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Orix Corp of Japan will launch an innovative two-pronged assault on the international equity markets next week with a ¥35bn straight equity deal and a ¥35bn Euro-convertible offering. Global co-ordinators for the sale are Daiwa, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan and Warburg Dillon Read.

Japanese issuers produced deals in both the Swiss franc and yen Euro-convertible market this week. International Bank of Japan was bookrunner for a ¥3bn Euro-convertible from Atom Corp, while Nomura completed a Sfr30m deal for Kuramoto Seisakusho. Atom's Alpine convertible had a coupon of 0.125%. The bond comes with an issue and redemption price of par.

China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, the country's largest shipping concern, this week completed the first stage of a future receivables securitisation that has been nearly two years in the making. Chase Securities placed $235m of five year notes privately with a single US institutional investor. The transaction forms part of a $300m securitisation programme mandated to Chase in November 1997. Cosco became the first Chinese entity to securitise future flows in August 1997, when BancBoston Securities launched a $300m deal backed by freight revenues from its US clients.

n The Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka has decided to postpone plans for an inaugural bond offering - for the second year in succession. Nearly two months ago, Citicorp and Salomon Smith Barney were mandated as ratings advisers to the government in its ambitious plan to bring a $150m to $200m five year fixed rate transaction to market by October.

The September rush in the Asian equity capital markets will begin in earnest next week, with Synnex Technology, Mosel Vitelic, Siam Cement, Thai Farmers Bank and Hyundai Motor commencing roadshows on Monday. Taiwan's Synnex will roadshow its offering in Asia next week and in Europe the following week, before pricing towards the end of the week of September 20 following the completion of roadshows in the US.

The Republic of Argentina, stymied by the lack of any sign of investor interest in straight emerging market dollar bonds, is hoping to issue a $700m to $1bn bond backed by a World Bank loan. Details of the possible deal surfaced this week after Argentine officials revealed they were negotiating a $200m to $300m loan with the World Bank to back sovereign debt.

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ABN Amro pulled off a notable coup in the Latin debt markets this week to snare two of the most prestigious remaining Latin euro mandates left for the year: a benchmark offering from the Republic of Brazil and a debut deal by Mexican oil concern Pemex. Brazil has mandated ABN and Paribas to extend its euro yield curve with a five year offering which will total around Eu500m, while Pemex has mandated ABN alone for a Eu250m four year transaction expected to have a mid-300bp spread talk.

Credit Suisse First Boston pulled off a surprise victory this week when it scooped the sole bookrunner's role on the debut euro bond for Czech power company Cez - even though it was not among the original group of around a dozen banks invited to bid for the mandate. However, bankers from CSFB are understood to have persuaded Cez funding officials to consider their funding proposal, which beat off competition Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch and Salomon Smith Barney.

n Croatia's Agrokor this week tapped the European private placement market with a Eu31m five year floating rate offering via Rabobank. The company's debut international bond offering was guaranteed by the Baa3/BBB/BB+ rated Republic of Croatia. The lead manager declined to confirm the terms of the offering beyond the September 9, 2004 maturity and par issue/fixed

The German equity pipeline for the autumn is starting to fill up fast, with a raft of deals ranging from hi-tech companies listing on the Neuer Markt to spin-offs from some of Germany's leading corporate names. New issuance on the Neuer Markt has already started to pick up pace, with telephone banking group Entrium and network management services company Main Control poised to launch their respective offerings.

The US primary equity markets are gearing up for a busy autumn, with several large deals in the pipeline. Market favourite Juniper Networks filed this week for the sale of some 5m shares which could raise over $1bn when completed, based on the Wednesday's closing price of $205. The company, a provider of innovative internet infrastructure systems, made its Nasdaq debut in June at $34 and has traded at over 500% of its offer price since. The appreciation in its stock price has given Juniper a market valuation of well over $8bn. The shares wobbled this week, dipping to $180 a day after filing, but recovered to $187 by Thursday afternoon.