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PERSERVERANCE paid off for Embotelladora Andina, Chile's leading soft-drink maker this week, when it launched a three part $350m global bond that included a 100 year tranche. The issue succeeded, even though investors initially baulked at the prospect of a Latin century bond. Andina issued $150m of 10 year global bonds at 90bp over; $100m of 30 year bonds at 120bp over and $100m of 100 year bonds at 145bp over. All were oversubscribed and tightened in the aftermarket: on Wednesday the 10 year was quoted at 89bp bid, 86bp offered; the 30 year at 116bp/113bp and the 100 year at 140bp bid with none offered.

ARGENTINE bonds soared by more than a point yesterday on news that Moody's Investors Service had finally decided to catch up with S&P and upgrade the sovereign. Moody's announced it had decided to raise Argentina's foreign currency and peso ratings one notch to Ba3, or BB- in S&P terms. Although the rating is still one notch below the bullish BB rating S&P gave Argentina earlier this year, the move appeared to meet market concerns that the earlier Moody's B1 rating for the country was too low.

THE REPUBLIC of Argentina will return to the lira market today (Friday) when it launches another seven year lira deal on the back of overwhelming demand

THE EGYPTIAN government has raised $94m through the sale of stock in paints and chemicals group Pachin, in a twice oversubscribed deal that reduced the state's stake from 72% to 42.9%. The final transaction was smaller than envisaged. Lead manager ING Barings had planned to sell 9m secondary shares, but the offer structure was subsequently reduced to 8m shares with a 1m greenshoe.

* The flotation of shares in Autostrade by the Italian government is likely to be delayed until next year, following the failure of the authorities to approve an extension of the motorway operator's concession from 2018 to 2038. The IPO was expected to materialise in around eight weeks, but the first stage in the privatisation, involving the sale of stakes to a group of core shareholders, will be put back and this will automatically delay the international public offering of shares.

THE ITALIAN Treasury this week unveiled the successful core shareholders which will take a stake in its national telecoms operator, Telecom Italia. The government has already launched the initial pre-marketing phase for the privatisation of TI and will announce the indicative offer size on Saturday with bookbuilding and roadshows due to commence on Monday. The core shareholders or nucleo stabile will include Assicurazioni Generali (which will take up 0.3%), Ina (0.25%), Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (0.5%), Fondazione Cariplo (0.5%) and Credit Suisse Group (0.67%). These investors will be subject to a 12 month lock up.

DRESDNER Kleinwort Benson and SBC Warburg Dillon Read this week launched the final stage of the $3bn privatisation sale of shares in German airline Lufthansa, kicking off a two week period of roadshows to institutional investors. The early order period to encourage participation by local retail investors ends this week. Initial reports of the response are encouraging -- although the level of retail interest has not matched that in the Spanish government's Endesa sale, where retail orders are already apparently sufficient to cover the entire deal.

HUNGARIAN national telecoms operator Matav will file a registration statement with the US SEC next week ahead of its global share offering via Credit Suisse First Boston and Merrill Lynch. The news follows months of speculation that the company plans to obtain a New York listing for its shares as part of its forthcoming international debut.

SBC WARBURG Dillon Read has launched a complex Ffr2.5bn recapitalisation of Société Foncière Lyonnaise, including the offer of new and secondary shares, the private placement of a convertible bond and the public sale of a convertible bond without pre-emptive rights. The refinancing is aimed at increasing the free float of the property company which will then be able to purchase additional investments from Société Générale and GAN for Ffr2.15bn and Ffr676m respectively.

RUSSIAN oil company Tatneft is set to take advantage of its popularity with international investors by obtaining a listing in New York after filing full registration statements with the US SEC. The Tatarstan-based company, which had long been expected to sell ADSs in the US market, will instead invest in a full registration in order to open its shareholder base up to the widest possible range of investors. The company this week became the first Russian corporate to launch a public international fixed rate bond with a $300m Eurobond via Dresdner Kleinwort Benson.

* Lead manager Smith Barney has launched a sale of stock for insurance group SAFECO Corp. The deal, valued at $518m, is expected to be priced early next week and is attracting strong interest from US and international investors. Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Fox-Pitt Kelton are co-lead managers. The stock is listed on Nasdaq and the shares were trading at $51 when the deal was announced. A total of 12m shares are being offered with 10m being targeted at US investors.

India Industrial Finance Corporation of India's $100m seven year fundraising has closed. Arrangers Fuji Bank (Singapore), Mitsubishi Trust & Banking Corp, Sakura Finance Asia, State Bank of India (Tokyo), and Tokyo-Mitsubishi International (HK) pledged $13m apiece.