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THE BANCO Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has decided to forge ahead with plans to refinance up to $500m in bonds, although bankers say that the offering may not now be launched before the retirement of governor Gabriel Singson. The central bank had been keen to launch the transaction as a swansong for Singson, who steps down on July 4 to make way for Rafael Buenaventura.

SANWA Bank opened a new era in Japanese banking last Friday, with the country's first securitisation of residential mortgages. The Japanese mortgage market is huge - at ¥169tr ($1.46tr), by far the largest outside the US - and enthusiasts for securitisation are eagerly looking forward to the development of a thriving mortgage backed securities market.

A NEW name was added to the Singapore dollar bond market this week with an inaugural bond for insurance company John Hancock Global Funding. Led by Citicorp, the S$150m transaction was launched yesterday (Thursday) after the swap market had rebounded sufficiently to let the transaction through in difficult market conditions. Overseas Union Bank (OUB) was co-lead and Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCSB) co-managers. The 10 year, AA+ rated deal carried an annual coupon of 4.375% to yield 64bp over Singapore Government Securities (SGS).

RUSSELL Julius has returned to ING Barings after a stint of almost three years at Jardine Fleming, where he was co-head of Asian investment banking and head of Asian capital markets. He has been appointed managing director and head of equity capital markets worldwide, based in London. JF has appointed Alex Yule Smith, who has been with the firm since leaving Morgan Stanley in 1991, as Julius' replacement, although much of his position will be divided between existing Asia equity capital markets members Rupert Fane and Vincent Tong. Yule Smith is expected to concentrate on JF's EFIL-related business from Hong Kong, Tong on Greater China including Taiwan and Fane on the remainder of Asia.

TOTAL Access Communications (TAC) paid a high price to raise the $70m necessary to repay imminent debt this week. Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank postponed the placement last Friday, but armed with a wider discount, completed a slimmed sale on Tuesday. The banks approached the Singapore Stock Exchange for a waiver on the normal requirement that a discount of less than 10% be offered for the sale of new shares. The measure - used to protect existing shareholders - was discarded, largely because of the urgency of the situation, and a discount of 20% was set.

NOMURA launched two Japanese transactions to international investors this week. Kyoden raised Sfr50m in the convertible market while Saizeriya plans to complete a ¥25.6bn equity raising by the end of next week. Nomura's two previous Swiss franc convertibles set the backdrop for Kyoden, both having traded well.

Australia Merrill Lynch sold 21m Lihir Gold shares on behalf of Vengold this week. The book was built around an indicative range of A$0.93 to A$0.98 and the shares priced at the top of that range. Bankers report some overseas interest with most investors being either gold or resources funds. PBL offshoot ecorp will close the retail tranche of its A$160m IPO on June 8 while the institutional bookbuild will open on Monday for just three days. Pricing and allocation is due on June 11 and listing on June 15. A total of 134m shares will be sold at a price between A$1 and A$1.20.

ABN AMRO and Jardine Fleming have been mandated for the sale of San Miguel's (SMC) stake in Australia's Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) in a deal which could raise up to $900m, via a public offer. Despite denials from bankers at one of the lead managers, Euroweek has learnt that the CCA board has already approved the public sale, which is expected before the summer hiatus sets in. Other officials connected to the sale said the mandate document had not yet been signed but that there had been a verbal agreement.

HUNGARIAN chemicals company BorsodChem Rt has requested bids for its debut transaction in the loan market. It has invited about 15 banks to submit financing plans based on two options. The first is for a straightforward syndicate to provide a facility worth Eu100m over seven years, probably as a term loan.