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Sporadically, the lights go out in Damascus, although power cuts tend to be short-lived and much less frequent than they used to be, say local businessmen. Nevertheless, Syria clearly needs to channel funds into its power sector. Today, it has installed generating capacity of some 3,600MW, and will need to add an estimated 2,200MW by 2006, representing an annual increase in demand of 6%, which calls for an investment of just over $1.6 billion.

The world’s best M&A house

In a closely-fought contest, Gulf International Bank wrests back its crown as best bank in the Middle East. Morgan Stanley is top in a growing debt market. Julian Marshall

Argentina's $29.5 billion sovereign debt exchange deal was a great coup for the banks lead-managing it. Liability management deals are making up for a slowdown in the emerging-market debt business. How much it helped Argentina is less clear. Investors participated for technical reasons, not out of faith that the economy is improving.

Citigroup

Syrian officials and businessmen understand the need for economic restructuring to take advantage of regional and global opportunities. They are determined, though, to undertake it at their own pace and in ways that do not undermine social cohesion.

Being a minority shareholder in Mexico has never been easy. Despite the promise of high returns on investments against the backdrop of long-term economic growth, the struggle for company information and a say in the running of a company can seem endless.

A private equity investment is for life, or at least until an IPO or trade sale comes along - right? Not necessarily. With IPOs and trade sales proving tricky to pull off today, selling to another private equity firm is becoming more common.

The euroland economy stinks of stagflation. Its politicians are faltering on reform amid electoral paranoia, and the threat to jobs from the global slowdown. That means, combined with the European Central Bank's confused interest-rate policy, that the outlook for capital flows into mainland Europe remains poor. I reckon that will continue to undermine the euro. The place to be in Europe is the UK, where I expect sterling will hold firm, despite the risk of possible early entry into the single-currency system.

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