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UBS Warburg has done an about-face on Herbalife International by canceling a Euro 100 million bond sale after investors pushed for too high of a yield. Instead, the $165 million "B" term loan has been upsized to $180 million and the $150 million U.S. bond portion has been bulked up to $165 million.

Bids for WorldCom bank debt plummeted into the teens last week following news of the company's fraudulent booking of approximately $3.8 billion in expenses, but no paper traded and most of the desk activity seemed to be limited to shrugging and head-shaking. The company's $2.65 billion line was quoted at a five-point premium to its bonds when LMW went to press on Friday. The $2.65 billion line is pari passu with approximately $30 billion in bonds, but the bank debt currently is bid at that premium because there is a sliver of hope that the banks will be able to negotiate some extra security that will put their exposure ahead of the pack. If not? "Sell the bank debt if it is at a premium to bonds," one trader said. "They are all going to be lumped together and the bank debt has a smaller coupon."

The entire secondary market took a hit in the wake of WorldCom's announcement, with names like Nextel Communications and Charter Communications trading down. Nextel's bank debt traded at 78 on Wednesday and improved to 78 3/4 on Thursday, but the paper still was down from the 83 1/2 level, where it had been trading earlier this month. Charter started out on Wednesday with an 88 to 91 bid-ask spread but firmed up to 89 to 92 market later in the day. The name had been trading solidly in the 92 range earlier last week.

Two Australian mortgage lenders are expected to launch Eurodollar securitisations in the next fortnight, and a third will tap the global market. The deals will be an opportunity to test the asset backed market's newfound status as a safe haven, in the context of widespread anxiety about WorldCom's hidden losses.

The three lead managers arranging the Bank of China (Hong Kong) float on the Hong Kong stock market have begun premarketing the deal. Led by Bank of China International (BOCI), Goldman Sachs and UBS Warburg, the transaction will emerge as a $2bn-$3bn placement. This will value the bank, seen as a proxy for China's economy, at between $10bn and $12bn. The offering involves only the Bank of China's Hong Kong operations.

The Southern Cross consortium led by Macquarie Bank is set to tap the bond markets over the next few months to help finance its A$5.6bn purchase of Sydney Airports. Southern Cross's success came at a higher cost than expected and has led to speculation that the airport will be floated. However, despite the expensive price tag and the slowdown in the airline industry, the consortium is still hopeful that it will generate strong revenues from the purchase. The funding has so far been arranged through a combination of bank facilities and equity.

Indonesia PT Telkom has cancelled its plans to launch a $150m bond after over half of its shareholders voted against the planned deal at its annual shareholders meeting this week. JP Morgan had the mandate to lead the transaction, which the shareholders believed to be unnecessary in light of the company's strong cashflows.

Australia Another Macquarie sponsored deal was completed this week when Macquarie ProLogis Trust units began trading at A$0.82 per share, above the A$0.75 at which investors bought the units. The company is an investor in warehouse and distribution centres in the US and Mexico.

United Engineers Malaysia (UEM) has raised M$2.3bn ($605m) from the float of Plus Expressways, after pricing the deal at M$2.55 per share shortly before the WorldCom crisis hit the world's stock markets. The final price for institutions was set slightly below the mid-point of the indicative range of M$2.40-M$2.85.

The roadshow for the forth-coming float of Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group began last Friday in Australia, is now in Singapore and Hong Kong and will visit London and Edinburgh early next week. The objective is to secure orders for 225m shares at A$2 per share to raise A$550m.

The Federation of Malaysia has battled through skittish markets, spooked by prime minister Mahathir Mohamad's retracted announcement to retire, to launch and increase the first ever dollar denominated bond issue compliant with both Islamic and non-Islamic law. The $600m five year floating rate note was increased by $100m, gained an order book of $1.1bn and was still priced at the initial pricing guidance of 95bp over Libor.