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Ministers of the six countries sharing the Mekong River will gather on 14-16 December 2004, to discuss ways to intensify regional cooperation.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has issued the first non-government Japanese inflation-linked bond this week ? a ¥50bn 10 year transaction lead managed by BNP Paribas. The JGB inflation-linked market started life in March 2004 when the Japanese government auctioned ¥300bn of 10 year securities. The success of the JGBi no 1 quickly led to the launch of JGBi no 2, again for ¥300bn, and in December JGBi no 3 will be issued. Showing the growing demand for inflation-linked bonds in Japan, JGBi no 3 will be auctioned with a size of ¥500bn.

n PCCW, Hong Kong's leading fixed line telecom company, struggled to raise HK$1.12bn on Wednesday by selling 450m shares in its property arm, Pacific Century Premium Develop-ments. The sale will reduce PCCW's holding in PCPD from 74.9% to about 51%.

AUSTRALASIA

Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group (MCG), the Australian listed investment company, is launching a A$920m fundraising to pay for its acquisition of 54% of Macquarie Broadcast UK, a new vehicle set up to buy 1,500 UK radio masts.

Multiplex Group, the Australian construction company, has announced the issue of up to A$450m of hybrid securities, with UBS as bookrunner. The securities, known as Sites, are perpetual bonds that count as equity but can be redeemed for cash or converted to common stock at Multiplex's option.

The State Bank of India (SBI) launched a $400m five year bond on Wednesday, notching up milestones in terms of both size and pricing.

Korea First Bank this week launched the tightest priced securitisation in euros from an issuer in Asia, excluding Australia and Japan.

ASIAN CURRENCY BONDS

Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) sold a dual currency lower tier two bond issue last Friday in an unusual deal for what is essentially a non-subsidiary Hong Kong bank.

Singapore property developer United Overseas Land sold about half of its 4.2% stake in United Overseas Bank on Wednesday evening Hong Kong time, through an aggressively priced S$506.2m exchangeable bond managed by Credit Suisse First Boston.

Korea's Woori Bank secured aggressive pricing in its return to the international capital markets on Tuesday with what is believed to be the first 144A global issue from a Korean commercial bank.