A little over 12 months ago, bankers still regarded emerging markets with the kind of excitement usually exhibited by young children approaching their birthdays. Constituting a significant proportion of the world’s land mass, emerging markets seemed to offer almost boundless opportunities as they struggled to close the gap on their more developed neighbours. Fuelled in particular by the remarkable economic transformation currently taking place in the biggest of their number – the so-called BRIC

China CITIC Bank priced its debut Rmb4.077bn (US$582m) CLO last Wednesday. It was the first such deal since China Development Bank issued a Rmb3.76bn CLO in April. The deal divides up into a Rmb500m Triple A rated A1-1 tranche with an expected maturity of July 26 2009, which priced at 4.45%; an Rmb800m Triple A rated A1-2 tranche with a maturity of October 26 2009, which priced at 4.65%; a Rmb2.134bn Triple A rated A2 tranche maturing on July 26 2010, which priced at 99bp over the one-year depos

Central and Eastern Europe is a large and mixed arena; even defining it can be difficult. Depending on your view it includes anything from Germany's eastern border to Vladivostok in far eastern Russia. Stuart Hewer head of leveraged finance for Germany at RBS, whose responsibility extends across Central & Eastern Europe said: "The core markets are the more established EU and EU accession states - Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic for example, with Romania and Bulgaria potential generating d

Increasing credit card and personal finance uptake illustrates the trend of continued economic expansion of many emerging markets. Between 2004 and 2007, credit cards penetration in Brazil and Mexico more than doubled; Poland and India saw credit card numbers treble, with the value of actual debt also trebling in the latter. According to McKinsey there are now around 20m credit cards in circulation in India. The figure could reach nine times that, as the middle class expands to over 300m by 2025

After the appalling violence in the Republic of Kenya following the disputed presidential election at the end of 2007, investors might have been forgiven for turning their backs on the country. A planned Eurobond was postponed, while S&P cut its sovereign rating to B from B+ and Fitch lowered its B+ ratings outlook to negative. Yet it is looking to launch and price its delayed US$500m debut Eurobond in late 2008 or early 2009, and the signs are positive that it will receive strong support. After

Barclays Capital has become the latest bank to provide a Sharia-compliant hedge fund platform, Al Safi, in June. Barclay’s product allows investors to tap into five hedge funds – managed by Tocqueville Asset Management, Ospraie Managament, BlackRock, Lucas Capital Management and Zweig-DiMenna – focused on commodities. Each of the funds has received a commitment of US$50m from the government-backed Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority. To date, there have been but a handful of players offerin

The Islamic market is a hugely attractive one for any financial institution. After oil prices hit a record high of US$147.27 level on July 11, it is easy to imagine the vast amounts of money corporates and individuals have made in the oil-rich region of the Middle East over the last few years. It is a fact that the rich are getting richer in the region. Last year, the number of high net worth individuals (HNWI) in the Middle East increased by 15% from the year before, compared to the global aver

It is a truth now universally acknowledged that the economic growth of emerging market nations is inexorably linked to their having in place the proper infrastructure to support it. Over the past years, as several emerging market countries have become important players on the world stage, and others continue to progress in their path toward becoming full-fledged market economies, great strides have also been taken to ensure infrastructure development keeps pace with economic growth. However, the

Investor enthusiasm for Africa is built on sound economic credentials. Research by Renaissance Group, a Russian bank which has focused its efforts on the continent, shows five of the 20 fastest growing economies in 2006 were African. Meanwhile, the region as a whole has posted annual GDP growth of 7% over the past five years. "Economic and political risk in the region is at a relatively low level historically, though it is still present, and factors such as a young population are starting to att

A year ago, decoupling was a buzzword. As economists and the markets reached an increasing consensus that the US was heading for a slowdown, attention turned to the likely effect it was likely to have on emerging markets, and Asia in particular. Opinion was divided: would Asia be dragged down with the US? Or was it strong enough by now – and with sufficient intra-regional trade, as opposed to just exports to the west – to be able to carry on relatively unscathed? One year on, in market terms at

The World Bank stands at the top of the credit pyramid. Like others in a similar position, it has been able to continue with 'business as usual' in going about funding its annual needs, almost immune from the happenings lower down the credit spectrum during the last year. In the fiscal year commencing July 1 2008, the IBRD is expected to fund towards the lower end of its US$15bn–$20bn projected range, compared to the 2008 fiscal year in which US$19bn was borrowed. The institution has more recent

Russia's brief war in August generated reams of bad publicity for the former Soviet country, and sent its markets tumbling. Investors, already skittish from falling oil prices and a Yukos-like attack on a major steel firm, headed for the exits. Even more importantly for Russian investment bankers, however, was the impact the scenes had on the M&A market: until mid-year, Russian markets seemed to defy the gravitation pull of financial malaise in the outside world. But the picture started to c

The fruits of Mexico’s labours in protecting its MBS market have been mixed: mortgage-backed issuance has remained afloat, though only commercial banks and Infonavit, the local version of the FHA, have been able to price deals. Investors have tended to steer clear of anything issued by mortgage-only lenders, known as sofoles. In early September, rating agencies warned, not for the first time, that some of the sofoles, which until last year had driven most of the growth in the securitisation mark

As world liquidity dried out in the past year, Latin American companies have raised around US$500m within the region. The Chileans have led the charge: "Chilean companies want to diversify their investor base and are seeking opportunities all over the region," said a banker in Santiago. The Colombians and the Mexicans have been quick to follow the lead. For the Chileans, the logic is simple: with the best sovereign rating in the region, Chilean blue chips can get great rates in other Latin Ameri

It seems Brazil is going to strength from strength after hitting BBB- in May, when it attained its tightest yield ever of 5.299% overseas on a 2017 US$500m reopening. It finally graduated from BB after a difficult first half to this decade, when it was hit by an energy rationing crisis followed by a much-feared default in 2002. Brazil was forced to turn to the IMF and sign up to the multilateral lender’s then biggest ever standby loan of US$42bn, to help stave off currency speculators. The real