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Bank of America,J.P. Morgan, UBS Warburg and Morgan Stanley will be approaching top-tier institutional lenders of Del Monte this summer ahead of the September retail launch of a new $1.6 billion bank deal. J.P. Morgan and B of A each have taken 30% of the deal, with UBS and Morgan Stanley taking 20% each. Bank officials either declined to comment or did not return calls.

Credit Suisse First Boston, Lehman Brothers and Royal Bank of Scotland are preparing a mammoth leveraged loan and bond deal backing Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Wendel Investissement's attempted buyout of Legrand from Schneider Electric for E3.7 billion. If the deal goes through, the proposed financing would comprise more than E2.6 billion in bank debt and a substantial bond portion. Bankers were divided on the potential leverage levels, but one banker said it is a pretty aggressive structure. Bankers at CSFB and RBS declined to comment, while bankers at Lehman could not be reached.

Bowater, a Greenville, S.C., newsprint company, has been placed on review by Moody's Investors Service and could be downgraded to junk status. The senior unsecured notes and revolver currently are rated Baa3, but an aggressive acquisition program and difficult operating environment for newsprint and pulp producers have crimped Bowater's financial flexibility, according to Moody's. A spokesman for Bowater did not return calls.

A buy-side and sell-side analyst say Elan's bonds are drastically undervalued, despite a Securities and Exchange Commission query into the Irish drug company's investment banking relationships, and the resignation of two top executives last week. The sell-sider argues that the company's products generate sufficient cash flow to pay off its debt, and that the $4 billion in cash on its balance sheet gives it flexibility for its near-term needs.

Australian mortgage lenders Bank of Western Australia and Interstar Securities (Australia) Pty Ltd launched international securitisations this week, selling over $1.5bn of bonds in total. Both deals were priced at the same level of 18bp over three month Libor; but for one transaction this was an impressive result, while for the other it may have been a slight disappointment.

ING completed an $80m convertible bond issue for Silicon Integrated Systems Corp, Taiwan's second largest designer of computer chipsets, on Wednesday during London trading hours. Silicon Integrated has been waiting all this calendar year to sell an ADR issue through its chosen lead manager, Bear Stearns.

Despite a promising start, Korea Development Bank's (KDB) ¥30bn five year Samurai bond issue fell sharply in the secondary markets this week. Some bankers blamed lead manager Daiwa SMBC for the poor performance. The deal traded from 41bp over yen-Libor at the time of pricing last Wednesday to 55bp over yesterday (Thursday).

BYD, China's biggest maker of rechargeable batteries, plans to raise as much as HK$1.6bn ($205m) in an initial public offering to add up to 25% to its issued share capital. The deal will help finance the company's transition into higher margin products. BYD's 'H' share issue is unusual in that it is not a privatisation deal - the company is privately owned. BNP Paribas Peregrine Securities is managing the share sale. ICEA Holdings, BOC International (Holdings) and CLSA are also arrangers.

Australia Following last week's forced revision of the terms of the equity raising related to the float of transmission tower assets formerly owned by NTL Australia, the institutional book was closed this week well oversubscribed.

Despite the sea of volatility swamping international markets, Eurofima re-opened its A$800m 6.5% 2011 deal for the second time within two weeks yesterday (Thursday). The AAA rated supranational railway finance company took advantage of investors scrambling for European high grade bonds that yielded more than government debt.

UBS Warburg stole into the market late on Wednesday (Tokyo time) and within three hours had sold ¥80bn of convertible bonds in Euroyen format for Mitsui Fudosan. The bank achieved a 28.4% premium to a share price that was unimpaired by prior knowledge or rumour of a dilutive deal in the pipeline.

Investors are so bullish on billionaire Li Ka-shing's latest listed venture that they appear willing to completely ignore fundamentals and market vicissitudes in their rush to buy shares in the float of CK Life Sciences on Hong Kong's GEM market. Irrespective of the prospects for biotech company CK Life, fund managers and retail investors are gambling on the Li Ka-shing name to have assembled another winning company to add to a prodigious stable.