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Language Line, the world's largest provider of over-the-phone translation services, has secured $200 million in bank debt via TD Securities amid a difficult financing environment that has seen banks pull back from extending credit. Matt Gibbs, cfo for Language Line, explained the market is tough right now, "partly because of the things that have gone wrong in the last six to eight months. People are gun-shy right now and don't want to extend credit." The fallout with new economy companies has made banks particularly wary of anything cutting edge, he said. Language Line utilizes some interesting technology, but it is not seen as a cutting-edge business, Gibbs explained.

A decent issuance week with about $15.5 billion in investment grade supply hitting the market. Utilities and energy companies were once again at the fore with Burlington Resources, First Energy, and Indianapolis Power & Light among the borrowers. The U.S. Treasury's surprise decision to suspend the 30-year bond appears to be already having an effect on corporate bond issuance. The weighted average maturity of issuance on the week was 12.7 years, which is 3.4 years longer than the year-to-date average. There is likely to be continued extension out the curve by borrowers looking to lock in low all-in rates and to meet the incremental demand for paper created by the shortage of Treasury supply. Utilities and Energy companies, with their need to fund capex, are natural long end buyers. The high yield calendar also remains healthy with over $1 billion in paper priced; there was one deal in emerging markets as Panama tapped the '08s for $250 million.

Following one failed attempt to raise funds through an international public bond issue in the dollar market, Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW) subsidiary PCCW-HKT Telephone successfully returned to the market on Wednesday with an inaugural $750m 10 year bond issue. The 144a Reg S issue was rapidly launched without a fanfare by financial unit PCCW-HKT Capital and guaranteed by PCCW-HKT. The speed and interest in the issue is in stark contrast to the aborted attempt to launch the telecoms company's $2.5bn jumbo dollar issue in July.

Four days into the international roadshow for the float of the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT), bankers working on the deal claim it is going as well as they could have hoped given the feedback received during premarketing. Their expression of confidence came as the international investment community appeared to be encouraged by the pricing of the issue but remained concerned over the corporate governance of state owned and privatised Thai companies.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) was finalising preparations to launch its inaugural domestic bond issue today (Friday), with only a few documentation procedures to be concluded. The partially government owned airline was looking to launch a S$800m 10 year fixed rate bond issue via Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) and the slightly surprising choice of HSBC. The joint lead managers have reported strong interest from the market and hope to see some overseas participation.

Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) revealed this week that it would begin an all-encompassing international roadshow for its forthcoming jumbo global bond issue, following in the footsteps of regional rival PCCW-HKT's deal earlier this week (see separate story). Having recently secured an A1/AA- rating, the corporate is expected to launch what could be the largest corporate bond issue of the year, with an official size of $1.5bn in 10 and 30 year tranches. The corporate also reserved the right to arrange a euro tranche as did Singapore bank Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) earlier this year.

The A$50m institutional offer as part of the A$260m GPU GasNet IPO was closed yesterday (Thursday), with bankers working on the deal reporting strong interest. The bulk of the placement will go to retail investors in a public offer that closes on November 28. With its high forecast yield of 11% in the first two years, the issue has been designed to appeal principally to retail investors.

Having moved quickly to roadshow its debut $300m 10 year transaction early last week, Jardine Strategic was forced to negotiate volatile conditions and priced its deal last Friday at a spread wider than expected. The 144a, senior unsecured global issue garnered diverse reactions from the market, with some bankers hailing the deal's success in the less than perfect market conditions even as others criticised the pricing and relatively low level of oversubscription.

Indications during a premarketing lunch on Wednesday that Aluminium Corporation of China (Chalco), China's largest primary aluminium producer, would price its stock in its forthcoming IPO at a p/e multiple of 11.5-12.5 times are exaggerated, according to bankers working on the deal. They said that the p/e multiple would need to be close to five to eight times for the deal to appeal to international fund managers.

Australia SingTel Optus had its rating increased from A- with a positive outlook to A with a stable outlook by Standard & Poor's (S&P) this week. The agency said that following Singapore Telecommunications acquisition of Optus, the rating action reflects Optus's strategic role within the Australian growth plans of its 100% shareholder. The agency noted that the parent's support helped improve the company's outlook.

Dentsu, one of the world's largest advertising agencies, set a tentative price range for an initial public offering last Friday of ¥380,000-¥420,000, giving the company a market capitalisation of up to ¥584bn ($4.8bn). Dentsu management and lead banks Nomura, Merrill Lynch and UBS Warburg set the range last Friday, following an encouraging response from investors.

Deutsche Bank on Monday completed its first ever public debt or equity issue for DBS Group Holdings. The German bank raised S$2.2bn for DBSH in new equity capital through an agreed placement of S$1.15bn of stock to two fund managers and a S$1.05bn bought deal (underwritten by Deutsche) placed to local and international investors. It was the first large capital raising from a bank in Asia since late 1999. The two part offering included a 119.8m share placement to two large US institutional investors - Brandes Investment Partners and Capital Group International - at S$9.50 per share. A sticking point had been the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) rule that no single shareholder should own more than 5%. However, a solution was achieved by the two investment funds taking any shares in excess of 5% in the form of Singapore Depository Receipts and vesting the voting rights with professional proxy firms.