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Australia The Housing and Development Board (HDB) launched a S$500m seven year bond issue this week. Citicorp lead managed the domestic deal, which is the fifth transaction from the board's S$3bn medium term note programme. The transaction has a coupon of 3.523%.

AUSTRALIA Credit Suisse First Boston, Macquarie Bank and Merrill Lynch began the roadshow for the Austereo IPO yesterday (Thursday). The three banks are joint coordinators of the deal that will involve the spin-off of the Austereo assets from listed company Village Roadshow.

The Airport Authority of Hong Kong (HKAA) launched a two tranche HK$2.5bn floating rate note rate issue via HSBC yesterday (Thursday), its first true foray into the capital markets. "We saw a window of opportunity in the Hong Kong dollar floater market," Alex Kam, treasurer at HKAA, told EuroWeek. "Liquidity was fairly good after the new year and was able to provide more competitive pricing than the syndicated loan market."

Hutchison Whampoa was roadshowing a $1.5bn 10 and 30 year global bond issue this week, in what will be one of the largest deals from Asia since Hutchison's own blockbuster $2bn offering in July 1997. The transaction is lead managed by Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch - who led the previous deal which had 10, 20, 30 and 40 year tranches - and newcomer JP Morgan.

Jackson National Life Funding has issued its very first Singapore dollar trade: a ten-year S$100 million ($58.46 million) note that pays interest semi-annually and a final coupon of 3.958%. The lead-manager off the trade is Deutsche Bank and the note will be issued on March 8 2001.

The largest bond issue in the Australian markets so far this year was arranged this week, as Nationwide Financial successfully launched a A$500m three year Kangaroo deal through special purpose vehicle Nationwide Financial Fund. The transaction had been increased twice, from A$300m due to demand. ABN Amro sole lead managed the issue, which was guaranteed by funding agreements, or general insurance contracts (GICs), from US-based Nationwide Life Insurance Co. National Australia Bank, Salomon Smith Barney and UBS Warburg acted as co-managers.

Nationwide Financial Funding (Nationwide) signed a $2 billion global MTN programme on February 7 via Credit Suisse First Boston and Salomon Smith Barney. It is expected to replace the $2 billion Euro-MTN programme that the issuer signed in July 1999 via Credit Suisse First Boston. It marks the change to regulations that previously did not allow guaranteed investment contract (gic) issuers to place paper in the US. And several other gics are expected to sign global programmes in the future to take advantage of the new regulations. Nationwide has been a very active issuer off its Euro-MTN facility, raising $2 billion-worth off 20 notes, all of which have been fixed- or floating-rate. The dealer panel off the new facility is thought to include the two arrangers, ABN Amro and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. It is Salomon Smith Barney's first arrangership for a gic. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter is the leading bank in the sector with seven arrangerships and 12 dealerships out of the total of 15 gic programmes.

NTT DoCoMo received a firm vote of confidence from local and international investors just days before data emerged to prove that Japan is once again in recession. The lead banks, Goldman Sachs and Nikko Salomon Smith Barney, completed Japan's largest ever new share issue despite the Nikkei Index slumping close to 13,000, a 10 year all-time low. Meanwhile, reports this week indicated that the government might not proceed with the sale of 1m shares later this year if the Tokyo market remains weak.

ABN Amro has completed a A$33.5m securitisation to finance construction of a new hospital in the Australian state of Victoria. The ABS market is taking an increasingly active part in infrastructure finance in Australia, particularly when public services are outsourced to the private sector.

Travelsky Technology, China's state owned airline booking system, completed its initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange late last week. Lead manager Goldman Sachs arranged the sale of 270.32m shares at HK$4.1 per share, raising a total of $142.45m. The price was close to the top end of the HK$3.5-HK$4.25 range indicated during the roadshow. The new issue represents 31.9% of the company's enlarged issued share capital.

CNOOC, a unit of state owned China National Offshore Oil Corp, launched its roadshow on Monday to woo international investors in its second IPO attempt. The company plans to issue 1.44bn new shares while its parent will sell 200m existing shares, thereby hoping to raise $1.36bn. Institutional investors will be allocated 95% of the issue and 5% will be offered to the public in Hong Kong.

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