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National Power Corp (Napocor) of the Philippines began the roadshow for its controversial $500m seven year secured bond issue yesterday (Thursday). Bear Stearns, in a rare top line appearance in the Asian primary debt market, is the bookrunner for the 144A registered issue, which is to be launched by Napocor International Finance Trust. JP Morgan is joint lead. The deal has a sovereign guarantee and is the first Asian bond to carry political risk insurance (PRI). As a result, the transaction has secured a Baa3/BBB- rating versus Napocor's sovereign ceiling rating of Ba1/BB+.

Orient Corp (Orico), the Japanese finance company which has become the benchmark Japanese ABS issuer in the Euromarket, this week launched a Euroyen securitisation that reached a different group of investors. The ¥21.8bn auto loan securitisation, lead managed by Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe, continued the theme of diversification in Orico's international ABS issuance that began with the issuer's first card loan securitisation in December.

Renault was a casualty of poor Japanese investor sentiment this week, when the French auto manufacturer was forced to postpone its second Samurai bond issue. Joint lead managers Daiwa SMBC and Merrill Lynch were due to launch the ¥35bn five year deal on Wednesday, but the collapse into bankruptcy of Enron and Kmart has severely affected Japanese investors' appetite for offshore corporate paper.

The notoriously unpredictable Taiwan stock market surged this week as positive political news sent retail investors scurrying to place orders. The infamous freewheeling nature of the local bourse, driven as it is by private buyers with little idea of actual or relative value, helped Morgan Stanley close a $175m convertible bond for Siliconware Precision Industries on Monday evening, New York time. The volatile markets almost derailed a $240m GDR issue for Realtek, which was finally priced yesterday (Thursday) at a 12.12% discount, less than initially expected considering the rapid run-up in the stock since last Friday (January 18).

Woolworths, the Australian supermarket chain, which is unrelated to corporates with the same name in the US and the UK, is due to price a A$200m five year bond issue today (Friday), marking the first straight corporate bond of the year from Australia. The borrower launched its transaction yesterday (Thursday) with a coupon of 6.25%. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and National Australia Bank (NAB) were joint lead managers for the issue. ANZ Investment Bank and Westpac Institutional Bank participated as co-managers.

The recent lull in high grade corporate bond supply came to an end this week, with borrowers pricing $10bn plus of new issuance as the Federal Reserve began signalling an end to its year long interest rate easing policy. Fed chairman Alan Greenspan told the US senate's budget committee yesterday (Thursday) the US economy was showing signs of a rebound, dashing any remaining hope of a rate cut next week when the FOMC meets.

Coredeal MTS will next week launch its bid to boost liquidity in the euro credit market when the electronic exchange and its market-makers begin trading corporate benchmarks, in a move they hope will heighten transparency and liquidity in the secondary market.

Carlos Conde, the former co-head of pan-European equity capital markets at JP Morgan, has re-emerged at SG. Conde will be sole head within the French firm. He started work on Tuesday and reports to Stephen Brisby and Marc Litzler, who co-head the global investment banking division with Kim Fennebresque.

Coredeal MTS will next week launch its bid to boost liquidity in the euro credit market when the electronic exchange and its market-makers begin trading corporate benchmarks, in a move they hope will heighten transparency and liquidity in the secondary market.

Costa Rica will price a blowout $250m 10 year deal via Deutsche Bank today (Friday), after attracting more than $1bn in orders. The issue is Costa Rica's first for the year and takes advantage of dedicated and cross-over investor demand for 'exotic' Latin American issuers whose dollar bonds receive a strong local bid. The Costa Rican government has limited the issue to $250m, all of which is expected to be sold to US and other international investors, leaving unsatiated local demand to ensure strong aftermarket support. The deal having been marketed at a spread of 310bp-325bp, investors said they expected pricing around 305bp.

Czech Republic The $118m 18 month acquisition facility for Dutch special purpose company Bivideon, which backs the purchase of a 51% stake in Ceske Radio Communikace, will not be put to the general market.