South-East Asia Special Report 2012
South-East Asia does not get as much spotlight as China and India do, but that is a basic injustice rather than a comment on the region’s performance. The region has demonstrated resilience even as the global economy has struggled and its capital markets boast an impressive growth story, one that shows few signs of slowing.
To see the full IFR Asia Special Report on South-East Asia, click here.
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Top Merrill dealmaker Orcel to leave for UBS - sources
(Reuters) - Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Andrea Orcel, the architect of many of Europe’s biggest banking deals including the break-up of ABN Amro, is leaving to jointly head UBS’s investment bank, three people familiar with the matter said.
P&M;: Top investment bankers move at Credit Suisse
Jim Amine has become the sole global head of Credit Suisse’s investment banking business, following the departure of his former co-head Luigi de Vecchi who is going on sabbatical.
DERIVATIVES: Bank credit exposure from derivatives falls
US commercial banks’ net credit exposure from derivatives fell 15%, or US$74bn, to US$430bn during the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency this week.
Rebranding = better client service? I don't think so
Have the strategy and brand consultants been out sprinkling their magic retooling dust on investment bank marketing folks who’ve got too much of last year’s budget left over?
As Portugal and China remind us, the crisis is far from over
There is no doubt a question in the air; are we experiencing a bit of a wobble in a market gagging to put on more risk or have we been more optimistic than we should have been and are now in a period of re-evaluation and reflection? The answer isn’t all that clear.
Comment: Banking reform... Esperanto vs the Middlemen
If you think the advent of a common tongue in banking will solve the problems of finance, you are probably disappointed that Esperanto did not usher in a new age of world peace.
IFR Comment: UK retail sales plunge, QE back on BoE agenda?
Whatever way one wants to look at the UK retail sales data they were weak. This might provide the first indication that households squeezed to the limit and are now cutting back further on their spending.
Analysis: Macquarie's hybrid hampered by complex structure
A US$250m hybrid Tier 1 issue for Australian bank Macquarie struggled to garner strong investor support this week, hampered by the complex nature of the structure in a sign that banks still have to cover a lot of ground to educate buyers on new hybrid structures.
US banks may get breathing room on Volcker rule
(Reuters) – US banks may get breathing room on the Volcker rule’s looming crackdown on proprietary trading, after a Federal Reserve official pledged to ease firms into compliance and Representative Barney Frank asked regulators to scrap their original proposal in favor of a simpler approach.
IFR Comment: A wakeup call from global growth risks
The economic outlook was supposed to be getting better, wasn’t it? We would reiterate that what we have seen with risk markets and bond yields of late is a post-Greek world where tail risk was being priced out. That is, it was not that things were going to get better, but that the risks of more messy outcomes has been severely reduced.
Analysis: Lloyds paves way for trickier names in US market
The US bond market reached a milestone this week when it opened its doors to the UK’s Lloyds TSB Bank – the first time one of the riskier European financials has made it back to the Yankee market since last year’s sovereign debt crisis.
EURO CORPORATES: Softer market prompts return of NIPs
Softer corporate credit indices and secondary market widening slowed the flow of new supply on Thursday, with only steelmaker ArcelorMittal brave enough to launch a deal.
EQUITIES: Erickson Air-Crane IPO makes a second lift-off
Erickson Air-Crane is having some problems with a key customer, cash-strapped Greece’s Hellenic Fire Brigade, but is not letting that stand in the way of its IPO ambitions.
EQUITIES: Sun rises again on solar IPOs
The solar industry has a habit of flying too close to the sun (think last year’s Solyndra debacle), but a revival of the industry’s investment case appears to be under way.
EQUITIES: Japan pachinko operator plans HK IPO
Dynam Group, Japan’s second-largest pachinko parlour operator in terms of sales, is looking to list in Hong Kong as early as April to raise US$200m– $300m.
Top Stories from this week's IFR Magazine
Released online Fridays
16:00 London / 11:00 New York
Upfront: Holier than thou
Goldman Sachs’ commitment to the bottom line apparently came as a shock to at least one of its employees. Greg Smith’s highly public resignation from Wall Street’s most consistently profitable firm dug the knife deep into senior management for their quest to boost earnings over their commitment to clients – or “muppets” as they are now universally known.
US banks are told: Stay home
It doesn’t pay to be global. That was the clear message handed down by the US Federal Reserve when it published stress test results that penalised those banks with internationally-diversified asset bases. Some analysts said that view was the natural conclusion from the relative performance of US banks, without being able to see the Fed’s workings, which were not disclosed.
Picky buyers give wings to EM high-yield
The emerging market high-yield space is flying again, after a few jitters last month. But in a healthy sign that investors are not buying credits blindly, the performance of recent deals is mixed, as well-known borrowers from familiar countries and sectors fare best.
DBS-backed CB offers free lunch
A pair of unusual equity-linked issues last week highlighted the difficulties of finding the right structure and terms in Asia’s fast-improving market. The two investment grade deals showed how the Asia ex-Japan convertible bond market has turned the corner in 2012 after an insipid 2011, but while one was an example of an issuer extracting maximum value from the product, the other was a sign of how easily terms can be misjudged.
IPO insiders waste no time cashing in windfall gains
Improved IPO performance has prompted a rush by company insiders on a number of recent hot deals to seek an early release from six-month restrictions preventing them from selling stock.
Ford proves Dim Sum draw
Ford Motor has priced its first Dim Sum bond after an overwhelming response from investors. The US vehicle maker attracted orders totalling Rmb10bn (US$1.56bn) from 120 accounts for its offshore renminbi bond issue, far exceeding the rumoured target of Rmb500m–Rmb750m. The book reached Rmb1bn within an hour of opening.
Urgency on DIFC Investment’s US$1bn requirement
The clock is ticking on the investment arm of Dubai International Financial Centre’s search for up to US$1bn of syndicated loans that it urgently needs to meet the June maturity of a US$1.25bn Islamic bond.
Historic CDS auction approaches
Credit default swap users are confident of a successful Greek auction on Monday, while conceding that the final settlement price is hard to predict.
Adidas capitalises on stock high with CB
An all-time stock high and rampant demand for investment-grade paper in the European convertible market combined to attract adidas to issue its first convertible bonds since 2003. The €500m move follows the US$3bn jumbo offering by Siemens last month, which was coincidentally also its first visit to the equity-linked market in nearly a decade.
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Western Digital deal sees drop-outs
Western Digital’s request to lenders to recommit to a US$3bn financing package backing its acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies before a March 7 closing deadline should have been a slam dunk for lenders queueing up to join juicy M&A deals.
Greek hold-outs remain steadfast
The stand-off between Greece and holders of its foreign law bonds that have yet to accept proposed amendments to their notes is unlikely to be broken before the final deadline of 9pm CET this Friday, March 23.
Latin America Special Report 2012
One wonders how your average Latin American policymaker has avoided developing a squint, having to keep one eye firmly on domestic markets while the other is fixed so intensely on Europe’s unfolding Greek tragedy. Yet it is a measure of how LatAm financial markets have bolstered their resilience to foreign shocks that at this juncture a squint is likely to be the worst byproduct of the eurozone crisis.
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