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n The Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka has decided to postpone plans for an inaugural bond offering - for the second year in succession. Nearly two months ago, Citicorp and Salomon Smith Barney were mandated as ratings advisers to the government in its ambitious plan to bring a $150m to $200m five year fixed rate transaction to market by October.

The September rush in the Asian equity capital markets will begin in earnest next week, with Synnex Technology, Mosel Vitelic, Siam Cement, Thai Farmers Bank and Hyundai Motor commencing roadshows on Monday. Taiwan's Synnex will roadshow its offering in Asia next week and in Europe the following week, before pricing towards the end of the week of September 20 following the completion of roadshows in the US.

MACQUARIE Corporate Tele-communications will aim to capitalise on the enthusiasm for the second sale of shares in Telstra with a A$172m IPO that was launched on Monday. Macquarie's listing also follows the successful market debut of Hutchison Telecommunication a fortnight ago. The institutional tranche of Hutchison's A$309m deal was 15 times oversubscribed.

Japanese issuers produced deals in both the Swiss franc and yen Euro-convertible market this week. International Bank of Japan was bookrunner for a ¥3bn Euro-convertible from Atom Corp, while Nomura completed a Sfr30m deal for Kuramoto Seisakusho. Atom's Alpine convertible had a coupon of 0.125%. The bond comes with an issue and redemption price of par.

Stephen West has taken up a new senior position in the debt capital markets division of Merrill Lynch in London. As foreshadowed in Euroweek, Merrill won the services of the experienced West in the face of strong competition.

Belgium Fortis Finance has again turned to Chase for its loan financing needs. This time the Benelux banking group requires a $250m US swingline facility.

The German equity pipeline for the autumn is starting to fill up fast, with a raft of deals ranging from hi-tech companies listing on the Neuer Markt to spin-offs from some of Germany's leading corporate names. New issuance on the Neuer Markt has already started to pick up pace, with telephone banking group Entrium and network management services company Main Control poised to launch their respective offerings.

n Croatia's Agrokor this week tapped the European private placement market with a Eu31m five year floating rate offering via Rabobank. The company's debut international bond offering was guaranteed by the Baa3/BBB/BB+ rated Republic of Croatia. The lead manager declined to confirm the terms of the offering beyond the September 9, 2004 maturity and par issue/fixed

Market commentary: Compiled by Glenn Blackley,

Securitisation yet again demonstrated its power to cope with the most complex financing problems this week, as Royal Bank of Scotland placed £480m of bonds to fund Virgin Rail Group’s procurement of 53 hi-tech tilting trains.

The US primary equity markets are gearing up for a busy autumn, with several large deals in the pipeline. Market favourite Juniper Networks filed this week for the sale of some 5m shares which could raise over $1bn when completed, based on the Wednesday's closing price of $205. The company, a provider of innovative internet infrastructure systems, made its Nasdaq debut in June at $34 and has traded at over 500% of its offer price since. The appreciation in its stock price has given Juniper a market valuation of well over $8bn. The shares wobbled this week, dipping to $180 a day after filing, but recovered to $187 by Thursday afternoon.

Rating: AAA Amount: Eu135.885m (fungible with three issues totalling Eu764.122m launched 13/08/98, 04/12/98 and 04/05/99) Öffentlicher Pfandbrief series 955