Petroliam Nasional Begin To Market Bonds

Petroliam Nasional, Malaysia's state owned oil company, began marketing euro and US dollar denominated bonds to investors, bankers involved in the sale have said. Petronas and its bankers will meet investors in Asia today and tomorrow before heading to the UK on Thursday and the US on Friday, the bankers said. Pricing is expected late next week. The company said in an earlier statement that it has hired Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Salomon Smith Barney to sell the US dollar bonds and Morgan Stanley with Barclays and HSBC Holdings to sell the euro denominated debt. The statement did not give the target amount. Bankers involved, who declined to be identified, said that they are aiming to sell about a billion dollars and five hundred million euros ($458 million). Bankers earlier put the sale at as much as $3.5 billion.