Hungarian oil and gas company Mol has set its sights on regional expansion and rationalization, with its current programme including bids for Polish companies and an offloading of its domestic gas interests. Both deals have, however, been disrupted by political factors.

Investment banking

Merrill Lynch has merged its high-grade and high-yield research teams. So has JP Morgan. They say it provides quality coverage, especially for fallen angels. But is it really just cost cutting in a bear market?

When Banque Nationale de Paris bought Paribas in 1999, sceptics said the combination would never work. Labelled a merger of equals, it was clearly a takeover by BNP of its smaller rival. In the aftermath of the deal, the bank lost large numbers of staff as doubters tired of the chaos and jumped ship. Two years and a creditable set of annual results on, it seems that they were wrong. But there's a huge hole in CEO Michel Pébereau's plan - investment banking. Time is running out for him to do something about it.

Deutsche snaps at Merrill's high-yield heels

Best in high-grade telecoms

Interviews with the front-runners in this year's Euromoney credit poll indicate a market in flux and efforts on the part of credit research teams to adapt to this. At a time when equity activity is subdued, the credit market stands out as lively but also highly volatile throughout the rating spectrum. This means that the top firms are doing their best to find new ways of presenting research to their varied customer base. Timeliness, focus and independence in their reports are crucial but they must produce this with staffing levels that are generally substantially lower than those of their equity colleagues.

Research

Corporate Governance

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