March 2008

BRAZIL BANKING & FINANCE Local banks’ stranglehold on the Brazilian market is coming under threat from acquisition-hungry international banks and investors.   Brazilian central bank governor Henrique Meirelles's steady hand has helped instill growing confidence in prospects for the country's ...

LATIN AMERICA REGIONAL REPORT Latin American governments’ attempts to gain more control over their countries’ economic fortunes are having far-reaching effects on international corporations doing business in the region.       Left in charge: Brazilian president Lula da Silva ...

MEXICO Mexico’s recent economic progress could be derailed by turmoil in the US economy and the outcome of the US presidential election.     High aspirations: Mexico is hoping its economy can resist a US downturn.     The last ...

ANNUAL SURVEY/ TREASURY & CASH MANAGEMENT Global Finance selects the best treasury and cash management banks, globally and by region, and the best providers of treasury management systems and services by category. The past year has seen the challenges facing ...

DR NEWS ReneSola, a China-based manufacturer of solar wafers, listed 10 million American depositary shares on the New York Stock Exchange on January 29. Although the issue was priced at a discount of 9.7% to the underlying shares, which trade ...

INDIA     Piling in: Investors gave an enthusiastic response to Reliance Power's $3 billion IPO. In its bid to keep up the growth momentum in the Indian economy, the Indian coalition government lifted investment restrictions on foreign investors in ...

COMPANY TO WATCH: COMPANIA DE MINAS BUENAVENTURA/PERU Compañía de Minas Buenaventura, Peru’s largest publicly traded precious metals mining company, is basking in record high prices for much of its output. Buenaventura operates seven mines in Peru and holds controlling interests ...

NEWS PowerShares Capital Management last month announced the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) to provide direct exposure to a diversified portfolio of Indian securities. The PowerShares India Portfolio, with symbol PIN, was set to begin trading in late February on NYSE ...

BRAZIL     Rock solid: Vale is thought to be ready to bid for Xstrata. Brazilian mining giant Vale (formerly CVRD) is in talks to acquire Swiss mining company Xstrata, reportedly for $90 billion. The deal would be the single ...

CHINA     Riding high: China's economic growth continues to break records. China’s economy grew 11.4% in 2007, its fastest rate in 13 years. Fourth-quarter GDP growth fell to 11.2% year-on-year, however, as government tightening measures and weakening global demand ...

RUSSIA     Khodorkovsky: The jailed former head of Yukos is back in the news. The Russian presidential campaign kicked off in mid-January, with Dmitry Medvedev—who is virtually guaranteed victory in the early March poll thanks to the support of ...

COUNTRY REPORT / CYPRUS Cyprus is hoping that its recent adoption of the euro will help it better survive—and perhaps even thrive—during the coming global turbulence.     Cyprus is hoping that its recent adoption of the euro will help ...

ISRAEL     Tel Aviv: Aiming for greater integration with world markets. Israel’s minister of finance Ronnie Bar-On has approved a legislative amendment that will enable foreign portfolio management companies to serve Israeli clients and operate in Israel without the ...

MEXICO     Mexico's stock exchange: Lining up a $1 billion IPO. After last year’s blowout initial public offering by the São Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa), which raised $3.6 billion, the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV), the Bovespa’s Mexican counterpart, ...

UNITED STATES     Gas complaint: Exxon Mobil says growing consumption is pumping up its profits. A long-simmering debate boiled over last month after Exxon Mobil reported the highest earnings ever by an American corporation, topping its own record set ...

RUSSIA/IRAQ     Talabani: Russia's decision is a historic turning point. Russia agreed in February to write off $12 billion of Iraqi debt in an apparent effort to help Russian companies including Lukoil to win contracts in Iraq. The debt ...

FOREIGN EXCHANGE Analysts are beginning to watch for signs of a solid bottom for the dollar, following its long-term decline since September 2000. The dollar’s multi-year decline is nearing an end, and the greenback already may have hit bottom against ...

GLOBAL EQUITY/DRS Mumbai-based Reliance Power raised $3 billion in January in India’s largest-ever initial public offering. The shares sold represented a 10% stake in the company, which aims to provide electricity to power the country’s fast growth but which so ...

CORPORATE DEBT     While financial engineering has been tarnished in the current credit crunch, market participants say collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and other forms of securitization have their place in a modern financial system and will come back strong ...

  MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS     Apart from the ongoing consolidation in the financial services industry, January was an extremely slow month for mergers and acquisitions. That all changed quickly on February 1, however, with Microsoft’s $44.6 billion bid for ...

UNITED KINGDOM   While many Western banks may be struggling with liquidity and funding issues, Middle Eastern banks, awash with liquidity, are increasingly making their presence felt in Western financial markets. One such bank is Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), whose ...

GUATEMALA     Colom: Facing challenges on the fiscal front. Just weeks after being sworn in on January 14 as the new Guatemalan president, Álvaro Colom—the Central American country’s first left-of-center leader since Jacobo Árbenz, who was overthrown in a ...

UNITED STATES / EUROPE     With corporate fat cats’ earnings increasingly in the spotlight, particularly in these credit-challenged times, it appears that CEO remuneration packages vary markedly depending on which side of the pond they are on. According to ...

UNITED STATES     Clean energy technologies are key to the US's future economic prosperity. US president George W. Bush may not have signed the Kyoto Protocol for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, but with consumers feeling the pinch of high ...