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* Bookrunner CIBC World Markets and joint lead Bacob Artesia Bank will launch Eerste Vlaamse Effectisering SKV 1, the first securitisation of Flemish social housing mortgages, today (Friday) or on Monday, pending final approval by rating agencies and the Belgian banking commission. The single tranche Eu324m deal will have an average life of 4.47 years, and pricing will likely be 22bp to 25bp over three month Euribor. Overcollateralisation will provide credit enhancement of 6.5% to 7%, and the deal will have a 40% risk weighting in Belgium on the strength of a 20% guarantee from the Flanders government.

PARISIAN OPTION VALUATION

Want to get ahead in the race to secure a place in the top rungs of the euro-denominated league tables? Then don’t ignore the opportunities that Asia’s financial markets could provide. Asia’s issuers —hamstrung by the region’s financial woes — have been the slowest to access the new single currency debt market. But when the deal flow picks up again, the region’s borrowers are likely to look favourably on a sector that offers welcome diversification from their traditional Yankee and Asian FRN bases. Asia’s investors — in particular the mighty central banks and Japanese institutions, the kind of buyers that can make or break a deal — have, in contrast, been quick to pick up the euro baton. Investment banks are already seeking to lever their distribution capabilities in the region to secure mandates. Jackie Horne reports.

With NOWHERE else to go Sabesp, Brazil's largest water utility, has decided to resort to the local Brazilian bond markets to sell $261m of reais denominated bonds to pay off dollar debt due. The three year bonds will cost 40% a year and will be used to refinance most of a $275m syndicated one year loan due on March 29 that yields only 10.1%.

Croatia will today (Friday) complete a series of pan-European investor presentations in support of a euro transaction which will provide an important test of sentiment towards the Baa3/BBB- rated republic and mark the start of a packed calendar of issuance by central and eastern European credits over the coming weeks. Poised to follow Croatia's issue are sovereign offerings from Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia, alongside municipal bonds from the Czech Republic's Prague and Estonia's Tallinn as well as a bank issue from Eesti Ühispank.

The Republic of Lebanon broke new ground for the single European currency this week when it became the first Middle Eastern sovereign to raise funds in euros. Until now Lebanon's sole non-dollar bond financing had been a DM250m 6.5% five year Euro-DM issue in May 1997 - but this week the B1/BB- rated issuer launched a Eu300m five year euro tranche alongside a more traditional $200m five year dollar tranche.

Mexican state owned development bank Nafinsa will today (Friday) join the list of top Latin issuers making the most of a general calm in the emerging market storm to launch a $250m short dated offering. The deal, led by Bear Stearns and Barclays Capital, is expected to be three years in maturity at a yield of 9.75%, giving it a launch spread in the high 400bp region.

* The Republic of Kazakhstan's hopes of launching its much delayed Eu300m-Eu500m five to seven year issue via JP Morgan suffered a double blow this week after Fitch IBCA downgraded the country to BB- from BB and Moody's Investors Service cut it to B1 from Ba3. Both agencies cited sharp falls in the price of Kazakhstan's main exports - oil and ferrous and non-ferrous metals - and its high trade exposure to the stricken Russian economy.

Joint bookrunners Deutsche Bank and Paribas will today (Friday) finish roadshowing the debut euro transaction for the Republic of Turkey. Given the B1/B rated sovereign's sizeable $3bn international bond fund requirement in 1999, next week's issue will provide an important indicator of whether Turkey has successfully secured wider investor sponsorship in Europe beyond its traditional retail audience in Germany. "We are an established name in the German market and we want to carry the positive features of that into the euro market," said Aydin Karaöz, director general of foreign economic relations at Turkey's undersecretariat of the treasury. Karaöz is leading the team of senior Turkish finance officials hosting the investor presentations in support of the transaction.

Venezuela's new president, Hugo Chavez, is hoping that the republic will raise about $4bn in the international capital markets this year, according to bankers. Chavez is understood to have invited underwriters to meet his new financial management team and is eager to develop a borrowing strategy.

* Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and SG will shortly complete the block trade of Telef stock. The two firms are selling a stake of around 14% of the German telephone group's equity capital and have been marketing the issue as an accelerated bookbuilt deal. Some 950,000 shares will be sold to international investors, which will increase the size of the company's float by around 60%.

A NUMBER OF high quality central European companies are shortly preparing to come to the international equity capital markets, shrugging off investor concerns about the state and progress of the region's economies. This week disappointing macroeconomic data dented confidence about the prospects for stable and sustained economic growth in Hungary, which affected the performance of several stockmarkets such as Warsaw, Budapest and Tallinn.