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The advantages of sharing specialist industry sector information drawn from private companies, plus a desire to provide complementary asset allocation vehicles to end investors, are drawing private-equity firms and hedge funds into alliances. Private equity firms are hoping to capture some of the client money rushing into hedge funds a number of which are now bidding for whole companies. Julie Dalla-Costa reports.

Austria's economy is in better shape than those of most of the states to its west and its companies already have a solid presence in the new EU states in central and eastern Europe. Now it is reforming its financial markets and encouraging foreign investors in order to take advantage of further gains. Ben Aris reports.

Head of UK institutional business, F&C Asset Management

Return to UBS tops private banking poll

Julius Baer has decided to pull out of the North American wealth management market, having sold its private-banking business there to UBS Wealth Management for an undisclosed amount. The mid-size Swiss bank had been in the US since 1940, and was ones of the first Swiss private banks to be onshore in the region.

Back to Polish Banking

Linklaters has emerged at the top of mergermarket's 2004 European league table of legal advisors advising on 236 deals worth EUR 197.5bn. The UK law firm, ranked second last year, has a comfortable EUR 29.9bn lead over second place arch rival Clifford Chance which advised on EUR 167.7bn worth of deals. Clifford Chance, on the other hand, tops the volume table advising on 242 deals this year.

Donald Morgan will start the New Year as CFO of technology company RAE Systems, replacing Joseph Ng who leaves the company for personal reasons.

As Christmas approaches, CF brings you news of CFOs who will be raising a toast to new found jobs over the festive season. Dennis Blazer should have a cheerful Christmas and a lucrative New Year after his appointment as CFO of CECO Environmental, the US air pollution control company. The 57 year-old stands to receive a $150,000 a year salary as well as 50,000 stock options at $3.35 a share. He was previously CFO of Interlott, a company that makes lottery ticket vending machines, and replaces Marshall Morris who resigned in November.

Yesterday Vivendi Universal bought back the last of its high yield bonds, paying ?400 million to complete the company's turnaround from an overly-stretched, international entertainment operation to a French-focused, investment-grade corporate.

Private equity houses have this year added more companies to the stock market than they have taken private ? for the first time since 1997.

Lenovo, China's largest computer maker, has entered into an agreement to buy IBM's personal computer division in a $1.75 billion deal - the largest ever overseas acquisition by a Chinese technology company. The transaction will see Lenovo give IBM at least $650 million in cash, funded through internal cash and debt. In addition, IBM will receive up to $600 million in Lenovo common stock at HK$2.675 ($0.34) per share.