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AT THE end of the first week of roadshows in Asia, demand for the jumbo flotation of China Telecom is already said to be building strongly, underlining growing concern that the Hong Kong authorities are unprepared to cope with the scale of the domestic IPO. "They are understandably very, very nervous," said one banker. "Although a number of proposals are under consideration, nothing definite has yet been put in place." Keen to avoid the interbank liquidity crunch which has characterised previous China-related IPO's -- most notably that of Beijing Enterprises -- the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and four local banks charged with receiving retail applications have been working on a number of solutions to prevent an excessive level of funds becoming tied up in the banking system.

MORGAN Stanley Dean Witter has further bolstered its Asian investment banking operations with the appointment of Michael Dee, managing director of debt capital markets in Europe, as its new head of debt capital markets for non-Japan Asia. The relocation of one of the Euromarket's best known practitioners underscores the US firm's desire to protect and enhance its Asian franchise against growing competition in the region.

UNIBANCO and Votorantim this week struggled to raise interest for their bond issues as Brazil's current account deficit and overvalued Real continued to taint market sentiment. Unibanco launched a $100m one year Eurobond at 75bp over one year Libor and Votorantim issued $50m worth of three year notes at 219bp. Both deals were led by Société Générale.

* The Republic of Ukraine is set to launch a ¥30bn-¥35bn three year Samurai bond at the end of this month. Nomura Securities will lead manage the issue and is advising the country on obtaining a Japanese credit rating. Ukraine is expected to receive a strong double-B level rating or higher. The Samurai will be followed by a dollar Eurobond later in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and JP Morgan will run the books on that transaction, and are advising Ukraine on securing ratings from IBCA, Moody's and S&P.

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.