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Malaysian oil company Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) is seeking to take advantage of a lull in the Asian pipeline with the launch of its first benchmark dollar bond in almost three years. Roadshows for a $750m plus five to 10 year global bond begin next Monday in Tokyo under the lead of Credit Suisse First Boston, with Barclays Capital and Chase appointed as joint leads.

SENIOR bankers say that the number and the types of responses that Portugal has received over the past two weeks, following its requests for bids to arrange a jumbo credit facility, have been disappointing. Portugal is seeking a Eu1.5bn three year credit that will be used as a liquidity backstop facility. However, some of the few banks that replied to the request offered margins "too high for Portugal's liking", according to one market practitioner based in Germany.

Egypt General syndication of the $150m three year term loan for Commercial International Bank (Egypt) SAE will be wrapped up next week. Appetite was such that an increase is likely.

FOLLOWING the successful Dra364bn ($1.16bn) sale of stock in national telecommunications operator OTE, investors have been given their second chance to invest in Greece's stockmarket through the Dra77.4bn ($243m) sale of shares in Minoan Lines Shipping. Salomon Smith Barney and National Bank of Greece executed the sale, which involved the placement of 10,638,900 new shares in a bookbuilt primary offering to international and local institutional investors.

Italian regional and municipal authorities are at the forefront of Europe's developing local government bond market. Several issuers have already moved into the international bond and MTN markets, and many more are likely to follow. By Eugénie Ballara. Italy is in the vanguard of the developing municipal finance market in Europe. Four new regional and local authorities from Italy have already issued international bonds this year and several others are looking at the market. In terms of highlighting the potential of this burgeoning area of the Euromarkets, no issuer has done more than the Region of Sicily. Turned away by Italian lenders at the end of last year, the region staged an amazing comeback in April - raising Eu643m in the public bond markets as well as Eu235m through a schuldscheine issue and a private placement.

The sale of stock in Poland's high growth second tier telephone group, Netia, looks to be heading for a successful conclusion. Despite adverse press comment focusing on negative sentiment expressed by some potential investors, the book of demand is already twice covered with a week to go.

n The Turkish government is considering the privatisation of its national oil group, Tupras. The company has flirted with the international equity markets in the past five years but in the event always balked at a flotation. The stock is to be sold by the Privatisation Administration, the government holding company charged with most of the state's divestment programme.

Pemex this week demonstrated the attractions of asset backed securitisation over the international public bond markets for Latin new issues by placing $1.45bn of oil backed paper. The deal, while considered to be somewhat cheaper to investors than previous asset backed deals by Pemex, nonetheless provided far better pricing and size than the Mexican oil concern could achieve in the straight dollar bond market.

n International Finance Corp Rating: Aaa/AAA

SPECULATION mounted this week that Koninklijke Ahold (Royal Ahold) has approached the loan market for a jumbo facility - possibly around $5bn - so that it has financing in place to proceed with the acquisition of a large retailing company in the UK. Possible takeover targets suggested by loan market participants include Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer.

CHASE Manhattan, Chase Securities, Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Bank Securities have closed general syndication of the $17bn senior debt package of revolving credits for DaimlerChrysler by the close of business today (Friday). Just under $23.5bn was raised in total from 49 banks, prompting the borrower to consider an increase. However, bankers say this is unlikely and that banks will have to be scaled back.

Telkom, South Africa's leading telecommunications company, this week kicked off its 1999/2000 funding programme with a R1.5bn reopening of its R2bn 13% May 31, 2004 bond - known as the TL08 - via JP Morgan and Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank. The tap was launched on Wednesday following investor presentations in Cape Town and Johannesburg. It forms the first leg of a domestic funding programme which this year should see Telkom raise R6.5bn, of which around R5bn is set to come from bond issues.