For much of the past couple of years, ECM bankers have had to sit on the sidelines as IPO mandates slipped through their fingers as companies opted instead for sales to private equity buyers. The current weakness in the credit markets, which is making life difficult for leveraged buyouts, has, however, turned the tables. In October, Cadbury Schweppes announced that it planned to spin off its US beverage unit, the maker of Dr Pepper and 7 UP, after a seven-month search for a buyer was derailed by the credit market crunch.

New-issue activity in the securitization markets of Russia and the CIS has dried up in recent months but VTB Bank Europe is clearly banking on a recovery. The London-based investment banking arm of VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank, has added Eke Neumann as head of retail securitization and Daniel Stadnik as head of commercial securitization. Neumann joins from DZ Bank, and Stadnik was previously at ABN Amro. Both new hires will report to Alex Medlock, head of securitization.

A new study confirms the substantial benefits of a depositary receipt programme.

The reaction to JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citi’s proposals to launch a super-SIV called M-LEC to solve the liquidity crisis in the ABCP sector has been an equal mix of enthusiasm and cynicism.

Despite the help of a couple of jumbo multi-billion euro deals by Fortis and UBS, the European convertibles market appears to be shrinking.

Kazakhstan looks set to be the CIS region’s biggest victim of the fallout from the problems in the US sub-prime mortgage market, with the country’s banks seen as the most vulnerable in the Commonwealth of Independent States to any reduction in global liquidity. In recent weeks, the country has been hit by ratings downgrades, whipsawing bond and equity prices, and pressure on the currency. Furthermore, the track record of the banking regulators – previously regarded as the best in the region – is now beginning to look tarnished.

As Euromoney went to press, Bank Saint Petersburg was set to provide an important test of investor sentiment towards the Russian banking sector, with the bank’s initial public offering sure to be closely watched as an indicator of investor appetite for Russian banking assets in the wake of the fallout from the problems in the US sub-prime mortgage market. Joint bookrunners Deutsche Bank and Renaissance Capital set the price range for the IPO at $4.35 to $5.65 per share and $13.05 to $16.95 per global depositary receipt. Post-IPO the bank should have a market capitalization of $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion. As of July, BSPB was the 27th biggest Russian bank by assets

Spate of high-profile delistings by blue-chip European companies boosts Pink Sheets’ premium market segment.

If hedge funds have increased systemic risk, we need to find out by how much and whether the benefits outweigh the risks, says Andrew Lo and Amir Khandani’s paper on quants (see story on page 42). But registration is not the way forward. The authors back up proposals made by other academics that instead a monitoring board would make a good starting point. "By establishing a dedicated and experienced team of forensic accountants, lawyers, and financial engineers to monitor various aspects of systemic risk in the financial system, and by studying every financial blow-up and developing guidelines for improving our methods and models a capital markets safety board may be a more direct way to deal with the systemic risks of the hedge fund industry," concludes the paper. "A great idea," comments one manager, "but the banks will never allow it."

In a move that highlights the broadening appeal of products that offer convenient access to Russia, Lyxor Asset Management has launched the first UK-listed exchange traded fund to cover the Russian equity market. The Lyxor ETF Russia, which is based on the Dow Jones Rusindex Titans 10 index covering the 10 biggest Russian companies by market capitalization, is being offered alongside a family of new ETFs covering all four of the big emerging market economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. ETFs are index-tracking funds that track the performance of a given index and combine the simplicity and liquidity of shares with the diversification benefits of a traditional collective investment scheme. Since Lyxor ETFs are traded on multiple broker-dealer platforms on leading exchanges, they are designed to offer investors maximum liquidity while levying low annual management fees in the 0.15% to 0.85% range.

BNP Paribas has hired Kai Harden, who joins from Goldman Sachs, to co-head its Germany, Austria and Switzerland FIG business alongside Menko Jaekel. He is based in London and reports to Anthony Fane, head of DCM FIG Europe. Harden spent two years at Goldman Sachs and before that worked at JPMorgan.

