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ROADSHOWS FOR the Kingdom of Thailand's global bond offering are being scheduled for the week beginning Monday July 13, in a bid to complete the long awaited transaction before the end of the month. The $1bn deal's much touted lead managers Goldman Sachs and Warburg Dillon Read continue to assert that they have not been awarded a mandate.

MEXICAN consortium Conproca offered high yield buyers spreads they proved unable to refuse last Friday on a $370m 12 year bond issue that was the lynchpin in a $1.52bn capital raising for Mexico's biggest project financing this year. Racing against a June 30 closing deadline for the $804m 10 year bank loan and a $340m export credit loan for Conproca, lead managers BT Alex Brown priced the 12 year final maturity bond with a yield of 12% -- over the 11.5% price talk and 350bp wider on a swapped to floating basis than the Libor plus 200bp pricing on the loan.

HOPES OF A successful euro debut next week for the Province of Buenos Aires were boosted yesterday (Thursday) when Moody's Investors Service upgraded the issuer's foreign currency rating to Ba3 from B1. News of the upgrade came as lead manager Chase was poised to announce price talk for the Eu100m four year deal and preparing a launch date for Monday or Tuesday, despite continued nervousness in the markets.

BRAZILIAN banks Unibanco and Banco ABN Amro moved fast to take advantage of slightly calmer markets in the latter part of the week to tap funds in lire and dollars. Unibanco issued a Lit100bn two year deal at 311bp over lira swaps on Wednesday led by Chase, and Banco ABN followed up on Thursday with a $50m two year Eurobond offering at 335bp over Treasuries.

* Bank of NT Butterfield & Son Ltd Rating: Baa1 (Moody's), A- (Fitch IBCA)

GLOBAL co-ordinators Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Salomon Smith Barney have launched the final stage of bookbuilding for the sale of stock in Equant, the data communications carrier. The deal has been eagerly awaited by the market for some time and the transaction will involve the sale of around 15% of the company's equity to raise between $500m and $600m.

THE GERMAN primary market continues to provide investors with opportunities to invest in growth stocks and small cap deals from other sectors. The Neuer Markt and the main market in Frankfurt have provided a welcoming environment for the deals on offer with international and local investors still willing to pay top prices for the assets available.

BANKERS and investors are gearing up for a wave of deals from Portugal in the aftermath of the government's successful divestment of electricity utility EdP. A number of other state sales are on the way as well as the sale of several blocks of corporate and bank equity, benefiting from the strong performance of almost all continental European markets this week.

CONVERTIBLE investors were spoilt for choice this week as three European issuers launched deals. On offer was a Lit255bn issue for Banca Popolare di Lodi (BPL), a transaction that represents the first part of a two part capital increase that will involve an offer of straight equity with the final split between straight equity and equity linked debt to be determined at the end of next week. Global co-ordinator ABN Amro Rothschild started roadshows this week. They will run until the end of next week when the deal will be priced. The offer will include the sale of stock to retail investors which will also run during next week.

KOÇ HOLDING, Turkey's largest and most diversified company, has published a preliminary prospectus for its global equity offering scheduled to take place in the next few weeks. The deal, which is being led by Goldman Sachs, will involve the sale of 1.388m shares comprising the sale of primary shares via a capital increase and secondary shares to be sold by the Koç family.

DESPITE the continuing volatility of Wall Street this week, there has been enough new issue activity to encourage the optimists. All eyes were focused on the Merrill Lynch led flotation for Republic Services. Fears that the deal would falter, because of its size and the mixed market, were unfounded and the company raised a total of $1.3bn making this the largest IPO to date -- just ahead of Goldman Sachs' $1bn deal for Heller Financial.

MUNICH RE, the largest reinsurer in Europe, has announced plans for an ambitious DM3.3bn ($1.8bn) issue of new shares to finance a rapid expansion programme, while it is aiming also to list its stock on several foreign stockmarkets and simplify its share structure. These plans, which will make its shares more accessible to retail investors and to foreign buyers, put Munich Re on the same path as many blue chip German companies which as a group have embraced the goal of maximising shareholder value over the past 12 months.