Emerging Europe

Candidacy status next year; Tax and graft reforms pay dividends

Recent share sales raise hopes of 2011 IPO bonanza; Kazakh bank debt remains risky proposition

What makes being a banker in emerging markets different from working in the developed world? Nothing yet everything. The skills, the emphasis on relationships and increasingly the products on offer are all similar. Yet only someone who has vast experience of emerging markets would understand their quirks and idiosyncrasies, which make doing business in them very different from the US and western Europe. Newcomers, especially from the west, can find these countries bewildering, operating under unfamiliar rules and regulations. That doesn’t mean that these markets are inferior or laxer – often it’s the very opposite – just that they are different.

All the global banks claim that their emerging markets businesses are among the most important drivers of revenue growth. Yet how committed are they? One way of assessing the seriousness of their claims is through the lens of their personnel. Sudip Roy investigates just how many emerging market investment bankers are reaching the top of the industry.

Return to positive growth in 2011; Credit risk spreads down, equity investor interest up

Chinese appetite for Russian risk remains relatively weak; Rare IT flotation on the way in London

Investors should diversify into developed market companies with high emerging markets exposures to capture these economies’ growth.

Turkey’s IPO market has disappointed this year. The wrong deals were sold at the wrong prices, leaving a bad taste in investors’ mouths. Can the lessons be learnt to ensure next years’ big pipeline gets completed? Nick Lord reports.

Spanish lender looks for growth abroad; Other Turkish lenders expand their horizons

Spate of interventions boosts volumes; Emerging countries seek to stem capital inflows

Hungary’s foreign banks are adamant that they’re in for the long haul. But with a deeply hostile government, a hefty tax bill in the offing and huge mortgage portfolios sinking ever further underwater, is their position sustainable? Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker reports.

Scotching a reputation for cowboy practices, they are responding to demands for more sophistication and the state’s desire to create an important financial centre. New respectability is accompanied by impending consolidation that will leave eight or so leading houses. Elliot Wilson reports.

New shareholder comes on board; Sufficient funds to hand to repay Eurobond

Lending still shrinking as NPLs weigh on sentiment; Regulatory changes may help ease the burden

Deal resumes Russian equity issuance; Proceeds earmarked for capex programme

Given the different macroeconomic and political backdrops, the region’s banking sectors are characterized by sharply differing business fundamentals and prospects. Guy Norton looks at some winners and losers.

Investors were surprised when the government diluted their stakes via a capital increase at what they claim are absurdly low valuations. BSE officials say they are looking for a strategic partner. Sceptics warn this heavy-handed approach makes finding an outside investor harder. Mareen Goebel reports.

When the stock exchange goes on sale in November, investors will have a chance to buy into a company that has been a crucial force in the expansion of Poland’s equity market. But will its efforts to kick-start the country’s lacklustre corporate bond market meet with the same success? Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker reports.

Analysts cut earnings estimates on early warnings from Jefferies and Deutsche; Revivals in M&A and DCM offer rays of hope

The structures that companies choose to help them achieve their cash management goals are often determined by how long they have operated in emerging markets, according to Indrajeet Maitra, head of cash management, Asia, at BNP Paribas. "Companies such as Unilever, Procter & Gamble or IBM have operated in emerging markets for decades," says Maitra. "Over that time, they have effectively become local companies. The cash management arrangements for such companies reflect the level of their domestic integration: for example countries such as India and China are considered separate to other Asian markets." A second group of multinational corporates, which typically have less experience in emerging markets, tend to see Asia as a bloc. "It’s easy to see why a developed-country-market treasurer would choose to take this approach," says Maitra. "It often reflects their stage of development – they know they have to consolidate their position in emerging markets but are unsure in what way – but it can be problematic to paint Asia with one brush, for example."

Local banks’ networks are crucial to global cash managers’ penetration of emerging markets. But the skills some of these local banks are developing put them on track to become regional leaders. Laurence Neville reports.