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GOLDMAN Sachs is lead global co-ordinator and Merrill Lynch and UBS Warburg are joint global co-ordinators for the prestigious mandate to handle the international offering and New York Stock Exchange listing of Chunghwa Telecom. The government has told the three banks it would like to complete the multi-billion dollar placement in 2000, but there are many regulatory hurdles to overcome. The largest IPO in Taiwan's history began on Wednesday and will finish on September 25. The government is selling 13.84% of Chunghwa at NT$104 per share.

ABN Amro's mortgage funding programme Australian Mortgage Securities Ltd will price a A$750m domestic MBS on Monday, its fifth issue this year. ABN Amro is sole manager for ARMS II Fund VIII and fully underwrote the issue. It ranks in size with the largest MBS issues in the domestic market.

ABN Amro has been joined by Metropolitan Bank & Trust, RCBC Capital, Rizal Commercial Bank and Sakura Bank to launch the $400m dual tranche facility for Republic of the Philippines. The deal is split between a $100m three year portion paying a margin of 110bp and a $300m tranche priced at 160bp.

Cazenove is hoping to avoid the market turbulence that greeted its first attempt to list Project Telecom earlier in May. The £35m LSE deal opened books yesterday (Thursday) with shares on offer at between 65p and 74p. Of the total, £20m will be new shares issued by the firm and £15m will be sold by existing shareholders. There is a 15% greenshoe of existing shares. Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance is joint sponsor for the deal.

Investors' growing willingness to take on Brazilian risk was demonstrated this week when Banco Safra, one of the country's private commercial banks, issued the first three year Brazilian bank deal since the Asian crisis. The $100m 9.5% three year Eurobond, launched at 375bp over Treasuries, will be used to pay down a $100m three year offering the bank issued in October 1997 at 225bp over Treasuries - the last Brazilian bank issue longer than two years to hit the market.

Mandated arranger SEB Capital Markets has launched a $100m five year multicurrency revolver for Scandic Hotels. Before launch MeritaNordbanken joined as co-arranger. Banks have been invited to join as senior lead managers taking $20m for 17.5bp, as lead managers taking $15m for 15bp or as managers taking £10m for 12.5bp.

World Bank Rating: Aaa/AAA

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter completed a Nkr858m (Eu107m) secondary offering for StepStone yesterday (Thursday), in a deal which raised equity for an acquisition and sold down existing shares for a number of investors. The 31.2m shares were priced at NKr27.50 from a market close of NKr29.50. Of the total, 27.7m shares were sold by existing shareholders, including venture capital firms and the family that established the business. The remainder was sold to pay for the acquisition of German on-line recruitment firm Jobs-Today.

European Investment Bank Rating: Aaa/AAA

Telesp Celular has dropped Banco Boavista Interatlantico as the dealer and manager of its $500 million Euro-CP programme, replacing them with BES Investimento do Brazil. The programme was signed in June 1999.

Having completed European roadshows yesterday (Thursday), Telefónica will begin the US leg of premarketing for its $5bn plus equivalent transaction today (Friday). Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter are expected to launch the issue soon after roadshows end on Tuesday. The deal is not expected to carry a ratings sensitive coupon and should be priced at a slight premium to Deutsche Telekom. Five, 10 and 30 year dollar tranches are expected, along with a Eu1bn five year piece. Moody's and Fitch this week concluded their reviews of British Telecom's (BT) rating, but the company has indicated that it will wait until Telefónica has completed its transaction before it restarts preparations for its $10bn global bond. The company will watch the Spanish telco's deal closely. Moody's downgraded BT from Aa1 to A2 and Fitch from AA+ to A. The ratings are in line with the A rating Standard & Poor's (S&P) assigned the company two weeks ago, but the Moody's and Fitch ratings are stable, whereas BT remains on negative outlook with S&P. S&P cut Royal KPN's long term rating from AA to A- last Friday (September 1). Yesterday Moody's downgraded the Dutch telco from Aa2/A3. The company is planning to raise between $5bn and $10bn in several tranches ranging from five to 30 years in the second half of this month. And the seemingly endless telecoms pipeline grew longer this week as Telstra indicated that it hopes to launch a global bond issue of $1.5bn by November. Procter & Gamble will launch its debut euro transaction via Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs following roadshows beginning on Monday. A size of Eu1bn and an intermediate maturity are expected. Price talk is the mid to high single digits over Euribor. Corus Group has confirmed that it will tap the euro market in September, via Deutsche Bank and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney. The company was created by the merger of British Steel and Hoogovens. A Eu500m five year transaction is expected after roadshows. Kamps should launch its euro deal soon. JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch are expected to launch an intermediate maturity issue of around Eu250m. Moody's this week affirmed its A3 rating of Aventis, which is set to launch a euro issue in late September/early October. A transaction of up to Eu1bn is expected via UBS Warburg. Renault has awarded the mandate for a euro transaction to JP Morgan and SG. Launch will take place after a European roadshow. Sol Melia this week announced that it will establish a Eu1.5bn EuroMTN programme, with Deutsche Bank as arranger. Freddie Mac roadshowed its upcoming EuReference Note this week. Bankers say that investors are indicating a wide range of spreads at which they would buy any issue. However, around Euribor minus 12.5bp, or close to KfW, is seen as a likely level for the Eu5bn 10 year deal. Household Finance should launch its Eu1bn five year via Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and UBS Warburg at Euribor plus 55bp-60bp soon. And Citigroup will launch a 10 year euro benchmark this month via Schroder Salomon Smith Barney after roadshows next week. Fannie Mae will next Tuesday reopen its five year Benchmark Note via Credit Suisse First Boston, JP Morgan and Salomon Smith Barney, with pricing on Wednesday. HSBC will today increase the 6.25% July 2009 issue of Aggregate Industry plc by $90m, taking the deal to £200m. Pricing will be at 240bp over the 5.75% 2009 Gilt. Euroclear Bank is planning Eu250m lower tier two and Eu250m upper tier two transactions via ABN Amro and Deutsche Bank. Roadshows took place this week and launch is expected early next week. Bankers expect the lower tier two tranche to emerge in the mid-40s over Euribor and the upper to be priced at 105bp-110bp over. Further supply from Italy is due from Banco Populare di Milano. The bank is looking to sell Eu350m of lower tier two and tier one paper. Banque Sofinco should today price a Eu100m lower tier two 10 year non-call five transaction via BNP Paribas, CAI and Natexis Banques Populaires.