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South Korean credit card company LG Card Co Ltd is preparing to launch a $500m securitisation of its receivables via Credit Suisse First Boston and UBS Warburg. The deal will be the company's first cross-border credit card transaction. Investor interest has already increased the size of the deal from $475m to $500m. Credipia 2001 Ltd will be wrapped by triple-A rated monoline insurance company Financial Security Assurance. The deal will be rated by Moody's and Standard & Poor's.

PCCW-HKT capitalised on rapidly tightening spread levels and unsatisfied Asian investor demand this week to increase its impressive $750m 10 year global bond to $1bn. Once again the subsidiary of Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW) used JP Morgan to access the market in low key and rapid fashion, with only 10 hours elapsing between the launch and pricing of the re-opening across the three geographic regions. By re-opening the bond, the Baa1/BBB rated Hong Kong corporate also ensured that the issue is a highly liquid benchmark for the future.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) this week launched its A$250m securitisation for Investa Property Trust, backed by 11 office properties in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide. The trust will offer a single five year soft bullet tranche rated AAA by Standard & Poor's (S&P), but that will be split into A$150m of floaters and A$100m of fixed rate bonds. The deal is set to be priced today (Friday), with a range of 41bp-43bp over the three month bank bills swap rate.

China's largest aluminium producer began its international roadshow in Hong Kong on Monday ahead of an IPO to raise up to $484m. Chalco, China's only alumina refiner and the world's third largest, aims to raise between $348m and $440m from its sale of 2.35bn new shares to fund expansion and renovation of its production facilities. The company's parent, Chinalco, and existing shareholders will raise an additional $44m by selling existing shares.

Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) is preparing to launch a synthetic collateralised debt obligation that will shift the credit risk of a S$2.8bn ($1.52bn) pool of corporate loans from its balance sheet. Arranged by JP Morgan and rated by all three rating agencies, the deal, which will be one of the largest securitisations to come out of Singapore, will use a structure similar to the early synthetic CLO structures used in Europe.

Bankers working in the Dentsu floatation have been amazed by the enormous demand for the issue. Dentsu, Japan's largest advertising agency, on Tuesday set the share price for its forthcoming IPO at ¥420,000 per share, the top end of the ¥380,000-¥420,000 price range. It was not a difficult decision - bankers said the international offer was more than 60 times covered and the domestic institutional placement more than 40 times subscribed.

Hong Kong The $100m floating rate note (FRN) issue for PT Bank Mandiri continued to gain momentum this week, said bankers at HSBC. The transaction, which will be the first time an Indonesian state owned body has issued since the financial crisis, is seeing good interest from private bank accounts, said officials. "The deal is coming along well, we are seeing some interest from Singapore and European accounts as well as domestic Indonesian investors," said an HSBC staffer. "Many private banks are in the process of getting credit approvals in place, which takes a little longer than usual as it is B3 rated and effectively a new credit."

BHP Billiton, the natural resources company, has opened up the Australian market for future issuers by exceeding expectations with a huge two tranche transaction. Launched this week, BHP's issue is the largest unwrapped corporate deal ever seen in the domestic Australian market. At A$1bn, the deal is only surmounted by a A$2.7bn credit wrapped issue from Australian utility ETSA last year, and the tenor of seven years on this new issue has helped dispel the myth that liquidity in the domestic market dries up beyond short maturities.

Private banks dominated issuance in US dollar. They accounted for 11 of the 18 trades closed. But other interesting issuers were present too. World Bank closed a $15 million three-year note that pays a final coupon of 3.5%. And private corporate financial Sigma and gic-backed borrower Monumental Global Funding did a $53.10 million three-year note and a $50 million five-year note respectively. At the long end Hamburgishe LB Finance (Guernsey) traded a 10-year lightly structured deal via Mizuho. The $10 million note pays a floating rate for the first 18 months, until June 5 2003, which is linked to 3m US$Libor+170 bp. After this date the note pays interest fixed at the rate of 6.6%. There is a call option on June 5 2003 and also on December 5 2003 and the trade will be callable annually thereafter. This is the second $10 million 10-year trade Hamburgische has issued in the past week. Also at the long end is Landsvirkjun. The Icelandic issuer traded a $50 million 10-year note due to be settled on December 20. It pays a final coupon of 4.8%.

Despite the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, issuance continued at a lively pace in Europe, with both the euro and sterling investor bases welcoming old and new corporates to their markets. And such has been the success of recent transactions that steady issuance is set to continue towards the year-end. French telecoms equipment manufacturer Alcatel (Baa1/BBB) is to launch a benchmark euro issue next week via ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, JP Morgan and SG. A three or five year maturity is being explored with investors, but a five year is thought to be preferred. Unofficial price talk for a five year is 250bp-275bp over mid-swaps.

Austria Austrian utility OMV has left bidding banks in suspense as it decides whose proposition for a Eu500m facility is best.

Volkswagen announced its biggest yen note of the year on Friday. The ¥50 billion ($415.9 million) trade matures in August next year. The only other German issuer involved at the end of last week was DePfa Deutsche Pfandriefbank, with a ¥500 million 15-year trade. Nomura was the bookrunner and after a coupon of 2% for the first year it becomes a reverse floating rate note. Nederlandse Waterschapsbank did a ¥6.1 billion deal via Mizuho. It was the second-biggest yen deal of the day, and goes out to March 2031. After an initial coupon of 6.5% it becomes a callable power reverse dual currency (PRDC) note. Mizuho also did a trade for Kommunalbanken. It was a ¥500 million note with a term of 25 years, and also has a PRDC structure. European Investment Bank went for a ¥1 billion trade that goes out to December 2031. It has an initial coupon of 5% for the first year-and-three-months, then becomes a Bermuda callable PRDC. It is also capped at 5%, with a floor of 0%. Rabobank did its 82nd yen note of 2001: a ¥1 billion 15-year trade. It has an initial fixed coupon of 3.25%. And Royal Bank of Scotland did three ¥1 billion notes that have terms of 10, 12 and 20 years. They were led by Daiwa SMBC Europe, Deutsche Bank and Mizuho respectively, and are structured thus: a callable FRN with an initial coupon of 1%, a CMS-linked trade (10 year rate minus two year rate) after an initial coupon of 1.2%, and a US dollar-yen linked note after an initial coupon of 3%. They are the ninth, 10th and 11th yen notes the issuer has announced in the last month. Business Development Bank of Canada did two ¥500 million 15-year notes and Canadian Wheat Board announced a ¥1.9 billion 15-year deal. The three trades all pay an initial fixed coupon of 2%.