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THE LAUNCH of the $300m World Bank guaranteed deal for the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) has been pushed back to next week, fuelling fears that one of the Asian bond market's last remaining lifelines may be about to be cut. Specialists said that failure to launch the deal earlier this week, taking advantage of a window of certainty, has left it a hostage to wider market volatility.

ONE ISSUE preoccupied the minds of structured finance professionals in Japan this week -- the bankruptcy of Japan Leasing Corporation. Japan Leasing was the most prolific non-bank securitiser in Japan, completing four public international deals in the last two years, as well as several domestic transactions.

AFTER a three year wait, Cable & Wireless Optus has finally outlined the shape of its A$2.5bn capital raising, and while few bankers doubt its success a lengthy delay before the institutional bookbuild starts could leave the sale open to market risk. A total of 1,026.9m shares will be sold, with 375m new shares being sold by the company, 95m existing shares being sold by AMP and National Mutual and a further 556.9m existing shares offered by Mayne Nickless to its shareholders.

Australia National Australia Bank (NAB) has successfully completed its US retail-targeted preference share issue. Having been forced to reduce ambitions of raising up to $1bn, the bank nevertheless managed to exercise the greenshoe to a reduced $400m issue, bringing the overall transaction size up to $450m.

THE MOOD in the US new issue market darkened again this week as the New York and Nasdaq stock exchanges suffered heavy losses, with banking and technology stocks bearing the worst of the decline. Although the success of Internet retailer eBay's Nasdaq listing last week had encouraged other companies to think about testing the market, the pick-up in confidence was shortlived.

* General Electric Capital Corp Rating: Aaa/AAA

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THE LATEST phase of the stockmarkets' downward spiral started not with a bang, but with a whimper. When, on Tuesday, all eyes turned to Fed chairman and global central banker Alan Greenspan to stop the rout with a 50bp rate cut, the response was just 25bp. Although some were hoping for a bigger cut and the equity markets promptly went into reverse again, the move sent a positive message to bond markets around the world and government bonds rallied strongly with record low yields attained in most major markets.

Norway Bayerische Landesbank has signed the Nkr500m (increased from Nkr300m) five year revolving credit for Sparebanken Eiker Dramen after a positive general syndication.

* European Investment Bank Rating: Aaa/AAA

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