Search results for

Leading Dutch telecommunications provider KPN faces an uncertain future following the failure of its attempt to link up with Telefonica in Spain. Analysts see an obvious solution to its small home base: it must move into new markets and expand its subscriber numbers in order to survive. The company has been trying to do exactly this. But it has strained its finances and its credit rating in the attempt. Andrew Rosenbaum reports

One of the longest-running sagas in asset management is finally set to come to a head - well, in another year's time at least.

Germany Inc doesn’t like outsiders, especially those challenging the fundamental building blocks of German finance. Cobra, a group of opportunistic shareholders, took on Commerzbank and forced it to consider change. But things didn’t go as planned and both sides are licking their wounds. What’s next in the game of who gets what and who pairs off with whom? David Shirreff reports

Following a banner year for convertible bonds in 1999, bankers had hoped that the European corporate restructuring wave, capital gains tax changes in Germany, and benign economic conditions would spur the market to even greater heights in 2000. They have been disappointed by a light new issue calendar. However the market is hopeful of an upturn. Chris Cockerill reports

Capital markets in the Gulf are rich with potential. The markets are developing rapidly, especially in the UAE, but international investors will only get involved once the requisite legal framework is in place. By Nigel Page

Chase Manhattan has never made a secret of its desire to buy an equities franchise to complete the line-up of its wholesale and investment-banking operations. So the announcement on September 12 that it was buying JP Morgan for about $35 billion was no great surprise. But it is also well known that JP Morgan was far from being Chase’s first-choice partner. It would have preferred a deal with Merrill. Inside Morgan, too, there is lingering disappointment that the bank could not complete its transformation into global investment bank unaided. The two sides must put these disappointments aside quickly.

A crucial prerequisite of Japanese economic rejuvenation looks to be a burst of merger and acquisitions activity Or so many of the investment banks that would arrange such deals say. With the notable exception of the auto industry, corporate Japan is more hesitant. Legal changes have made M&A easier, but corporate culture remains a stumbling block. Kevin Rafferty reports

Just what is Goldman Sachs doing buying Spear Leeds Kellogg for $6.5 billion? Is this not the same Goldman Sachs which just six months ago, together with Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, was sending executives down to Washington to lobby regulators at the SEC and politicians in Congress, to take steps which might do away with such businesses? And didn't Merrill buy a similar operation in June, Herzog Heine Geduld? The object of the big firms' desire was a central limit order book (CLOB) for US equities trading. Without it, ran their argument, equities trading would continue to fragment between electronic order matching via ECNs, and electronic quote-driven market making systems. Fragmentation, they continued, would run counter to a broker's duty to execute at the best price, so a far better platform for clients would be the CLOB.

Head of fixed income, Aspect Capital.

Fiercely independent managers grew their research-oriented boutique from little Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette into one of the most successful Wall Street firms in the best businesses: equities, high-yield debt, private equity and online broking. For years, DLJ clung to its distinctive culture while owner Axa happily pocketed dividends. Now the French insurer has tossed it to CSFB and no-one knows if the two can work together.

They throw 80% of research straight into the bin; regard sell-side analysts as reactive and herdlike; and suggest that brokers see small hedge funds as being more valuable clients than major asset managers. So is there anything about brokers’ research that fund managers actually like? A panel of investors give their views. By Graham Field.