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Australian Gas Light on Monday announced the purchase of Pulse Energy for A$880m and promptly sold A$380m of stock via UBS Warburg in an accelerated institutional bookbuild. The deal raised AGL's prominence as Australia's largest energy retailer and is the latest in a long run of acquisition-inspired equity sales from Australia.

SK Corp, South Korea's biggest oil refiner, has begun premarketing the sale of a stake of roughly $1.45bn in SK Telecom in a deal combining ADRs and exchangeable bonds. First expected last year, the transaction was delayed in January and has reemerged despite the Korean market having fallen more than 20% from recent highs.

Telstra Corp is launching an inaugural sterling issue to access liquidity beyond 10 years. The telecommunications company, which has already accessed the US dollar and Australian dollar bond markets this year, is also planning a Uridashi issue to raise its profile with Japanese investors. Telstra aims to access the sterling market for a £250m-£300m issue with a maturity of 10-12 years in late July. Barclays Capital and Credit Suisse First Boston are joint lead managers for the transaction, which will be marketed on a European roadshow around July 15-17 and is expected to be priced the day afterwards.

Investors eager for prime mortgage backed paper this week consumed the first of three internationally targeted deals from Australian issuers. Demand remains strong for the next two deals. Australian Mortgage Securities Ltd (AMS), the mortgage financing vehicle jointly owned by ABN Amro and mortgage originator Wizard Mortgage Corp, launched a single tranche of Eurobonds rated triple-A by all three agencies and worth $731m.

The IPO of CapitaMall Trust, the property trust repositioned by CapitaLand, appears to be drawing a positive response, according to bankers in Singapore. Lead manager, underwriter and bookrunner DBS Bank launched the float on Monday and is selling 213m units in a bookbuild that is due to close on July 11.

PT Surya Citra Media (SCM), the first Indonesian IPO since 1997 to include an international tranche, has been closed with the institutional books easily covered. The public offer, representing up to 30% of the total transaction, closes today (Friday) and listing is set for July 16. Although the final price was below the initial price range, Crédit Lyonnais Securities Asia said SCM found a receptive foreign audience keen to buy into the strong rally in media spending in the country.

JAPAN Moody's has downgraded the bank financial strength rating of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi from D to D-, and lowered the financial strength ratings of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Mizuho Bank, Mizuho Corporate Bank, UFJ Bank and UFJ Trust Bank from E+ to E.

The Philippine government says its budget deficit for January to May this year has increased to Ps107.5bn, confirming fears that the country's deficit situation is continuing to worsen. The total of the deficit for the first five months has reached 82% of the allocated budget deficit figure of Ps30bn for the full year, due to poorer than expected revenues.

Korea Development Bank (KDB) gained a strong reception from a Japanese investor base still buoyed by the excitement of the football World Cup, jointly hosted by Korea and Japan, when it launched its ¥30bn five year Samurai issue on Wednesday. As a sovereign-linked issuer, KDB also offered some stability amid the volatility of the global markets, and priced in the middle of its range on Wednesday.

Arranger Crédit Lyonnais has completed a $47.2m five year ship financing for Hanjin Shipping. Participants are Nordea, Bumiputra-Commerce Bank and NIB Capital.

Rating: Aaa/AAA Amount: $200m

Rating: Aaa/AAA Amount: $500m