A growing number of superannuation funds in Australia are turning away from funds of hedge funds and external advisers to set up hedge fund manager selection capabilities in house.

180,600,000,000 the dollar amount of equity capital raised in Bric countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) so far this year. The total is up 137% on the same period in 2006 thanks to record volumes across all Bric markets.

Leading specialist emerging market fund manager Ashmore Investment Management believes that local-currency and high-yield corporate debt could be the prime way for investors to take advantage of US dollar weakness and sub-prime mortgage concerns in the coming year.

"We want to be the Singapore of Europe." That’s the striking slogan employed by Gligor Tashkovich, Macedonia’s minister of foreign investment. Speaking at Euromoney’s Regional Finance & Investment for South East Europe Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia, Tashkovich told delegates that the Balkan republic is pulling out all the stops in an attempt to secure the necessary foreign funds to help turn the country into a centre for hi-tech assembly and manufacturing. Tashkovich says that the centre-right government that came to power in late August 2006 is slashing its way through red tape and providing special incentives that it believes will transform Macedonia from a still primarily agrarian economy to one that is more knowledge-based.

What was hailed as a great success for the credit derivatives market, the tackling of the unconfirmed transaction backlog, has turned out to be far from a mission accomplished.

Evolvence Capital, a Dubai alternative investment company, is on track to raise $150 million for what it claims is the region’s first hedge fund when it closes to investment next month.

Quantitative investment strategies are valid, says report.

RBC Capital Markets has made Mike MacBain co-head of its global debt markets business. MacBain, who will be based in New York, will focus on financial products and commodities, alongside Richard Pilosof. MacBain was most recently president of TD Securities and global head of DCM and cash equities.

Markit and Creditex held the first-ever LCDS credit event auction on October 23. The duo were the official administrators for the auction of US video store chain Movie Gallery’s defaulted contracts. Establishing a cash settlement price via an auction avoids difficulties arising from the fact that many contract holders might not have a position in the loans underlying CDS contracts.

Shared service centres or payment factories? Corporates have to choose which system works best for them. There is no one size that fits all, while good working partnerships with banks are as important as ever.

Many economic indicators in Turkey remain strongly positive despite internal political crises and flashpoints on the country’s borders. David Judson reports.

They are serious events but the IMF-World Bank meetings always leave plenty of room for frivolities. Investment banks compete to lay on the most lavish parties. Huge amounts are spent to attract the great and the good.

Devising le menu is something that the French are famous for turning into an art form. Société Générale certainly did not disappoint for the France vs England semi-final of the rugby World Cup.

The credit crunch fundamentally altered the cash bond/CDS dynamic. As more and more managers are forced to turn to CDS to hedge their bond portfolios, will we ever see a return to highly liquid cash markets? Jethro Wookey reports.

Citi announced on October 2 that it would acquire the remaining shares in broker Nikko Cordial that it does not already own to make the company a wholly owned subsidiary. The move marks the first usage by a foreign firm of the new triangular merger legislation, which allows firms to use their shares rather than cash to make acquisitions and which has been available since May after a ban on the practice was rescinded.

Mifid came into effect on November 1 but the market had already been benefiting from the innovation it encourages. Peter Koh reports.

We don’t usually like to blow our own trumpet at Euromoney, but our Regional finance and investment conference for south east Europe, now in its seventh year and still going strong, is without doubt one of the landmark shindigs in the region. And not just for the sun-drenched charms of the ridiculously picturesque fishing village of Cavtat in Croatia.

India’s booming stock market was given a thorough hiding on October 17. Rumours had been swirling for days that the country’s market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), was planning to ban the use of participatory notes (PNs), which allow any foreign institution to invest directly in India-listed stocks without having to be registered in the country as a foreign institution.

Global liquidity is set to keep contracting and inflation will keep on increasing despite a growth slowdown. There is a serious risk of global recession in 2008.