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JP Morgan last Friday priced a $300m CBO for Dutch asset manager Robeco - the first CBO backed primarily by US high yield bonds to be managed by a European firm. Robeco is 50% owned by Rabobank, which has an option to acquire the rest of the equity. "Robeco has a long track record in Europe but wants to raise its profile as an asset manager for high yield," said Nick Morgan, head of structured finance syndicate at JP Morgan in London. "The company wants to quadruple its assets under management in the next three years, and doing CBOs is part of that effort."

Ireland's largest mortgage lender, the Bank of Ireland, launched its first securitisation of Irish mortgages this week through UBS Warburg, meeting an enthusiastic response from investors hungry for European mortgage product. The Eu500m transaction, Liberator Securities No 1 plc, is the first large euro denominated MBS issue for nearly a month, at a time of year that is usually considered a useful window for issuance.

Crédit Agricole Indosuez and EBN Banco this week launched their second Spanish collateralised loan obligation backed by loans to small businesses extended by banks under a government subsidised programme. Like the inaugural transaction in March (see EW642), the deal pools loans from several domestic banks and is partially guaranteed by the Kingdom of Spain.

WITH the Asian crisis behind it, but its southeast Asian neighbours still in economic trouble, Singapore sees its future as a financial centre in the region second only to Japan. And driving the republic's bid is the government.

ONE global investment bank has been especially successful in Singapore in recent times. Salomon Smith Barney has picked up the biggest share of international equity capital market deals from the Lion City since 1999.

Singapore has delivered international investors two of the most exciting equity issues to emerge from Asia this year. Prospects look good for the year ahead as a spate of privatisation issues is set to emerge as well as plenty of IPOs by local and foreign companies. Leading Singapore companies are also expanding overseas through acquisition and are becoming more diversified in their ability to access global capital. International securities firms have been building their operations in Singapore to win new issue mandates and tap into the growing number of asset management companies setting up in the island republic. Mark B. Johnson reports.

After remaining aloof from the international bond markets, Singapore is now attempting to establish its dollar as an alternative currency sector. Already several supranationals and corporates have issued Singapore dollar bonds, and the range of borrowers tapping the market is set to increase.

In this article we survey alternative models of default.

THE bookbuild for the placement of 10.2m Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) shares began on Tuesday and closed at 5.00pm Sydney time yesterday (Thursday). Arrangers UBS Warburg and Credit Suisse First Boston were due to consult with CBA last night and the pricing of the placement will be made public today (Friday). CBA has recently received approval for a friendly takeover of Colonial, a diversified Australian banking, insurance and financial services group. The timing for the placement is ideal, as the bank sector of the All Ordinaries stock index is trading close to all time highs reached in April 1999. The bank sector weakened in the second half of last year, but has rallied steadily since February lows of 6,100 to stand at 7,300 yesterday.

DOMINANT Australian telecommunications company Telstra proceeded with its inaugural Eu1bn Eurobond issue this week, overcoming volatile market conditions and worries prompted by the company's recent ratings downgrades. These factors, plus a large funding requirement, provided less than ideal circumstances for lead managers BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank. Nevertheless, generous pricing and a reduction in the originally slated maturity of seven or 10 years to a five year tenor helped to make the transaction a success, and resulted in an oversubscription, according to the lead managers.

GOLDMAN Sachs completed the sales of 28.5m American Depository Shares (ADSs) of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (TSMC) late last week, raising $1.019bn. The ADSs were placed at $35.75, a premium of 43% to the underlying shares and a premium of 2.6% to the five day moving average for the ADSs. If the greenshoe is exercised the placement will total $1.171bn. The success of the deal signals the rekindling of international investor appetite for Taiwan and could open the gates on a flood of Taiwan equity deals waiting to emerge.