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* Australian Mortgage Securities Ltd, ABN Amro's Australian mortgage financing company, this week executed a small private securitisation that is believed to have been directly placed with investors without the help of a lead manager. ARMS II Fund VII issued A$97.5m of senior bonds rated triple-A by Standard & Poor's and A$2.5m of notes rated AA-. The 'A' tranche, a 2.5 year soft bullet, priced at 28bp over the three month bank bills swap rate, and the junior piece at 69bp over.

Banca Popolare Pugliese, a regional bank in the south of Italy, launched its first securitisation this week, parcelling performing mortgages and non-performing loans (NPLs) into Eu79.5m of bonds lead managed by Crédit Agricole Indosuez. The deal is the second in Italy to combine performing and non-performing pools in a single SPV. In March another regional bank, Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie di Chieti, issued Eu35.9m of bonds backed by performing mortgages and a Eu37.9m deal backed by non-performing loans through Creso 1 Srl.

European investors will be offered what is effectively a new asset class in July when Fiat SAVA SpA, the Italian car manufacturer's finance arm, launches its first securitisation of Italian auto loans. The deal will be worth up to Eu1bn, making it by far the largest securitisation of European car loans.

Over the past 10 years, the market for equity derivative-linked structured products in the U.K. has grown dramatically in size and sophistication.

DINERS Club (Singapore) and the Development Bank of Singapore brought innovative structures to the Singaporean securitisation market this week, suggesting that the sector is fast becoming deeper and more diverse. Perhaps most significantly, the deals are believed to be the first securitisations of domestic Singaporean assets to carry credit ratings.

THE Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation (HKMC) and Dao Heng Bank (DHB) signed an agreement this week for a HK$1bn mortgage and bond asset swap programme, the first transaction under the asset swap arrangement recently launched by the HKMC to enhance the attraction of its programme of purchasing mortgages from Hong Kong banks. Under the swap arrangement, HKMC will purchase a portfolio of mortgages from Dao Heng. In return, HKMC will issue an equivalent amount of debt securities to the bank under its debt issuance programme.

COLONIAL shareholders gave their approval this week for the friendly A$9bn takeover offer from Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Providing the transaction is approved by the Australian monopolies commission, a bookbuild placement of up to A$200m CBA shares is expected between June 6 and June 9. UBS Warburg and Credit Suisse First Boston will handle the deal. Bankers in Sydney had expected a larger placement, but instead, Colonial shareholders opted for the CBA shares - and not the A$1bn in cash as was initially thought the more likely route.

THE China Unicom roadshow began on Monday, and the company hopes to raise up to $5.26bn from international investors and Hong Kong retail buyers as it targets a dual listing on the New York and Hong Kong stock exchanges. But several days into the investor presentations, Hong Kong based fund managers and researchers remain ambivalent about the company and the indicated valuation range.

THE Korea Asset Management Corp (Kamco), the South Korean state owned asset management company, could launch its planned asset backed security in July, according to a banking source. The transaction may be up to $400m in size, with a tenor of seven years and four to five year average life. Kamco was set up in late 1997 to take on and restructure non-performing loans from several domestic banks.

MIGHT Goldman Sachs be trying to persuade Vodafone Pacific to relaunch its IPO and accept the market pricing the investor community has been indicating? Some bankers in Sydney think so, but would nevertheless be surprised if the deal re-emerges before the summer. "We are hearing rumours that talks are taking place that could lead to the resurrection of the deal sooner rather than later," said one banker. "But we can only imagine this would be at a lower valuation range and that is very unlikely." A Goldman Sachs spokesman, speaking to Euroweek yesterday (Thursday) said the rumours had no substance.

Indonesia Indonesian food company Indofood is planning to issue a Rph1tr bond at the end of June. The company will launch after registration with the local capital markets supervisory board in Indonesia, said an official at joint lead manager ING Barings. "Upwards of 500 people attended the company's presentation this week - there was quite a lot of attention," the official said.

WITH NTT DoCoMo on an acquisition spree around the globe, this week saw speculation intensify over whether the company is planning an equity placement of up to $10bn to fund the purchases. Bankers in Tokyo could not substantiate the rumours, but commented that a large placement would be logical given the scale of the foreign investments planned by the wireless giant. However, if it does proceed in the coming weeks, there are concerns that the government, which is in need of funds, would have to push back the next sale of NTT shares that it owns.