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Blue chips of the future

When three vulture funds voted down a settlement relating to bonds issued by failed bank Baring Brothers, it emerged that among their advisers was Wilbur Ross, senior managing director at Rothschild in New York.

Not every Asian company is a sickly, debt-laden conglomerate. Well-managed businesses in sectors from food to electronics are positioning themselves to survive the region's recession. The success stories of the next decade might not be petroleum exporters and airlines, they might be glass makers, oil-palm growers or fast-food retailers. We pick out six of Asia's most promising companies.

Time to build a banking empire

Blue chips of the future

What's the best way to promote an issue? Yesterday's world-touring roadshow is too slow and cumbersome in today's volatile markets. Latin borrowers are meeting investors one on one or holding non-deal roadshows to get the message out. They launch the deal when conditions are right. This and other features of the new capital-markets environment - reopenings, reverse enquiry, speedy execution - could be more than just a passing fad. Brian Caplen reports

Dawn raiders turn into gentlemen

Early last month, just after the downbeat IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington, a beleaguered group of once pre-eminent investors gathered at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York to discuss the prospects for their business. In such bleak days, these men and women, managers of some of the best-known funds invested in emerging-market debt and equity, had one overriding question to confront. Can emerging markets any longer be considered a viable asset class? Euromoney, which organized the conference, listened eagerly to the debate.

Dawn raiders turn into gentlemen

There have been four changes of government in Italy since 1991 but Mario Draghi has rarely seemed threatened as director general of the republic's treasury. While treasury minister Carlo Ciampi - who also appears certain to keep his post in the new administration of prime minister Massimo d'Alema - has concentrated on reducing Italy's budget deficit in readiness for the European single currency, Draghi has emerged as the most powerful figure behind wide-ranging financial reforms. He and Ciampi were also central to the planning and implementation of the "euro tax" and a major deficit reduction, which enabled Italy to meet the criteria for entry to the first round of Emu.

Investment bankers devoted hefty resources in 1997 and 1998 to promoting and gearing up for a European high-yield bond market. Following the Russian crisis, it collapsed. But proponents of European junk won't let a catastrophic market crash deter them. They argue that plummeting values could be the market's making. Spreads that have widened beyond all economic justification have finally made high yield sexy for the end-investor.

Advised by the World Bank, Poland is reforming its pension system. If successful, the new pension structure could become a model for Western Europe. Isabel Vallejo reports