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Big, medium or small, Germany's companies are making increased use of the bond markets as the euro opens up a new world of investors and funding opportunities. From the jumbo bonds issued by Mannesmann to the small debuts by a handful of Mittelstand companies, the trend is clear and investment banks are engaged in a major marketing drive to persuade new corporate issuers to venture into the market.

The swift emergence of an equity culture in Germany has been one of the most remarkable phenomena in international capital markets in recent years. From being a backwater in terms of new equity issuance, Germany has quickly become Europe's busiest primary market - fuelled by the extraordinary growth of interest in the Neuer Markt for growth companies, and by the high level of restructuring activity among major corporations.

Led by the commercial banks, German financial institutions have generally accepted the need to pay a higher price for their international debt this year in return for access to a global and more diversified investor base.

The Basle Accord was promulgated in the late 1980s in the aftermath of the sovereign debt crisis.

Australia Merrill Lynch and JB Were completed a rights issue for Flinders Industrial Property Trust yesterday (Thursday). A total of A$42m was raised from the deal which offered units at A$1.08 - a discount to the A$1.20 close.

n Salomon Smith Barney and Credit Suisse First Boston were forced to pull a $125m exchangeable offer for China Merchants Holdings this week in the face of weak demand. Opinion was sharply divided over the cause of the failure of the five year issue. Some bankers said the terms seemed so generous that they signalled problems at the parent company which issued the deal. Others said they were remarkably tight given current investor apathy to China paper.

ICICI provided a boost for moribund Indian equity issuance with the completion of its $275m ADR sale this week. The Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter-led deal traded up substantially after its listing, following a seven times oversubscription. The ADRs were priced at $9.80 - flat to the underlying stock - and opened on the New York Stock Exchange at over $11. The underlying stock traded up 7% following the deal.

International investor interest is building ahead of Toyota Motor Corporation's listing in London and New York next week and a simultaneous $1.6bn secondary share offering. The 45m share offering is split into three tranches - US, Europe and Japan. Roadshows have been taking place this week in Europe and the US, under the respective leadership of Toyota board members Araki and Ozaki.

A total of $5bn could be raised by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and China Telecom in equity offerings over the next few weeks. China issuers have been notably absent from the recent wave of deals from Asia, reflecting cautious investor sentiment towards the country.

Paribas launched Japan's largest commercial real estate securitisation last Friday, selling ¥41bn of domestic bonds to finance a sale and leaseback transaction by supermarket operator Mycal Corp. Everything about the deal showed how fast the Japanese structured finance market has matured. Only a year ago, bankers struggled to place all but the most straightforward ABS with Japanese investors, and the range of buyers was narrow. Traders often said that investors put little trust in ratings, preferring to buy familiar names.

n Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) has mandated Westpac to arrange an A$3bn domestic MTN programme as part of its continuing efforts to reduce debt levels through the restructuring or refinancing of existing debt at cheaper levels. The mining and minerals company said that Warburg Dillon Read has been mandated as lead manager alongside Westpac for a roughly A$500m bond issue, roadshows for which will begin early next month.

St George Bank sold a $1bn global mortgage backed bond last Friday, only the second Australian issuer to take that route. Lead managed by Credit Suisse First Boston, Crusade Global Trust No 1 of 1999 garnered a host of new MBS buyers for St George, and gave the bank funding in a size not available in the domestic or Euromarkets. "We placed notes with 32 individual investors," said Peter Gow, chief manager of structured investments and securitisation at St George in Sydney. "And 63% of the total was allocated to new buyers in the US and Europe. That substantiated the decision to go down the global path."