The second exchange of Soviet-era FTO (foreign trade organization) debt into Eurobonds is being formally launched this month, following a first debt swap in December 2002. The first exchange involved $184 million of 2010 paper and $1.2 billion of 2030 paper issued on London Club terms, with about 35% of debt written off. The new one will be carried out on the same terms, and the finance ministry estimates that up to $600 million of claims are eligible.

Brazilian mining group Companhia Vale do Rio Doce is poised to become the latest emerging market company to buy a rival in the developed world after becoming the favourite to acquire Canadian nickel producer Inco. The deal could make CVRD the world’s biggest nickel producer.

The small teams of professionals who work for the three clearing houses (foreign exchange, securities, derivatives) at Brazil’s Bolsa de Mercadorias & Futuros (BM&F) have a claustrophobia-inducing office, locked as they are inside a glass cube that sits in the centre of a larger room inside the exchange’s headquarters. Despite working in this intimidating setting, the clearing houses’ directors are welcoming and their efforts are for now focused on increasing foreigners’ access to and participation in Brazil’s growing derivatives market.

Venezuela’s president has threatened to nationalize telecom company CanTV in a row over workers’ pensions.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has hired Manfred Schepers to be its new vice-president for finance. Schepers, who for the past two years has headed the European arm of the Bond Market Association, will take up the new role, which is similar to that held by a CFO in a commercial bank. He will look at the asset portfolio, treasury, strategy and budget at the supranational. “From my time at UBS, I’ve a lot of interest in development finance and emerging markets,” Schepers told Euromoney. Schepers worked at UBS for a little under 20 years and replaces Steven Kaempfer, who held the position for eight years before leaving the bank in June.

Azerbaijani company raises funds from outside the country by issuing bonds, a first from this country.

China’s domestic capital markets are beginning to open up to foreign banks. Although there are a multitude of opportunities and the scale is unprecedented, striking a successful strategy is vital. Chris Leahy reports.

The point of hedge funds is to produce returns even in a down market. Self-styled long/short funds must not allow themselves to become long-only.

As HSBC buys Banistmo for $1.8bln, analysts predict that the region is ripe for consolidation.

Caribbean wireless operator Digicel is proving to be one of the most sought-after borrowers in the emerging markets. Sudip Roy speaks to CFO Lawrence Hickey about what makes the company such a popular credit.

“The phoenix will rise again”

Some unusual price action just before the Bank of England announced an increase in its key repo rate in August has got the conspiracy theorists muttering.

David Sismey, head of financial origination at JPMorganCazenove, has resigned to join Goldman Sachs. Sismey is one of the best known and most highly rated UK financial institutions originators and worked at JPMorgan for seven years under David Marks before moving into the US bank’s joint venture with UK broker Cazenove.

Are structures like Jazz music to the ears of investors worried that the credit cycle will turn?

Government takes advantage of foreign appetite for Turkish assets by approving privatization plan.

The tiny Caribbean nation of Belize hasn’t been able to catch a break since being devastated by four hurricanes and major storms between 1998 and 2002. The cost of rebuilding following those storms, along with a certain degree of fiscal recklessness, resulted in a massive increase in Belize’s debt: private-sector obligations alone rose from $296 million in 2001 to $646 million in 2003 – an increase that has now led to imminent default.

With gunslinging uni-directional strategies like George Soros’s a thing of the past, global macro may be coming back into fashion.

China has so far allowed just two foreign investment banks to strike deals to manage domestic securities firms. The deals are very different in structure, but both focus on the key issue of control and both are mired in controversy. Chris Leahy reports.

Highly unusual and interesting vehicle, but its precise status remains ambiguous.

The world’s biggest EM portfolio fund manager is scaling back its tactical allocation to the asset class.

Merrill Lynch has hired Michael Pringle as managing director and head of flow derivatives and equity risk for the EMEA region. Pringle joins from Credit Suisse where he spent the past four years in a number of senior roles in derivatives trading. Before joining Credit Suisse, Pringle was a derivatives trader at Morgan Stanley for seven years.

The prospect of greater M&A and capital markets activity by Indian companies means that no bank can afford to ignore the sub-continent. Some are attacking the market through joint ventures and alliances with locals; others are going it alone. But which ones will succeed, and how will independent local players stand up to the competition? Sudip Roy reports from Mumbai.

Once a dealer, always a dealer

Washington Mutual’s treasury officials reveal the rationale behind the first covered bond from a US issuer.

A Euromoney survey shows a disconnect between funds and prime brokers.

Move over Thailand. Singapore’s government has decided that, at least for the duration of September’s IMF/World Bank meetings, it will usurp its regional neighbour’s soubriquet, “the land of smiles”. In a speech in June, prime minister Lee Hsien Loong exhorted Singapore’s citizens to greet its estimated 16,000 visitors with “4 million smiles”, a rough approximation to the city-state’s population, stressing the importance of showing the “human face and touch of Singaporeans”.

Issuers hoping to capitalize from German property securitizations will face stiffer competition for their portfolios.

Are things finally starting to move forward in the much-heralded property derivatives market?

A new product, and a new law, could herald the beginning of institutional investment in global markets.

South Africa’s banks have to work harder for market share.