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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+

Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo has increased and redenominated its Euro-MTN programme to euro3 billion ($2.67 billion) from $2 billion.

Carlsberg, the Danish brewer, has signed a euro1 billion ($888.90 million) Euro-MTN programme via JPMorgan. The issuer name on the shelf is Carlsberg Finans. An investor presentation for the programme took place on Friday at the offices of JPMorgan. And Marianne Okland, head of Nordic capital markets at JPMorgan, was more than pleased with the response to the event. She says: "It was certainly a stimulating presentation and there was large investor demand for the issuer's debut trade." The first trade off the facility is a 10-year £

The Eu3.75bn IPO of Crédit Agricole got off to a solid start this week with initial indications from the lead managers that the deal is already covered. Roadshows got underway in France last Friday and by Wednesday this week the bank was making its case to investors in London. By the fifth day of the roadshow it was clear that the deal was receiving the expected strong support from French investors.