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The logjam in Asian equity deals has forced Credit Suisse First Boston to pull Thai Military Bank's (TMB) $1bn share issue following last week's postponement of Korea Exchange Bank's $1bn GDR sale. Bankers said withdrawal of some sales was inevitable given the glut of new issues trying to price before investors close their books in advance of Y2K.

A wide range of Japanese investors snapped up Mazda Credit Co's second securitisation of Japanese auto loans this week, drawn by the chance to pick up extra yield in a market where corporate spreads have dwindled almost to nothing. Sole manager Goldman Sachs had planned to sell the ¥47bn deal in dollars, and adopted a Euromarket structure and documentation, but when the time came to launch it the Japanese market proved more attractive and all the bonds were sold in yen.

The Japanese government will announce its plans for the sale of a $12bn stake in Nippon Telegraph & Telephone today (Friday), heralding the largest international equity offering of the year. Pre-marketing for the 952,000 share sale will begin on Monday with roadshows due to launch a week later. The deal will close during the first week of November and was timed to prevent a clash with the A$17bn Telstra offer.

Debt issuance from Asia is set to be dominated by China until the end of the month, with roadshows starting next week for both China Telecom (CT) and the Export Import Bank of China (Chexim). To avoid directly competing against each other, the two borrowers are to begin presentations at opposite ends of the globe with Chexim kicking off presentations in London in the middle of next week and China Telecom in Singapore on Monday.

The Hong Kong share placement for Pacific Century CyberWorks, the largest so far this year, was engulfed in controversy this week after what appeared to be an unprecedented breach of a lock-up agreement. The 635m share issue (plus 92.25m share greenshoe of which 33.863m has been exercised) has so far raised a total of HK$4.08bn ($524.42m). The deal follows a sale - forced by Hong Kong Stock Exchange - to raise the company's freefloat to a minimum 25% just a month ago.

Deutsche Siedlungs-und Landesrentenbank (DSL) broke the recent drought in Australia's Kangaroo market this week when it launched its third such offering to date. Once again led by Deutsche Bank and Warburg Dillon Read, the triple-A rated bank raised a further A$300m in three year money, bringing total outstandings to the A$1.55bn mark.

UK bank Abbey National this week signalled that securitisation has become a central part of its funding and balance sheet management strategy, with the launch of its second £1bn mortgage backed security this year. Abbey sold a pilot £247.5m MBS in February 1998, and brought its first big deal a year later, but until now the bank has not stated that it would use securitisation regularly. This week, however, Abbey announced that it was considering funding up to £6bn of its £60bn mortgage book through securitisation.

The Asian Development Bank all but wrapped up its funding requirements for the year this week when it launched a surprise $1bn three year global bond. The ADB took advantage of a dramatic tightening in swap and credit spreads at the beginning of the week and strong demand for short dated paper by triple-A names, making an opportunistic bid to reposition itself in the public bond markets. However, while few could find fault with the bank's strategy, its timing fell short of luck.

South Africa RMB International has increased and signed its $100m one year debut loan after it was oversubscribed and increased to $150m.

ANGLO AMERICAN plc is tapping the Euroloan market for the first time since it registered on the London Stock Exchange. The former South African and Luxembourg-based firm is raising a $500m five year revolver that will be used to refinance a similarly sized tranche of an existing facility that was arranged in the first quarter of 1996. Arrangers of the latest facility are Barclays, Deutsche Bank (joint bookrunner), Dresdner Bank Luxembourg (joint bookrunner), Paribas, Sumitomo and Warburg Dillon Read.

Warburg Dillon Read and Merrill Lynch have completed the highly successful Eu800m offering of stock in Amadeus Global Travel Distribution. The deal has taken some time to come to the markets - but with a book of demand that was more than 10 times covered, it was worth the wait. The lead managers indicated a price range between Eu4.75 and Eu6 and the shares were sold at Eu5.75. This cautious pricing reflects the turmoil in global markets during the week, when disappointing earnings from various technology groups sent Nasdaq and then the Dow Jones into a virtual tailspin with the main market loosing 200 points over two sessions.

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