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THE REPUBLIC of the Philippines this week became the first southeast Asian sovereign borrower to access the international debt markets in 1998 when it launched $750m of pass through notes via ING Barings. While other sovereigns in the region wait to complete debt negotiations and for a semblance of stability to return to the markets before launching bond issues, the Banco Sentral ng Pilipinas revived a structure it had used successfully in the past to raise three times the amount that it had initially intended.

SALOMON Smith Barney bought NatWest Group's Australian and New Zealand securities and investment banking businesses this week, demonstrating the cotinuing lure of Australasian investment banking. The A$130m ($88m) sale follows, among others, ABN AMRO's purchase of Barclays' Australian investment banking unit BZW for $177m in December 1997 and Merrill Lynch's 1996 acquisition of McIntosh Securities.

AUSTRALIAN state-controlled telecommunication company Telstra Corp plans to refinance a large chunk of its A$3bn of revolving credit facilities from later this year. While market sources speculated the company plans to issue up to A$1.8bn ($1.2bn) in bonds, a company official said the amount is still undecided.

AUSTRALIA'S third largest free-to-air television station's float vehicle, Ten Network Holdings, has set a price for a 182.8m share float that will raise A$366m by the end of March. The Macquarie led deal was priced yesterday (Thursday) at A$2, above its original indicative range of A$1.60 to A$1.80. The company's roadshow starts on February 18 and the pub-

NOMURA was hit by another blow to its Japanese underwriting franchise today (Friday) when it emerged that the Ministry of Finance was effectively banning it from participating in the underwriting of Japanese government guaranteed issuers. The Mof has no right to bar the bank directly from any syndicate, but it has said that it will withdraw the government guarantee from any issue which had Nomura in the syndicate.

* Merrill Lynch this week announced plans to set up a nationwide retail broking network in Japan, in the clearest move yet to take on domestic competition after the country's Big Bang financial revolution. Merrill said it will hire around 2,000 former employees of collapsed brokerage, Yamaichi, in a move which will triple the bank's headcount in Japan.

THE HONG Kong market reacted poorly this week to a block trade of Cosco International shares arranged by ABN AMRO to pay for an asset injection from parent Cosco (Hong Kong) Group. A total of 100m shares came to the market from the parent company which then subscribed to 270.45m new shares in Cosco International increasing its stake to 61%.

SBC WARBURG Dillon Read this week launched the largest ever fully underwritten exchangeable bond with the sale of a $2.45bn issue from diversified US telecom operator, Bell Atlantic.

SBC WARBURG Dillon Read this week launched the largest ever fully underwritten exchangeable bond with the sale of a $2.45bn issue from diversified US telecom operator, Bell Atlantic. The deal --the first globally marketed transaction of its type from a US issuer -- proved a vivid demonstration of the depth of investor appetite for hybrid debt/equity instruments.

BRAZIL stole the limelight from its neighbours this week with a Eu500m five year debut in the increasingly hot euro-denominated Eurobond market. The offering, led by SBC Warburg Dillon Read and Paribas, was originally slated at Eu250m, but demand for high yielding bonds in the euro led to an eventual doubling in size.

* Province of British Columbia Rating: Aa2/AA