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Barclays and Greenwich NatWest held a bankers presentation yesterday (Thursday) for the $2.3bn debt package backing Enron's acquisition of Wessex Water. The presentation, attended by about 25 banks, marked the launch of a deal comprising a £736m five year facility available to Enron Water Europe plc and a $1.1bn 364 day bridging facility available to Enron Corporation.

TOKYO-MITSUBISHI International has made two new hirings to its capital markets origination team, continuing the steady build-up of its international operations. The news provided a glimmer of light in another week of gloom for Japanese financial institutions -- with Japan Leasing seeking bankruptcy protection, Daiwa laying off most of its overseas staff and Nomura suffering a downgrade from Moody's.

FORMULA One, the UK company that manages and promotes the premier international motor racing championship, astonished financial markets this week by announcing that it plans to raise $2bn through a securitisation of its revenues, mandated to Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. If the bond goes ahead, it will open a new chapter in corporate finance. Ranking among the largest corporate bond market borrowings, it may be the biggest ever single-A rated issue. For an asset backed bond to claim that palm shows both the power of securitisation to make credit risk transparent to investors, and the growing appetite of ABS investors for lower rated deals.

* Warburg Dillon Read is persevering in marketing the $127.5m double-B rated tranche of UBS's leveraged CLO Eisberg, despite worsening volatility and spread widening pressure in non-government bond markets. Price talk is 375bp to 400bp over Libor. WDR will launch the full $500m deal when the subordinated piece is sold.

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Energy markets are dramatically different from financial markets.

SANWA BANK launched its ¥75bn Delphi Ltd securitisation of Japanese corporate loans this week. Sanwa Securities had preplaced the deal's four subordinated tranches in Japan, but Sanwa International found the European targeted senior note a harder sell. "The bond is nearly all sold, and what is left will go in the next few days," said a securitisation official at Sanwa International in London. "The sale has not been easy - there was some resistance to Japanese risk - but Sanwa was prepared to price a few basis points wider if that was all it took to get the deal done."

THE INDONESIAN government announced on Tuesday that it had reached agreements with two of the country's largest conglomerates for a transfer of assets worth $7bn. The assets, which comprise stakes in 116 companies owned by the Salim and Gajah Tunggal groups, will be transferred into government owned holding companies in repayment for credits extended to banks owned by the two groups in the run up to president Suharto's departure earlier this summer.

KREDITANSTALT für Wiederaufbau (KfW) will launch a debut Kangaroo bond after national elections have been completed in Australia at the end of next week. The German federal government guaranteed issuer conducted roadshows last week. However, KfW funding officials said that the issue will not be launched for at least another two weeks because the triple-A rated credit wants to steer clear of Australia's elections and let the market absorb the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) groundbreaking A$1bn issue.

THE KOREAN government may delay Korea Telecom's $600m global IPO on the advice of lead manager Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, bankers said yesterday (Thursday). Any such decision would move Pohang Iron & Steel (Posco) to the top of the privatisation list, and would increase the urgency to appoint a lead manager from a narrowed shortlist for the Posco deal.

Hong Kong Wah Yik Holdings plans to raise HK$28m ($3.61m) through the sale of 50m shares priced at HK$1.00 each in its IPO to be launched today (Friday) and due to close September 30. Tai Fook Capital Ltd will manage the offer.

ST GEORGE Bank brought its second Euromarket securitisation this week with a $325m deal lead managed by Deutsche Bank. "We are very pleased with the deal," said an official at Deutsche in London. "Sharp falls in the Dow and FTSE had built up tension and volatility in the bond markets in the last couple of weeks, but some investors are still prepared to recognise value.