Michael Philipp, chairman of Middle East and Africa at Credit Suisse, left the bank last month to set up his own business. His new, independent company will focus on investment management and advisory services in the region.

Every cloud has a silver lining. With the international debt markets only now open to a select few Russian corporates, and with many Russian banks strapped for cash, there are plenty off opportunities for asset managers to lend to strong corporate credits at distressed debt-type margins.

According to a survey by Tabb Group, one in four US hedge funds is planning to open a new office outside the US in the next two years. At least 400 offices will open in the next 12 months and, depending on market conditions, a further 400 in the next two years, says the report. The majority of funds opening abroad are multi-strategy. These need to move to markets in which investment opportunities arise.

Dealers crushed by shift in interest rate expectations as swap yield curves invert.

Appetite for distressed ABS is not nearly sufficient to mop up supply.

This time last year, Phil Green had plenty to smile about.

In Europe and Asia, UBS is the closest challenger to the top two prime brokerage players but Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse are arguably now the best placed to grow. Neil Wilson reports.

Tudor Investment Group, the $18 billion alternatives firm, has hired Greg Hanley and Alan Mintz, co-heads of the distressed debt group at Bear Stearns, to head a new business focusing on credit-related strategies. Three other Bear Stearns employees are also joining the group.

"Redemptions at par"

Underlying the headlines are distortions in the market that can be overcome by liberalization.

Last month’s Global ABS conference in Cannes was shaping up to be more of a wake than its usual annual party as things in the market went from bad to worse in the first quarter this year. But speakers at the event in June were (not surprisingly, given what they do for a living) determinedly upbeat about the market’s prospects. "We come to praise Caesar, not to bury him," declared Clifford Chance’s Kevin Ingram in the opening panel.

Standard Chartered has opened a branch in Paris to tap into the considerable flow it already sees from French corporates and financial institutions. The bank says the branch will facilitate access for those French firms looking to capitalize on the huge investment flows between key markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The team in Paris will be led by Raoul Leblanc.

FSA forces disclosure of significant short positions in companies undertaking rights issues while issuers look for a quicker route to market.

It’s a truism that hindsight is 20/20 vision. But those who spot the signals of turning markets are visionaries and those who act on these signals are true geniuses.

The belief that Libor is an actual rate at which banks lend substantial money to one another is a façade that the credit crunch has torn down with a vengeance.

7 the average percentage return of US IPOs one month after listing so far this year.

Malaysia’s CIMB has finally closed a deal in Thailand after it was outbid by ICBC on a previous attempt to buy ACL Bank. CIMB will now acquire 42% of BankThai, and, pending regulatory approval, will then scoop up the bank’s remaining equity, paying around Bt2.10 per share for stock last seen trading at Bt1.32. BankThai is in desperate need of funding after suffering heavy losses on overseas CDO investments. Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has put CIMB and its holding company BCHB on Creditwatch with negative implications, saying it needs to discuss fundng and integration plans with the group before reversing that move.

Widespread speculation about the likely purchaser of Bank of America’s equity prime brokerage business has come to an end.

As the structured finance market struggles to reinvent itself, the orgy of recrimination among constituents is intensifying.

After suffering from several departures to local rivals, especially VTB, Deutsche Bank has sought to bolster its Moscow office with new hires. Alex Bronin is appointed head of emerging markets structuring for Russia/CIS, Valeri Pouchni, head of rates and FX trading, Andrey Yumatov, head of corporate derivative sales, Alex Danylenko, head of local-currency bond trading, and Diana Nikolova as a senior structurer focusing on Russian structured credit.

Drake Management, the $11 billion global macro fund, has said it will be shutting its two remaining funds after poor performance. Its largest fund dropped 24% last year. Anthony Faillace, Drake’s CIO, has built up a solid reputation, however, after the fund returned more than 40% in 2006. The firm is expected to create some successor funds for investors that want to stay with it.

'The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable' is an excellent read, but anyone who talks about the credit crunch in these terms is not being intellectually honest.

Jack Jeffery, former chief executive of EBS, has joined option pricing specialist SuperDerivatives as chief operations officer. Jeffery will lead SuperDerivatives’ management team and oversee the execution of its business strategy. He will be based in London. The company has also employed Anton Aucamp, who worked with Jeffery at EBS, as its head of marketing.

On June 11, Hugo Chávez, president of Venezuela, agreed to remove a tax of 1.5% on all financial transactions, admitting that the government did not need this revenue and that it was helping to push up inflation. He also introduced new exchange rate controls that will reduce the paperwork for capital goods imports. But this applies only to companies seeking $50,000 or less.

Capital markets and financial services have advanced dramatically in the past few years across Africa. In this debate, Nigerian bankers and informed foreign peers discuss the achievements and the upcoming challenges.

Citi has promoted Tom King to a new position of head of EMEA banking. His role encompasses investment banking and the corporate and commercial bank. He will also oversee the newly created capital markets origination group for the region.

Andre Esteves, who was chairman and chief executive of Latin America at UBS Pactual, has left the firm to set up a fund. Rodrigo Xavier will replace him and will report to Jerker Johansson, chairman and chief executive of UBS Investment Bank. In addition, Juerg Haller has been named chairman and chief executive of UBS Latin America, spanning all business groups.

Institutional investment in commodity markets is boon not bane.

OGX, the Brazilian mining company owned by billionaire Eike Batista, and the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, the Mexican stock exchange, both came to market last month with landmark IPOs. They were important deals in a number of respects, including getting Latin primary market issuance going again this year. At least as significant was the emergence of China’s sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation, as an investor in Latin American IPOs.

Ceiba Investments, a closed-end fund that invests solely in Cuban assets, is set to list its shares on London junior market AIM this month.