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Vibrant activity in the Australian domestic market continued this week, with BAT Australia, Household Finance and two Deutsche Asset Management units cleverly taking advantage of the strong investor demand. Market observers predict that the late flourish in the domestic market will continue well into the new year. The combination of pent-up buyside demand, as a result of postponements immediately after the September 11 attacks, and the high levels of redemptions due may make Australia's domestic market one of the hottest debt markets in the world over the next two years.

A decision is expected this weekend on the launch of a roughly $100m IPO of Clear Media, the Guangzhou-based outdoor advertising company. Goldman Sachs is sole lead manager, ING Barings will be a co-lead in the international tranche and BOCI co-lead for the Hong Kong retail IPO. The deal is likely to be launched on Monday, following premarketing which began last week. Clear Media, a non-state private enterprise, is dominant in the Shanghai outdoor advertising market and has operations in other Chinese cities including Beijing and Guangzhou. The Chinese market is worth $2bn annually.

Hong Kong Speculation increased in the Hong Kong market that telecoms firm PCCW-HKT could be looking to launch a euro denominated bond issue on the back of its recent successes in the Japanese yen and US dollar markets. Barclays Capital and Salomon Smith Barney were said to be closely linked to the potential issue.

Akbank surprised the loan market this week by awarding a group of eight banks the mandate to arrange a $150m term loan. Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi will follow soon after Akbank and the arranging group for that deal will be finalised today (Friday).

France-based telecoms equipment provider Alcatel overcame investors' concerns about its prospects this week when it twice increased its planned Eu500m-Eu750m five year transaction to Eu1.2bn after attracting more than Eu3.6bn of orders. The company, whose Baa1/BBB ratings are on negative outlook, has this year suffered from the pressures affecting the telecoms industry. Alcatel's Standard & Poor's rating, for example, fell from A to BBB between August and November.

France-based telecoms equipment provider Alcatel overcame investors' concerns about its prospects this week when it twice increased its planned Eu500m-Eu750m five year transaction to Eu1.2bn after attracting more than Eu3.6bn of orders. The company, whose Baa1/BBB ratings are on negative outlook, has this year suffered from the pressures affecting the telecoms industry. Alcatel's Standard & Poor's rating, for example, fell from A to BBB between August and November.

Allianz continued its strategy of selling its non-core shareholdings this week when it sold a Eu1bn exchangeable into RWE through Goldman Sachs. The deal comes just six weeks before the new tax regime starts in Germany, under which Allianz would have been able to sell the shares in the open market without incurring tax.

The Euromarket is concentrating on tying up loose ends ahead of what promises to be an upbeat first quarter in 2002. There are a few big deals still in the market - credits for Schlumberger and ABB are genuine rarities - and most deals are nearing the end of their syndication processes.

Asia * Investa Properties Ltd

Philippines * Republic of the Philippines

The £250m loan for Woolworths was signed on Monday November 26. The deal was oversubscribed to just short of £300m but not increased. Mandated arrangers are Barclays (joint bookrunner), HSBC (facility agent) and Royal Bank of Scotland (joint bookrunner). Mizuho (Fuji) joined the top tier, also as a mandated arranger.

Unibanco - Uniao de Bancos Brasileiros issued three trades in the one year and under sector: a $10 million six-month note, a $100,000 six-month note and a $2 million one-year trade. The issuer has issued $512.80 billion off its Euro $2 billion Euro-MTN programme this year, over one third of its total outstanding. Eksportfinans has closed a $40 million three and a half year plain vanilla trade. Interest is paid at a fixed rate of 4.105% on an annual basis, every June 3 and there are no calls. The trade is due to be settled on December 3 and will mature on June 3 2005. Rabobank Nederland has issued two dollar trades. One is a range accrual step up for $13 million and will be settled on December 7. UBS Warburg is the bookrunner and the note pays a fixed rate of interest that is linked to 3m US$Libor falling within a certain range. The note is non-call-one and callable semi-annually thereafter and interest payment is quarterly. After three years, the fixed rate steps up to 5.400% and will be increased by 50bp each year thereafter, until the final coupon will be 6.900% if the note is not called. The issuer also closed a fixed rate step up note that pays a coupon of 5.200% after the first year and the coupon is then increased by 25bp annually thereafter. It is a non-call-one trade managed by Morgan Stanley.