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South Australia-based ElectraNet was this week preparing its first domestic bond issue since privatisation earlier this year, launching the marketing for inflation linked bonds and floating rate notes (FRNs). The company is expected to launch a deal in two weeks. The lessee of the South Australia electricity transmission network is tapping the market with a A$400m transaction of inflation linked bonds, in two tranches of 10 and 15 years. This will be followed within a few days by the FRN issue for A$480m, also in two tranches, with five and seven year tenors. ABN Amro, Dresdner Bank and Macquarie Bank are joint lead managers.

Australia Coles Myer is selling A$700m of reset convertible preference shares, priced at A$100 each, in an issue designed to appeal to both retail and institutions.

Industrial Bank of Japan has added Mizuho Bank as a dealer off its $7.5 billion note programme.

Lehman Brothers and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney will complete the first significant sub-investment grade convertible for a European company outside the telecoms sector in Europe with a $350m issue for International Power today (Friday). Bankers see the sector as having strong growth potential, with one banker involved in the deal suggesting the deal could be a similar milestone to Colt Telecom's DM600m convertible in July 1998, which helped to open the European sub-investment grade market. International Power is rated Ba3/BB - two notches below investment grade by Moody's and one notch below investment grade by Standard & Poor's.

Westdeutsche Landesbank's future was thrown into doubt this week, as the bank's owners instructed the management board to consider various restructuring proposals. The proposals have arisen in response to EU concerns on whether state guarantees that the bank receives from the state constitute illegal subsidies.

Salomon Smith Barney will close the books for Kensington Group's £100m IPO on Monday with pricing the following day and dealing on the LSE expected to begin on November 23. The company is a market leader in the non-conforming residential mortgage sector in the UK. "The demographics are pointing toward high growth in the non-conforming sector," said a spokesman for the company.

KPN's Eu5.5bn combined equity and equity linked deal is having a tough time as it moves toward pricing on Monday, although generous terms on the convertible and a consistent fall in the stock price are beginning to draw investors. Bankers connected to the sale, which is being led by ABN Amro Rothschild, Goldman Sachs and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, declined to comment on the state of the book for either deal, citing SEC restrictions. Other market observers have not been so reluctant to pass judgement.

Leak was sad to hear that Ian White and Joti Mangat of MTNWatch have jumped ship, leaving poor old Tim Cocks, straight out of university, to fend for himself. With a staff of one to run the service, it looks like MCM will abandon the project entirely. It is not clear where the two have gone, but it's no secret that Mike Tims is looking for some staff to man his latest web venture. And though we wish Mr Tims all the best with the project we are surprised he has not moved into his true vocation: Hollywood. Apparently when Mike was a young reporter on IFR he spent his spare moments writing a film that he was certain would bring him fame and fortune. It was entitled Celtic Warriors. The plot centres on a group of cyber-punks who go to the Isle of Anglesey to investigate a new breed of magic mushroom. But there they stumble across the tomb of King Arthur and he and his Celtic warriors come alive. The film ends with a bloody battle between the cyber-punks and King Arthur. It's only a matter of time before Mike abandons MTNs and dedicates himself to bringing this gripping tale to the big screen. Most UK treasurers were feeling even worse than Mike Tims' cyber-punks on Thursday after the raucous ACT bash at Grosvener House Hotel the night before. And we wish Julie Edinburgh the best of luck. She left CSFB on Friday to go on maternity leave.

French oil services firm Compagnie Générale de Géophysique (CGG) is on course to issue a well received $165m seven year high yield bond today (Friday), with bookrunner Salomon Smith Barney yesterday reporting that the book was three times oversubscribed. Price talk is 10.50%-10.75%. "Pricing will be well within the talk," said a Salomon official. CGG, however, is not looking to price inside the indicated spread range, despite the high level of oversubscription.