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INDONESIAN STATE owned mining company Aneka Tambang (Antam) has finally announced a launch date for its scaled-down $150m to $250m privatisation, with pre-marketing to start at the beginning of next week. The deal will be pitched on a p/e range of 10 to 20 times 1998 earnings, using Australia's United Nickel and Western Mining of the US as benchmarks in the absence of any comparable Asian mining plays.

A NEW offering from Indonesia's debt-hungry Asia Pulp and Paper group has begun roadshows under lead manager Credit Suisse First Boston. Following sustained widening in Indonesian bond spreads, the deal is seen as a crucial test of investor appetite for high yielding Indonesian debt. The new issue, which should raise $500m in five and 10 year debt, is from PT Pindo Deli Pulp and Paper -- a majority owned vehicle of Singapore-incorporated APP.

THE FORTHCOMING flotation of Gulf Indonesia Ltd will be the first to encompass an Indonesian depositary receipt (IDR), marking a new stage of development for Indonesia's equity markets. Following a recent lifting of the 49% foreign share ownership ceiling, Indonesian stockmarket regulator Bapepam has given Gulf Indonesia -- a subsidiary of Gulf Canada -- the go-ahead to become the first foreign company with an overseas headquarters to list in Jakarta. Its domestic depositary receipt programme should be in place within six months of the company's New York listing later this month.

THE REHABILITATION of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in the eyes of many bond investors looks set to take a major step forward, following the announcement of plans for a new fixed rate dollar offering. The prospective $300m 144A deal marks the sovereign's second debt issue of the year, following a highly successful ANZ-led FRN in May which was tripled in size on final pricing.

ROADSHOWS will begin next Wednesday (September 24) for a first straight international equity offering for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The roughly $350m ADR issue represents a second attempt by Dutch conglomerate Philips to sell its stake in the group via the ADR market, having seen plans for a $500m NYSE-listed offering fall apart in poor market conditions late last spring.

UBS LAUNCHED a near $500m international offer for Nichiei on Wednesday in what is likely to be the largest international stock offering from Japan this year. Nichiei, the second largest finance provider in Japan, has a p/e ratio of 30 times March 1997 earnings. The 144a transaction consists of 4m new shares, a 500,000 greenshoe and a 500,000 sell-off by current shareholders.

EQUITY ISSUERS from Korea have faced a second testing week, with investor resistance to two telecoms-related transactions from Dacom and SK Telecom increasing the uncertainty as to the correct pricing levels for new issues. The fate of a $200m convertible from fixed line operator Dacom remains unclear. Lead managers Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Dongwon Securities will still not clarify whether the issue it to be completed or postponed.

* Malaysia has issued its first government bond in an attempt to revive the local market. The three year M$1bn zero-coupon bond was issued via state-owned Khazanah Nasional, and carried a government guarantee. Competitive tendering for the bonds closed on Wednesday at an average yield of 7.821%. The government hopes to build an efficient yield curve through quarterly auctions of at least M$500m apiece of Khazanah bonds, with maturities of three, five, seven at 10 years.

PHILIPPINES property developer Belle Corporation is to attempt a re-opening of the fixed income sector for issuers from the republic, with plans to launch a $125m FRN on Monday. Led by Deutsche Morgan Grenfell using loan style syndication, the issue has an unusual structure comprising a one year tenor with six month put and call options. Bankers said that since credit spreads between the one and five year sector have become so steep, longer term funding has become prohibitively expensive.

PLANS to kick start Thailand's privatisation programme and raise much needed funds to ease the kingdom's financial crisis are being revived by the prospect of a government sell-down in Thai International Airways. Local bankers commented that a $250m to $300m divestment is in the final stages of receiving cabinet approval, with the company hoping to file an offering with the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) by November.

STANDARD & Poor's downgraded a number of Thai banks this week in a further blow to the financial sector's already stricken credit outlook. The senior debt of Bangkok Bank and IFCT was downgraded from the sovereign A- level to BBB+, Bank of Ayudhya from BBB to BBB- and Phatra Thanakit from BBB- to BB+.

WITH international attention focusing on Hong Kong ahead of next week's IMF/World Bank meetings, the World Bank and the European Investment Bank this week ended the dearth in the Hong Kong dollar primary bond market with a pair of new issues. Since US agency Fannie Mae launched the sector's first global bond on July 9, Asia's currency crisis has frustrated new issuance, with speculative attacks on the Hong Kong dollar causing secondary market spreads to widen sharply.