Drivers at the Indianapolis Speedway, a senior Hong Kong-based capital markets banker told Euromoney recently, are instructed when they spot a crash ahead to steer straight for that spot on the understanding that by the time they arrive the colliding cars will have moved. The same advice, the banker argued, ought to be given to companies in Asia trying to navigate financial markets. Those that were considering floating on the region’s exchanges earlier in 2009 should, while surveying the wreckage across Asia’s equity markets in the first quarter, have pushed ahead with public offering preparations so that when the time came they were ready. Instead they waited for a signal that things were improving – generally thought to be BBMG’s successful July...
