Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group closed its $9 billion investment in Morgan Stanley on October 13, ending speculation that the deal might not go ahead. The terms of the deal were more favourable to the Japanese institution than had originally been agreed, reflecting Morgan Stanley’s troubles. Rather than spending $3 billion of the total on ordinary shares at $25.25 each and the rest on convertible preferred shares with a conversion price of $31.25, MUFG will get a total of $7.8 billion-worth of the convertible preferred shares converting at $25.25 and the remaining $1.2 billion in preferred shares. The new deal offers substantially more protection for MUFG on its investment since preferred shares offer a fixed yield and their holders rank above common equity owners.

Under pressure from investors to put money to work, private equity firms are reconsidering the structure of their investment strategies.

Central bank governor reveals the extent of intervention required by the FX losses of a Mexican retailer.

Rage against the dying of the light

Russia, Iran and Qatar have signed a framework agreement with a view to establishing a gas cartel. Commenting on the deal, Alexei Miller, chief executive of Russian gas company Gazprom, says: "We have decided to have closer contacts, and it can be said that a large gas trio has been formed." It remains to be seen if the new agreement will extend beyond ensuring commonly agreed production targets into regulating gas prices on the world market as Opec does for the oil market.

News that ICE is to relaunch its FX contracts gets a cool reception.

Pension system nationalization announced last month brings country ‘closer to the abyss’.

63,300,000,000 the amount in dollars of equity capital raised by financial institutions in the third quarter of 2008. The quarterly amount is the second highest on record after the second quarter of 2008, when financial institutions raised a record $109.1 billion. Finance sector ECM deals accounted for nearly half of the total volume of transactions in the third quarter.

When structured products started turning into four-letter words, investors should have taken heed.

Show me the bonus!

"This is a profound ethical issue. These are very sophisticated operations where the counterparty was not a hedge fund – it was not even a financial institution. Should a grocery chain be selling volatility protection?"

Bank of America is due to close its acquisition of Merrill Lynch in March 2009 but it is still not clear what it plans to do with Merrill’s Latin American business.

The BBC has launched a new series in the UK that seems eerily well timed considering the current financial situation. Little Dorrit, which premiered on Sunday October 26, is the story of a family that has fallen into debt and lost its house thanks to the overly aggressive lending policies of banks on the brink of world recession.

Corporates can see the potential of shared service centres for reasons including compliance and costs, increased back office efficiency and labour arbitrage. However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Cash-strapped Pakistan is trying every trick in the book to stave off a humiliating default on its mountain of foreign borrowings and inject some life into its moribund share markets. Mirroring the financial crisis elsewhere, the State Bank of Pakistan on October 16 moved to inject liquidity into the country’s financial system, cutting the cash reserve ratio – the amount banks are required to hold in reserve – by two percentage points, to 6%, and promising a further one percentage point cut by November 15. SBP governor Shamshad Akhtar promised the country’s embattled bankers that the move would immediately inject up to Rs180 billion ($2.2 billion) into the banking system, with a further Rs90 billion in capital to be freed up "at a later date".

Excuse the cliché, but there is a silver lining in the cloud hanging over hedge funds. Many are destined to shut down. But that means more opportunity for those that survive, argues Neil Wilson.

Hedge funds are resorting to fee cuts in an attempt to discourage investors from redemptions. Ramius Capital, which has two funds totalling $11 billion in assets, reduced its incentive fee last month from 20% to 15% for current investors who agree to leave their money in its funds. Those investors would enjoy the lower fees until the end of 2010. Investors that add capital won’t pay an incentive fee on the additional funds until the beginning of 2010.

IMF loan may not be enough to stave off banking and currency collapse.

The witch-hunt of Dick Fuld is wrong. But that doesn’t mean it won’t continue.

Amendments made to accounting rules by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in mid October could allow banks to write back billions in losses incurred in trading books.

In an attempt to boost liquidity to financial institutions the US Federal Reserve has unveiled a scheme to support money market investors. Money Market Investor Funding will buy $540 million of short-term (up to three months) bank paper from funds. The Fed has created 10 private sector SPVs that can buy paper issued by up to 10 financial institutions – with concentration limits of 15%. Funds that sell into this programme receive 90% of the purchase price in cash and the rest as ABCP – which is effectively a first loss tranche for the individual SPV.

What was previously a winning model has become instantly bereft of merit in the eyes of investors.

Predicting corporate default rates on the basis of historical experience is a futile pastime.

Unprecedented high spreads between European government bonds are prompting some radical – and frankly unworkable – new ideas.

Christian Wait, global head of sales at Lehman Brothers, has moved to Standard Chartered where he will head global markets. He reports to Lenny Feder, global head of financial markets. Wait, who was European head of DCM before he moved back to the US to head up structured credit sales in 2005, will be based in Singapore. Meanwhile, Ben Katz, a former senior FIG structuring banker at Lehman, will join Barclays Capital in London. He reports to Richard Boath, head of FIG. Lorenzo Frontini who spent 11 years at Lehman, mostly in syndicate, before moving in June to run Italian FIG DCM, has moved to a similar position at Deutsche Bank. He reports to Renato Grelle, who runs Italian DCM.

Can Gulf financial centres’ high ambitions be fulfilled in a post-credit crunch world with falling oil prices?

The substantial help afforded financial institutions across the globe has failed to support spreads outside the financial sector. Corporate credit was responsible for the widening in both Europe’s iTraxx (Series 10) and the US CDX (Series 11) to 172bp and 225bp respectively – outside the previous wides seen in March. Confirmation that a global recession is on its way was the main factor driving the move.

Whisper it quietly, but Sarkozy’s bail-out plan looks the most market-savvy.

But Barclays deal reprices agency sector.