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When Citibank and the Travelers Group merged, the hype was about cross-selling retail products. Citi's distribution network and Travelers' products would be a potent combination, claimed Sandy Weill and John Reed. The investment banking brew had less to offer and was expected to be more troublesome. But so far it isn't working out like that. The investment bank is the success story. Meanwhile, cross-selling isn't working. Antony Currie reports

It's clear why Vodafone conquered Mannesmann. Vodafone won because it paid to win, using its powerful stock. Its shareholders supported its share price and thereby its bid because they believed its story: that big is best in the globalizing telecoms game. And they feared failure might burst the telecoms bubble. What's less understood is how Mannesmann lost. It gave away the early momentum through bungling, suffered splits in its defence advisory team, and came within an inch of winning the hand of a French rescuer, only to hesitate. Klaus Esser made Mannesmann a top company, but his risk-taking triggered this contest and shaped its outcome. We also reveal the battle that raged beneath the surface between Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley during the biggest hostile takeover of all time. Marcus Walker reports

Our borrowers' special begins with a dealmaker's diary, looking in depth at two emerging market Eurobond issues: how JP Morgan spent over a tear lead-managing a $100 million bond for Bank Handlowy of Poland, and how Salomon Brothers sold $400 million of Colombian sovereign debt.

It's been a tough year for many borrowers in the international capital markets. Corporate issuers in particular have fallen quickly from grace, having been the market's darlings a year ago. Now fixed income investors across the world are increasingly risk-averse. Certain sectors of the primary markets, US high yield for example, are very difficult to access. In response to these troubles, many of those borrowers that bankers and investors have nominated to be awarded for their efforts in the past 12 months have reverted to a strategy first made popular by Fannie Mae two years ago. They are striving to produce large, liquid benchmark issues that will at least give investors the comfort that they can easily trade in and out.