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Want to get ahead in the race to secure a place in the top rungs of the euro-denominated league tables? Then don’t ignore the opportunities that Asia’s financial markets could provide. Asia’s issuers —hamstrung by the region’s financial woes — have been the slowest to access the new single currency debt market. But when the deal flow picks up again, the region’s borrowers are likely to look favourably on a sector that offers welcome diversification from their traditional Yankee and Asian FRN bases. Asia’s investors — in particular the mighty central banks and Japanese institutions, the kind of buyers that can make or break a deal — have, in contrast, been quick to pick up the euro baton. Investment banks are already seeking to lever their distribution capabilities in the region to secure mandates. Jackie Horne reports.

Venezuela's new president, Hugo Chavez, is hoping that the republic will raise about $4bn in the international capital markets this year, according to bankers. Chavez is understood to have invited underwriters to meet his new financial management team and is eager to develop a borrowing strategy.

THE JUMBO facility backing Vodafone's $62bn merger with AirTouch of the US is set to emerge by next Thursday, say insiders. The exact amount is still undecided, with bankers predicting the record facility will be anywhere between $13bn and $16bn. US tax issues are the main reason why the size has not been settled yet.

Warburg Dillon Read has increased its already sizeable share of the Euro-convertible market with the £400m sale of convertible bonds for Railtrack, the UK rail transport group. The deal is the second Eurosterling CB deal to emerge this year, following the recent sale of bonds in high growth telecoms group Telewest.

THE JUMBO facility backing Vodafone's $62bn merger with AirTouch of the US is set to emerge by next Thursday, say insiders. The exact amount is still undecided, with bankers predicting the record facility will be anywhere between $13bn and $16bn. US tax issues are the main reason why the size has not been settled yet.

France Bayerische Landesbank (Paris branch) have won the mandate to arrange a facility for Unibail, the 20% risk weighted French property company.

Both the euro and the dollar bond markets offered investors the widest range of credits to choose from this week as bankers continued to marvel at the astonishing tone of the major currency sectors in the first few weeks of 1999 and the wide variety of credits tapping them. Emerging market issuers made a welcome return to the international bond markets. Latin issuers continued to search for novel ways to raise funds, with Argentina raising $1bn of bonds with warrants and Pemex a similar amount in bonds linked to oil receivables.

The drought of Latin American corporate bond issues was finally broken this week when YPF launched a successful $225m 10 year Yankee bond at almost 300bp through the sovereign Argentinian yield curve. The deal, sole led by Merrill Lynch, was increased from $150m and priced on Thursday night at 99.684, with a coupon of 9.125% and a yield to maturity of 9.174. Its launch spread was 412.5bp over Treasuries at a time when the Republic of Argentina's 2006s have been trading around the 705bp region and its 2017s at around 669bp.

The drought of Latin American corporate bond issues was finally broken this week when YPF launched a successful $225m 10 year Yankee bond at almost 300bp through the sovereign Argentinian yield curve. The deal, sole led by Merrill Lynch, was increased from $150m and priced on Thursday night at 99.684, with a coupon of 9.125% and a yield to maturity of 9.174. Its launch spread was 412.5bp over Treasuries at a time when the Republic of Argentina's 2006s have been trading around the 705bp region and its 2017s at around 669bp.

* ABB International Finance NV Guarantor: keepwell agreement from ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd

JP Morgan and Ford Motor Credit made the most of an increasing European appetite for private sector global bonds by respectively launching $1bn and $2bn five year blow-out deals on Thursday. Ford came to the market with a $2bn 5.75% five year offering at 83.5bp over Treasuries via joint bookrunners Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, while JP Morgan made its global bond market debut with a $1bn five year issue at 93bp over and a coupon of 5.75%.

British Sky Broadcasting surprised the market and showed the pace at which a credit culture is developing in Europe this week when it launched a $600m global bond via Merrill Lynch. Until recently, the thought of a credit such as BSkyB - which is rated Baa2/BBB- with negative outlook from both Moody's and Standard & Poor's - accessing anything other than US investors through the Yankee bond market would not have been considered.