June 2012

THE NEW OIL RUSH   By Michael Shari   As the US inches closer to its elusive goal of energy independence, the economic ripple effect promises to leave no region or industry of the world untouched.   Few would argue ...

LANDMARK YEAR   By Anita Hawser   Last year was a landmark year for Islamic finance—innovative new products were launched and new markets opened up that few would have considered likely candidates just a few years ago.   These trends ...

By Anita Hawser   Algeria Banque Al Baraka D’Algérie Saudi-owned, Bahrain-based banking group Al Baraka first ventured into this North African country in the early 1990s. Being the first to offer Islamic banking in the country carries with it a ...

By Anita Hawser   Best Sukuk Bank Maybank With Malaysia accounting for more than 70% of total global sukuk issued, Maybank spearheaded a number of major deals. For the period under review it recorded 23 deals made up of 133 ...

By Anita Hawser   Gulf Cooperation Council Al Rajhi Bank Considered to be the Saudi Arabian kingdom’s biggest Islamic lender, Al Rajhi Bank matched that credential with one of the best performances among Saudi banks in terms of net profitability. ...

EMERGING MARKETS INVESTOR: NEWS   By Gordon Platt   The development of new frontier indexes in both the fixed-income and equity markets is making it easier for institutional investors to trade often risky and illiquid securities out of just-developing markets.   ...

SABMILLER MAKES MORE AFFORDABLE LOCAL BEER   By Antonio Guerrero   The UK’s SABMiller, the world’s second-largest brewer, plans to invest up to $2.5 billion in Africa over the next five years to build new breweries and revamp existing ones to ...

FIRST IPO BY A BRAZILIAN INVESTMENT BANK   By Antonio Guerrero   BTG Pactual launched the first IPO by a Brazilian investment bank in April, with its $2 billion IPO on the São Paulo Stock Exchange and simultaneous depositary receipts listing ...

HSBC ISSUES FIRST RENMINBI BOND OUT OF LONDON   By Thomas Clouse   HSBC issued the first renminbi-denominated bond out of London in April.   The RMB1 billion, ($160 million) three-year bond was launched from the bank’s syndication desk in London. ...

S&P, CITING POLICY PARALYSIS, CUTS INDIA’S RATINGS OUTLOOK   By Aaron Chaze   S&P cut India’s sovereign credit rating outlook to negative in April in response to growing paralysis in government policy.   India’s rating remains at BBB-, the lowest investment-grade ...

SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS JUMP INTO THE MARKETS By Gordon Platt Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are once again dipping their toes in markets worldwide, even those that saw investments last year grow cold. Saudi power company launches landmark sukuk ...

FOREIGN AUTOMAKERS TAP RUSSIAN AUTO BOOM   By Kim Iskyan   French auto giant Renault-Nissan will control a majority stake in Russian automaker AvtoVAZ by 2014, under a deal signed in early May.   Russian automakers open door to foreign investors ...

RETAILER EXPANDS IN NIGERIA   By Gordon Platt   Mr Price Group has developed a successful retail formula in South Africa that could work well in markets across Africa.   The majority of Mr Price’s 1000-plus stores are in South Africa, ...

INSTABILITY AND FINANCE   By Paula Green   Global Finance sat down with noted author and international economist James K. Galbraith to hear his views on political instability, its relation to income inequality, and what the implications are for the ...

ENGINES OF GROWTH   The world of corporate treasury is changing. Increasing international growth among developing-markets companies is causing a revolution in how companies manage cash and liquidity—and thus how banks market their transaction products and services. While global banks continue ...

BANKING ON BPOS   By Paula L. Green   Bank Payment Obligations could change the way that companies manage their global supply chains, making it easier and safer to work with new suppliers in risky markets. But acceptance takes time. ...

NOVEL SOLUTIONS   By Paula L. Green   E-invoicing is taking a quantum leap forward. New solutions help companies tackle age-old issues, such as how to stay compliant in an ever more complex regulatory landscape.   Electronic invoices are helping ...

THE NEW ONE-STOP SHOP   By Rebecca Brace   Liquidity management is the latest corporate treasury process to get the one-stop-shop treatment by big banks and solution vendors.   A few years have passed since the financial crisis propelled liquidity ...

BATTLING THE STATUS QUO   By Justin Keay   Although the government has pledged to improve the business clime, foreign investors remain skeptical that much-needed reform will happen—at least in the short term.   Russia is in a state of ...

MILESTONES: GLOBAL   By Valentina Pasquali   Our level of preparedness is not always up to par with the challenges we may be suddenly confronted with.   Still recovering from the Haiti earthquake Photo Credit : ARINDAMBANERJEE / Shutterstock.com This is a hard-learned ...

MILESTONES: DENMARK   By Gordon Platt   Moody’s Investors Service says something is rotten in Denmark’s mortgage industry. The country’s banks are still issuing interest-only loans, years after the real-estate bubble burst.   Copenhagen still home to interest-free mortgages Meanwhile, Denmark’s household ...

MILESTONES: UNITED STATES / CHINA   By Gordon Platt   The Federal Reserve gave its seal of approval to China’s system of bank regulation and unanimously approved the first-ever takeover of a US retail bank by a state-owned Chinese bank.   Photo ...

MILESTONES: MIDDLE EAST / US   By Anita Hawser   The ability of US bankruptcy law to handle shariah-compliant structures is being tested after Bahraini firm Arcapita Bank’s decision in March to file for bankruptcy protection in the US.   Business ...

MILESTONES: GLOBAL   By Paula Green   Whether it’s that endless, dusty bus ride to the nearest automated teller machine or simple poverty that keeps them from opening a bank account, the 2.5 billion people who do not have accounts with ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: CORPORATE DEBT   By Gordon Platt   Houston pipeline company EP Energy sold $2.75 billion of debt in the high-yield private placement market to fund its buyout by a group of private equity firms led by Apollo Global ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: GLOBAL EQUITY / DRS   By Gordon Platt   Investor caution and market-specific issues, such as the presidential election in Russia, put a damper on equity capital raised in the form of depositary receipts in the first quarter ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: FOREIGN EXCHANGE   By Gordon Platt   The euro is likely to decline against the dollar in the medium term, due to political uncertainty in Europe and weak economic conditions, analysts say.   “The eurozone debt crisis is ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS   By Gordon Platt   Indonesia’s central bank said it will wait until new bank-ownership rules are in place to consider Singaporean banking outfit DBS Group’s $7.2 billion takeover bid for Bank Danamon Indonesia. Indonesia ...

NEWSMAKERS: SPAIN   By Anita Hawser   Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy is probably glad he is not running for office at present.   Tough task to sort out Spanish banks Photo Credit : MATTHI/ Shutterstock.com Having swept to power in elections ...

NEWSMAKERS: ITALY   By Luca Ventura   When Tuscan bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena appointed the charismatic Alessandro Profumo as its new chairman in late April, the news made headlines around the world.   Profumo is ready for the challenge ...

NEWSMAKERS: FRANCE   By Luca Ventura   French president-elect François Hollande is a flag-bearer for adding growth incentives to a European fiscal agreement, rather than just doling out austerity measures.   Hollande elated at defeating Sarkozy Photo Credit : SKPHOTOGRAPHY / Shutterstock.com ...

NEWSMAKERS: UNITED STATES   By Gordon Platt   As the tide went out for natural gas prices, it revealed that the seamy underbelly of the energy-trading business hasn’t changed a great deal since the days of Enron.   McClendon ran a hedge ...