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MERRILL Lynch has moved to beef up its Latin American debt underwriting capabilities with a series of key appointments in New York and plans for further hires in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. This week the firm appointed Allen Vine to head a new group specialising in Latin American corporate credit research. The new post for Vine, who has always served as a Latin specialist at the firm, follows the recent appointment of adviser Keith Horn as new co-head of Latin American debt capital markets.

ING Barings opened up a new asset class of Russian risk last Friday, running the books on a $100m Euro/144A issue for the Oblast of Nizhniy Novgorod -- the first of Russia's regions to tap the international bond markets. With a 8.75% coupon, the Ba2/BB- rated transaction was priced to yield 280bp over US Treasuries at the issue fixed re-offer price of 99.742 -- at the midpoint of the 270bp-290bp indicative pricing range and flat to where the similarly rated City of St Petersburg's $300m 9.50% five year issue was trading at the time. By this Thursday's close in London the deal had traded up to 100.05/100.15, with the spread tightening to 273bp/270bp on a bid/offer basis.

BRAZILIAN oil company Petrobras is planning an ambitious 20 year dollar deal and a 10 year lira transaction as part of a liability management programme aimed at raising more than $500m in the markets. Bankers have been asked to submit bids on a $150m to $200m 20 year and the equivalent in 10 year lire. News of the impending deals follows Petrobras's issuance this week of $150m worth of three year floating rate notes at 130bp over Libor via Chase.

* Roadshows for the Euromarket debut from Russian power company Mosenergo via Salomon Brothers were completed this week, and the issue should be launched late next week. Positive feedback from investor presentations in Europe and the US should allow Mosenergo's inaugural debt offering to emerge at the top of the $150m-$200m indicative range.

SWEDISH Export Credit (SEK) this week became the first foreign issuer to launch a Lithuanian litas denominated transaction. This week's offering is SEK's second in a Baltic currency -- in October last year it tapped the Estonian kroon market under the lead of Finland's Postipankki with a Ek60m three year offering.

UNION Bank of Estonia this week launched a two-pronged assault on the Euromarkets with landmark issues in the Deutschmark and dollar sectors. On Tuesday the bank issued its first subordinated debt issue, a DM30m seven year non-call two offering via Nomura which was the first rated deal out of Estonia. Last week, IBCA had assigned the bank a BB+ subordinated debt rating.

GLOBAL co-ordinators ABN AMRO Rothschild and UBS last night pulled the flotation of Dutch electronic switch gear manufacturer Holec after the offer of new and secondary stock was overwhelmingly rejected by local investors. Although bankers involved in the deal described it as a one-off, others pointed out that the deal would likely have worked six months ago; its failure illustrated the change in market sentiment.

JOINT global co-ordinators, Argentaria, Merrill Lynch and Banco Santander, this week filed registration statements with the SEC and the Spanish stock exchange authority (CNMV) in preparation for the sale of stock in the Spanish electricity utility, Endesa. The statements reveal that the government will sell 25% of Endesa's equity capital in the form of 260,005,599 ordinary shares. Of this some 67% (175,503,779 shares) will be earmarked for Spanish investors and within this 149,503,219 will be sold to retail buyers, with 15,600,336 targeted at Endesa employees.

* The largest IPO ever to emerge from Norway is attracting record levels of interest. Goldman Sachs and Fearnley Fonds are leading the global offer of stock in local energy group, Fred Olsen. The company, which is majority owned by the founder, Fred Olsen, is raising around 30% in new capital which will represent the sale of 15m ordinary shares with a 400,000 share greenshoe.

THE French government this week launched the sale of stock in France Télécom, revealing an indicated price range for the shares of between Ffr170 and Ffr190 which was very much in line with last week's expected range of Ffr170 to Ffr200. The authorities will sell a stake of 21.1% in the company; at the mid-point of the price range this will value the sale at between Ffr35.9bn and Ffr40.1bn ($6bn to $6.7bn). The deal has been structured so that 7.5% of the company's equity capital or 75m shares, will be offered to local retail investors.

THE FORTHCOMING international offering for Telecom Italia gathered momentum during pre-marketing this week despite competition for investors' attention from issues for France Télécom and Portugal Telecom. Salesmen in London reported that investors are showing healthy appetite for the shares -- fuelled if anything by Italy and France's contrasting approaches to telecom privatisation.

THE AUSTRALIAN government's offering of shares in Telstra, its national telecoms operator, is proving very successful with domestic retail investors and institutions at home and abroad ahead of the announcement of an indicated price range early next week. Approximately 2.3m retail investors pre-registered for the offering.