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SAMSUNG Electronics, Korea's flagship exporter and the world's leading manufacturer of semi-conductor chips, squared up to an inhospitable primary market this Tuesday with a surprise $130m GDR offering via Goldman Sachs and Samsung Securities. Although the company's desire to complement its recent Yankee offering with a new equity deal had been well known, bankers and analysts nevertheless expressed a mixture of astonishment and confusion at the group's determination to press ahead. The issue comes at a time when most experts are predicting that Korea will need assistance from the IMF to hold up its insecure fiscal position.

A DEBUT US-targeted bond for Advance Agro (AA) of Thailand demonstrated the new reality for Asian issuers in the international debt markets when it was priced late last Friday in New York at an astounding 911bp over Treasuries by lead manager Morgan Stanley. The pulp and paper company confounded its critics, who believed that it would be unable to stomach the huge spread demanded by investors, by committing itself to a $111.35m 10 year non-callable deal with an issue price of 89.805 and semi-annual yield of 15%.

THE ROADSHOW for palm oil plantation PT Astra Agro Lestari (Astra Agro) ends today (Friday). Bankers close to the deal say the price will be set on Monday at a ratio to earnings of 10% to 25% of the p/e of London Sumatra's (Lonsum), the only listed crude palm oil plantation listed in Indonesia. Astra Agro's bookbuilding price range is between Rph1,550 and Rph1,650 per share. Some 125.8m shares, representing a 10% stake, are for sale to raise between $57.7m and $61.4m, according to global co-ordinator ABN AMRO Rothschild. Co-leads are Astra Securities, Bahana Securities, Crédit Lyonnais, Jardine Fleming and Mitra Duta Sekuritas.

THE AMBITIOUS combined equity financing from Indonesia's Asia Pulp and Paper group (APP) drew a sharply divided response from the market following its pricing earlier this week. Equity specialists highlighted the fact that the twin ADR and Lyons (Liquid Yield Options Note) transaction had been restructured on extremely generous terms, whereas debt specialists argued that in comparison to the group's outstanding Eurobonds, the final terms were too aggressive to support a strong investor response.

THE LONG DELAYED rights offering by Benpres, the holding company of the diversified Philippines-based Lopez family, was finally launched last week, but the terms surprised several bankers. In addition to being priced at a steeper discount than initially expected in September when the deal was last primed for launch, bankers said that the long lead time before the issue closes on December 1 creates significant investment risk in volatile market conditions.

A FOURTH supranational seeking to access Taiwan's domestic bond market has filed an application with the republic's SEC, although bankers believe that the issue is unlikely to emerge this year unless the currency markets show signs of stability. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has mandated Citicorp to raise NT$6bn ($193m) via a five year fixed rate bond and the borrower is applying for tax exempt status.

THE FIRST IPO from Hong Kong to brave the stockmarket rout will be launched on an accelerated basis next week, with Crédit Lyonnais leading a 280m share offering for Lai Fung Holdings Ltd, the China property arm of the diversified conglomerate Lai Sun Development. Roadshows begin in Singapore on Monday and the Hong Kong IPO will open concurrent to roadshows in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Pricing is scheduled for Friday, with an 83%/17% split between international and retail investors.

GLOBAL co-ordinators Credit Suisse First Boston, Merrill Lynch and Creditanstalt this week defied extremely turbulent equity market conditions to complete the landmark $773.8m flotation of Matav, Hungary's national telecoms operator. The deal marks the largest share offering yet from central and eastern Europe, by a margin of some $250m, and represents the first listing by a Hungarian company on the New York Stock Exchange.

Robert Fleming is to join forces with Daiwa Europe to run the books on the $50m international sale of stock in Kredyt Bank PBI, one of Poland's top 10 financial institutions. Despite the volatility in world stockmarkets, and in emerging markets in particular, bankers believe there should be robust demand from investors for one of Poland's few privately owned banks.

VENEZUELAN finance minister Luis Ral Matos Azocar vowed this week to continue to restructure the country's Brady bond debt, despite controversy over the recent $4.4bn Brady bond retirement in a $4bn 30-year global bond exchange offer which led to calls for his dismissal in the Venezuelan congress. "I don't believe the process of reducing debt can be delayed just because of congress's attitude, or rather some of its members," Matos said this week.

THE PORTUGUESE government this week increased the privatisation sale of Brisa Auto Estradas de Portugal, the national motorway operator, in the face of overwhelming demand from domestic retail investors. Although the deal was launched only last week, individual investors have already registered for more than 1.18bn shares compared to the 21m shares on offer.

* Svenska Export Kredit Rating: Aa3/AA+ Amount: Pta5bn