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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.

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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.

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.

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Speculators may be the stars in a bull market but in a falling one they are the villains.

Is Thailand's prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra just an entrepreneurial businessman in a hurry, anxious to bring to the country the same benefits that he won in the telecoms business, where he became a US dollar billionaire and one of world's richest 500 people in quick time? Or does he just love power so much that he will do anything to keep it?

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