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Bank of China International (BoCI), Credit Suisse First Boston and Merrill Lynch are set to begin the premarketing of the New York and Hong Kong IPO of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) next week. If all goes well, the deal will be launched after the Chinese new year holiday of January 24-January 26. Pricing is slated for late February.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) was the first bond issuer of the new year when it privately placed a HK$2bn bond issue on Monday morning. The Aaa/ AAA supranational tapped the market with a five year fixed rate deal via lead manager HSBC. "The entrance into the market by a supranational for a sizeable deal has helped demonstrate Hong Kong's market liquidity, even at the beginning of the year," said a syndicate official at HSBC. "We expect bond issuance to be busy up until the Chinese new year in January's fourth week, as there are a lot of deals maturing and needing refinancing."

Global co-ordinator Goldman Sachs convened a syndicate meeting yesterday (Thursday) for the forthcoming international sale of shares in Chunghwa Telecom. Bankers in Hong Kong say premarketing will begin next week and that the deal should launch shortly after the Chinese new year. Chunghwa Telecom made its debut on the Taiwanese stock market last year at NT$104 per share. The issue was widely ignored by employees, retail buyers and institutions due to a combination of political and market uncertainties which helped the Taipei market collapse more than 50% in 2000.

South Korean airline Asiana successfully closed the first Korean future flow securitisation on December 29 with a $65m ticket receivables deal lead managed by Chase Manhattan. The single tranche of OZ Receivables plc Series 2000-1 is backed by future and present dollar denominated revenues from ticket sales in the US.

Globals

The long awaited deal for Newmond's leveraged buy-out of Baxi was launched into the market on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and SG underwrote a £482m debt package to support the LBO, which is one of the first in the leveraged market this year.

The first big equity issue of 2001, the IPO of mobile phone operator Orange, benefited from two strokes of good fortune this week. The US Federal Reserve unexpectedly cut interest rates by 50bp on Wednesday, injecting a much needed dose of hope into global stock markets. Then, yesterday (Thursday), Orange announced record breaking new subscriber figures for the last quarter of 2000. The two factors could mean that the deal, which Orange CEO Hans Snook had wanted to complete in 2000, could now be better coming this year.

The first big equity issue of 2001, the IPO of mobile phone operator Orange, benefited from two strokes of good fortune this week. The US Federal Reserve unexpectedly cut interest rates by 50bp on Wednesday, injecting a much needed dose of hope into global stock markets. Then, yesterday (Thursday), Orange announced record breaking new subscriber figures for the last quarter of 2000. The two factors could mean that the deal, which Orange CEO Hans Snook had wanted to complete in 2000, could now be better coming this year.

Belgium

Westfälische Hypothekenbank AG opened the jumbo Pfandbrief market this year with a Eu500m three year Öffentlicher Pfandbrief, jointly led by Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, HypoVereinsbank and UBS Warburg. BfG Hypothekenbank also launched a Eu350m Pfandbrief floater via Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Jürgen Klebe, head of investor relations at WestHyp, said he was happy with the pricing. "The transaction was strongly retail driven by investors in central Europe and we swapped the paper into floating rate notes at swaps minus 2bp," said Klebe.

Westland/Utrecht Hypotheebank has kicked off the New Year with a four-year A$8 million ($4.48 million) trade which pays a final coupon of 5.2%. The note will be issued on 18 January 2001. It is the bank's first Australian dollar issue in 2000 and 2001 and only their second four-year note after its Kr1 billion trade ($27.08 million), which was issued on 22 September 2000. The note pays a final coupon of 6.5%.

Germany The blackout period for the Deutsche Börse IPO begins on Wednesday next week. The stock exchange, which announced strong third quarter figures before Christmas, is expected to list at the beginning of February.