Magazine Cover

Cover Story

Cover Story : The World’s Best Companies 2005

The eighth annual survey of the World’s Best Companies profiles the global leaders and the top regional players. Most of the world’s top companies are having another good year. For many, revenues and profits have been setting new records. Truly ...

Features

Features : Best Banks in Project Finance 2005

Global Finance selects the winners from among the leading banks that create and implement financing plans for major projects around the world. Project finance activity worldwide has cooled significantly from the fever pitch of 2004, with China largely absent from ...

Features : Companies Reap the Benefits of Good Behavior

Socially responsible investment is a growing force, and corporates have taken note. But what does it take to get on approved investment lists? And do the companies get anything back from being high-minded? Responsibility is the buzzword of the 21st ...

Features : Firm Foundations

Sound fundamentals are the key reasons why Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, and its capital markets have been able to withstand a major corruption scandal. As the political scandal around President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reached its peak over ...

Features : Global Custody

Global Finance brought together some of the world’s leading custody experts to discuss the industry’s prospects. GLOBAL FINANCE: Welcome. Please tell us a little about your organizations. Global Finance publisher Joseph Giarraputo: Does technology continue to drive change in custody? ...

Features : Know Thy Customer’s Behavior

Sales force automation technology can help companies improve their forecasting. Client management and sales are key functions in most organizations, and companies are increasingly realizing the importance of preserving and developing relationships with their existing clients, in addition to developing ...

Features : Risk and Reward

Socially responsible investment is a growing force, and corporates have taken note. But what does it take to get on approved investment lists? And do the companies get anything back from being high-minded? Responsibility is the buzzword of the 21st ...

Features : Searching for Direction

Despite recent setbacks, France is still working hard to push through social and economic reforms. With the French saying “non” to the EU constitution earlier this year and the outcome of the German election sending mixed messages about the public’s ...

Features : Technology: Sales Force Automation Aids Forecasting

Sales force automation technology can help companies improve their forecasting. Client management and sales are key functions in most organizations, and companies are increasingly realizing the importance of preserving and developing relationships with their existing clients, in addition to developing ...

Features : Why Lula’s Scandal hasn’t Harmed Brazil’s Equities

Sound fundamentals are the key reasons why Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, and its capital markets have been able to withstand a major corruption scandal. As the political scandal around President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reached its peak over ...

Features : World’s Best Banks 2005

Awards Ceremony In September, Global Finance conducted its eighth Annual Best Banks Awards ceremony during the Annual Meetings of the IMF/World Bank in Washington, DC. A record number of the world’s leading bankers were present to accept their award certificates. ...

Award Winners

Award Winners : The World’s Best Companies 2005

Best Global Companies AIRLINES — Singapore Airlines CEO: Chew Choon Seng AUTOMOTIVE — BMW Chairman and CEO: Helmut Panke BEVERAGES — PepsiCo Chairman and CEO: Steven S. Reinemund CHEMICALS — BASF Chairman: Jürgen Hambrecht COMPUTER HARDWARE — Apple Computer CEO: ...

Emerging Markets

Emerging Markets : Black Market Booms

Russia As widely anticipated, in late September Russian state monopoly gas giant Gazprom purchased a 73% stake in Sibneft, Russia’s fifth-largest oil company, for $13.1 billion in what is corporate Russia’s largest deal ever. Roman Abramovich and his partners purchased ...

Emerging Markets : Brazil Debuts Local Currency Sovereign Issue

Brazil Brazil issued its debut real-denominated bond issue on international markets in September. The R$3.4 billion ($1.5 billion) sovereign deal, which matures in 2016, was priced to yield 12.75% (vs. 15.5% for a domestic issue maturing in 2012). The benchmark ...

Emerging Markets : Finance Offshoring Jobs Set to Double

News Financial services executives expect to double the number of jobs they send offshore in the next three years, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Cutting costs was the main reason for offshoring cited by 79% of the 156 executives ...

Emerging Markets : Insurance Industry to Open Up

India The Indian government is considering raising the equity foreign holding limit in insurance companies to 49% from the current level of 26%. Several global insurers, including AIG, New York Life, Sun Life Financial, Allianz, Old Mutual, Chubb and Standard ...

Emerging Markets : Mobile Operator Crosses Borders

Company to Watch: Turkcell/Turkey Istanbul-based Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri, the leading mobile-phone service provider in Turkey, with more than 26 million customers, operates in virtually every Turkish town with more than 3,000 people. The company’s revenue increased to more than $1 ...

Emerging Markets : Tenaris ADR Up 129% this Year

DR News Tenaris, a manufacturer of seamless steel pipes for drilling oil and gas wells, has been a gusher in the depositary-receipt market this year. The company’s revenue and earnings have spurted as demand for its seamless pipes has increased ...

Best Banks in Project Finance

Features : Best Banks in Project Finance 2005

Global Finance selects the winners from among the leading banks that create and implement financing plans for major projects around the world. Project finance activity worldwide has cooled significantly from the fever pitch of 2004, with China largely absent from ...

Milestones

Milestones : M&A Set for a Record-Breaking Year

Europe/United States Merger and acquisitions bankers are already putting the Champagne on ice. With just a couple of months to go to the end of 2005, it looks set to be the best year for global activity since the technology, ...

Milestones : The Chinese Battle for Latin America

China/Taiwan/Latin America The People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan are locked in head-to-head combat for Latin American allegiance. Beijing has promised billions of dollars in new investment and trade in the region’s largest markets, while Taiwan is focusing on ...

Corporate Finance

Corporate Finance : Corporate Debt

Mexican Homebuilder Cuts Borrowing Costs Desarrolladora Homex, a leading Mexican homebuilder, lowered its borrowing costs and extended its debt maturity by placing $250 million of 10-year senior guaranteed notes with qualified buyers in the US market and hedging its resulting ...

Corporate Finance : Focus: Global Equity/DRs

Insurers and Reinsurers Flood Into Equity Capital Market In Wake of Hurricanes Since Hurricane Katrina plowed into the United States Gulf Coast at the end of August, insurers and reinsurance companies have been the biggest issuers of stock in the ...

Corporate Finance : Foreign Exchange

Fed Tightening Strangles Yen By all rights, these should have been the glory days for the Japanese yen. The Nikkei average is trading at the highest levels in four years as foreign money flows into Japanese stocks. The economy is ...

Corporate Finance : Mergers & Acquisitions

Europe’s Gas Suppliers Make Explosive Bids Spain’s largest natural gas company, Gas Natural, has made a hostile bid for the country’s biggest electricity provider, Endesa, which is nearly double its size. Meanwhile, Russia’s largest gas producer, Gazprom, which supplies almost ...

Newsmakers

Newsmakers : Firms Fail to Follow the Money

United States/Europe John Gibbons With interest rates on an upward trajectory and the credit cycle reaching maturity, it may come as a surprise to discover that there is an estimated $1 trillion in trapped capital between the US and Europe ...

Newsmakers : Fujimori: Back on Campaign Trail?

Perú Alberto Fujimori Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, in exile in Japan since 2000, has vowed to seek re-election in next year’s presidential race, despite a constitutional ban that precludes him from seeking public office before 2010. Authorities say he ...