IPOs in the Gulf are so popular that one investment bank has found a novel way to avoid crushes as investors scramble to register for shares. Qatar National Bank, which is arranging the $1.1 billion IPO for Al Rayyan Bank, hired a stadium in Doha for a two-week period in January.

Debt exchange plans hobbled by bad timing, repeat performance and a fully tapped shelf.

CMS growth is not expected to continue at its previous pace, but the momentum generated by the high first coupons, and the continuing leverage effort of MTN houses has kept demand for structured MTNs flowing.

Emerging market companies still lag behind in corporate governance but, says Karina Litvack, their success in developing businesses outside their home countries and their need to tap global capital markets is forcing them to devote more attention to the rules

René Karsenti has left the European Investment Bank, where he was director-general for just under 10 years, to become the CEO of the International Capital Markets Association, the product of the recently merged International Primary Markets Association and International Securities Market Association.

In the first of a regular new column featuring heads of funding at leading financial institutions, Barclays’ new treasurer talks to Alex Chambers about the early days of his new role and how its demands differs from his experience as an investment banker.

Exchange looking to build on the success of its established dollar index.

Raising money in global financial markets in 2005 was not always easy. But equity returns were strong and global credit survived a volatile year; it was also a notably profitable year for investment banks as M&A boomed again and the fees came rolling in.

The country’s president-elect knows little of economics, but is set to appoint a market-friendly finance minister.

Foreign banks are lining up to follow RZB and BNP Paribas’ lead by acquiring Ukrainian banks. The next to be sold looks set to be Ukrsotsbank, which oligarch Viktor Pinchuk has been looking to sell since the Orange Revolution of December 2004. Erste Bank, OTP, Société Générale and Intesa are all looking to buy the bank, which is Ukraine’s fourth biggest by assets. Ukrsotsbank has attracted foreign banks’ attention thanks to its strong growth in retail lending, with its gross consumer loan portfolio growing by 58% last year.

A repricing of capital is coming soon. But advances in risk management suggest it will be a prolonged process, not a quick flip into deflation.

“I was meant to buy a new house today. All the financing was in place. Everything was agreed. Then a Russian turned up with a bag of cash and gazumped me. My wife’s not very happy.”

Larry Trotter and the Bonus of Doom

Although brokers, fund managers and regulators are still unable to concur on an exact definition of best execution, they all agree that any definition should take into account both speed and price.

An IPO is one way to head off fallout from the region’s gas dispute.

Ariel Sigal, chairman of Latin America at Deutsche Bank, left the bank at the end of January, and it’s far from clear whether he will return.

According to one fund of hedge funds manager, the new craze in strategies is buying life insurance policies. Managers are approaching elderly people and offering to buy their policies from them at a discount. “For example, managers would offer $500,000 to a 75-year-old for their $1 million life policy,” says the manager. “It seems a bit unsavoury, as managers are basically counting on a quick death so they don’t have to pay the annual premiums for a prolonged period of time. But as long as the discount isn’t too high, it seems there is little wrong with the strategy. The elderly person gets a lump sum of money, and the hedge fund manager has a tidy return,” he says. Managers are said to hold portfolios of numerous elderly people with varying life expectancies to spread risk. “The only problem with the strategy is that there is a finite number of people about to die who want to cash out of their life insurance policies.”

Year-long talks to create leading investment bank in Brazil break down.

Behind Japan’s headline economic restructuring, a gradual but fundamental shift in Japan’s corporate ownership is taking place. A growing band of fund managers is encouraging companies to change; in some cases forcing them to do so. In the process the managers are making a tidy sum. Chris Leahy reports.

Even after the stock market’s dramatic climb in 2005 and sudden sell-off in mid-January, a wall of money is heading into Japanese equities, reports Peter Lee. Securing greater retail investment is seen as crucial to the reconstruction of Japan’s entire financial system. Privatization, new-economy IPOs, J-Reits and private equity exits will keep the investment bankers busy until the big blue chips are ready to issue once more. In the meantime, can someone please fix the TSE’s problems?

The Russian real estate market is one of the best performing in the world. Foreign capital is lining up billions of dollars to invest in it. But there’s a problem – it has to compete with the billions in local capital generated by oil sales. Julian Evans reports.

Building company Waco International has been sold to a private equity consortium for R5.4 billion, the largest ever such deal in South Africa.

Japan might finally be on the road to recovery from its economic downturn but recent events have revealed a crisis of a different sort. After a human input error to a trade by Mizuho Securities in December that the Tokyo Stock Exchange trading system refused to cancel, despite requests from the broker, the TSE was rocked by another crisis in January when panic selling forced the exchange to shut early since the trading system was unable to cope with the flood of orders.

Mixed message in mix-up?

Equine expectations

Risk is pervasive but arguably no more so in emerging markets than elsewhere. And returns there at least take account of it and add a bit extra, says Euromoney’s new fund management columnist.

Japan has suffered 15 years of stagnation; a period in which an entire generation of financial innovation passed it by. Suddenly, investment bankers are licking their lips at the prospect of helping its financial markets play catch up. Some consider Japan a $500 trillion emerging market.

Euromoney’s annual poll of polls shows that universal banks still dominate overall because of the breadth of their business. But firms such as Barclays Capital, Merrill Lynch and Société Générale are scoring notable successes in their chosen areas. Clive Horwood spoke to their heads of investment banking.

Japanese companies are now creditworthy and the banks are recapitalized but neither side seems keen to enter into loan transactions. But companies can see the long-term value of establishing access to capital markets. And lenders are keen to repackage and redistribute credit risk in new ways and define a new relationship with corporate customers. Peter Lee reports

Japan’s recent M&A boom is set to accelerate, driven by aggressive upstart companies, foreign and domestic private equity buyers and hungry overseas corporations. Now they have restructured, healthy Japanese corporations have plenty of domestic consolidation to do. M&A is becoming an increasingly accepted management tool. A handful of leading Japanese companies will use it to cement global leadership. Peter Lee reports.