Troubled emerging markets companies could soon benefit from the development of sophisticated bespoke deals aimed at increasing investor confidence.

Here are the bond issuers that have taken the market by storm over the past 12 months: from the IFC, punching above its weight within the World Bank group with its pioneering work in developing local bond markets, to Bayer’s use of innovative methods to maintain its credit profile while making acquisitions.

Otmar Issing has been the most impressive advocate of the ECB. What happens now that the bank has lost its implicit third pillar in monetary policy?

Just three years ago, any small investor wanting to invest in gold had a very hard time of it. Few ordinary people have the facilities to take physical delivery of bullion, even if the asset class is the ultimate low-risk play because of gold’s inherent value.

Bayer has played white knight for the second time this year. The German chemicals company rescued Schering from the clutches of Merck in March with a €16.5 billion offer

The eagerly awaited opening up of mainland China to Reits investment continues to hang fire but the market is hot elsewhere in the region, with retail and institutional investors piling into new issues. Some in the market, though, reckon that investors often have over-inflated expectations of Reits’ returns and a poor grasp of the complexities of the deals. Chris Wright reports.

Maverick leader opens arms to international and national investors.

Too much of a good thing can be harmful, and so it is proving with Asia’s fledgling real estate investment trust sector. Given Asian markets’ passion for property, Reits were always going to be popular. Now one of the latest offerings suggests that investors are becoming more discerning.

Banks in the Philippines are set for more consolidation as new regulations threaten weaker lenders in a fragmented market. High valuations have dissuaded some from deals, but economic recovery might force them to reconsider. Chris Leahy reports.

The ballooning demand for mortgage credit in Spain is attracting new players and more flexible products.

Access to collateral is the number one topic of conversation in the CLO market. But if a viable leveraged loan CDS market develops, Christmas will have come early for many players.

HSBC’s decision to tell the world in advance when it is will carry out a large FX transaction to pay its non-dollar based shareholders their dividends is transparent. But is it wise?

AXA’s proposed extreme mortality cat bond will set the tone for the insurance securitization sector this year.

Russian firms seek investor-friendly foreign talent; investor-friendly foreign talent seek large bonuses.

Of the 8,000 or so hedge funds globally, around 97% are focused on the US and European capital markets. And although opportunities in Asia, Latin America, and central and eastern Europe are being recognized, with the net amount of money flowing into hedge funds that focus on emerging-market investments rising 13% in 2005 according to Hedge Fund Research, not many investors are sufficiently confident to invest in these regions separately.

Funds are circumventing anti-concentration regulations with single-stock futures.

NAIC’s SVO brings further woe to the hybrids industry; the US market looks less viable than it once did.

If a product swamps a market, prices go down. Yet this basic economic tenet seems to have eluded many of the issuers in the Spanish covered bonds market. How else to explain the consistent lack of coordination in issuance endemic in the world of the cédulas?

One piece of analysis that is certain to be a fixture on desks this summer is a 59-page report by Goldman Sachs. In preparation for the football World Cup, which kicks off on June 9 in Germany, Goldman Sachs has put together a guide to each participating country and its team’s chances of success.

Investment banks are thinking of setting up their own alternatives.

At a time when M&A volumes are rising, a toughening up of the CFIUS could deter foreign companies looking to buy in the US. And that would take a serious chunk out of Wall Street’s fees. Kathryn Tully reports.

The heyday of the traditional debt capital markets is long gone. Who would have thought that, some six months into the year, it would have taken just a $6 billion share of underwriting to take top place in the US investment-grade corporate bookrunner table? Go back to 2004 and it would have been something like $10 billion. Perhaps a bigger surprise is that this number trails behind the equivalent European league table (€8.5 billion).

Investors need to tread with caution as uncertainty surrounds the Federal Reserve’s next move.

Is there too much capital trying to find a home?

Saudi regulator leaves a positive legacy for his country’s financial markets.

At the end of May, representatives of many of the quasi-independent agencies set up to manage the government debts of OECD and emerging market sovereigns gathered in St Petersburg to compare experiences. There was much to discuss: the meeting came just as diverse pressures are building up on the debt management offices (DMOs).

Hedge fund managers need to realize that many investors will be attracted most by track record and big-name managers.

The ability of the CDO bid to distort the wider capital markets is significant – and growing.

Dmitry Eropkin, president of Russia’s Impexbank, said as Raiffeisen completed its acquisition of his bank that he expected to see “the consolidation of the top 50 Russian banks within the next two to three years”.

Spain’s securitization market grew by more than 35% last year, driven by demand for more, and more flexible, mortgage credit. Specialist investors are now hoping that issuers can be persuaded to sell first-loss exposure to this risk. This comes, though, as concerns grow about the potential fallout from a seemingly unsustainable house price boom. Louise Bowman reports.