| With his walrus moustache, Russ Magarity is a familiar face on the big-game circuit. During his time as chief executive of Chase Investment Banking Asia the American was instrumental in using the commercial bank's lending relationships to bring a host of debut issuers to market. These included the first Thai corporate bond issue, for TPI Polene (1994); the first Indonesian plain-vanilla Eurobond, for PT HM Sampoerna (1993), and the first Indian private-sector Eurobond, for Essar Gujarat (1994). Now heading the Asian arm of the US's oldest chartered bank, BankBoston, he is charged with building an emerging markets business like the one he created at Chase. For those who are sceptical about BankBoston's commitment he can point to its efforts in Latin America - he produces a table showing that it was fifth there in debt underwriting for the first seven months of 1997. However, his new role puts him in a unique position vis-à-vis borrowers - for the moment he doesn't have the infrastructure to win mandates. "I've adopted the strategy of being the shadow cabinet," he jokes. "I'm trying to clear away some of the smoke, especially for first-time issuers. |