The company's latest tap of debt capital markets will include a syndicated loan, bond or a combination of the two and comes on the back of a massive expansion that has seen the blue chip pick up port, retail and property assets worldwide.

Bankers said a syndicated loan close to the size of Sun Hung Kai Property's recent HK$12.6 billion loan was likely while a bond, tranched in both US dollars and euros, could reach as high as US$4 billion (HK$31.2 billion).

The investment in Thailand's largest port at Laem Chabang would total HK$4 billion, with the rest going towards general working capital.

Hutchison, one of Asia's benchmark borrowers, last tapped international bond markets in November 2003 with a massive US$5 billion, 30-year issue led by Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, only a few months after a billion euro issue led by HSBC. For syndication, Hutchison last tapped bankers in October for a one billion euro loan arranged by a consortium of eight banks, including ABN Amro, BNP Paribas and Citigroup and aimed at refinancing existing debt in Europe.

Subsidiary Hutchison Port Holdings will be the guarantor, a source said.

Moody's Investor's Services upgraded the outlook on flagship Hutchison Whampoa and its subsidiaries earlier this month to ``stable'' from ``negative'' as the company's massive 3G mobile phone investments are likely to stop draining corporate finances later this year. Moody's also reaffirmed the company's ``A3'' debt rating, the seventh-highest rating and last in the top ``A'' category.

The change in outlook, recent poor spread performance of the company's existing debt and historically low interest rates made it likely the company would re-enter the market, observers said.

``It's a good time,'' one banker said. Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Standard Chartered, ABN Amro, Barclay's and Sumitomo Mitsui have all been in discussions with Hutchison Whampoa. Talk of a deal comes as the company has been in the process of expanding on all fronts.

In addition to the Thai port deal announced late last year, Hutchison has formed a joint venture with the Shanghai Port Authority in the mainland to build and manage a total of six berths and has been approved for a two billion yuan (HK$1.88 billion) investment in neighboring Ningbo.

In Europe, retailing subsidiary AS Watson successfully bid 346 million euros (HK$3.53 billion) for French Marionnaud Parfumeries, the second- largest retailer of cosmetics and perfumes in Europe.

The deal also requires the company to take on Marionnaud's existing 547 million euro debt. That comes after acquiring a 40 percent stake last year in German health and beauty chain Dirk Rossmann, which operates around a thousand stores in Europe.

The company was also tipped on Saturday to build and operate a US$656 million mobile phone network in Vietnam.tim.leemaster@globalchina.com

kc.wong@globalchina.com