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Shin Corporation intends to become the first Thai company to be listed on the ADR market. JP Morgan will manage the ADR programme, which could be as large as $150m, although no new equity will be raised. At first glance the choice of the US house is surprising, given its withdrawal from the Asian equity capital markets at the beginning of 1998. However, the programme will not involve the sale of new equity but simply an increase in the foreign ownership limit from 35% to 49.9%, which will be sold on as ADRs according to demand.

Warburg Dillon Read and Samsung Securities completed a $200m GDR sale for Samsung Display Devices yesterday (Thursday). A total of 17m GDRs were sold at a discount of 8%, from a discount range of 0% to 10% of the underlying stock. Bankers said the issue was comfortably subscribed with some bankers suggesting an oversubscription of two times. The issue traded up to $11.80 during the afternoon session on Seaq, from an issue price of $11.69.

Australia Cable & Wireless Optus and Telecom New Zealand have announced that they may float South Cross, in a deal which could raise up to A$1bn.

Lehman Brothers will launch a $150m convertible bond for Taiwan's ASE Test next week in a deal which will gauge the level of confidence in the recovery of the Dram market. The Nasdaq listed company is the largest independent semiconductor tester in the world. Only $100m of the deal will be placed to institutional investors, with the rest going to the parent company ASE Inc. The bonds will be convertible into Nasdaq listed shares and will be sold under Rule 144a.

The Australian domestic bond market received a long expected and welcome boost yesterday (Thursday) with the announcement that interest withholding tax (IWT) is likely to be lifted at the end of the month. The prospective withdrawal marks a major development for Australia's capital markets, leading to a likely convergence of the domestic and offshore markets for Australian debt and offering the fast growing corporate bond market a much wider investor base.

The Philippines National Power Corporation (Napocor) has re- activated plans to access the international capital markets following a hard won victory to secure a power rate increase from the government.

n Hong Kong property developer Sun Hung Kai Properties announced last Friday that it has launched a first US dollar deal off its recently established Euro-MTN programme. Led by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, the A3/A rated group placed out $90m in seven year floating rate paper to a single European investor at a spread of 105bp over three month Libor. Bankers said that the size and tenor of the issue were dictated by a specific funding need on the part of the group, which has virtually no outstanding paper in the market.

An imminent new issue from Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) is set to breathe new life into the sluggish Indian privatisation process. Deals are also expected from Essar Steel and Gujarat Adani Port despite political instability in the country. Bankers said beauty parades should begin within the next two weeks for a further selldown of the Indian government's stake in MTNL. A total of 19m shares will be sold as GDRs, raising around $92m.

Colombia's highly coveted investment grade rating from Moody's Investors Service hung in the balance yesterday after the rating agency put the country's Baa3 long term foreign currency ceiling and the Ba1 ceiling on its bank deposits on review for possible downgrade. Yields on Colombia's investment grade 2009 10 year dollar bond have jumped to over 12.5% from 10% just a few weeks ago, in anticipation that Moody's would ultimately downgrade the country to sub-investment grade status.

Non-US corporates have joined a rush of issuers seeking to come to the US bond markets ahead of the FOMC meeting at the end of June, with Qantas Airways yesterday launching a $350m 144A 10 year bond and UK's Diageo and United News & Media both looking to price $1bn bonds in the week ahead. On Thursday, Merrill Lynch launched Qantas's 7.75% of 2009 bonds at a price of 99.904 or 185bp over Treasuries to yield 7.764%, in line with market

Venezuela is expected to announce a bond mandate of up to $2bn within days, following president Hugo Chavez's first ever meeting with bankers in New York this week. Chavez told investors in New York yesterday that: "We believe this is the time to go to the

Argentina turned its focus to European retail investors as the best of an unappetising list of funding options to sell Eu350m of five year bonds, as the republic gears up to sell at least a further $2.5bn in the international bond markets before October. The deal, led by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, was increased from an original Eu250m after trading up on the break as retail investors saw its relative value against other, more expensive euro-denominated paper from Argentina.