The ability of the US to run a high current account deficit rests on a widespread belief that inflation and the cost of capital will remain low. But the conditions that underpin the deficit and the dollar’s role as the principal source of global capital are unlikely to be sustained for long.

Time is running out for Eurotunnel as it tries to refinance its debt.

Love them or loathe them, institutional investors are now an increasingly important fact of life for LBO financial sponsors. CLOs now account for more than 30% of the market in Europe and are starting to venture into every part of the LBO structure. But if things go wrong, there is now a fund manager across the workout table, not a friendly banker. Louise Bowman reports.

I was lunching at Cecconi’s with my friend Richard. Cecconi’s is an Italian restaurant in Mayfair frequented by hedge fund hotties, Latvian lovelies with pneumatic mammaries and the odd voyeur such as myself. Dame Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of publishing group Pearson – or her doppelganger – was at the next table. Regretfully, under my Cecconi classification system, she falls into the voyeur category. Well she’s hardly a buxom Latvian is she? Richard is the brother I never had. He is funny, clever, irreverent and, in his spare time, a successful investment banker. If he weren’t one of my closest friends, I would hate him for the insouciance of it all.

Southern Cross Group is making waves in Latin American private equity, standing out because of its aggressive and sometimes contentious strategy – it only invests in companies in which it has unchallenged control of management – which is bringing it high returns.

Euromoney’s new poll shows that, according to the world’s largest issuers, Deutsche and Citigroup have the quality as well as the quantity of business to maintain their leading positions. But, as Alex Chambers reports, the results also throw up some interesting contradictions.

The structured bonds business is changing in emerging markets. The rapid development of local capital markets means that the product’s future lies closer to home. Euromoney takes a closer look at some of the developing world’s more innovative securitization markets and deals.

A busy sporting calendar means a burgeoning expense account for many investment banks.

Hong Kong might have cause to celebrate the PWC report: 97% of the funds raised in the Greater China region were raised in the SAR. Yet it also has much to fear. Always an emotional and volatile market, the Hang Seng Index whipsawed its way through early May after global market wobbles.

New Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke received a B+ from economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal, but the Dean of Columbia Business School in New York would probably fail him if students are to be believed.

The listed infrastructure fund, which is common in Australia, is gaining traction in Asia, with two new structures hitting the market in recent weeks.