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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.

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-.

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.

INVESTMENT bankers this week exploited a window of demand for Nordic equity with the launch of two deals from Finland and the pricing and successful aftermarket performance of another Finnish transaction. The 9.6m share offering for manufacturing services group Elcoteq Network was priced by UBS at FIM70 above the mid-point of the initial range of FIM60 to FIM75.

GLOBAL co-ordinator Dresdner Kleinwort Benson this week announced the price range for its offering of shares in UK telecoms operator Energis, which it is marketing to institutional investors. The 250p to 325p range, capitalising the firm at £737m to £941m, was welcomed as realistic by analysts, who had feared the pricing would be much more aggressive. They said that DKB had been wise to price the offering cautiously given the volatile market conditions and investors' aversion to this part of the telecoms sector after a profits warning this week from Ionica, one of the latest entrants to the UK market.

INTERNATIONAL and domestic investors are lapping up the supply of primary equity in the German market, with a number of IPOs attracting strong demand in spite of market instability. UBS and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell have completed the sale of stock in DIS, the employment services group.