Malaysia's first true sale CMBS for property developer Sunway City Bhd (SunCity). ABS Real Estate Bhd issued M$450m of senior bonds in the sale and leaseback transaction. Amanah Short Deposits were joint lead managers. "It went well," said Kuah Hun Liang, managing director and head of global markets for Malaysia at bookrunner Deutsche Bank in Kuala Lumpur. "There was more interest in the triple-A and double-A tranches, but they were all oversubscribed."

Continued instability in the international bond markets will probably force the pricing sensitive Kingdom of Thailand to delay its $800m-$1bn 10 year benchmark deal for a second time. Bankers said the sovereign wants to maximise its appeal to investors and is wary of launching its first dollar deal for five years while the secondary market continues to be volatile and investors overcautious.

Lead manager Merrill Lynch this week set out to pre-market the $250m-$350m China Oilfield Services Hong Kong IPO. The company is a sibling of the Chinese oil giant CNOOC, which listed last year at HK$6 per share.

Hong Kong Standard & Poor's reduced the outlook on Hong Kong's local currency AA- rating to negative from stable this week. The agency also revised the outlook on the AA- local currency rating of Hong Kong Mortgage Corp, HSBC, Airport Authority of Hong Kong and Kowloon Canton Railway Corp and Mass Transit Railway Corp's to negative, and dropped the outlook on HKAA, KCRC and MTRC's foreign currency A- ratings to negative.

Insurance Australia Group (IAG), Australia's largest general insurer, last week completed an institutional placement of A$500m as part of a planned A$1.04bn capital raising linked to the purchase of Australian businesses valued at A$1.86bn from the UK's Aviva. Last Friday (October 18) IAG said it was buying Aviva's general insurance units in Australia and New Zealand for A$1.86bn ($1.02bn) as part of a plan to double premium income in the next five years.

In its bid to create a new type of subordinated debt transaction, Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) is poised to mandate either Merrill Lynch or Morgan Stanley to lead manage what could be Korea's first international hybrid tier one subordinated issue. KEB issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the potential $200m transaction three weeks ago and it has since narrowed the choice down to the two US investment banks.

Continued instability in the international bond markets will probably force the pricing sensitive Kingdom of Thailand to delay its $800m-$1bn 10 year benchmark deal for a second time. Bankers said the sovereign wants to maximise its appeal to investors and is wary of launching its first dollar deal for five years while the secondary market continues to be volatile and investors overcautious.

Amount: M$892m (domestic) Rating: Rating Agency Malaysia

Barclays and Citigroup/SSSB have clinched the mandate to arrange a £440m loan for ACE Europe. Proceeds will be used to refinance debt.

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: Eu500m