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Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein is planning to establish a Hong Kong-based fixed income derivatives marketing desk to focus more closely on the growing Greater China markets, according to market officials.

Finnish hedge fund manager ER Capital is researching the use of equity variance swaps in its volatility fund for next year.

Derivatives houses are gearing up for the takeoff of second-generation options on tranches of synthetic collateralized debt obligations.

For the past year, the Energy Hedge Fund Center (www.energyhedgefunds.com) has researched energy-oriented hedge funds and, recently, we have detected the emergence of several funds of funds in the natural resources segment.

GLG Partners, a U.K.-based hedge fund, has hired Darren Hodges, managing director and head of equity derivatives trading at UBS in London.

The recovery swaps market got a small boost after the downgrade of General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., as some protection sellers sought to hedge their exposure to recovery rates in the case of an eventual default.

Fund of funds giant HFR Asset Management has joined forces with RAB Capital to launch structured products.

International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has entered into a floating-rate U.S. dollar swap off the back of a USD1 billion, five-year bond issue with a 4% coupon.

IXIS Corporate & Investment Bank last week brought aboard two equity derivative marketers from Calyon in Hong Kong.

Merrill Lynch has hired Imelda Lam, in interest rate sales at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong, for a similar role in its investor client group in Hong Kong.

Merrill Lynch has reorganized its senior equity-linked chiefs, following the resignation of Simon Brookhouse, managing director and head of global equity-linked business for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.