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SINGAPORE's Housing & Development Board (HDB) confirmed this week that it has mandated Citicorp as the arranger of its soon to be established S$2bn ($1.23bn) MTN programme. The US bank had been talked of as winner of the arranger's slot last month, completing a hat trick of mandates, following its launch of a S$300m deal for the IFC and S$300m deal for the Jurong Town Corporation (JTC).

THAILAND's Financial Sector Restructuring Authority brought its largest asset sale to a disappointing close this week, as bidders demanded steep discounts for taking on delinquent business loans originated by the country's 56 liquidated finance companies. Candidates ignored six of the 45 tranches of business loans altogether, and bids on 30 tranches fell below the FRA's internal assessment of their minimum value.

Market commentary: Compiled by Glenn Blackley, RBC DS Global Markets, London. Tel: +44 171-865 1759

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NEXT YEAR'S new issue calendar for international equities is growing rapidly with companies from central Europe representing a large proportion of the potential supply. The region's stockmarkets are recovering -- although more slowly than their continental European counterparts -- as investor confidence gradually returns.

* Goldman Sachs this week bought 17m shares in BSkyB from the BSB group which encompasses Granada, Pearson and Pathé. The 1% stake leaves BSB with around 12% of BSkyB. The vendor is understood to have sold the shares at an undisclosed discount from the market price of £5 before they were sold on at £4.82. The discount is thought to have been slim and shares in the broadcasting group held up well and traded around £4.83 yesterday. Bankers from Goldman were not available to comment on the trade.

FOLLOWING the hugely successful sale of stock in France Télécom, the Trésor is preparing the next phase of its privatisation programme. Next year the government plans to sell shares in Air France, Crédit Lyonnais and Crédit Foncier, the French mortgage bank. The markets had expected the sales of FT2 and either one of Crédit Lyonnais or Air France in 1998 but the government's divestment in the national carrier and the troubled bank had to be shelved due to difficult market conditions and problems with the labour unions at Air France.

MERRILL Lynch and WestLB have completed the DM260m sale of stock in EM-TV, Europe's largest provider of cartoons. The offering looks set to be the last Neuer Markt deal of the year and provides additional proof of the market's depth and maturity. "The German Neuer Markt has proved its resilience many times this year," said one local stockbroker, "pushing out some good deals in the face of adversity and continuing to attract investor interest throughout difficult market conditions."

ACTIVITY in the UK primary equity market is likely to gather pace next year as a wide variety of corporate groups prepare to list shares. The London Stock Exchange has suffered with many other European bourses from a comparative dearth of new issue volumes in the last quarter as the volatility in global stockmarkets eroded issuer and investor confidence, but postponed deals could be quickly revived in 1999.

AFTER A long time in the market, syndication of the Sultanate of Oman's $300m (with an option to increase to a maximum of $400m) five year facility was closed by coordinator Gulf International Bank on December 16. The final amount raised was $350m -- scotching rumours that GIB had struggled to locate support for the Sultanate.

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