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* Merrill Lynch has beaten off competition from JP Morgan and UBS to secure the ratings advisory and lead management role on a planned public international bond issue by Lietuvos Energija (Lithuanian Energy). The utility is set to enter the public Eurobond market in the first half of 1998. Earlier this year Lithuanian Energy tapped the Euromarkets for the first time with a $75m private placement due April 2000 with a coupon set at 275bp over Libor. That transaction was lead managed by Merrill Lynch which has also secured two loans totalling $85m for the company.

A HIGHLY successful privatisation of São Paulo electricity distributor CPFL this week failed to raise spirits in Latin America for long, as investors continued to hold back until the Brazilian authorities announce concrete fiscal improvements in the coming week. Latin markets continued to focus on Brazil, with brokers hoping that a successful privatisation of CPFL, along with the announcement of new fiscal reform measures, would boost investor confidence.

THE REPUBLIC of Argentina is looking at the possibility of returning to the bond markets this year -- despite having ruled out such a move last week -- but in currencies other than US dollars. Although the republic has no intention of launching any benchmark dollar deals at current spreads, bankers said the finance ministry was still open to the idea of one-off European currency deals as a way of raising a cushion of funds for debt amortising in the first quarter of 1998.

were in the pipeline for launch in the weeks ahead look unlikely to be completed before January, given that investors are becoming ever more choosy. But new issue activity on the smaller Neuer Markt, where volatility has been much lower, is likely to remain robust with a string of high-tech companies heading for listings.

PRIMARY market activity is already picking up again in Portugal, dispelling fears that the stockmarket's recent volatility would kill off domestic retail support for new equity issues. This week the government launched its privatisation of Brisa-Autostradas de Portugal, the country's toll road operator.

PROOF that quality issues at prudent prices can succeed in volatile markets has been served by the success of the privatisation of Austria Tabakwerke, the country's tobacco monopoly. Despite last week's highly unsettled conditions and the controversial nature of the tobacco sector, the issue was brought to a successful climax at the end of last week by lead managers Creditanstalt and Goldman Sachs.

THE SWEDISH government's plans to reduce its shareholding in Nordbanken are still on track, despite the volatility that has wracked global stockmarkets. The sell-off would involve the sale of shares by Nordbanken Holding, the holding company for the Swedish bank, as part of the bank's merger with Merita Bank of Finland. The planned divestment represents around 12% of the holding company's equity capital.

THE GLOBAL stock offering for Pliva, the Croatian pharmaceuticals group, has been indefinitely postponed by the Croatian government and lead manager Daiwa Europe. The decision bears out predictions in recent days that new issues from emerging market companies would be the most likely casualties of the unsettled conditions in world equity markets.

* The Finnish new issue market is set to host a number of important IPOs if the local market can weather the volatility which has affected the world's stockmarkets. Lead manager UBS is expected to complete the sale of stock in two Finnish corporates -- Elcoteq, and forestry products group Enso. The firm released an indicated price range of between Fmk60 and Fmk75 for the Elcoteq offer which will be completed next week.

PREMARKETING for an up to $800m privatisation of Indian fixed line operator Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) began in earnest this week despite the failure of a similarly ambitious offering by the Gas Authority of India (Gail) to come to the market as expected. Reflecting the government's determination to bridge its budget deficit with privatisation receipts, MTNL's roughly 100m share offering has been kept to its original launch schedule.

MBNA America Bank will shortly join the growing list of US financial issuers in the Euromarket when it launches the first issue off its recently signed global bank note programme. The floating rate deal, likely to be in the region of $300m, will be lead managed by Lehman Brothers, which arranged the $6.5bn issuance facility.

THE KINGDOM of Saudi Arabia is to make a rare foray into the international syndicated loan market to raise a jumbo $4.33bn term facility, Euroweek has learned.