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THE MANDATE to lead a ¥70bn bond for the Kingdom of Thailand insured by Japan's Ministry of Trade & Industry (MITI) has been thrown open to competition. Asian bankers said that although MITI had initially assigned the deal to Citicorp, it eventually bowed to pressure from the Thai government which argued that it was the issuer's prerogative to select lead managers. As a result, while the US bank remains on a shortlist, it has now been joined by a couple of other banks invited to bid by the government's fiscal policy office.

THE FIRST public securitisation from the Republic of Korea may be launched as early as today (Friday), with the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) hoping to raise $650m from an issue backed by its pool of promissory notes. Ironically, after a year which the bond markets have been all but closed to the republic's benchmark borrowers, the Ba2/BB+ rated bank may be able to issue its first offering of 1998 just before the markets close for Christmas.

* Moody's has assigned first time ratings to Land Bank of Taiwan, the island republic's third largest bank. Awarding an A2 long term foreign currency deposit rating, Prime-2 short-term foreign currency deposit rating and D+ Bank Financial Strength Rating, the agency said that its decision largely reflected the bank's, "long history and significant franchise in real estate and agricultural lending, as well as its stable and professional management team".

THE JAPANESE government sale of NTT shares raised $7.38bn this week, ending a 10 year hiatus in the privatisation of the company and proving wrong those that believed DoCoMo had saturated appetite for Japanese telcos. Daiwa Securities, Goldman Sachs and Warburg Dillon Read were global co-ordinators for the 1m share offer which priced at ¥855,000 * a discount of 3.06% to the stock's close of ¥882,000 on Monday.

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* Countrywide Home Loans Guarantor: Countrywide Credit Industries

Croatia Deutsche Bank London aims to sign up participant banks in the DM100m 364 day bridge loan for Autocesta Rijeka Zagreb by the end of December. Retail is scheduled to close next week.

* Banca Intesa SpA Rating: BBB

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Argentina * Banco Hipotecario SA

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MERRILL Lynch and WestLB have completed the DM260m sale of stock in EM-TV, Europe's largest provider of cartoons. The offering looks set to be the last Neuer Markt deal of the year and provides additional proof of the market's depth and maturity. "The German Neuer Markt has proved its resilience many times this year," said one local stockbroker, "pushing out some good deals in the face of adversity and continuing to attract investor interest throughout difficult market conditions."