June 2009

Recent financial turmoil has accelerated the seismic shifts taking place in the balance of global economic and political power. How the major powers act in the coming years will determine the future shape of globalization. BY LAURENCE NEVILLE The global ...

EXCHANGE-TRADED DERIVATIVES PROVE THEIR WORTH   As product offerings grow and pricing improves, exchange-traded derivatives are increasingly appealing to both corporate and institutional buyers of derivatives contracts.   By DENISE BEDELL   Of the lessons learned by companies during the ...

Swooning equity markets have added to the troubles facing many corporate pension plans and will only accelerate the move to defined contribution plans.   By Anita Hawser For some time now observers have been warning of a looming pension crisis ...

The credit crunch made life more difficult for corporate treasurers in many ways—not least in managing their relationships with their cash management banking partners. By Anita Hawser Over the past 12 months the European cash management sector has undergone a ...

  After a difficult year, Russia's fortunes look set to improve. The country is still too dependent on oil for its future prosperity, though.     By Nick Kochan   While analysts tend to compare Russia with the other BRIC ...

The clouds parted over the investment banking business in the first quarter of this year amid some hope that a more sustainable model for success is emerging.   By Gordon Platt September 21, 2008, was a date that may be ...

Global Finance selects the winners in a fast-growing area of finance that combines investing according to the tenets of Islamic law with modern financial products and systems.   By Laurence Neville For a brief moment it seemed that the world ...

DR NEWS   BY GP   Two energy and power companies controlled by Brazilian mining magnate Eike Batista’s EBX Group have created sponsored American depositary receipt programs to trade in the over-the-counter market, according to The Bank of New York ...

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) estimates less than a quarter of Africans have access to electricity, and those who do pay twice the average retail rate of users in other emerging regions.   By Antonio Guerrero   A report from ...

The latest news from Brazil. Just three years after acquiring Brazil’s Banco Pactual investment bank for some $2.5 billion, UBS is selling the bank back to its previous owners for roughly the same amount.   By Antonio Guerrero   The ...

  China’s international trade continued to weaken in April, with both exports and imports falling for the sixth straight month.   By Thomas Clouse   Strong investment growth, however, may offset some effects of this slackening international trade. According to ...

Following the Congress (I) party’s best federal election showing since 1991, India’s stock markets began to price in an acceleration in the pace of economic reforms.   By Aaron Chaze   The equity indexes reported the best one-day showing in ...

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the US-based private equity firm, received a license to operate from the Dubai International Financial Center.   By Gordon Platt   The building in which the firm, whose 1988 leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco was chronicled in ...

Amid expectations that the Russian economy had hit bottom, and despite a solid bounce in commodity prices since the beginning of the year, bad news continued to pile up.   By Kim Iskyan   Industrial production shrank by 17% in ...

COMPANY TO WATCH: HINDUSTAN UNILEVER/INDIA   BY GP   Mumbai-based Hindustan Unilever (HUL) sells soaps, tea, detergents and shampoos to more than 700 million Indian consumers, reaching two out of every three of the country’s inhabitants. As India’s largest consumer ...

NEWS   BY GORDON PLATT   Emerging market private equity funds raised a record $66.5 billion in 2008, and most plan to commit additional capital to new fund managers and additional countries in the next two years, according to the ...

T URBULENT TIMES   Despite global economic challenges, Greece presents investors with opportunities.   By Adam Rombel   Things are bad everywhere, but they are not as bad here. That sums up the plight of the economy and business climate ...

Before the credit crunch took a massive bite out of global economic activity, oil prices were heading skyward, and fears that supplies might actually run out were rampant.   By Anita Hawser   Although the subsequent economic malaise sent energy ...

Latin American markets are feeling the global financial pinch, and ratings agencies are taking notice, with downgrades soon to follow.   By Antonio Guerrero   Standard & Poor’s downgraded El Salvador from BB+ to BB last month, and it seems ...

ASIA, MIDDLE EAST LEADING IPO THAW   BY GORDON PLATT   The level of initial public offerings has been at historic lows for nearly a year, but recent large IPOs in Asia and the Middle East have broken the ice, ...

PEPSI PUTS SOME FIZZ BACK IN M&A; MARKET Merger and acquisition activity is returning to a semblance of normality, with a series of significant deals in industries other than financial services. While financing remains constrained, stock-swap transactions and cash deals ...

BIG SUPPLY OF DEBT FINDS EAGER BUYERS   Companies in the US and Europe are bypassing bank loans and issuing large amounts of debt, which is being readily purchased by investors seeking higher returns than are available on government securities. ...

Good News for the Global EconomyTranslates Into Bad News For Dollar   Improvement in the global economic outlook spells trouble for the dollar, which is losing its allure as a safe haven amid growing concern about ballooning US government debt.   BY ...

In the past decade, India and China have been mentioned in the same breath when discussing the coming giants of the world economy.   By Laurence Neville   In truth, India has never been in China’s league when it comes ...

The election of a pro-business leader in Panama now makes president-elect Ricardo Martinelli a member of the somewhat lonely club of Latin American right-wing leaders, in which the only other member is Colombian president Alvaro Uribe.   By Antonio Guerrero ...

While the economic crisis has demonstrated the shortcomings of “light-touch” regulation—leaving the market to virtually regulate itself—banks remain unconvinced about the benefits of a single global regulator.   By Anita Hawser   While the economic crisis has demonstrated the shortcomings ...

China and Brazil appear to be joining forces in an attempt to unseat the dollar as the de facto global reserve currency.   By Anitar Hawser   According to Brazil’s central bank, the two countries are actively discussing trading with ...