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Bankers at Credit Suisse First Boston and Citigroup/SSB burst into action on their return from the Easter break, completing Taiwan's largest ever convertible bond issue in 14 hours from the opening of the stock market in Taipei on Tuesday morning. Fubon Financial Holdings' deal secured $3bn of demand as investors snapped up the opportunity to buy into the country's largest financial holding company, diversifying their portfolio away from the electronics sector.

Sole bookrunner Nomura watched Daido Life shares trade up after listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange this week, to close at ¥301,000 yesterday (Thursday), up 11.5% since their debut on Monday. The performance was impressive considering the gloomy economic climate that prevails in Japan and the uncertainty about the direction of company profits and the stock market.

With market sentiment towards Korean borrowers much improved by Moody's double notch upgrade of the sovereign from Baa2 to A3, observers are looking to see whether Korean issuers will access the international bond market en masse again. Moody's has followed its sovereign upgrade by improving the ratings of Korea Development Bank (KDB), Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), Export-Import Bank of Korea and Korea Deposit Insurance Corp to the new sovereign ceiling.

* Kommunalbanken AS Rating: Aaa/AAA

Just under 150 deals were closed in other currencies and more than half of these came in Hong Kong dollar. The currency also saw the largest volumes but Swiss franc had an unusually strong week and $406 million was closed off 10 trades. ABN Amro self-led an Sfr300 million ($178.38 million) 10-year deal that pays a coupon of 4% and Landesbank Schleswig-Holstein closed three deals in the currency. The largest was an Sfr150 million three-year note that pays an annual coupon of 3.125%. Issuance in Czech koruna was busy and eight trades were issued. Norddeutsche Landesbank issued one of the largest deals: a Ckr1 billion ($28.21 million) 10-year MTN that was led by Deutsche Bank. The zero coupon trade was issued at a price of 57.53% and will come to the market on April 23 2002. Volkswagen Financial Services closed the weekÆs only Polish zloty trade: a Z100 million ($24.31 million) five-year note that pays an annual coupon of 9% and was led by Morgan Stanley. And European Investment Bank issued the only Norwegian krone deal. The Nkr250 million ($28.31 million) note reaches out to March 2008 and was led by Deutsche Bank. The note offers a coupon of 6.5% and was issued at a price of 101.855%.

* Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG Rating: Aaa/AAA (Moody's/Fitch)

The French state took the market by surprise on Tuesday when it launched a Eu1.56bn accelerated bookbuild in Renault, the French car manufacturer. Investors had not expected this deal to come until after the French elections which begin later this month. "The French state has decided to make a quick and smart move," said ABN Amro in a research report, "thus seizing the opportunity provided by the current cyclical rally and Renault's impressive outperformance."

The Royal Bank of Scotland has added Commerzbank as a dealer to its Euro-MTN programme. Commerzbank has executed at least 14 deals for The Royal Bank of Scotland since the beginning of 2001. The £

The Republic of South Africa has demonstrated its preference for banks that show local market commitment, as well as international capability, by appointing Barclays Capital alongside JP Morgan as joint lead managers for a $500m plus 10 year global bond. Standard Bank will be a senior co-lead for the deal. Banks that lost out will be desperately hoping that the selection of Barclays, a rare name in the EMEA region as an emerging market lead manager, is a one-off and does not signal that yet another big player is weighing into an overbanked sector.

Finland Bankers focused on the Nordic region expect Finland to offer some juicy business in the second quarter of 2002.

The French state took the market by surprise on Tuesday when it launched a Eu1.56bn accelerated bookbuild in Renault, the French car manufacturer. Investors had not expected this deal to come until after the French elections which begin later this month. "The French state has decided to make a quick and smart move," said ABN Amro in a research report, "thus seizing the opportunity provided by the current cyclical rally and Renault's impressive outperformance."