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You know the name, but you might not yet be all that familiar with the credit. L-Bank is a much changed institution since the beginning of 1999, and its credit is arguably much stronger.

KOREA TELECOM (KT) will have a clear run at the market next week when it launches a $1.69bn IPO led by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, following the decision by Samsung Display Devices (SDD) to delay its $200m GDR sale until after KT has listed. Bankers close to the SDD deal, jointly led by Warburg Dillon Read and Samsung Securities, said the company still intended to launch before the end of the first quarter and that initial premarketing had been positive. "The timetable, which was tight anyway, has been put back slightly," said a banker.

THE SUCCESS of a $1.6bn recapitalisation of Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) by Salomon Smith Barney has confirmed the return of investor appetite for Thai banking stocks -- and prompted a search for the next bank from the sector to avail itself of the government's Tier 1 recapitalisation programme. SCB was the first bank to take advantage of the plan, under which the government buys half of the cumulative convertible voting preferred shares and institutional investors purchase the other half of the issue which has warrants attached.

Australia JB Were is set to launch a A$72m IPO for Housewares International, which is expected to close on May 14 and list on May 25. A total of 72m shares will be sold at A$1 in the deal which is a spin off from Premier Investments. The shares come with a p/e ratio of 10 times and a dividend yield of 7%.

THE ASIAN Development Bank (ADB) swept past the half way mark of its 1999 funding programme this week with a surprise re-entry into the Kangaroo market. Launched on Wednesday, the transaction has taken ADB's total this year past the $3bn mark -- over half the roughly $6bn that is likely to be raised from a $7.1bn programme, according to head of funding Peter Balon.

THE REPUBLIC of the Philippines launched its novel re-financing of a $610m one year loan last Friday, attempting to mitigate aggressive pricing with an extremely flexible structure. Local officials commented that although arrangers ING Barings and PNB Capital went out with a $400m launch size, all parties are confident that it will be possible to increase the deal to $600m. About 80% of the issue is likely to be taken up by banks registered in the Philippines, with the remaining 20% heading offshore.

ROADSHOWS for a $500m to $1bn issue by the China Development Bank (CDB) begin in Hong Kong tomorrow (Saturday) in an important test of investor confidence over the strength of the Chinese economy and health of its financial system. Roadshows for the Merrill Lynch and Salomon Smith Barney-led issue have been divided into two teams led by CDB governor Chen and chief economist Dr Gao Tien.

DBS AND Morgan Stanley Dean Witter closed the highly successful 200m share institutional tranche of Allgreen Properties' $152m IPO this week. The price range for the issue was increased during the final week of the roadshow, and the tranche was up to 18 times oversubscribed.

Chile's state-run Codelco, the world's biggest copper producer, became the first Chilean borrower to follow the sovereign's blowout debut last week when it launched its own inaugural offering of $300m of 10 year bonds. The A- rated 144A deal, led by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, was priced yesterday (Thursday) to yield 7.377% or 217bp over Treasuries, in the middle of its 215bp to 220bp price talk range, after attracting $540m of orders.

LONDON-BASED rating agency Fitch IBCA this week cut its investment grade BBB- rating for the Republic of Croatia to a speculative level BB+. It said: "After a number of years of robust growth, the economy has ground to a halt, placing the public finances and the banking and corporate sectors under severe pressure."

COSTA Rica joined the rush of Latin borrowers into the US market this week with a $300m 10 year 144A deal, led by CSFB. The deal was priced slightly above its 400bp area spread talk, at 412bp, in part because of the slump the Latin bond markets suffered this week.

LATIN borrowers are continuing to line up for issuance in the weeks ahead, despite the deluge of supply in the past two months and an abrupt halt in the recent rally in Latin bonds, especially those from Brazil. Argentine TV cable company, Cablevision, will today (Friday) price a $250m 10 year straight bond issue via Chase, with yield talk in the 13.5% to 13.75% range. That is wider than where the issue was expected to come at, and compares with a 13.25% yield to the put on the recently issued $175m Multicanal 10 put five deal.