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PHILIPPINES property developer Belle Corporation is to attempt a re-opening of the fixed income sector for issuers from the republic, with plans to launch a $125m FRN on Monday. Led by Deutsche Morgan Grenfell using loan style syndication, the issue has an unusual structure comprising a one year tenor with six month put and call options. Bankers said that since credit spreads between the one and five year sector have become so steep, longer term funding has become prohibitively expensive.

Argentina ING Barings is back in the market with a financing for Argentine cable TV company Supercanal. The facility, which is split between a term loan and bridge facility to an ADR issue, is being offered to a small number of the borrower's core relationship banks.

* Caisse Centrale Desjardins du Québec

GAZPROM, which captured the headlines with its $2.5bn jumbo through Dresdner Bank Luxembourg SA earlier this year, is set to launch its latest $3bn jumbo to potential underwriting co-arrangers today (Friday). The latest facility, which has been anticipated by the market for some weeks, is being jointly arranged by Crédit Lyonnais and Dresdner Bank Luxembourg SA.

THE FORTHCOMING flotation of Gulf Indonesia Ltd will be the first to encompass an Indonesian depositary receipt (IDR), marking a new stage of development for Indonesia's equity markets. Following a recent lifting of the 49% foreign share ownership ceiling, Indonesian stockmarket regulator Bapepam has given Gulf Indonesia -- a subsidiary of Gulf Canada -- the go-ahead to become the first foreign company with an overseas headquarters to list in Jakarta. Its domestic depositary receipt programme should be in place within six months of the company's New York listing later this month.

ROADSHOWS will begin next Wednesday (September 24) for a first straight international equity offering for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The roughly $350m ADR issue represents a second attempt by Dutch conglomerate Philips to sell its stake in the group via the ADR market, having seen plans for a $500m NYSE-listed offering fall apart in poor market conditions late last spring.

THE REHABILITATION of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in the eyes of many bond investors looks set to take a major step forward, following the announcement of plans for a new fixed rate dollar offering. The prospective $300m 144A deal marks the sovereign's second debt issue of the year, following a highly successful ANZ-led FRN in May which was tripled in size on final pricing.

PLANS to kick start Thailand's privatisation programme and raise much needed funds to ease the kingdom's financial crisis are being revived by the prospect of a government sell-down in Thai International Airways. Local bankers commented that a $250m to $300m divestment is in the final stages of receiving cabinet approval, with the company hoping to file an offering with the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) by November.

STANDARD & Poor's downgraded a number of Thai banks this week in a further blow to the financial sector's already stricken credit outlook. The senior debt of Bangkok Bank and IFCT was downgraded from the sovereign A- level to BBB+, Bank of Ayudhya from BBB to BBB- and Phatra Thanakit from BBB- to BB+.

UBS LAUNCHED a near $500m international offer for Nichiei on Wednesday in what is likely to be the largest international stock offering from Japan this year. Nichiei, the second largest finance provider in Japan, has a p/e ratio of 30 times March 1997 earnings. The 144a transaction consists of 4m new shares, a 500,000 greenshoe and a 500,000 sell-off by current shareholders.

EQUITY ISSUERS from Korea have faced a second testing week, with investor resistance to two telecoms-related transactions from Dacom and SK Telecom increasing the uncertainty as to the correct pricing levels for new issues. The fate of a $200m convertible from fixed line operator Dacom remains unclear. Lead managers Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Dongwon Securities will still not clarify whether the issue it to be completed or postponed.

Ghana Syndication of the finely priced $275m trade finance facility being organised for Cocobod by co-ordinating arranger Citibank International plc, plus arrangers Standard Chartered Bank and the Agricultural Development Bank of Ghana, has been a blow-out success.