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Australia UBS Warburg is to launch a A$750m issue of reset preference shares for insurance and funds management group AMP. The deal is also being targeted at foreign fund managers as it will be a gross pay instrument (tax will not be deducted at source). It will also probably be free of withholding tax, whereas most of the hybrid securities from Australia are either fully or partially franked and subject to withholding tax.

ABN Amro, ING, Merrill Lynch and UBS Warburg made final presentations last week to advise Mobile One Asia on its planned IPO. The results should be known shortly. MobileOne, or M1 as it is better known in Singapore, has four core shareholders which founded the company - Keppel Tele-communications & Transportation, Singapore Press Holdings, Cable & Wireless and Hong Kong's PCCW.

UBS Warburg last Friday (September 6) priced Crusade Trust No 1A of 2002, a A$750m securitisation of Australian residential mortgages for St George Bank. The A$325m fixed rated triple-A tranche came at 5.57% with a launch spread of 31bp over swaps. The soft bullet notes are callable in September 2005. If not called, the notes convert into floaters with a coupon of 50bp over bank bills.

Three Korean banks are considering coming to the market for new deals in the next two months totalling as much as $1.3bn. Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) will be first with a $350m-$500m three year fixed rate senior note issue. It is embarking on a roadshow today (Friday), and the Reg S deal should be priced on either Wednesday or Thursday next week.

Japan Tobacco has signalled its renewed interest in the international market this week by listing a $5bn debt issuance programme in London through financial subsidiary JT Capital. Japan Tobacco was last in the market three years ago. JP Morgan was the arranger of the new programme, which allows for multi-currency deals to be arranged.

The international leg of the roadshow for the 707m share Bank Thai privatisation has finished. A pricing range is to be set today (Friday) ahead of a domestic and international institutional bookbuild that should be complete by the end of September. The government is selling the equivalent of 47% of Bank Thai, reducing its stake from 96% to 49%. Foreign and domestic fund managers say the offering is effectively an IPO, and are therefore targeting a price range far below current market levels for the stock.

The international leg of the roadshow for the 707m share Bank Thai privatisation has finished. A pricing range is to be set today (Friday) ahead of a domestic and international institutional bookbuild that should be complete by the end of September. The government is selling the equivalent of 47% of Bank Thai, reducing its stake from 96% to 49%. Foreign and domestic fund managers say the offering is effectively an IPO, and are therefore targeting a price range far below current market levels for the stock.

Bumiputra Commerce Bank (BCB) is poised to mandate a $200m 10 year non-call five tier two subordinated bond issue. The Malaysian bank sent out requests for proposals two weeks ago. Bankers say BCB is on the verge of announcing its decision. The shortlist of banks consists of Citigroup/SSB, HSBC, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley. The winner will act as a joint lead manager with CIMB, the investment banking arm of BCB's parent company, Commerce-Asset Holding. BCB should announce the winner either today (Friday) or early next week.

Allgemeine HypothekenBank Rheinboden (AHBR) made a successful return to the capital markets last Friday (September 6) with its first jumbo issue since its mortgage Pfandbrief rating was downgraded from Aa2 to A1 by Moody's in May. The mortgage bank priced its 3.75% September 2005 issue at the wide end of the 16bp-19bp price guidance announced when the deal was launched, and increased the issue size from the planned Eu1bn figure to Eu1.25bn. Pricing had initially been expected early this week, but was accelerated because of the speed with which the order book for the pot transaction grew.

Rating: A1/AAA/AA+ Amount: Eu1.25bn Hypothekenpfandbrief series 337

On behalf of my daughter, Georgina, and myself, I would like to thank our friends in the Euromarkets who have sent dozens of letters and more flowers than you will find in a garden nursery following the very sudden and totally unexpected death of my wife, Vanessa. On Wednesday morning last week, she complained of feeling faint and having a headache. Although we called for an ambulance, there seemed to be no cause for undue concern. However, an hour after arriving at the hospital she had a massive brain haemorrhage. Within the space of three hours the wonderfully vibrant, vivacious and always healthy Vanessa was not only critically ill, but according to the doctors, had only a one in 10 chance of survival - mercifully, she was completely unconscious when Georgina and I were told.

Rating: Aa3/AA-/AA- Amount: $250m