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THE LIKELIHOOD of a first bond issue emerging from Greater China this month faded further into the distance this week as spread volatility from Latin America cast a new shadow over Asia. Bankers reported that although Hong Kong/China spreads were the least affected of any Asian credit by events in Brazil, timing remains far from ideal for the kind of large benchmark bonds envisaged by the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) and State Development Bank of China (SDB).

PLANS BY the Republic of the Philippines to launch a debut euro offering were complicated this week by growing confusion over lead management roles and collapsing emerging market spreads triggered by problems in Brazil. Following the overwhelming success of its surprise $1bn split 10 and 20 year offering last week, the Philippines had hoped to capitalise on positive sentiment by bringing a roughly $500m equivalent euro deal to market in late February/early March.

HONG KONG slipped back into crisis mode this week after local stocks plunged on fears over red chip debt repayment and local interest rate hikes. A hefty HK$2.34bn ($302.75m) placement for property company New World Development did little to inspire confidence, but Heilongjiang Agriculture's IPO will soldier on regardless, said bankers. New World Development sold 117m shares at HK$20.15 in a Hong Kong-style block trade and top-up deal on Monday, with settlement on Wednesday. Crédit Lyonnais Securities Asia (CLSA) and Goldman Sachs were joint underwriters, although CLSA fully underwrote the entire deal. Tai Fook Securities acted as a sub-underwriter to CLSA.

TOKYO Mitsubishi this week launched the first Japanese industrial Euroconvertible for 18 months with the ¥10bn sale of bonds in Nedec Corporation, taking advantage of improving sentiment towards selected Japanese companies as well as upcoming redemption flows. JCR Pharmaceuticals and Nissin Kogyo also reopened the Swiss franc Japanese equity linked sector on Tuesday with the launch of successful convertibles.

Swiss francs * JCR Pharmaceuticals Co Ltd

THE RANKS of US life insurance companies in the euro denominated market will grow further next week when John Hancock launches its debut issue in the new currency. ABN Amro and Lehman Brothers will lead manage the transaction, which will follow presentations this week to investors in Amsterdam, Milan, Frankfurt and London. The offering will have a maturity of seven years or more and is likely to be for around Eu300m-Eu500m.

Egypt The launch of syndication for the $500m Sidi Krir independent power project (IPP) should take place by the end of next week. Arrangers are ABN Amro, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, Paribas and SG.

SIEBE has mandated Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Warburg Dillon Read to arrange a £750m one year and one year extension revolving credit that will part finance its agreed takeover of BTR. The loan carries a margin of 30bp over Libor with a 12.5bp up front fee.

WARBURG Dillon Read is to launch the sale of stock in Neoplast, the world's second largest supplier of mail-room equipment. The deal has been eagerly awaited by investors as one of the few large, liquid corporate deals to emerge from the Paris market for some time. "This market has largely been dominated by privatisation issues," says one Paris banker. "And Neoplast will give investors a rare opportunity to buy a well established privately owned company."

* Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Co (Kegoc) is reviving plans for an international bond debut. The state owned utility had hoped to enter the Euromarkets with a $200m five to seven year standalone transaction last year, mandated to ABN Amro and Merrill Lynch. But since the deterioration in Kazakhstan's economic outlook in the wake of Russia's August financial meltdown, Kegoc is now believed to be considering tapping the markets with a credit enhanced issue.