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A FLOOD of Taiwanese convertible bonds emerged this week including a groundbreaking $150m deal for Far Eastern Textile (FET) led by Goldman Sachs, which generated over $1bn in demand. The issue was one of four convertibles from Taiwan that are either in the market or about to be launched, with Jardine Fleming launching a $150m bond for Mosel Vitelic, exchangeable into shares of ProMos Technologies, Deutsche Bank marketing a $180m deal for Macronix and Goldman poised to launch a $200m convertible for Acer with a similar structure to the FET bonds.

AEP RESOURCES CitiPower 1 pty Ltd is set to become the first domestic Australian corporate to use a credit wrap to achieve finer pricing, with the launch this Wednesday of an A$400m transaction. The BBB+ rated Melbourne-based electricity distributor has used Ambac Assurance Corp to wrap its seven year deal that is to be led by Salomon Smith Barney, SG and Warburg Dillon Read.

BEIJING Capital International Airport's (BCIA) $500m IPO was in full swing this week with the roadshow taking place in continental Europe and the UK before jetting off for the US leg of the trip. Bankers at ABN Amro report strong interest from Europe - the base of much of the world's specialist airport infrastructure investors - following visits from the management teams of BCIA and Aeroports de Paris.

KOREA Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) is preparing to raise $500m in five year funds this March and is therefore likely to be the first of the republic's mainstream borrowers to access the international debt markets in 2000. Treasury officials said that the group is planning to make a decision on which market to tap in the middle of February, with the intention of launching a deal one month later.

Oversea Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) is looking likely to become the second Singaporean entity to launch a bank capital transaction. It is formulating plans to raise about $300m in dated upper tier 2 debt via Goldman Sachs. Although observers say that launch is a few months off, the bank is almost at the end of its ratings process with Standard & Poor's and Moody's.

COMMONWEALTH Bank of Australia (CBA) took its first steps into Japan's retail market this week with the launch of a A$120m three year issue via Nomura Securities. Only the second ever Australian issuer to tap the sector, CBA follows the lead set by Westpac which began placing paper with Uridashi investors in the middle of 1998. "This issue fits into the third plank of our global funding strategy which aims for the launch of periodic benchmark issues, Euro-MTN structured trades and regionally targeted transactions," said John Te Wechel, a CBA treasury official.

LEHMAN Brothers and Goldman Sachs scored a resounding success with China.com's $395.8m offering this week. The shares were priced yesterday (Thursday) at $85 - a discount of 1.8% to the market closing price on Nasdaq of $86-5/8 on Wednesday. Bankers said that strong investor demand prompted the increase of the sale from a planned 3.88m shares to 4.656m shares. If the greenshoe is exercised within one month from the date of pricing - thought to be likely - a total of 5.3475m shares will be eventually sold.

Hong Kong ING Barings this week completed the placement of 200m shares in CCT Telecom at HK$4.60 a share - a discount of 8.91% to the closing price of HK$5.05 on January 18.

Roadshows for Hanvit Bank's groundbreaking subordinated debt offering will open in Hong Kong on Monday, January 31. Under the lead of JP Morgan, presentations for the roughly $500m-$700m Rule 144A offering will then move to Singapore on February 1, followed by London and Frankfurt. The roadshows will move to the US over Chinese New Year.

Norway The four arrangers of the Nkr3.9bn two tranche revolver for Statoil Detaljhandel have received their first commitment.

SG is sole arranger on a Pta12bn senior debt facility backing the acquisition by 3i and management of the remaining shares in Terminal de Contenedores de Barcelona (TCB). Using Pta6bn from 3i and Pta12bn from the loan market, TCB will buy back the remaining 72% of its shares that were held by private individuals. 3i will keep a 28% stake in TCB.