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THE REVISED GDR offering from Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) remained in the balance following the onset of formal roadshows this week, with looming political instability posing a serious threat to the $375m issue. After the cancellation of the partial privatisation of Gail (Gas Authority of India) at the end of October and the drawn-out saga that became the government's sell-down of VSNL (Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd), bankers commented that the Indian government was showing every sign of failing to get luck on its side for the third consecutive equity sale.

A SECOND $500m Libor/T-Bill passthrough note for the Banco Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) was being primed for launch by ING Barings as Euroweek went to press. Similar to the bank's recent one year passthrough deal issued in August, it provides a much needed boost to reserves at a critical juncture in the completion of the Philippines six year programme under IMF supervision.

THE PRIMARY market for Hong Kong and mainland Chinese issuers stuttered back to life this with the launch of a poorly received IPO for property group Lai Fung Holdings and premarketing of China's third window company, Tianjin Development. Books for a 280m share offering by the Chinese property arm of Lai Sun Development led by Crédit Lyonnais will close today (Friday), with syndicate bankers reporting a completed book in the face of widespread market scepticism.

A $200M YANKEE issue for poultry and feed producer PT Sierad Produce, which bankers say will come to the market imminently, is expected by many to top the 911bp spread recently forced on Thailand's Advance Agro. The Sierad deal will have a similar 10 year maturity, and will be led by Deutsche Morgan Grenfell -- which commented that rumours of the deal's impending launch are premature.

WESTPAC inaugurated its second Australian asset backed CP conduit this week with an A$40m issue from Wisdom Prime Asset Trust No 1. The conduit, rated A-1+ by Standard & Poor's, will repackage Australian mortgage backed securities and corporate bonds rated at least AA-.

CITIBANK International and joint arranger African Export-Import Bank have launched syndication of a $30m three year amortising term loan at 200bp for Libor for the Central Bank of the Seychelles. The loan, the first international fund raising for the country, is to fund infrastructure projects and the expansion of Indian Ocean Tuna (IOT), a tuna processor 40% owned by the government of the Seychelles and 60% by HJ Heinz.

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* New South Wales Treasury Corp Guarantor: State of New South Wales

China ABN AMRO Bank has launched a $15m fundraising for Hebei International Trust & Investment Corp. The five year deal, with a three year put, offers an all-in spread to the put of 145bp for co-arrangers and 137bp for lead managers.

FRENCH INSURANCE company AXA-UAP launched its dual tranche Ffr6.1bn equivalent subordinated perpetual FRN on Wednesday and set a number of landmarks in the process. The Ffr3.8bn tranche is the first perpetual French franc FRN and together with the $400m tranche the perpetual FRN is the largest ever to hit the Euromarkets.

INVESTMENT bankers this week exploited a window of demand for Nordic equity with the launch of two deals from Finland and the pricing and successful aftermarket performance of another Finnish transaction. The 9.6m share offering for manufacturing services group Elcoteq Network was priced by UBS at FIM70 above the mid-point of the initial range of FIM60 to FIM75.

THE CONTRAST between the scenes at two of Egypt's most prized historical sites on Monday could hardly have been starker. At the pyramids just outside Cairo, a group of international bankers were attending a ceremony marking Egypt's largest ever private sector syndicated loan facility in the form of a $250m revolving credit for Apache Corporation.