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INTERNATIONAL Business Machines (IBM) followed up its two yen denominated bond issues this year with a five year Samurai transaction this week, making it the second largest international issuer of yen denominated debt this year. The corporate issue is further confirmation of the increased interest by international companies in the Samurai bond market.

NEC Corporation has launched a jumbo convertible bond in the Japanese domestic market, raising ¥100bn of zero coupon funds with an issue that enjoyed tremendous demand from domestic and international investors. Daiwa SB Capital Markets was lead manager for the transaction and sold 30% of the paper into the Euromarket. The deal was more than 10 times covered, according to Koki Yakato, deputy general manager at Daiwa SBCM in Tokyo.

Australia Bendigo Bank is looking to access the international debt markets in the coming month, according to a market observer familiar with the institution.

THE AUSTRALIAN domestic debt market still showed strong issuance this week, with total primary issuance amounting to A$725m, through a number of transactions. The Northern Territory government launched its debut A$150m, five year bond issue via its financing arm Northern Territory Treasury Corp. The bond issue, which offers a coupon of 6.5%, was priced to yield 6.705% or 48bp over the July 2005 government bond. Moody's rates the Northern Territory Treasury Corp Aa2.

THE NRMA float is set to be priced at the top end of the A$2.25-A$2.75 price range when the company announces the result of the offer on Sunday. The shares are due to begin trading on Tuesday and are expected to make a solid debut given the recent strength of the Australian stock market and the impact of NRMA on the main indices. At A$2.75 per share, NRMA will have a market capitalisation of more than A$4bn and will be the 28th largest company on the Australian stock exchange by valuation.

THE PORT of Singapore Authority (PSA) followed up on its triumphant debut in the global dollar bond markets last week with an inaugural issue into the domestic debt market. The Singapore corporate launched a S$600m, 10 year bond issue last Friday, which carries a 4.91% coupon, paying semi-annually. The much anticipated local bond issue was priced at par, at a spread of 41bp over the benchmark.

ANZ Bank takes its inaugural step into the mortgage backed securities market this month with a A$400m issue lead managed by ANZ Investment Bank. The deal will be launched by a newly created securitisation vehicle, Kingfisher Securitisation Pty Ltd, which can issue both MTNs and commercial paper. Kingfisher's issuance will come in segregated series, each representing a separate underlying transaction.

Asia Bankers were eager to see the performance of iAsiaWorks on its first day of trading on Nasdaq yesterday (Thursday). Goldman Sachs priced the issue at $13 per share, the lower end of the indicated $13-$16 price range. Although the company focuses on web hosting - and is not a portal - the whole internet sector in Asia is under severe pressure.

Latvijas Unibanka (Unibanka) has announced the dealer group off its $400 million Euro-MTN programme which is to sign next week. The dealer panel is the arranger Deutsche Bank and SEB Debt Capital Markets, Credit Suisse First Boston and Nomura. The inaugural issue will be announced soon and is expected to be a public bond between euro75 million ($70.67 million) and euro100 million. But it will not be issued before September. Viesturs Neimanis, vice-president at Unibanka's treasury, says: "The inaugural issue is for publicity and marketing purposes. Then we will actively use the private markets." Unibanka says it will issue mainly plain vanilla trades at first. The issuer is the first Latvian issuer to enter the MTN market. It is one of Latvia's two biggest banks and is more than 50Ý by Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken. It has been planning the MTN signing for almost a year, but the launch was put on hold. Neimanis says: "It was very important to get investment grade ratings." Unibanka was finally assigned its Moody's Baa3 long-term deposit rating and P-3 short-term bank deposit rating on April 11 this year. Neimanis is confident that the Latvian bank will have no problem finding investors. He says: "There is demand for Latvian debt, but it is to our advantage that the only other Eurobond issuer is the Republic of Latvia. We will have rarity value. Our balance sheet and our ratings will attract some investors." Neimanis' only reservation is that Unibanka may be reliant on European investors. He says: "The Baltic market is still too small to attract investment from non-European regions." The issuer's only other foray into the Euromarkets was a $30 million private FRN in 1997 which matures in August.

The $220m L/C facility for Eastern Group Finance has closed oversubscribed. The signing took place in early July and was guaranteed by TXU Europe Group. Bayerische Landesbank (bookrunner and L/C fronting bank) and KBC (agent) arranged the facility. Landesbank Sachsen, HypoVereinsbank, NordLB and Landesbank Schleswig-Holstein join the arrangers.

? Bank of Scotland Treasury Services plc

? Coamerica Rating: A2/A