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A $200M YANKEE issue for poultry and feed producer PT Sierad Produce, which bankers say will come to the market imminently, is expected by many to top the 911bp spread recently forced on Thailand's Advance Agro. The Sierad deal will have a similar 10 year maturity, and will be led by Deutsche Morgan Grenfell -- which commented that rumours of the deal's impending launch are premature.

THE PRIMARY market for Hong Kong and mainland Chinese issuers stuttered back to life this with the launch of a poorly received IPO for property group Lai Fung Holdings and premarketing of China's third window company, Tianjin Development. Books for a 280m share offering by the Chinese property arm of Lai Sun Development led by Crédit Lyonnais will close today (Friday), with syndicate bankers reporting a completed book in the face of widespread market scepticism.

WESTPAC inaugurated its second Australian asset backed CP conduit this week with an A$40m issue from Wisdom Prime Asset Trust No 1. The conduit, rated A-1+ by Standard & Poor's, will repackage Australian mortgage backed securities and corporate bonds rated at least AA-.

THE JAKARTA Stock Exchange (JSE) crashed through the 400 point barrier this week, reaching a four year low. The Jakarta index has lost almost half its value since the beginning of the rupiah devaluation on July 9 when it peaked at 742.95. The JSE closed yesterday (Thursday) at 396.13. Despite the continued shake-out, and predictions that the JSE still has further to fall, Indonesian brokerage PT Makindo is pushing ahead with its 377m share IPO.

* ING Barings announced this week that its Asian chief executive Jeremy Palmer is to be re-located to London, where he will take up a new appointment as head of global corporate finance. Hong Kong-based Palmer will remain a member of the Asian regional management committee and as joint head of equities at ING until a successor is found. Palmer joined Barings Brothers in 1994 shortly before its collapse. He previously worked in the equity divisions of Salomon Brothers and JP Morgan. Following Barings' acquisition by ING Bank, Palmer became regional head of investment banking, and more recently moved into a debt origination role under his most recent title as regional CEO.

ABBEY NATIONAL, one of Britain's leading high street banks, broke new ground in the yen markets this week with the launch of the first dual currency Uridashi bond to offer redemption in sterling. Abbey joined a handful of international banks that have taken advantage of deregulation in the Japanese retail sector this April, and the deal allowed Abbey to diversify its investor base and beat its usual funding target.

AMID INDONESIA'S worst IPO market conditions in a decade, a government announcement to limit crude palm oil exports, and local competition from Aneka Tambang's privatisation, Astra Agro Lestari's (Astra Agro) 125.8m share IPO confounded bankers' expectations by closing two times oversubscribed on Tuesday. "It's the hardest deal I've ever done," said one syndicate official. "Anything more than once oversubscribed is strong in this market," said another.

CITICORP IS preparing an accelerated launch of a $50m to $70m credit enhanced convertible for Lite-On Technology during the first week of December, hoping to take advantage of reviving sentiment towards key sectors of Taiwan's benchmark electronics industry. Having postponed the seven year issue in late October following the government's unexpected decision to abandon active support of the Taiwanese dollar, it has been revived on the back of strong sales growth which saw the company record its largest ever monthly sales during October.

HSBC Markets brought innovation to the Hong Kong dollar debt market this week, launching the first floating rate note for a supranational borrower. The HK$1bn two year FRN for International Finance Corporation, which will be priced later today (Friday), will pay a coupon of one month Hibor less 36bp and a reoffer spread of one month Hibor less 326bp. The deal is being launched off IFC's global MTN programme and will pay 20bp in fees, split 8bp for management/underwriting and 12bp for selling.

Telia AB, Sweden's major telecommunications operator, has signed a $1bn Euro-MTN programme in an attempt to widen its international funding sources. The programme has been arranged by Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. The company has set up the programme in anticipation of increased funding needs, although it will use it only if funding levels are competitive with the Swedish domestic market.

THE SPANISH government looks set to be the first major vendor of equity in the international markets next year with the sale of its entire remaining 25% stake in financial services group Argentaria. This week it appointed Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Argentaria, BBV and Banco Santander as global co-ordinators for the forthcoming offer, which could raise up to $1.8bn. NatWest Markets has already been mandated as adviser on the sale.

THE AUSTRALIAN government's privatisation of national telecoms operator Telstra has been a runaway success, raising A$14.3bn in spite of the volatility that has wracked world stockmarkets over the last month. The triumphant conclusion of the transaction, by far the largest ever seen in Australia, is a notable achievement for global co-ordinators ABN AMRO Rothschild, CS First Boston and JB Were and for the Australian finance ministry itself.