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INVESTOR conversion of utility company Huaneng Power International's (HPI) New York-listed 'N' shares into 'H' shares got off to a slow start despite the steady performance of the Hang Seng Index for much of the week. Although no figures for conversion were available, it was widely accepted that existing shareholders were adopting a wait and see attitude.

A BORROWING programme of around $3bn announced by the Philippine government this week has generated confusion among the Asian banking community, with few participants aware of any firm mandates or imminent launch dates. Under the terms outlined by Banco Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor Gabriel Singson, the republic is planning to source up to $3.4bn from a variety of capital markets and banking instruments.

COUNTRYWIDE Corp Ltd (Hong Kong), the offshore funding vehicle of New Zealand's Countrywide Bank, has mandated UBS to arrange a $1bn Euro-MTN programme. Branch manager Mark Giulianotti told Euroweek that the A rated group -- which has launched two Euro-Asian bonds through its Hong Kong branch over the past two years -- had set up the programme to diversify its investor base further and facilitate a more opportunistic borrowing approach.

THE Federative Republic of Brazil will next week make its first appearance in the Eurobond markets of 1998 when it launches an inaugural five year deal of around Ecu250m that redenominates into euros. The deal, mandated to SBC Warburg Dillon Read and Paribas, follows the blowout Ecu400m offering by the Republic of Argentina late January, which has tightened to trade at 355bp from a launch spread of 412bp.

THE FIRST test of investor appetite for Latin new equity issues in 1998 will get underway in the week ahead when Salomon Smith Barney and Santander take Colombian cellular phone company Celumovil on the road to market its initial public offering. The deal, which includes JP Morgan as a co-manager, will be a major test of the water for one of the worst hit equity new issue markets since the Asian markets collapse.

PRICING targets on a number of impending Latin lira deals are being reconsidered, according to market participants, now that the Republic of Argentina's more attractively priced Euro and DM bond issues have cannibalised the Italian market. Colombia, the latest Latin sovereign to consider the lira market, is said to be on the verge of mandating JP Morgan and Chase for a five year debut in the sector.

* Nomura International has been mandated to lead manage the second Euromarket offering by the Estonian capital Tallinn, expected to emerge for DM30m over a five year tenor. The Japanese securities house ran the books on the city's first international bond issue -- a DM60m 6% three year transaction priced to yield the equivalent of 175bp over Libor at launch in April 1996. By this week the issue had traded in to 60bp over Libor.

THE BRAZILIAN government was forced to delay its Telebras privatisation plans on the eve of announcing the final mandate winner this week when a consortium including Lehman Brothers and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson filed a complaint about the score received by a rival bidding group including Salomon Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Bankers will now have to wait another three weeks to find out who won the fee bidding phase of the process.

LEAD managers Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Creditanstalt are gearing up to launch what will be the third -- and first largely domestically targeted -- offering of shares in Hungarian oil company Mol. The two firms led the company's flotation in 1995, when shares were sold at Huf1,100, and also the second international offering last year when shares were sold on at Huf2,970 ($16-1/2).

* The German primary equity market is gearing up for another record year with a deluge of stock offerings on the way from many of the country's corporates. Many equity linked deals are expected as well from companies and banks. One deal likely to be launched in next few months is the sale of stock in Technotrans, a maker of machinery for printing. The deal will raise around DM100m and will be run by Dresdner Kleinwort Benson.

NOMURA this week launched roadshows for its global offering of shares for Mitsui Marine & Fire, a deal that will raise up to ¥40bn and could signal a major increase in Japanese issuance in the international equity markets. The company is one of the largest and most diversified insurers in Japan. It will use ¥17bn of the proceeds to redeem an outstanding convertible bond issue, a further ¥10bn will be injected into its Mitsui Life Insurance subsidiary while the balance of the funds will be invested in new systems technology.

THE ITALIAN government will launch the latest wave of its privatisation programme in March with the sale of shares in Saipem, the oilfield services division of national oil and gas group Eni. The deal will be a secondary stock offering with shares divested by Eni, whose stake will fall from 66% to between 40% and 45%.