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THE REPUBLIC of the Philippines is continuing to cement its reputation as Asia's most active borrower, moving ahead with plans to refinance its $610m one year term loan due September this year. Having already all but completed its 1999 fundraising programme, the government has recently been focusing on its refinancing needs and the more careful management of existing liabilities.

South Africa Chase Manhattan and Warburg Dillon Read have launched syndication of the $130m loan for Avold, the South African mining company.

THE INTERNATIONAL debt markets powered ahead this week with both euros and dollars enjoying surging issuance. Neither see-sawing equity markets nor the Kosovo crisis could distract market participants' determination to push issuance to new limits. While most of this week's euro denominated corporate transactions were successful and were praised for their extensive premarketing, the weight of supply softened spreads and on Thursday recent issues moved out from 2bp to 3bp.

ARGENTARIA broke new ground this week with the launch of a Eu1bn Pfandbrief-style bond, the first jumbo mortgage security to be launched by a Spanish bank. Joint lead managed by Argentaria and Goldman Sachs, the 10 year transaction was greeted with interest by the market but was generally deemed slightly tight at its spread of 40bp over Bunds and 7bp over the DePfa jumbo of January 2009.

THE REPUBLIC of Argentina created what will ultimately be an Eu1.8bn benchmark this week by launching an Eu250m bond fungible with its 2008 European currency line. The deal, led by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and ABN Amro, carries a 14% up-front coupon that steps down to 8% in 2001, when it becomes fungible with the Eu350m offering with a 15% upfront coupon stepping down to 8% that Morgan Stanley underwrote for the republic in February.

AT&T DEMONSTRATED the extraordinary depth of demand for top corporate credits this week when its $8bn three tranche financing set an unprecedented landmark for the global bond market.

AT&T DEMONSTRATED the extraordinary depth of demand for top corporate credits this week when its $8bn three tranche financing set an unprecedented landmark for the global bond market. The long awaited deal broke several records -- it was the biggest corporate bond financing in history, while the 10 and 30 year tranches created the largest ever single corporate debt issues.

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THE CRUCIAL FIRST phase of Olivetti's record Eu22.5bn loan -- gaining Eu1bn sub-underwriting commitments from the world's top lenders -- is set to close tonight (Friday), with all indications pointing to a massive oversubscription.

US ENERGY group Enron will launch its euro debut early next week, a Eu400m minimum deal via Lehman Brothers and Paribas. The transaction highlights the growing importance of the euro market for borrowers outside Europe. With swaps from euros into dollars costly since the beginning of the year, several other US borrowers, such as Ford, have seen their deals suffer from tight pricing while others, such as TVA, have found it difficult to launch planned issues.

BAT AND Philip Morris successfully negotiated the increasingly hazardous corporate market this week, building on the foundations of previous issues and extensive premarketing to launch Eu1bn transactions. Difficult deals for borrowers such as Telefónica and Fiat last week had suggested that heavy corporate supply was beginning to depress the market.

BANQUE Nationale de Paris and Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich have won the mandate to arrange a Eu60m term loan for SKB Banka, Slovenia's leading private bank. They have fully underwritten the deal. The facility has a maturity of five years, and starts to amortise after two years. The margin for the first three years is 47.5bp over Euribor, going up to 50bp for years four and five. The loan will be used for general corporate purposes. Before syndication DG Bank joined the mandated arrangers as an arranger, and BNP and RZB are approaching possible co-arrangers. When the borrower's audited 1998 figures are made public in mid-April, the deal will be launched into general syndication. Some bankers think the deal will be popular and could be oversubscribed. But the borrower may choose to keep the volume low for this transaction, and to take advantage of a likely fall in prices with another deal later this year. However, others say the deal is a little too tight considering the size of the transaction, and because the small size of the bank limits the amount of ancillary business on offer. Observers suggest that the war in the Balkans could create difficulties for the launch of the deal. One banker pointed to the spike in spreads on bonds from the region over the last two days, as evidence of investors' uncertainty. The borrower is the biggest private bank in Slovenia in terms of capital and total assets, and the second largest in terms of capital. It has eight subsidiaries active in leasing, factoring, real estate, custody services and investment funds. *