April 2014

Multinational corporations lobbied hard for preferential agreements under proposed Asian and European trade pacts. But the result may be more than they bargained for.

Iceland’s Reykjavik Geothermal will launch a $2 billion project in July to build a power plant on an imploded volcano in Ethiopia’s Rift Valley. The plant, slated to begin operations by 2020, will have a generation capacity of 500 megawatts of electricity.

China’s leaders set out their policy priorities in March during the annual National People’s Congress, promising further reform while pledging to maintain the current growth rate.

THE BIG, THE BAD AND THE SAFEST By Hilary Johnson At Global Finance ’s monthly Salon, Richard Bove, bank analyst at Rafferty Capital and author of the book, Guardians of Prosperity: Why America Needs Big Banks , spoke about overregulation ...

The economies of the Middle East continue to prosper despite ongoing instability. In some cases, that instability is creating the greatest opportunities. However, any prospects for investing do come with a unique set of risks.

MIDDLE EAST 2014 SUPPLEMENT   By Gordon Platt   Occurring on the global stage, the World Cup 2022 is helping to highlight labor market reform in Qatar.   At least 400 Nepalese construction workers have died in Qatar in the ...

MIDDLE EAST 2014 SUPPLEMENT By Tiziana Barghini Stock markets in GCC countries, in particular Dubai and Abu Dhabi, have capitalized on the political and economic uncertainty that continues to pervade other Middle Eastern markets more than three years on from ...

MIDDLE EAST 2014 SUPPLEMENT By Gilly Wright The Arab Spring dissuaded many companies from investing in the Middle East-North Africa region, but foreign investment is now returning on the back of a wide array of major planned infrastructure projects. Ongoing ...

MIDDLE EAST 2014 SUPPLEMENT By Gordon Platt Dubai has rolled over its debt and keeps on spending in preparation for World Expo 2020. And this time, it says, there will be no property bubble. Dubai welcomed the New Year with ...

MIDDLE EAST 2014 SUPPLEMENT By Ronald Fink Some analysts think the Ukrainian crisis could help improve prospects for Middle Eastern oil producers—pushing up prices and driving development of recent finds as a result. The crisis in Ukraine sent global energy ...

MIDDLE EAST 2014 SUPPLEMENT   By Gordon Platt   Islamic finance is going mainstream, with Western countries planning to issue their first sovereign sukuk. It still constitutes only a small percentage of total global financial assets, and most activity is ...

MIDDLE EAST 2014 SUPPLEMENT   Visitors to the Middle East cannot help but be awed by the majestic skylines of the metropolises that have sprung from the desert sands along the Arabian Gulf.     While oil wealth has paid ...

MILESTONES By Justin Keay Not long ago, it would have been almost impossible to get the leaders of the various Western Balkan countries [Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania] together in the same city—let alone the ...

MILESTONES By K.A. Badarinath India’s plan to issue as many as 12 new banking licenses may be put on hold until a new government is chosen in the country’s parliamentary elections in April. The Reserve Bank of India, which will ...

MILESTONES   By Luca Ventura   The oldest multinational in the world is about to get a substantial makeover. The news came on February 24th, when its CEO, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, also known as pope Francis, issued a Motu Proprio, ...

MILESTONES By Tiziana Barghini Ranked 91st by the World Economic Forum for the relatively poor quality of its infrastructure, Peru is gaining importance on the international stage for its ability to attract capital. Its economic growth is expected to surpass ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS   By Gordon Platt   Verizon Communications, which sold $49 billion of debt last September in the largest bond sale ever, has returned to the bond market repeatedly this year to take advantage of low interest rates ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS   By Gordon Platt   US companies announced $336 billion of mergers and acquisitions in the first two months of 2014, up 31% from the same period a year earlier, and the strongest January and February combined ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS   By Gordon Platt   Healthcare companies accounted for more than half of all initial public offerings filed in the US in the first two months of 2014, in a boom fueled by biotech companies, according to ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS   By Gordon Platt   The European Central Bank’s refusal to ease monetary policy in the face of below-target inflation boosted the euro to its highest levels of the year in March, while the British pound rose ...

NEWSMAKERS By K.A. Badarinath Indian law enforcement agencies finally caught up with Subrata Roy, the Indian multibillionaire and corporate baron accused of making off with about $3.9 billion in investor money, and put him behind bars, following a directive of ...

NEWSMAKERS By Valentina Pasquali Headed by 39-year-old prime minister Matteo Renzi, Italy’s new government is the youngest in the country’s history. But at the helm of the ministry of Finance is an official with a lot of stripes—the former chief ...

NEWSMAKERS By Efraim Chalamish When central bank governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi announced in February that $20 billion in Nigerian oil revenues were missing from the till as a result of corruption, president Goodluck Jonathan responded promptly—by sacking Sanusi. Now not ...

NEWSMAKERS By Gilly Wright Dubbed by his supporters a gifted visionary, engineer and CEO Elon Musk is not afraid to take on both big oil and the auto sector in his attempts to drive the sustainable energy sector forward, as ...

“While overall levels of investment have remained stable, there have been dramatic changes in how investment is distributed between regions and countries around the world, as companies seek to adapt their corporate footprints to new opportunities and operational risks emerging ...