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Australian non-bank mortgage lender RAMS Home Loans Pty Ltd this week launched its 14th domestic securitisation, at a time when many of its competitors are taking deals to the international markets. "We are well known to investors in the Euromarket and make a considerable effort to keep them informed as well as expand our awareness among US investors," said Kieran Brush, group chief financial officer for RAMS in Sydney. "However, we can achieve competitive funding through smaller, regular domestic issues for the moment."

The 240m share IPO for Roadshow Group, the multi-media advertising arm of Kowloon Motor Bus, has been well supported, according to bankers involved in the offering. The issue is due to be priced tomorrow (Saturday) and will probably emerge at or very close to the top end of the HK$1.69-HK$2.25 price range, given little or no price sensitivity in the book. At HK$2.25 per share, the offer size would be HK$540m, equivalent to almost $70m.

Sony Communication Network (SCN) tracking stock, the first issue of its kind in Japan, fell 11% on the first day of trading, was down almost 20% at one stage on Wednesday and closed down almost 8% at the close of Tokyo trading yesterday (Thursday). Bankers close to the deal reported that institutional investors remain wary in the secondary market and that the buying is mainly retail. Sony and the joint lead managers for the issue, Merrill Lynch and Nomura Securities, priced Japan's first tracking stock at ¥3,300 last week, raising ¥10.1bn. Such instruments have proven popular elsewhere with companies because they allow them to raise funds targeted at high growth parts of their businesses.

The roadshows for subordinated bond issues by Citic Ka Wah Bank and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) began today (Friday). Citic Ka Wah Bank starts the roadshow for its 10 year non call five sub debt deal in Hong Kong, while OCBC kicks off in Singapore, with plans to move on to Hong Kong and Europe. Barclays Capital, ICBC and UBS Warburg are joint lead managing Citic Ka Wah's sub debt issue, which is almost certainly related to intended acquisitions. The deal is expected to be for a minimum of $200m, but could be much larger. Moody's assigned a Baa3 prospective rating to CKWB, the financial unit of Citic Ka Wah that will issue the sub debt.

The UK's Cable & Wireless (C&W) is eager to sell down the Singapore Telecommunications shares it will receive if SingTel's acquisition of Australia's Cable & Wireless Optus is completed next month. On Monday Merrill Lynch placed out 848.7m of the maximum 940m shares that C&W might end up owning to a single global fund management house. Some bankers in Hong Kong believe this is the first time an acquirer has pre-placed a block in this way.

The expansive Suncorp Metway secured A$550m in an issue of 45m new shares last Friday. Salomon Smith Barney was bookrunner with JB Were and Merrill Lynch joint lead managers. The money will partly fund Suncorp Metway's recent A$1.2bn purchase of GIO, the general insurance operation of Australia's AMP. The lead banks underwrote the issue at A$12.30 per share, offering a 12% discount to the market price of A$13.98 at the close of trading last Thursday. The final price emerged at A$13.30 per share, a modest discount of 4.9%. By yesterday (Thursday), the stock had climbed to A$15, a rise of 12.8% from the issue price and 7.3% from the closing price before the placement.

China China Unicom, which went public last year, has mandated Morgan Stanley and its mainland joint venture partner China International Capital Corp (CICC) as global co-ordinators for a jumbo issue of new shares to finance the acquisition of 18 provincial cellular networks from its parent. The deal will be similar to the $8.24bn multi-faceted funding completed by China Mobile last year.

Australia ANZ Bank brought a well received A$300m five year bond issue to market on Wednesday. Arranging the transaction for itself, the bank launched the deal, which consists of transferable certificates of deposit, to an enthusiastic market. "The deal has definitely gone well and priced in line with similar names," said an official at ANZ.

Just over a year after Telstra Corp last accessed the euro market for a large international bond issue, the dominant Australian teleco has returned with a flourish, successfully launching a Eu1.5bn 10 year Eurobond despite volatility in the telecoms sector. The transaction is due to be priced this morning (Friday), andwith the books closing yesterday (Thursday) the indications were that the deal had garnered great interest from European investors.

The two ends of the credit spectrum of the EU accession countries got away impressive deals this week. Single-A Hungary, the leading applicant negotiating to join the EU in 2004, issued a Eu1bn 10 year benchmark on Tuesday, the largest single issue from the region. One day earlier, single-B Romania blitzed a yield starved emerging market investor base with a Eu600m seven year blowout deal.

Hungary has issued its Eu1bn 10 year benchmark bond, its only transaction for the year, and one that the republic hopes marks its graduation to a regular investment grade sovereign credit in the eurozone market ahead of Emu. The bond has a 5.625% coupon, and was lead managed by Deutsche Bank and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney. It was hailed by other bankers as a solid achievement, but not a blowout.

The two ends of the credit spectrum of the EU accession countries got away impressive deals this week. Single-A Hungary, the leading applicant negotiating to join the EU in 2004, issued a Eu1bn 10 year benchmark on Tuesday, the largest single issue from the region. One day earlier, single-B Romania blitzed a yield starved emerging market investor base with a Eu600m seven year blowout deal.