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Abu Dhabi Inc is on the march. While the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority buys assets on behalf of the government in the capital markets, two other investment vehicles are charged with helping make the emirate one of the most developed economies in the world through strategic direct investments. They are the International Petroleum Investment Company and Mubadala Development Company.

The $67 billion AT&T/BellSouth merger catapults Evercore and Rohatyn up the league tables.

The future for UniCredit and HVB’s merged operations in central and eastern Europe has been determined, with HVB’s subsidiary, Bank Austria Creditanstalt, set to become the sub-holding company for CEE operations within the UniCredit group.

More opco/propco deals are likely given rising real estate values and investor interest in secured debt.

Raising capital adequacy requirements from N2 billion to N25 billion has freed Nigerian banks from reliance on public sector funds and better equipped them to finance bigger projects within the oil, gas and telecommunication sectors.

Excellent market conditions, M&A, special situations and heightened insurance activity drove record subordinated supply in the first quarter; more deals are in the pipeline.

Investors were asked to rate named analysts and teams for the categories indicated. The credit research houses themselves nominated teams. Scores were given in the ratio 5:4:3:2:1 for first, second, third, fourth and fifth place nominations respectively, then summed and divided by the total score in each category to produce a percentage. See full Credit research poll methodology

Some bond investors have complained for years about the lack of covenant protection in the event of M&A activity. And during the past 18 months or so the increasing number of leveraged buyouts has heightened the fears of portfolio managers. Although some bond investors are once again trying hard to push for change of control (COC) covenants, many deals have priced recently without including this feature. In certain respects it is a simple matter of supply and demand. When demand for a bond is overwhelming it is relatively easy for issuers to refuse extra covenant protection. However, with the credit cycle widely forecast to turn it is clear that the buy side is becoming more circumspect.

Every market participant has had something to gain from corporate hybrid securities. Bond fund managers have delighted in high yields; issuers have enjoyed cheap equity. Ratings agencies have been paid for their trouble, investment banks have pocketed juicy fees and traders have revelled in the volatility. But what seems a perfect fit might well fall apart at the seams in an unfolding credit downturn. This will either expose the defects in the market and destroy it or validate hybrids as an asset class.

Although the oil-rich emirate does not need other people’s money to finance big-ticket projects, it has shown an increasing appetite for project finance, reports Mark Ford in Abu Dhabi.

Will these structures stand the test of time?