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Deutsche Bank this morning pulled the repricing portion of the amendment it was in the market with for Hertz Corp.

A WAVE OF high-profile transactions is expected in the early months of 1998 as Asian sovereigns bid to re-establish stable spread levels, with Korea and the Philippines neck-and-neck in the race to access the market first. Bankers believe that while the Republic of Korea has the most pressing need to establish some form of benchmark for its crippled economy, it may be pipped to the post by the Philippines, which has gone some way to salvaging its reputation during the latter half of 1997 via two unusual structured placements led by ING Barings.

THE spate of downgrades in Korea continued this week with all three major agencies announcing revised ratings. Standard & Poor's followed last week's three notch sovereign downgrade from A- to BBB- by cutting the ratings of major banks and corporate entities from the republic. From the banking sector, Industrial Bank of Korea, Kookmin Bank, Korea Long Term Credit Bank and Shinhan Bank were all downgraded in line with the sovereign from A- to BBB-, while BBB+ rated Hanil Bank fell to BBB- and Korea French Banking Corp and Pusan Bank went from BBB to BBB-.

RED CHIP China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Hong Kong Ltd offered an end of year boost to market sentiment this week with a successful top up and placing under the lead management of ABN AMRO Rothschild. Raising HK$596m Sun World Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of CNPC Beijing, sold 260m shares and re-subscribed to an equal number of new shares at an issue price of HK$2.35. Representing an 11.3% discount to close and 10.71% discount over a 10 day average, the issue equalled about 5.57% of the company's existing issued share capital of 4.67bn shares.

THE Japanese government announced its intention to alter the terms of its railway privatisation programme this week, in a move which further threatened confidence in the country's already fragile equity market. The country's transport minister, Takao Fuji, said he is planning to introduce legislation to force seven privatised rail companies to take on ¥500bn ($3.8bn) worth of pension liabilities incurred by the Japan National Railroad.

FUJI BANK plans to securitise loans in the international bond markets before the fiscal year closes at the end of March, a bank official confirmed this week. Fuji hopes to structure the transaction itself, but will employ an investment bank to distribute the bonds. Three leading American houses are in the running, one of which is Goldman Sachs.

ING Barings pulled its $100m IPO for frozen food and fishing company Bintuni Minaraya (BMR) this week as the rupiah dropped to its lowest value yet and questions remained as to the issue's structure. BMR is the holding company of one of the top safe haven stocks in Indonesia, Daya Guna Samudera (DGS), and accounts for almost half of the group's earnings. DGS was floated in October this year. According to one Jakarta-based bank president, some investors believe BMR is essentially selling the same company twice, since DGS is the most valuable part of the company.

BZW is close to a deal with Credit Suisse First Boston over the sale of its Asian operations, which are headquartered in Hong Kong. Company officials said it hoped that a final agreement would be signed and sealed before year end. Having expressed some interest in acquiring the whole of BZW's worldwide franchise, CSFB opted solely for the UK bank's European equities and corporate finance businesses in mid-November, stating that there was too much overlap in Asia where it had also developed a strong presence.

INVESTORS IN the Eurobonds of Brazil's Ceval Alimentos received an early Christmas gift this week when the company's new owners, Bunge y Born, offered a three to four point premium to buy back $178m worth of $200m outstanding Ceval bonds. As part of its acquisition of the struggling grain processing company, Bunge tendered for two Ceval deals: the $100m 10.625% 2004s led by Chase and the $100m 11.125% of 2004s led by Citibank. It received tenders for 89% of the bonds, at a price that implied a spread of 410bp to the 2001 calls in both bonds, about 100bp tighter than secondary market levels.

NEWS ON their credit ratings helped brighten the outlook for three central and eastern European countries this week with Moody's Investors Service upgrading Bulgaria and Lithuania, and assigning an investment grade rating to Latvia. Moody's said Bulgaria's upgrade to B2 from B3 was based on the reformist efforts of the centre-right Union of Democratic Forces government.

A WIDE variety of corporate issuers and government sales is likely to pump up the supply of new equity in the Spanish market next year. This year international and domestic investors enjoyed a variety of local stocks to choose from in a market which has done well and achieved positive returns in most offerings. One of the last deals to be completed this year was the sale of shares in ACS (Actividades de Construccion Y Servicios), the local construction company. The offering was led by Merrill Lynch and Argentaria and involved the sale of 14.183m shares at an issue price of Pta3,600 for institutional investors and Pta3,500 for retail buyers. The shares were marketed under Reg S, which prohibits direct sales into the US and Canada.

* Bankers Trust International has launched a bond convertible into Swiss Life bearer shares. The discounted bonds mature next year and have been sold at 88.24% to offer investors a yield to maturity of 17.5%. When the bonds are redeemed buyers will receive either 100% of the principal or physical delivery of one share. The maximum size of the deal is up to Sfr59.85m and the fixed size will depend on the strength of demand. * Lead manager Prudential-Bache Securities has completed the offering of shares in Petroleum Geo-services, the Norwegian oil, coal and gas group. The deal consists of the sale of 1.2m ADSs and ordinary primary shares at $62.1875, which raised $74.625.