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Westfield Holdings sold A$500m of shares overnight on Monday at an 8% premium through lead manager and underwriter UBS Warburg. As well as achieving the highest premium for a secondary offering in recent history, the stock traded up further during the week, closing yesterday (Thursday) at A$17.25. Westfield is Australia's largest property investor and sold the new shares after announcing plans to buy 23.9% of Rodamco North America from Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP. The A$920m deal will make Westfield the second largest shopping mall owner in the US.

Credit Suisse First Boston and UBS Warburg this week began premarketing the sale of 20% of Korea Tobacco & Ginseng (KT&G) to international investors. The deal has an unusual structure. KT&G will raise up to $250m through the sale of a convertible issue and use the proceeds to purchase half the block from the state. The government will sell the other half to international investors through Global Depository Receipts (GDRs).

Indonesia Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, chief economics minister for Indonesia, said that the government is aiming to reach less than 10% inflation in 2002, down from current levels of 13%. He added that economic growth of over 5% was unlikely. The IMF has signed a fresh pact with Indonesia in which growth of 3.5% was forecasted.

Australian investors are to be offered a choice today (Friday), as the Northern Territory finance department and BT Office Trust both price their similarly rated bond issues. The two transactions offer contrasting credit stories for the domestic market, with the A- rated Northern Territory offering quasi-government risk while BT Office Trust embarks on its debut issue into the market, also with an A- rating.

French automotive manufacturer Renault is looking to make its entrance into the Samurai market though a ¥50bn five year Samurai deal next week. Merrill Lynch and Daiwa Securities SMBC have been appointed as joint lead managers. "Renault has never accessed the market before, but it is a highly regarded name in Japan because of its partnership with Nissan," said a banker at Merrill Lynch.

Brazil is considering a $2.4bn deal that would be backed by payments Poland owes to the country through the Paris Club. The deal - linked to JP Morgan, Bank of America, UBS Warburg and Salomon Smith Barney - would offer the sovereign an alternative to the exorbitant prices it faces in the dollar market. "Brazil is definitely interested in this idea of monetising Polish Paris Club obligations," said one banker in New York. "The thing is, they can't come back to the dollar market with yields where they are, there is not much demand in euros for a large amount of new Brazilian paper, and they have tapped out the yen market for the time being."

The Republic of Chile is planning to return to the international dollar bond markets in September for the first time since 1999, with a $500m-$1bn 10 year global bond. The sovereign is expected to award a mandate early next week. The transaction is aimed at providing a new 10 year benchmark in the US market for Chilean corporates, and also as a demonstration by the government of the country's economic strength and its distance from the continuing Argentine financial crisis.

Peter Cuckovic has started work at ING Barings as a telecoms research analyst in the London-based high yield team. Cuckovic was previously at Lehman Brothers where he was an analyst in the high yield telecommunications group.