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Lead manager Nomura capitalised on appetite in Tokyo for well known names yesterday (Thursday) to price the relaunched Nomura Research Institute (NRI) IPO at the top end of the price range. The books for all tranches of the placement were more than 10 times covered. NRI, a research and computer systems integration business controlled ultimately by the Nomura Group, priced its issue of 13.6m shares at ¥11,000 per share. The deal will raise ¥149.6bn, of which ¥22bn ($179m) is for NRI itself through the sale of 2m new shares to international investors. NRI's major shareholders are selling 11.6m shares to the public to raise up to ¥127.6bn, of which 69% is allocated to the domestic market and 3.6m to international investors.

Orient Corp (Orico), one of the largest consumer credit companies in Japan, this week launched its first securitisation of card loans - a ¥60bn deal sold in euros, dollars and yen lead managed by Mizuho International. Orico is one of the country's most regular users of securitisation and is the leading Japanese ABS issuer in the Euromarkets. Its Oscar programme, backed by auto loans, has been a regular source of funding since 1998.

Rounding off a busy year for UBS Warburg in the Asian markets, the firm sold ¥28bn of convertible bonds and ¥19.3bn of new shares for Orix in an accelerated bookbuild that began on Monday and closed on Wednesday. The deal reinforces the arrival of the accelerated bookbuild in Japan, of which there have been only eight to date. UBS Warburg was sole bookrunner on the two tranche deal, with Daiwa SMBC as joint lead manager. The bank sold ¥25bn of 0% convertible notes at 103 at the highest ever conversion premium to date for a Japanese issuer - 37.9%. There is also a greenshoe of ¥3bn. The notes mature on March 31, 2007. The bonds were quoted at 104.5 after the market close yesterday (Thursday).

After several days of frantic speculation in the market, Pacific Century Cyberworks (PCCW) has made a categorical statement that it will not issue a euro denominated bond through its subsidiary PCCW-HKT before the end of the year. At the end of last week, some bankers suggested that the corporate was eyeing markets to launch a euro deal and was poised to name Barclays Capital and Salomon Smith Barney as potential joint lead managers for a euro issue.

PTT (Petroleum Authority of Thailand) shares surged almost 9% in early trading on their debut yesterday(Thursday), giving an encouraging sign to the government to push forward with privatisation. The stock closed only 2.2% up, however, as sellers took profits.

PT Bank Mandiri became the first pure Indonesian borrower to return to the international debt market since the Asian crisis when it priced a $125m five year floating rate note (FRN) this week. The state owned bank's ability to launch the deal is proof that opportunities exist for the best rated Indonesian names to tap the capital markets. Moody's and Standard & Poor's and Fitch rate Mandiri B3/B-/B-, respectively.

Upcoming transactions from SPI PowerNet and HSBC Australia are underlining the revitalised confidence among Australian investors for primary deals. SPI, the Singapore Power-owned Victoria transmission company, concluded a roadshow for its A$150m three year bond issue on Wednesday. HSBC Australia's own roadshow for a debut subordinated bond issue was also wrapped up and both deals are expected to be launched and priced next week. The two deals should be able to take advantage of a revitalised Australian debt primary market -the last two weeks were among the strongest for primary issuance of the year.

UBS Warburg has sold A$66m of new OneSteel shares and raised A$200m for Westfield America Trust, following several modest sized deals last week. Westfield America Trust is on the expansion trail again, buying nine regional shopping malls in the US for $756m and funding the acquisitions partly through a $200m new share issue in Australia that was placed on Wednesday night to global investors.

Lead manager Morgan Stanley and issuer United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) launched a well timed issue of $302m of convertible bonds this week, as the Taiwan stock market surged on hopes of a recovery in chip demand next year. The positive sentiment and the lack of large liquid issues this year from strong credits such as UMC helped the deal achieve a more than 17 times covered book within five hours of launch. This led to the highest premium ever for a CB from Asia Pacific of 40%.

Volkswagen (VW) has delayed the launch of its debut ¥50bn five year Samurai bond issue until Monday. The deal had been slated for launch earlier this week. A banker at sole lead manager Deutsche Bank said that despite the delay the investor response has been favourable, based on the pricing range of 35bp over yen Libor. But others said the delay stemmed from Deutsche Bank having struggled to build interest. "Demand is weak in the market, with spreads under some pressure," said one rival banker. "It is not easy doing deals so close to year end."

* Swedish Export Credit Rating: Aa2/AA+