Tougher financing conditions are now making it harder to execute.

Investment banks Nomura and Mediobanca are about to close Italy’s largest ever securitization of regional healthcare receivables, according to market sources in Italy and London. “This is the largest ever deal of its type, and it has unique structural features that have never been used before in this asset class,” says a source close to the €2 billion transaction.

The investment manager reckons there is a wider market for its products.

Speculation continues about the value of funds of hedge funds. A recent survey of 146 European institutional investors by research firm Investor Source and law firm Clifford Chance revealed a significant drop in interest in funds of hedge funds. Only 50% were investing or considering investing in such vehicles in the third-quarter of 2005, down from 65% at the beginning. And of those investing in both funds of hedge funds and single hedge funds, 18% have switched to invest in just the latter.

Calpers, the largest US pension fund, is on the prowl for a new chief investment officer to replace Mark Anson, who stepped down in October to become chief executive officer of Hermes Pensions Management Ltd. The $200 billion fund says it has appointed a recruitment firm and hopes to fill the position in the next six to eight months.

Like bespoke tailors, private bankers have to offer clients just that little bit extra.

When Malcolm Glazer bought UK Premiership football club Manchester United in May, alarm bells rang. The £790.3 million ($1.4 billion) deal was partly funded by a high-cost loan of £275 million from three US hedge funds, and subject to strict ebitda targets over the first two years.

Dresdner Bank has sent out a request for proposals for a sale and leaseback of its retail banking network in Germany. The deal involves some 300 banks and will raise an estimated €2 billion. In mid-December four buyers were left in the auction process – Babcock and Brown, Carlyle, Citigroup Property Investment and Fortress.

JPMorgan found itself in a sticky hole last month when its private equity arm, JPMorgan Partners, was part of a consortium bidding for US doughnut company Dunkin’ Brands, which was being sold by French drinks company Pernod Ricard.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange found that a malfunction in its new and trouble-prone trading system prevented Mizuho Securities from being able to cancel the mistaken J-Com order.

Loss of guidance note 5 wording boosts shareholder leverage.

In battle for Time Warner, he must convince institutions and the proxy recommendation service advisers.

Has Gartmore’s public mulling of the possibility of an IPO in the past few months been nothing more than an attempt to attract takeover bids? Statements from the fund manager now pour cold water on the notion of an IPO but concede that the firm is open to acquisition enquiries. The latest buyer to be mentioned in the rumours is Lehman Brothers.

With just weeks to go before the SEC’s new hedge fund regulation comes into force, its legitimacy has been questioned by a federal appeals court. Philip Goldstein has been challenging the rule in court, arguing that the regulator does not have the power to alter or make law [see Euromoney March 2005]. Although it was widely supposed that Goldstein’s complaints would go unnoticed, judges in the case last month questioned whether the SEC had overstepped its authority. A decision is expected in two months.

Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and RBS finance the UK pub party.

A new series of private banking indices is to be launched this month, replacing those ABN Amro established in May.

Market dismisses concentration risk claims.

Just as Schroders Investment Management joins the ranks of company pension funds to dramatically cut equity exposure, the debate about the merits of such moves is heating up.

The departure of BNP Paribas’ head of corporate debt capital markets, Brian Lazell, was a real shock. It is highly unusual for bankers to leave their jobs just weeks before bonuses are paid. But it is clear from insiders that Lazell has another job that he is due to take up early in the New Year.

A trader at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo accidentally sold 610,000 shares in J-Com for ¥1 instead of one share for ¥610,000.

With the Bombay Sensex, India’s benchmark index, hitting new highs, it is perhaps not surprising that December saw India’s second largest ever equity deal and one of the biggest deals in Asia in 2005. Leading private sector bank ICICI Bank raised more than $1.5 billion from a local and American depositary share offering through Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.

JPMorgan, Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse First Boston and Royal Bank of Scotland are underwriting €10.2 billion of debt financing for the purchase of Danish phone company TDC, Europe’s biggest ever leveraged buyout.

Euromoney reports on the innovations driving the market forward, and profiles the winners of latest Islamic finance awards.

Asia’s business community is never slow to spot a trend and real estate investment trusts are certainly hot news. A trickle from the pipeline of early Reit offerings in Singapore and latterly Hong Kong earlier in 2005 threatens to become a torrent of new issues in 2006 as the region’s property developers and investment banks line up to launch new vehicles for Asia’s yield-voracious investors.

The Czech Republic’s PPF Group, which owns Home Credit and insurer Ceska Pojistovna, has managed to achieve top three positions in all of its countries of operation and with limited need for international financing. Now, the previously inwardly focused group has finally begun to let outsiders in. Kathryn Wells reports.

Thailand faces a looming pensions crisis. Its government is already moving down the path of reform but its critics don’t like the direction in which the programme is headed. Chris Leahy reports from Bangkok.

UK activist hedge fund The Children’s Investment Fund (TCI), famous for its successful campaign against Deutsche Börse, shook up Hong Kong’s collegiate corporate world with announcements that it had built up stakes in two of the territory’s corporate elite.

The economy minister’s ousting signals the end of an era.

Many of the most attractive banking assets in emerging Europe have already been bought. Acquirers must look further east for their next target. But investment bankers are already thinking of the next big play – a global bank trying to buy a presence across the region. Sudip Roy reports.

Australian lender ANZ became the latest foreign bank to invest in a mainland Chinese lender in December 2005 when it agreed to invest $120 million for a 19.9% stake in Tianjin City Commercial Bank. TCCB, based in Tianjin, is China’s fourth-largest city commercial bank by assets, which totalled $8 billion as at October 2005. The bank serves 5 million customers from 180 branches and offices. ANZ plans to provide TCCB with access to its intellectual property and technical resources, specifically to build risk management, retail banking and trade finance capabilities. ANZ has clearly considered its investment in TCCB carefully: Tianjin was voted “most livable city in China” according to an international survey and it is twinned with Melbourne, ANZ’s home city.