Standard Chartered and the International Finance Corporation have joined forces to launch the first-ever issuance of credit-linked notes backed by loans to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Deutsche Securities Inc has announced Shunichi Maeda, previously deputy president at Lehman Brothers Japan, as its new vice-chairman of global banking for Japan. Maeda, a former Mitsubishi investment banking veteran who has also worked at the World Bank, has been brought on board primarily for his extensive contact network as well as his experience in banking.

Permanent deal is the most exciting thing for a very long time.

UK-based fund Brevan Howard has raised $1 billion in an IPO of its feeder fund, BH Global, double its original target. The fund will invest in five of Brevan Howard’s hedge funds. Canadian firm Sprott Asset Management also went public last month, with a $225 million IPO. It was the biggest IPO in Canada in the past five months.

One of the many things that got forgotten during the LBO boom was that mezzanine is a risky product.

In the face of global market turbulence, rising oil prices and rifts in the country’s rickety ruling coalition, Pakistan’s markets remain a rare sanctuary of stability for embattled investors and acquisitive foreign corporates.

Blackstone Group has hired Kemal Kaya as a senior adviser for its Turkish operations.

Series of opportunistic buybacks is ruffling feathers in the loan market.

While some continue to debate whether the knife is still falling, others have decided that the distressed credit markets already offer an attractive investment opportunity.

It doesn’t take much to bring out the eccentricity of the English. And a ban on drinking alcohol on London’s underground system achieved just that, as thousands of revellers gathered on trains and at tube stations in late May to mark the last day that it was legal to have a tipple 50 feet under London’s streets.

The credit crunch has brought the benefits of a strong, experienced debt house into stark perspective, and there has been a realization that not all investment banks and their services are equal. Jethro Wookey reports.

CLS has added the Israeli shekel and Mexican peso to the 15 currencies it settles. "Bringing the benefits of CLS settlement to an ever wider community of stakeholders is central to our strategy of growing the value of CLS to the market. The local banking systems in Israel and Mexico will also experience the risk and efficiency benefits that CLS participation will bring, and we are very pleased to welcome these two new currencies to the CLS community," says Rob Close, chief executive of CLS Group.

Following the retirement of John Fleming at Credit Suisse and ABN Amro’s Paul White, another longstanding debt syndicate head has left his role. Lorenzo Frontini, who ran European debt syndicate at Lehman Brothers for four years has moved to origination within the bank’s global finance division. Frontini is a Lehman veteran with 11 years experience, and now will run coverage for Italian financial institutions. He reports to European co-heads of global finance Philippe Dufournier and Richard Atterbury and geographically to Riccardo Banchettti, CEO of Italy.

Malayan Bank, Malaysia’s biggest lender, has acquired 15% of Pakistan’s MCB Bank, Pakistan’s fourth-largest bank by asset value. This is the Malaysian bank’s third acquisition in Asia in two months and the largest banking acquisition in Pakistan.

It is not that long ago that Barclays Capital dismissed the possibility that it would cater directly for retail foreign exchange business.

"Go West", sang the Village People when encouraging listeners to seek utopia but bankers considering their career prospects might now be advised to go in the opposite direction. In what might be a sign of things to come, Credit Suisse has relocated two senior bankers to Asia, seeking to align top talent with areas of highest potential growth. First up is Vikram Gandhi, who has led CS to its position as the top M&A adviser to financial institutions (year-to-date) since he joined the firm in 2005. Gandhi, who moves from New York to Hong Kong, will continue in his role as head of the global financial institutions group. Before he joined Credit Suisse, Gandhi was head of FIG at Morgan Stanley.

The billionaire investor is one of the world’s most successful buyers of distressed assets. He talks to Sudip Roy in New York about value destruction, a Middle East partnership and his strategy for the future.

These are happy days for mezzanine lenders. Having been excluded from the LBO boom of recent years they are now the first port of call for sponsors in the brave new world of leveraged finance. But how long will the mini-boom last? Louise Bowman reports.

US listed asset management firm BlackRock has embarked on a renewed drive into Latin America.

Rasmala was created by one man: Ali Al Shihabi. The firm and its founder encapsulate the cultural fusion for which their home, Dubai, is famed. Dominic O’Neill profiles a company that specializes in the world’s fastest-growing financial market.

Never mind volatility in the financial markets. Latin America’s investment banking community has rarely seen so many senior people moving around as in the past few months – with the likelihood of more changes to come. Many of the leading international banks are shaking up their businesses either through big hires or internal moves to better target the region’s opportunities.

High-ticket foreign purchases by Tata Steel and Hindalco have grabbed the headlines but India’s SMEs are also increasingly acquisitive. Cash-rich, or funded by enthusiastic local banks or foreign investors, they are taking advantage of turmoil in the US. Elliot Wilson reports.

Many voices have called an end to structured credit. And yet, amid the continued retrenchment and fallout from several years of excessive activity, there are signs that this structuring technique is far from dead: its proponents are merely reshaping the technology. Alex Chambers reports.

Mining company’s CEO hopes credit crunch won’t dent IPO and funding for expansion projects.

Best Borrowers 2008: Bank of America