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The Caribbean has provided the international bond markets with $1.3bn of paper over the past year, with Trinidad&Tobago and Barbados capitalising on their investment grade ratings, and Jamaica receiving a vote of confidence from investors despite its economic troubles. Jamaica will be looking to return to the external bond markets before long, but the recent strong supply from the region will remain an exception to the norm. Euan Hagger reports.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) has signed a $10 billion Euro-MTN programme via Merrill Lynch. It is only the second Japanese corporate to sign this year. NTT is one of the world's biggest telecommunications firms and is 53% state-owned. It is rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA+ by Standard & Poor's. Randolph Randolph, vice president, head of Asia Pacific capital markets at Merrill Lynch, says: "NTT has been considering the MTN market for a while and the signing is just a natural progression of its funding strategy." The dealers are the arranger, ABN Amro, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, IBJ, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Nomura, Salomon Smith Barney, Tokyo Mitsubishi and UBS Warburg.

LG-Caltex Oil Corporation signed a $200 million Euro-CP programme on Wednesday, September 6. Deutsche Bank has scooped the arrangership. The Korean issuer was formed when Caltex, from the US, teamed up with the Korean company Lucky. Hanvit Bank was the last Korean issuer to enter the Euro-CP market when it set up its euro2 billion ($1.74 billion) shelf in 1999. LG-Caltex has recently expanded and is now the fifth largest oil refinery in the world, in terms of production capacity. The dealer panel comprises Citibank, Credit Suisse First Boston and Goldman Sachs. LG-Caltex Oil is rated BBB- by Standard & Poor's and Baa2 by Moody's.

The Euro-MTN market is to welcome its first pure postal issuer, rumour has it. La Poste, France's state-owned postal system, is thought to be signing a facility soon. The issuer, rated triple-A by Standard & Poor's, has a $500 million Euro-CP shelf. Talk is that the two banks competing for the arrangership are Deutsche Bank and ABN Amro. Deutsche Bank was added to La Poste's Euro-CP programme at the last update. And ABN Amro arranges the euro500 million ($506.31 million) Euro-CP programme of TNT, the only other postal issuer in the Euro-CP market.

Argentina Barclays Bank (Miami) has signed the $85m (increased from $75m) L/C facility for Banco BI Creditanstalt SA.

The last of the Lehman class of '95 has left the bank. Tiina Lee, Deborah Loades and Bruce Cairnduff went on to bigger and better things last millennium. And even Richard Tynan managed to do a passable impression of a rat as he jumped the good ship Lehman earlier this year. And now Julia Ward, Lehman's queen of origination, has seen the light and realised that, with a wedding to fund, she needs a more generous employer. Commerzbank may be ranked 20th in the MTNWeek league tables, but she has decided its better to work for a bank on the way up than one falling quicker than Rupert Lewis off his motorbike. Rumour has it that she is to take up her post in October, where she will be joining Francisco Perello, Commerz's head trader. And Commerzbank is not the only German house recruiting. Though Jon Saunders was being his usual coy self, we gather that Dresdner, after seeing most of its capital markets team walk out, is hiring again. Michael Stump has been added to beef up its MTN team, sparing poor Jon that tiresome job of pitching for programmes. And we hear there is another trader joining Jon soon. Watch this space . . .

The Lebanese republic has postponed its debut $500m 20 year global bond issue, which was due to be led by Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, following last (Thursday) night's announcement that Moody's had placed Lebanon's B1 domestic currency debt rating on review for possible downgrade. The rating agency's move persuaded the borrower to hold back from the market a deal that was already looking uncertain, after the shock election victory this week of billionaire former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

Leica Microsystems hopes to follow the stunning success of this week's debut by Linos on the Neuer Markt (see separate story), with the optical device manufacturer set to launch its IPO in October. UBS Warburg is global co-ordinator and bookrunner for the deal.

Liberty Hampshire has signed a $10 billion Euro-CP shelf with Deutsche Bank as arranger. A conduit of Liberty Hampshire, Lexington Parker Capital Company, operates the facility. It also operates a $15 billion US CP programme. The dealers off the Euro-CP are the arranger, Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers.

Investors looking for triple-A debt with a difference will welcome Pfandbrief Bank International (PBI) joining the market. The Luxembourg bank is to sign a euro7.5 billion ($7.22 billion) debt issuance programme and a euro1 billion Euro-CP facility within the next two weeks. PBI's facility can issue lettres de gage, Luxembourgeoise Pfandbriefe. The issuer hopes that 70% of its funding will be lettres de gage, which carry a triple-A rating from Standard & Poor's. PBI was the first issuer to be granted a licence to issue lettres de gage in September 1999 and has since been joined by two others, including Eurohypo. Christof Schornig, PBI's chief executive officer, believes that though it is early days it can compete with the established German Pfandbriefe and growing French obligations foncieres markets. "The lettres de gage market has just started. However, it will gain market share from the others. But PBI cannot make a market on its own and more banks setting up Luxembourg operations is good news for us. Investors like buying a product that is growing," he says. The issuer was set up in July 1999 by Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank and is owned by the bank and its five subsidiaries. Schornig, who used to be Depfa's treasurer, now heads PBI's 11-strong staff. Its main activity is lending to European public sector entities such as Swiss cantons and housing associations. The programme can also be used to issue senior unsecured notes, which will be rated A by Standard & Poor's. The issuer has a preference for long-dated debt and is happy to entertain interest rate structures, but cannot issue credit-linked, equity-linked or commodity-linked notes. Schornig says: "Our main strategy is to expand our investor base by going out and meeting investors one-on-one." He says that PBI has already had enquiry for Australian dollar. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter is the arranger off both facilities, making it the top arranger of triple-A shelves in 2000.