The borrower's perspective; LBO financing: a changing landscape; Prudent expansion is the key; LTM European Holco PIK's – the next stage of the bull market

Imminent competition between execution ventures is likely to mean more trading and therefore more money for everyone.

In the second part of our debate on FX, we examine the buy side as it develops its interest in new instruments such as exotic options, and examine key areas of innovation such as prime brokerage and e-commerce.

Interest-rate-related MTN supply has fallen.

The Colombian government’s decision to impose further capital controls in order to hinder the peso’s rapid appreciation amounts to "bad policy-making", according to Walter Molano of BCP Securities. In a research note on May 25 Molano said: "Colombia is one of the few emerging market countries that is not taking advantage of the commodity boom. Instead of focusing on its vast natural resource base, Colombia is exploiting the special relationship it enjoys with the US to secure quotas and preferential tariffs for light manufacturers – particularly textiles and clothing." The new regulations extend yet further the compulsory deposit requirements for investors.

UK venture capital firm Oxford Capital Partners and Qatar National Bank and its private banking subsidiary Ansbacher Group have teamed up to form Qatar Capital Partners (QCP), a venture capital business in the Gulf state.

Russia’s Agency for Housing and Mortgage Lending priced the first domestic public MBS transaction last month via Citi. The financial institution placed Rb2.9 billion ($112 million) of class A bonds on Micex, the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange. The transaction will act as a benchmark for future Russian domestic MBS issuance. About 20 investors were attracted to the bonds.

TAM, Brazil’s leading low-cost airline, is seeking to maintain and improve its position with funding such as its recent 10-year bond. CFO Libano Mirando Barroso talks to Chloe Hayward about the bond and the airline’s business strategy.

In Euromoney’s February 2007 Islamic finance awards section, we incorrectly stated that the PCFC or Dubai Ports $3.5 billion pre-IPO convertible "was structured by Deutsche Bank". The transaction, Best Islamic finance deal of the year, was structured, arranged, underwritten and distributed by Barclays Capital and Dubai Islamic Bank only, while Deutsche Bank was advising PCFC on the acquisition of P&O. We regret any inconvenience that may have been caused.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez has responded with scorn to criticisms that his refusal to renew the licence of opposition TV channel RCTV amounts to a direct assault on freedom of speech. The popular channel, which Chávez accuses of having supported an attempted coup in 2002, stopped broadcasting on May 27, leaving the country bereft of many of its favourite soap operas and comedy shows, and also of any mainstream anti-Chávez television. Chávez described as "laughable" the passing of condemnatory motions by both the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington and the European Parliament. The president clearly fancies himself as something of a media mogul: Venezuela is to give Danny "Lethal Weapon" Glover $18 million for a film about the Haitian slave uprising.

180 – the percentage rise in the value of US real estate ECM deals in the year to date over the same period in 2006. The total raised so far this year is $19.5 billion, up from just $7 billion in the 2006 period. The proportion of money raised by real estate companies through convertibles has increased 20 times, and currently accounts for 58% of US real estate ECM volume, $11.3 billion, compared with just 8% in the same period in 2006.

UBS has hired loans syndication specialist Monica Macia from Citi to work as an executive director on the loans capital markets group. A spokesman for UBS said that the firm had no comment to make on speculation that the move suggests a change in emphasis for the bank.

The hybrid sector’s focus might be turning to Asian retail but as Euromoney went to press Munich Re announced an interesting €1 billion benchmark hybrid transaction – rated A3 (Moody’s)/ A (S&P)/A+ (Fitch) – with Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and UBS as bookrunners.

Gary Cottle has left Morgan Stanley less than a year after joining the US investment bank. He joins Royal Bank of Scotland as head of corporate risk solutions for the UK and Europe.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) has issued its first euro-denominated global benchmark bond in a move that signals the borrower’s objective of increasing its profile. Its annual dollar benchmark operation had grown a bit stale. "We went on a non-deal roadshow throughout Asia, the Middle East and Europe," explains Doris Herrera-Pol, head of capital markets operations in the World Bank treasury. "We heard from investors that they were really interested in this issue."

Neil Wilson, editorial director at HedgeFund Intelligence explains why the Big Apple still holds some aces.

Companies working on improving inadequate water supplies in Asia’s growing economies are the prime focus of Wessex’s water investment fund. Co-founder Tim Weir tells Helen Avery how the company analyses their likely profitability.

Standard & Poor’s has raised the long-term counterparty credit ratings for two of Citadel’s funds from Triple B to BBB+. "The funds’ performance in 2006 was strong and at the top of their peer group based on strong contributions across nearly all of the firm’s nine business units," said S&P’s report. "In 2006, Citadel Group reaped the rewards of years of restructuring and investments but also strongly benefited from its acquisition of the energy business of failed hedge fund Amaranth Advisors. Last year saw a significant increase in returns compared with 2004 and 2005, accompanied by an increase of the volatility of returns as measured by the standard deviation of monthly returns, but at all times well within the prescribed risk limits of the funds. The funds have never had an unprofitable year."

The chances of a single Gulf currency receded further in May after Kuwait decided to break away from its US dollar peg and fix against a currency basket instead. At the time of writing the make-up of the basket was not known.

Unknown risks – the black swans – could upset the Asian party.

The smart money is already betting that the credit cycle is turning.

Market mechanisms, not inflexible penal taxation, are the way to deal with global warming. And market approaches also open profitable channels for investors.

The latest chapter in the Great Game saga has been opened with a landmark agreement to build a gas pipeline linking Turkmenistan with Russia. The accord is widely seen as a blow to the interests of US and western Europe, which had hoped that Turkmen gas would be channelled through a western-backed trans-Caspian Sea pipeline that would bypass Russia.

Housing provision for a burgeoning youthful population puts the development of a mortgage market centre stage in the GCC countries.

As the boundaries of corporate securitization are increasingly stretched, the foundations upon which the concept is built are rapidly being eroded.

The sell side’s failure to engage its clients in plans for Project Turquoise could jeopardize its success.

Brazil, which is already a major player in the $30 billion global trade in carbon credits, aims to hold its first online carbon credit auction this year on the São Paulo BM&F commodities and futures exchange in an initiative geared towards attracting European buyers. "We hope to reach an accord with one particular company interested in selling its credits via auction in the second half of the year," says Guilherme Magalhães Fagundes, the BM&F’s head of special projects. With a lack of liquidity in the world carbon credit market, daily trading is still some years away, but the BM&F says it aims to make the auction possible on the basis of buyer or seller demand and widen carbon credit sales away from the current business-to-business format.

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It was announced on May 25 that Jack Jeffery had resigned as chief executive of electronic broking at Icap. The broker understandably moved swiftly to replace him, announcing that John Nixon would take over the role. Jeffery had overseen EBS’s integration into Icap after it was bought out from its mainly bank-consortium owners in June 2006. Jeffery joined EBS from Citi in February 2002 and he is widely credited with maintaining and then advancing EBS’s position as the market’s pre-eminent spot platform.

Increasing international competition for China listings, most notably between London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and China’s domestic markets of Shanghai and Shenzhen, is squeezing market leader Hong Kong, say insiders.