Goldman to price notes linked to China Select index; Barclays, JPMorgan plan notes linked to S&P 500

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Dec. 15 - The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. jumped on the emerging markets bandwagon, announcing Friday its plans to price 0% notes linked to the Goldman Sachs China Select index.

"There's a particular interest in Asia [in emerging markets]," said one equity structurer when asked about the index on Friday. "I think it will probably go quite well in terms of size because there is a big enough demand."

The offering is one of many emerging markets-related offerings announced during the past week.

The underlying index for Goldman's deal is a newly created measure using a weighted basket of 30 Chinese stocks of companies listed on the Hong Kong Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq stock market.

The 13-month notes pay par plus any positive or negative percentage change in the index.

Upcoming and earlier offerings

Looking ahead, on the downside, Rabo Financial Products BV plans to price 9.1% reverse convertibles linked to the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund through LaSalle Financial Services, Inc. That deal is scheduled to price Dec. 21.

Recently, JPMorgan Chase & Co. priced $4 million in 0% principal-protected auto callable knock-out senior notes linked to the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund on Dec. 8. Also, Goldman priced $374,513 in 0% medium-term notes linked to the MSCI Emerging Markets index and Morgan Stanley priced $3.4 million in 0% Market Participation Securities linked to the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund.

S&P-linked notes

Elsewhere in structured products offerings, both Barclays Bank plc and JPMorgan announced notes linked to the S&P 500 index.

A market source said Friday afternoon that the S&P will likely remain popular in the structured products marketplace in the coming year because the index has continued to make gains consistently over the year.

"It's at record levels now and shows no signs of stopping," he said. "Everyone is watching it and the gains are probably going to continue in 2007.

"It's something investors want. They want something that's going to make the gains they need to make a profit on their investment."

Barclays priced $10.5 million in 0% 100% principal-protected bear notes linked to the S&P 500.

Also, JPMorgan plans to price annual review notes linked to both the S&P 500 and the Nikkei 225 and lesser-index principal protected notes linked to the S&P 500 and EuroStoxx 50 indexes.

Finally, JPMorgan intends to price 0% annual review notes linked to the S&P 500.

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