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Hong Kong Moody's has affirmed its Baa2 and P-3 long term and short term foreign currency ratings of Citic Ka Wah Bank after the announcement of its 100% acquisition of Hongkong Chinese Bank, but Standard & Poor's (S&P) has lowered the BBB outlook of its long term counterparty and certificate of deposit ratings to negative.

Dentsu management and lead banks Nomura, Merrill Lynch and UBS Warburg are to set the official price range for the advertising company's IPO today (Friday), when the company will also release its preliminary half year profits. Bankers close to the deal told EuroWeek that the response from investors has been encouraging and that the price will probably be set within the ¥380,000-¥400,000 range announced in preliminary filings with regulators in October.

Australia The restructured former Westpac Property Trust, Investa Property Group, on Monday raised A$85m through an institutional placement. Investa sold 45.2m units at A$1.88 each, a marginal discount to the last traded price of A$1.94. UBS Warburg and Deutsche Bank arranged the deal.

Bankers close to the revitalised A$500m AustMag issue were upbeat this week about the deal's prospects, although analysts and investors remained cautious about the company and its A$1.6bn aluminium smelter project. The revised issue has been structured through partly paid shares to raise A$300m upfront and the remaining A$200m by January 2003. It has only been open since last week, but has attracted attention because of the appeal of the Queensland government backed 12.8% annual dividend yield.

Nikko Salomon Smith Barney (NSSB) on Monday priced the ¥60bn convertible bond issue for the Bank of Yokohama at the top end of the conversion range and with a zero coupon. A senior NSSB banker said the bank and the issuer were delighted with the response from local retail and institutional investors, and noted especially strong demand from foreign investors, which helped the pricing tension of the transaction.

Jardine Strategic is poised to launch its debut international bond issue today (Friday), with the holding company aiming to place a strong benchmark for itself while gaining competitive long term finance as a result of the US interest rate cuts. For Jardine, the real challenge will be to launch its $300m 10 year deal at a spread that is competitive to subsidiary Hongkong Land's $600m 2011 Eurobond and peer Hutchison Whampoa's $1.5bn 2011 deal, which were both launched earlier this year.

Korea Development Bank (KDB) announced this week its intentions to launch an international bond issue, and bankers predict that the roadshow for the deal could begin early next week. The state policy bank said that the proceeds of its global transaction, which is expected to be a $500m five year issue, would be used for general operations. The issue will be the bank's first global bond for several years. KDB said that it is making a shelf registration with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but that the time of launch would depend on market conditions.

Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) used its favourite market for international financing this week, accessing the Euroyen market for a ¥25bn three year bond issue. The Korean state owned corporate succeeded in launching a deal that attracted investor attention in less than ideal conditions, but it received some market criticism for generous pricing. Barclays Capital and Merrill Lynch were bookrunners and joint lead managers, with Hyundai Securities also participating in a joint lead role. Kepco was relying on Japanese investors' familiarity with Korean issuers and in particular the corporate's own frequent use of the yen market to help place the transaction, and added a Uridashi filing to the deal to help appeal to the Japanese retail base.

The Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) IPO got under way this week with an indicative price range of Bt31-Bt35 per share to raise Bt24.8bn-Bt28bn pre-greenshoe. The 800m share issue is split between an offer of 750m new PTT shares and 50m government owned shares. If the 15% greenshoe is exercised, a further 120m secondary shares will be sold by the government.

Shinsei Bank, the former Long-Term Credit Bank (LTCB), began a roadshow this week for a ¥1.4tr ($11.5bn) vehicle that will securitise its loans to Japanese corporates. Shinsei aims to establish a reliable means of funding that would remain open even if there was a serious credit crunch in Japan.

The first real estate investment trust (REIT) float in Singapore was launched this week. UBS Warburg is bookrunner for the IPO of SingMall Property Trust, with the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) as joint lead manager. They set out this week on the roadshow that should culminate on November 9 with a total issue size of S$740m, which would make it one of the largest IPOs in the Asian emerging markets this year. The S$740m deal will be split S$210m to CapitaLand, S$50m to retail investors and S$480m in a placement tranche to buyers including institutions, private banks, and brokerage private clients.

South Africa The $70m three year deal for African Explosives and Chemicals Corporation (AECI) has been closed oversubscribed.