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The Kingdom of Thailand has backed away from the launch of its long mooted global bond offering, pushing the prospective timetable for the deal back to the second half of the year. Ministry of Finance officials told Euroweek that an issue is not now likely before the end of June. "Funds received as a result of the Miyazawa plan have used up two thirds of our $2bn capital markets quota for the financial year," said one official.

Kepco's $500m secondary ADR sale got off to a shaky start this week when a finance ministry slip up left bookrunners ING Barings, Salomon Smith Barney and Hyundai Securities fielding questions about the myriad uncertainties surrounding the deal during the first week of the roadshow. The lead managers advised the government on Saturday to sell 42m shares, reducing its stake from 5.38% to 2.08%. Assuming parity of the ADRs to local stock - they are currently at a 15% premium - $500m would be raised, increasing to $600m should the 15% greenshoe be exercised.

Life Co, an independent Japanese consumer finance company, is to launch its first international auto loan securitisation through Warburg Dillon Read in the next two weeks. The transaction, known as Freya Funding Corp after the Norse goddess of life, will be worth between $200m and $220m, and will be wrapped by triple-A rated monoline insurer FSA. With a one year average life and five year legal final maturity, the deal is expected to be priced in the low 40s over one month Libor.

n Kookmin Bank this week launched a rare bond offering from the Korean banking sector. The $50m private placement FRN was led by Daiwa Securities (HK) Ltd at a spread of 25bp over six month Libor and a two year maturity. n Following the success of its debut euro denominated offering last week a second company affiliated to Hutchison Whampoa has launched a bond offering.

* KfW International Finance

EARLY indications that appetite for Rexam debt has been strong have prompted observers to speculate that the deal is benefiting from a quiet syndicated loan market. The Eu550m deal was launched into the market two weeks ago and many bankers had feared for its safety in retail. But the dearth of deals in the market since the beginning of the year has, say some bankers, increased the financing's profile.

The birth of the euro has provided a powerful new boost for the already buoyant European equity-linked debt market, which is enjoying unprecedented growth and development. With interest rates low and stockmarkets high, a growing range of companies — from the blue chip and, increasingly, from the high growth sectors — are queuing up to issue equity-related finance and the investor base is expanding all the time. Now, with a single currency, deals can be done in size and with a frequency that is fast establishing European equity-linked debt as an asset class in its own right. And with the twin themes of corporate restructuring and shareholder value likely to dominate Europe’s financial markets for some while yet, the emergence of an increasingly deep, liquid and diverse equity-linked debt market in Europe looks like being a major feature in the development of the pan-European capital market. Rosie Shepperd reports.

Finland Finnair had quietly signed a $250m facility arranged by BNP (also the agent), Commerzbank, ING, Landesbank Kiel, and Paribas. The borrower is the Finnish national airline and is using the facility to buy Airbus aircraft, to be delivered over the next two years.

The Republic of Slovenia tested investor sentiment toward central and eastern Europe last Friday with the launch of a tightly priced Eu400m 10 year issue. Lead managed by Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley, the A3/A rated transaction featured a 4.875% coupon to give a margin of just 86bp over the 3.75% January 2009 Bund at the issue/ fixed re-offer price of 99.165.

* Commerzbank SA

Salomon Smith Barney has launched the $325m sale of stock in Christiania Bank. The Norwegian government will sell 16% of the bank's equity to bring its ownership down from 51% to 35% through the divestment of 90m ordinary shares. Salomon is keen to execute the deal quickly and will price the shares at the end of next week. Although the local market looks strong, increasing stockmarket volatility is damaging investors' confidence in the long term prospects for equity investment. In these conditions, swiftly executed deals will be the safest way to ensure successful equity offerings.

Action in the swaps market this week was dominated by the continuing multitude of new issues in the euro bond market, although arbitrage in the dollar market showed signs of returning. By Thursday, 10 year dollar swap spreads were at a mid-market of about 77bp, a couple of basis points wider than the close last week. This opened some arbitrage opportunities for borrowers of dollars, but there were few issuers looking to step into the market. Japanese entertainment group Sony is poised to bring a $1bn 10 year global, a deal which is highly likely to be swapped.