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Arcelor, the Luxembourg-based steel company that has in the past preferred not to use bank advisers, is wheeling out the big guns to defend it against the €18.6 billion ($22.1 billion) hostile bid from Mittal Steel. It has just hired Morgan Stanley, which will join BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Merrill Lynch in advising it. Most of the main advisory firms are involved in the hostile bid on one side or the other. Mittal Steel is being advised by Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Société Générale and Citigroup.

It hasn’t been the easiest of starts to 2006 for Citigroup in Asia, with continuing integration challenges at its Korean banking acquisition and difficult negotiations with existing and future partners over its China strategy [see Citigroup fails to solve the China conundrum, this issue]. Now Citi’s China strategy will need to be reconsidered after the departures of chief rainmakers Francis Leung and Wei Christianson.

Focus is on the potential for corporate debt outperformance in 2006.

The US bank has made an expensive foray into China’s banking market, with little to show from two-and-a-half years’ work and millions of dollars spent.

It takes just one statistic to indicate what a force Citigroup is in Asia. The franchise (including Japan) is the 40th biggest financial institution in the world on a net income basis. Even excluding Japan, Citigroup does business in 16 countries in the region.

Invest with female mutual fund managers to save on trading costs

Fund managers' priorities for 2006

By Lawrence White

The Iranian authorities’ recent granting of operating licences to two new private banks (Bank Sarmaye Daneshgah and Bank Pasargeda) suggests that the sector has a future, despite president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s apparent disdain for his predecessor’s reformist agenda.

The sale of Hotspot has prompted a torrent of speculation about the future of other ECNs. But it seems the rumours about new owners for FXall are true.

Cheyne Capital Management sold one of the largest-ever European arbitrage CLOs last month via Nomura. The €1 billion Cheyne Credit Opportunity CDO 1 incorporated several structural features to overcome problems that could arise from its relatively large size. In contrast to typical CLOs, which are normally half the size, 40% ramped up at launch and have around a year to complete sourcing loans, Cheyne Credit Opportunity has a two-year time period to ramp up fully. This extra flexibility will be particularly useful. The competition for leveraged loans will be greater than ever, given that an estimated 35 CLOs are operating this year, compared with about 25 last year.

Dave Tait has not only had a long and successful career in the FX market, but he has also climbed some notable peaks outside of the trading environment.