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THE REPUBLIC of Argentina left the Latin new issue market brimming with confidence for the first time in months when it launched a blow-out DM1.5bn 10 year bond offering this week. Anxious to capitalise on the success of its Eu400m five year issue last Friday, the republic mandated Morgan Stanley Dean Witter -- in its first bookrunner slot for a Latin sovereign -- and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson to launch a DM750m 10 year step down bond with a 11% coupon in the first three years and 8% thereafter.

* The southwestern Polish town of Legnica, home to leading copper producer KGHM, has announced plans for a municipal bond programme. The town, which will use the proceeds of the planned issuance to modernise communication systems, is looking to issue up to Z21m ($6m) of two, three and four year debt. * Fitch IBCA this week upped its long term foreign currency rating for the Republic of Kazakhstan to BB from BB-. The London-based ratings agency cited the central Asian state's improving economic fundamentals as the basis for its decision, noting positive GDP growth on the back of increasing oil, gas and minerals output, falling inflation and a stabilising exchange rate for the Kazakh currency, the tenge.

FRUSTRATED in its efforts to tap the public Eurobond market, the Slovak Republic this week returned to the private placement market, launching a $200m six month zero coupon issue via Nomura International. The transaction was priced to yield 6.625% at the issue/fixed re-offer price of 99.77647, equating to a pick-up of 100bp over six month dollar Libor.

JP MORGAN and Salomon Smith Barney will next month manage a Eurodollar bond for the Republic of Turkey in a deal which is set to be the first benchmark issue in the US currency by an emerging market sovereign this year. Expectations are for a $500m plus Euro/144A issue with a tenor of between five and 10 years.

GLOBAL co-ordinators Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell are gearing up to launch the international sale of stock in Australian Mutual Provident (AMP) in the first of this year's insurance society demutualisations. The two firms will bring the sale of stock to the markets in the spring, having been teamed up by AMP after one of the most contested mandates from the region during 1997.

ISSUERS CONTINUED to tap the convertible market this week, raising hopes among participants for another record year. Demand for equity linked debt instruments has strengthened as investors seek to combine downside protection from volatile market conditions with the opportunity to participate in an earnings recovery which should benefit most European and US stockmarkets.

NOMURA THIS week launched the first international sale of stock from Estonia, a GDR offering for Union Bank of Estonia (Uhispank) that could raise up to $50m of new capital for the bank. Nomura will sell 11.1m shares through the deal and the GDRs will be listed in Luxembourg. UBS and ABN AMRO Rothschild are co-lead managers while Robert Fleming and BT/NatWest are co-managers.

THE POLISH government is poised to announce which consortium of investment banks will run the sale of stock in Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA) -- arguably the most prestigious mandate to emerge from eastern Europe so far this year. The equity capital markets were this week buzzing with excitement in anticipation of the deal after a short list of candidates cleared an arduous and bureaucratic first stage.

THE FINAL details of the Spanish government's Pta340bn ($2.24bn) divestment of the financial services group, Argentaria, were unveiled this week with observers saying the deal is moving toward a successful conclusion. Led by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, Banco Santander and Argentaria, the issue will consist of some 35,764,129 ordinary shares, representing 29.2% of Argentaria's equity capital. Although the sale is still in a relatively early stage the local retail market has already subscribed for enough shares to fill the deal twice over. This now customary enthusiastic response from individual retail investors first emerged three years ago for deals such as Repsol, Endesa and Telefónica -- and can now be relied upon to propel even the most sluggish sale to a successful conclusion.

THIS YEAR looks set to produce a record volume of primary equity issuance from Turkey with corporates and banks lining up a string of deals and the country's dormant privatisation programme showing signs of revival. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter this week was mandated for the lead role in the flotation of stock in Akbank, bringing to three the number of Turkish banks scheduled to be floated on the international markets in the coming months.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi has formed a new division comprising loan syndications, structured finance (project finance, aircraft finance and lease driven finance) and corporate finance (corporate advisory, M&A and acquisition finance). The division will be called the European Investment Banking Division and will headed up by A Ishigaki, Ishigaki reports to M Yamada, resident managing director for Europe.

Emerging markets debt --------------------------------------------------------------------------------