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THE MANDATE to lead Korea Development Bank's (KDB) inaugural euro denominated transaction was awarded this week to Barclays Capital and Deutsche Bank. The two houses were chosen from a shortlist of European houses also comprising Credit Suisse First Boston, SG and Warburg Dillon Read. Given that the Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) was forced to repurchase its debut euro denominated offering in the autumn of 1999 as a result of its impending privatisation, the new deal will mark the republic's only outstanding benchmark in the new currency.

THE REPUBLIC of the Philippines' reputation as an innovative and market savvy borrower looks likely to be tarnished later today (Friday) with the pricing of its $1.8bn combined cash and exchange offering. While the Ba1/BB+ credit should certainly achieve its size expectations and liability management of National Power Corporation (Napocor) debt, it is on course to do so at an extremely high price.

ASIA Pulp & Paper (APP) passed one of the most critical tests in its long history of debt financing yesterday (Thursday) with the success of a $405m transaction for its China operations. The completion of a 10 year non call five deal means that APP has been able to access long-dated funds for the first time since the beginning of the Asian financial crisis. In doing so, the Singapore-incorporated group has underlined its ability to avoid potential liquidity crises through continued refinancing of its large levels of maturing dollar debt through the international markets.

* Fannie Mae Rating: Aaa/AAA

Fitch IBCA and Duff & Phelps announced their merger this week, in a bid to acquire the critical mass necessary to compete with the dominant rating agencies, Moody's and Standard & Poor's. Fimalac SA, the diversified French company that owns Fitch IBCA, has made a recommended offer of $100 per share for DCR, valuing it at $528m.

Ford Motor Credit Corporation came with a $5bn transaction issued under its GlobLS programme via Chase, CSFB and JP Morgan. The deal was split into a $3bn five year fixed rate tranche and a $2bn three year FRN. The five year straight was priced at 105bp over the November 2004 Treasury. The commonly held opinion among swap dealers in New York was that the proceeds of this five year piece had been swapped to floating, as would be normal practice for this borrower when it raises debt for its financing vehicle. However, the leads and Ford itself declined to comment.

Ford Motor Credit this week shunned the US Treasury as a benchmark when marketing its new $3bn five year GlobLS, choosing instead to use one of its own outstanding bonds. The 7.5% March 2005 transaction was benchmarked at a level of 3bp-5bp against the Ford 6.75% February 2004 bond and ultimately priced at 4bp-5bp over, which equated to 105bp over Treasuries.

Heller Financial issued its inaugural euro denominated bond this week, a Eu300m 5.75% Euro-MTN due 2005. The single-A rated financial services firm had been preparing to offer debt in this market for much of last year, said a treasury official at Heller. He added that the proceeds had been swapped into a mix of floating euros and floating dollars. The greater proportion of Heller's business is dollar-based, but about 20% is conducted internationally, explained the official.

THE STATE of Israel proved a popular debutante in the global dollar bond markets this week, with the A3/A-/A- rated Middle Eastern sovereign able to launch an aggressively priced issue in the face of swap and credit market volatility. Lead managed by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, the $500m 10 year transaction was priced on Wednesday with a 7.75% coupon to give a yield of 7.81% and spread of 144bp over US Treasuries on the back of an enthusiastic response from both US and European accounts which put in $850m worth of orders. Indicative pricing for what is expected to be Israel's sole international bond in 2000 had been pitched in the 145bp over Treasuries area.

TELECOMS equipment provider Marconi will next week launch a Eu1.5bn two tranche issue, offering investors a rare opportunity to gain exposure to the high grade telecoms sector without the event risk associated with former state monopolies or mobile. Led by ABN Amro and Warburg Dillon Read, the A3/BBB+ rated financing will be split into Eu500m five year and Eu1bn 10 year tranches. The five year is expected at around Euribor plus 40bp, the 10 year in the high 50s over Euribor.