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THE OUTLOOK for more than $1.7bn of planned Chilean Yankee bonds looked grim this week, as Chilean spreads widened out as much as 25bp to 40bp on further weakness in copper prices, and Empresas CMPC, a paper products company, had to reduce sharply the size of its Yankee debut. CMPC became the first Chilean issuer to brave the US Yankee market this year, with its $250m seven year Rule 144A deal led by JP Morgan. Originally, however, the deal was targeted as a $400m 10 year deal.

* DG Bank is understood to have secured the lead management mandate for the first international bond offering for the City of Budapest. The city authorities are looking to raise DM150m over a five year tenor. * Dresdner Kleinwort Benson is looking to complete a DM50m five year private placement for Slovakia's second city, Kosice, next week. Bankers' expectations are that Kosice's debut Euromarket issue will be targeted at Italian fund managers, which have been major buyers of emerging market risk of late.

EMERGING market borrowers look set to take centre stage in the fast expanding euro denominated bond sector over the next few weeks, with central and eastern European sovereigns in particular proving keen to establish their credentials in the future single European currency. Roadshows for the first euro denominated offering from the Baltic states began this week with joint leads Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Credit Suisse First Boston hosting investor presentations in Europe for a planned Eu200m five to seven year for the Republic of Lithuania.

THE IMPACT of the Asian crisis on Latin project bonds was demonstrated this week when Morgan Stanley Dean Witter had to launch $600m of Venezuelan project finance bonds wider than price talk and much wider than a comparable deal a year ago. Although the deal by Cerro Negro Finance Ltd was rated BBB+ by Duff & Phelps, the issuer paid 180bp for a $200m 8.08 year average life tranche from a 165bp to 175 spread talk, 225bp for the $350m 18.5 year average life portion (200bp to 212.5bp talk) and 237.5bp for the $50m 30 year piece, talked at 212.5bp to 225bp.

CREDIT Suisse First Boston has launched a $300m convertible for Budget Rent-a-Car, taking the sophistication of the US equity-linked debt market to a new plane. Dubbed 'High Tides', the structure was created to match investor demand for short term convertible bonds -- as well as offering the issuer as many of the attractive features of both debt and equity with as few of the drawbacks as possible.

THE REPUBLIC of Argentina this week shortlisted six consortia to submit their bids for the highly coveted mandate to underwrite the sale of its remaining stake in YPF. The qualifiers are as follows: Credit Suisse First Boston/ BankBoston; Goldman Sachs/ Banco Rio de la Plata; Merrill Lynch/Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires; Morgan Stanley Dean Witter/HSBC Banco Roberts; Salomon Smith Barney/Banco Frances del Rio de la Plata; and SBC Warburg Dillon Read/ BankBoston.

THE SPANISH government has completed its largest ever privatisation with the Pta1,150bn ($7.6bn) sale of stock in Endesa, the national electricity utility. The offer set new standards in terms of the response from local retail investors. It involved the state-owned holding company, Sepi, selling 33% of the company's equity capital.

CONDITIONS in the German stockmarket continue to provide a strong backdrop for the record number of capital increases which the country's corporates will initiate over the next few months. The market is maintaining a firm tone on the back of persistent strength in the dollar, which is boosting exports, and renewed confidence in the widespread reorganisation of many of Germany's largest corporates.

BOOKRUNNER Credit Suisse First Boston has launched the sale of stock in Esat Telecom, the Irish high-growth telecom operator. The company, which went public three years ago, has embarked on the sale of primary and secondary stock which will raise around $45m. Some 6m ordinary shares will be sold, comprising 4.7m existing shares and 1.3m new shares. Proceeds will be used to fund the expansion of the group's fixed-line telephony activities to take advantage of the first steps taken by the Dublin parliament to liberalise the industry and allow companies to compete with Telecom Eireann.

THE PARIS stockmarket hit another high this week as investors waited eagerly for two of the largest corporate share sales in the market's history -- the flotation Alstom, the Anglo-French engineering group, and Rhodia, the spin-off of Rhône-Poulenc's specialty chemicals business. Heavy blue chip buying by foreign and local investors lifted the CAC40 to 4211.54. "Investors are looking at many of the large continental deals through rose-tinted spectacles," conceded one banker this week.

LEAD MANAGERS Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter defied volatile market conditions in New York and London this week to raise £1bn for BCE, the Canadian telecoms group, through the sale of its 14.25% stake in Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC), the UK telecoms concern. After London market dropped 140 points and New York fell 170 points yesterday (Thursday), salesmen were predicting further weakness on both sides of the Atlantic because of worries about Asia as the yen slumped against the US dollar this week.

THE MARKET for convertible bonds showed signs of weakness as UK and continental stockmarkets lost between 1% and 3% in late sessions this week. Despite the reassurance from Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, that US interest rates would remain unchanged, the markets showed some signs of investor unease and this took its toll on some of the more tightly priced convertibles issued this week.