The secrecy of the negotiations and the price paid stunned the City into awed silence. Merrill Lynch's takeover was certainly a good deal for Mercury Asset Management's shareholders. But was Merrill so taken with the brand name that it underestimated the fund manager's problems? Mercury has little room for growth at home and has never had much success expanding abroad. Mercury wants to keep some independence, but how long before it gets Merrillized? Antony Currie reports.

When a top Malaysian bank revealed its losses in March, the country was stunned. The suicidal lending of Sime Bank undermined the government's claim that Asia's problems were not Malaysia's problems. The country was just as stunned when top financier Rashid Hussain stepped in to buy the troubled bank. Steven Irvine reports.

Charles Harman's arrival at his new job with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) in December was the latest step in a career that has seen him rise rapidly through the ranks of investment banks focusing on central Europe and Russia.

How did Asia's foremost investment bank come to grief? Andre Lee - seen by many as the villain of the piece - speaks out for the first time. He tells Peter Lee about the internal tensions at Peregrine, the role of his fixed-income business, the firm's culture of credit management and the source of the rumours that broke the bank