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BNP Paribas has hired Alan Dunne, a foreign exchange technical strategist at Bank of America in Singapore, as a London-based strategist for the major developing currency markets in the European time zone. Dunne said he will cover currency and local debt market strategy, including foreign exchange derivatives strategy and interest-rate swaps, for Poland, Hungary, South Africa, Turkey and the Czech Republic.

The collapse last week of U.K. rail operator Railtrack is causing credit derivatives professionals to reconsider their positions in other companies regulated or subsidized by the U.K. government. The Railtrack collapse is significant because it is the first investment grade default in the European market. Since the company was put into administration traders are revaluing credit-default swaps that are priced with an implicit government guarantee on the reference credit, according to credit traders. For example five-year protection on National Grid widened 15bps to 40-45bps last week. Although National Grid does not have explicit backing, the company's rate of return is determined by the government.

China Standard & Poor's has affirmed the BBB long term foreign currency rating and A-3 short term ratings for the People's Republic of China. The agency said that it expected the sovereign to continue economic liberalisation in the coming years, despite the downturn in global growth, with efforts to build new social welfare, legal and regulatory systems helping to strengthen the country's weak institutions.

Australia The possibility of a rapid resurrection of the jumbo Enex Resources float diminished this week as coking coal prices weakened and analysts downgraded their outlook for prices.

As reported in EuroWeek last week, the Korean government is pressing ahead with its $500m combined convertible (CB) and Global Depository Receipt (GDR) offering to sell down the next stage of its Korea Tobacco & Ginseng shareholding. The roadshow began yesterday (Thursday) in Hong Kong and will end with pricing on October 24.

The IPO of the Japanese unit of US coffee shop chain Starbucks Corp attracted overwhelming attention from investors and the media in Japan this week, despite the deal's relatively small size. The disproportionate attention commanded by the deal is a sure sign of the weakness in the global equity markets.

The Kingdom of Thailand is to invite five banks to submit proposals for a $300m equivalent Samurai bond issue, a decision that could result in the first public international transaction from the sovereign for over four years. Bankers familiar with Thailand's plans said the sovereign wanted to issue the three tranche deal by mid-November. However, some Japanese bankers expressed doubt over the plans, noting that difficult market conditions and the conservative outlook of Japanese investors will pose challenges to the launch.

Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and UBS Warburg have emerged as joint holders of the mandate to lead manage a $500m bond from Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC). The deal structure remains secret but the objective is clear: to monetise the state holdings of two financial groups, the listed Cho Hung Bank and the unlisted Woori Financial Holdings. Bankers close to the deal told EuroWeek that now the mandate has been awarded, the parties on the transaction are set to engage in a series of discussions to forge the final structure of the transaction.

UBS Warburg is due to begin pre-marketing next Monday for the first real estate investment trust (REIT) float in Singapore. The bank has won the mandate as bookrunner for the IPO of Singmall Property Trust, with the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) as joint lead manager. Singmall is managed by Singapore listed company Capital Land. The assets to be included in Singmall include three shopping malls - Funan IT Mall, Junction and Tampines. The three centres are mature and virtually fully occupied, with a strong rental renewal record.

The German states of Brandenburg and Hessen continued to supply the market with Länder paper this week, Brandenburg raising Eu500m of five year paper as it embarked on the first stage of its strategy to broaden its funding sources, while Hessen launched its largest ever issue, a Eu2bn 10 year benchmark. Triple-A rated Hessen, tapping the market via Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Helaba and Morgan Stanley, achieved a spread of 3bp below mid-swaps - a level that generated strong demand and also pleased the borrower.

Chile successfully launched a $650m 10 year global bond this week, raising modest hopes among bankers desperate for mandates that other Latin issuers may be enticed into tapping the new issue market.

Issuers of European covered bonds this week took advantage of investors hunting for top quality credits, with bond and equity markets although better, remaining on the defensive. Several borrowers had been lining up offerings before the US attacks took place, but many projects were put on hold in the wake of those events and have only now been resurrected.