With the recent sell-off behind them, Japanese and eurozone equities look to be more attractive growth or defensive prospects than US stocks.

Summer began in style on July 13 as Euromoney hosted its annual Awards for Excellence Dinner in London.

The oft-perceived wisdom is that consolidation into the hands of fewer and fewer major players will continue. But the emergence of a new breed of service providers suggests this is simplistic.

Emerging market CDOs look more attractive after the recent market correction.

Do the US capital markets require rating agencies to continue to be regulated? It’s a question raised by legislation recently passed by the US House of Representatives and working its way to the Senate.

Would the relatively small capital-raising needs of African sovereigns be best satisfied by joint international issuance or by wider use of their individual domestic markets?

One year on from its prototype of efunding, Ekportfinans has launched the full version of its electronic funding platform, an innovative approach by the Norwegian export financing agency to operating its structured medium term note funding operation.

The idea that Venezuela might issue a bond on Argentina’s behalf poses more questions than answers.

Users of the EU’s clearing and settlement systems would like to see a firmer hand on the tiller.

Further proof – if any were needed – of Russia’s increasing financial clout on the international capital markets came one balmy Friday evening in July.

Recent events surrounding the future ownership of Hong Kong fixed-line carrier PCCW [see Hong Kong: Wrong connections] offer evidence that Asia’s private equity market might be overheating. The zeal with which Texas Pacific Group and Macquarie have pursued an acquisition of the key assets of the group suggests that they might be struggling to find suitable investments in the region.

Our congratulations to Elaine Bridge, a PA at HBOS Treasury Services in London, who won the prize draw for participants in our revamped Business Travel poll (go to page 85 to see what investment bankers consider the best hotels, airlines and restaurants in the world).

Market participants need to focus on the relevance of information, and not just information for its own sake.

Mexico will issue its first 30-year peso-denominated bond in Q4, reflecting renewed confidence in the Mexican economy. Initially an auction of Ps1 billion ($92 million) is planned.

When asked what vexes him most in his dealings with investment bankers, Fabio Barbosa, CFO of Brazilian mining company Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD), takes a few moments to think. He is certainly in a good position to offer an opinion. His company’s $1 billion 2016 bond was the largest ever Brazilian corporate issuance in the global capital markets; it has been able to issue cheaper debt than the sovereign; it comes to market regularly and leverages its global reputation and investment-grade rating to achieve extremely aggressive pricing on its bonds.

The latest GDP figures from China make startling reading. First-half 2006 GDP grew 10.9%, with second-quarter growth accelerating to 11.2%, the fastest pace since 2003 when China’s economy last overheated. The news has reignited concerns that China’s economy is out of control.

Despite a downturn in emerging markets, Latin American companies are eager to tap the developing hybrid securities market to raise money to recapitalize their balance sheets without affecting their credit ratings or causing equity dilution.

Norway’s export credit agency, Eksportfinans, was the first issuer to take advantage of the Russian government’s decision to make the rouble fully convertible from July 1, selling a R1.5 billion ($558 million) rouble-linked Eurobond less than a week later.

Transelectrica is the country’s first utility to IPO.

G8 debt relief package will not constrain issuance plans.

Lebanon has announced plans to borrow as much as $7 billion by the end of this year as it struggles to reduce interest costs on its debt. According to Moody’s Investors Service, Lebanon’s gross debt had reached 727% of government revenue by the end of 2005, the highest level of any rated country.

By Zach Fuchs

The development of Latin America’s local capital markets continues apace following the first bond issue by a multilateral organization in Venezuela in 30 years. The bond, worth B215 billion ($100 million) and with a five-year maturity, was launched last month by CAF, the Andean development bank. It is the biggest non-government bond issued in Venezuela.

“Bond of the South”

Argentine banks’ holdings of public debt are to be restricted to a maximum of 35% of their assets, the central bank has announced. The measure aims to reverse the crowding-out effect by inducing banks to focus on private investment. “This provides additional degrees of freedom to conduct monetary policy, increasing the systemic independence from treasury needs and minimizing the ‘fiscal dominance’ that historically characterized our economy,” says Martin Redrado, Argentina’s central bank governor.

Despite grumblings from hedge fund managers about the way they are treated by the media, a survey by Horizon Cash Management shows that not all of them are unhappy with the coverage. Forty seven percent of hedge fund managers surveyed considered press coverage of the sector to be unfair, but 46% thought it was pretty neutral.

HSBC becomes the first private banking client to sign up to SEI’s global wealth service. SEI has spent three years developing front-to-back-office products and services to aid wealth managers and individual high-net-worth clients.

Following the recent appointment of Robert Taylor as CEO, Kleinwort Benson Private Bank and Kleinwort Benson Channel Islands are amalgamating and will become known simply as Kleinwort Benson. The bank has also begun an expansion of its regional office network in the UK.

Fix Protocol has issued a white paper on foreign exchange, after a 2005 survey by TowerGroup predicted a sharp increase in its use among market participants. TowerGroup found that 15% of sell-side firms and 25% of the buy side they surveyed were already using Fix version 4.4 for FX trading; this is expected to rise to 40% and 60%, respectively, by 2008.

Anyone investing in private equity now is making a bet that the business cycle has been abolished. Caveat emptor.