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COMPTOIR des Entrepreneurs returned to the market this week with a Ffr1.5bn deal from Vauban Mobilisations Garanties, the finance company's triple-A rated mortgage securitisation vehicle. CPR, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and Société Générale ran the books jointly with no further syndicate, expecting the asset swap accounts who dominated sales to take large tickets.

MERRILL LYNCH brought a $262m global bond for Countrywide Home Loans Inc, backed by loans to B and C credit borrowers in the US. Countrywide Securities acted as co-manager. Countrywide Asset Backed Securities 1998-1 was broken into four floating rate and seven fixed rate tranches. The bulk of the deal came as FRNs, reflecting the proportion of the collateral which is floating rate.

There is no particular value at which a foreign exchange rate is stable.

BANK OF Queensland made its debut in the Australian mortgage backed market this week with an A$200m deal through sole manager SBC Warburg Dillon Read. Series 1998-1 REDS Trust issued A$198.4m of class 'A' notes with an average life of three years and two months, and A$10.6m of 'B' notes with a notional six year and four month average life.

DKB International lead managed its first asset backed security this week, as it successfully introduced Japanese finance company Orient Corporation to the Euromarkets. OSCAR Funding Corp sold a $300m FRN backed by consumer auto loans at 28bp over one month Libor. The deal has an average life of 1.85 years and should mature at 3-1/2 years through a 5% clean up call.

THE ASIAN Development Bank launched what bankers hailed as a landmark transaction in the Hong Kong dollar market this week in an attempt to establish a liquid benchmark curve at the short end of the currency. The HK$3bn transaction was launched in three tranches of one, two and three years, with each tranche sized at HK$1bn. HSBC Markets was the bookrunner.

MOMENTUM for the Republic of Korea's first ever direct borrowing in the international debt markets gathered pace this week as the country received a welcome rating boost and appointed lead managers for forthcoming issues. On Monday, the republic announced that it had appointed Goldman Sachs and Salomon Smith Barney to lead manage up to $9bn of bond issues.

* Bank of America is believed to have won NatWest Markets' mandate for global co-ordinator of the $250m 'B' share listing and GDR sale of Jilin Hongyuan Oil Development Company. NatWest Markets -- in a new guise after a consortium led by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China takes over -- is likely to retain a role in the deal which is the first 'B' share flotation of an oil company.

LEAD MANAGER Salomon Smith Barney today (Friday) priced a $85m convertible for Taiwan's Orient Semiconductor Electronics, the first of 1998. Although priced on the back of a surging stock, the bonds sold strongly demonstrating the appeal of correctly structured and priced hybrid instruments from the right Asian names. Said one rival banker: "The company has a great equity story and can afford to be aggressive in its pricing." OSE shares have risen almost 70% on the local market since the beginning of this year.

THE PARENT company of Hong Kong red chip Shanghai Industrial Holdings (SIH) brought colour to the desolate Asian issuance landscape when its $125m exchangeable bond was up to six times oversubscribed. This prompted arrangers Morgan Stanley and Salomon Smith Barney to exercise a $25m greenshoe yesterday (Thursday). Rival bankers were unusually generous in their praise for the deal which emerged ahead of a stream of convertibles due from Taiwan. One syndicate head went as far as to call the sale "outstanding".

A GROUP of 10 banks will submit bids today (Friday) for the much sought after mandate to arrange a $1bn five year credit facility for the Kingdom of Thailand. Euroweek has learnt that the 10 banks are ABN Amro, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Banque Nationale de Paris, Barclays, Citibank, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Development Bank of Singapore, Industrial Bank of Japan and Sakura.

TOPPAN Form's $300m IPO is already oversubscribed, despite a degree of confusion as potential buyers struggle get to grips with the company, Japan's biggest business forms printer. Retail interest is already moving up through the syndicate, although roadshows have yet to move to the US. These investors are usually less price sensitive than institutional buyers. Pricing on the Nomura led deal -- though not yet set -- is settling around the ¥1,100 to ¥1,150 level although some investors believe it should be ¥1,200.