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Nomura's principal finance group is once again confident of success in its long running campaign to buy the housing estate of Germany's national railway company Deutsche Bahn. The PFG offered DM8.1bn (Eu4.1bn) for the 112,000 homes last July, but its bid was rejected in favour of a lower tender from a group of German investors (see EW 562). The sale was delayed by the country's general election and then by a series of disputes, but Nomura now believes it has made an offer the government will find it difficult to refuse.

Since the summer of 1997, when the first weather derivatives transaction was recorded, we have witnessed the development of a new derivatives market in the United States, which is gradually expanding across the globe.

Does Value at Risk (VAR) measure risk?

Energy markets around the world are rapidly being deregulated, exposing participants to potentially enormous risks. In response to this there has been an explosion in the use of derivatives for managing these risks.

Jardine Fleming and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter increased Gas Authority of India's (Gail) GDR sale to $218m this week in response to strong demand for the shares. Following downward pressure on the underlying stock during the last week, the GDRs were priced at $9.67 - the equivalent of Rs70 a share from a close yesterday (Thursday) of Rs79. That is a discount of 12% to yesterday's close or a 9% discount to an four-day average.

Korea Tobacco & Ginseng began roadshows this week for a $790m equity fundraising with Credit Suisse First Boston and Warburg Dillon Read at the helm. Investors are thought to be enthusiastic, although with pricing not due for a fortnight there have been few orders to date.

Barclays Capital has sold a $260m FRN for the Republic of the Philippines, tapping strong appetite among investors for Asian sovereigns amid a deficit of supply from the region. The issue is the 10th this year from either Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas or the republic and confirms the Philippines as Asia's most prolific, if opportunistic, issuer. The country has borrowed $3.186bn this year.

The $13bn sale of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone looks set to be a storming success when it prices this weekend. Huge domestic demand could result in the three tranche structure being skewed toward retail investors while pricing will come at the tight end of the 2%, 3% and 4% discount range.

The Australian domestic market provided a steady stream of deals throughout the week with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Suncorp Metway and kangaroo issuer Principal Financial Global Funding all seeking to draw investors undeterred by this week's rate rise. CBA led the pack, opening its deal at the end of last week and pricing yesterday (Thursday). The bank itself and Warburg Dillon Read were lead managers for the A$250m subordinated issue which followed a line of similarly structured deals from Australian commercial banking heavyweights.

The Asian technology sector received a boost on Nasdaq this week with the completion of Credit Suisse First Boston's $83m placement for City Telecom. Bankers also reported strong interest in Merrill Lynch's $475m IPO for I-Cable. Of the 115m shares in the City Telecom placement, 70m were new stock with the remainder sold by the company's controlling shareholder, Top Group. Given the strong performance of the stock since the deal, the 15m share greenshoe is likely to be exercised.

Hong Kong property company Chinese Estates Ltd this week launched its HK$1.821bn securitisation of the Windsor House building in Causeway Bay, lead managed by Société Générale. Chinese Estates will use the proceeds, together with other sources of finance, to repay a syndicated loan that falls due next March. "Securitisation provides the company with a much wider investor base than the bank market," said a capital markets official at SG in Hong Kong, "and the cost of funds is around 9.05%, which is quite a sexy price."

Hong Kong n Bank of China launched a $150m IPO for Chinese TV manufacturer PCL International Holdings in the Hong Kong market this week. The company - which is among the top three manufacturers in the country - is 100% owned by the government of Huizhou province