German bank boosts issue

A STRONG Asian appetite for blue-chip German debt prompted Bayerische Landesbank to boost last week's 'targeted Euro' issue to US$500 million from $300 million, Lehman Brothers says.

'Owing to the success of the first tranche, it was felt that the market could take added supply and Bayerische's original intention had been to do a transaction of between $300 million and $500 million, but they wanted to approach the market cautiously,' said a spokesman for Lehman Brothers, which arranged the deal.

The spokesman said the three-year bonds were being sold on terms identical to those offered last week and the payment date would be December 19.