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When Moody's raised Spain's rating to Aaa at the end of 2001, Spain joined the leading pack of European member countries. But the hard work is not over as the sovereign wants to persuade the other two agencies of its triple-A qualities. Meanwhile, Instituto de Crédito Oficial and the regional governments hope to see their performance improve in the kingdom's slipstream. Neil Day reports. What were you doing on December 13, 2001? With no euro to prepare for or millennium bug to exterminate, most of us were probably winding down for the year, getting ready for a holiday break, doing some last minute shopping for presents, and looking forward to - or recovering from, in some cases - the Christmas party season. As a result of all the festive activity, it passed many people by that in Madrid the Spanish treasury had something of its own to celebrate.

After the economic crisis of 1997, the need for financial and corporate restructuring in Asia was plain for all to see - especially the private equity houses and their lenders. But the expected buy-out business has emerged from an unexpected market. Most activity has come not from Japan, so in need of reform, nor fast growing China, but South Korea, which has opened up to foreign investment and given the leveraged finance market some landmark transactions. One of the good things about football is that success is very easy to measure. Merit may be more elusive, but nevertheless for teams outside Europe and South America, reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup is an undeniable, quantifiable success.

The Russian market has thrived so far this year. Top tier oil and gas borrowers have negotiated longer tenors, less complex structures and tighter margins. Banks are also getting the chance to tap the loan market, as well as a diverse range of corporates beyond the oil and gas sector. However, many bankers believe that although appetite remains strong for some Russian credits, many lenders could be left unable to soak up the volume of debt requested. Colette Campbell reports. Russian borrowers this year have continued to raise larger amounts at longer tenors with tighter pricing. But the sustainability of this loan issuance for some of Russia's well known borrowers is being questioned.

Compared with the US and Europe, the intriguing Asian leveraged loan market is in its infancy. However, the last two or three years has seen liquidity grow. The success of early deals has left a broader range of investors feeling more comfortable with the concept of buying into leveraged facilities. And the returns available on leveraged loans look increasingly attractive against those on corporate loans.

Apart from a few notable transactions such as the ASAT deal, the high yield market in Asia remains undeveloped and unreliable. However, mezzanine finance is beginning to take off. Firms hoping that the growth seen in Korea will spread throughout the region include Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) and Search Group. Can they persuade investors to embrace the product?

The Asian economic crisis of 1997 did not give rise to the birth of a private equity market in Asia but it was responsible for changing the way private equity houses looked at investment opportunities in the region so comprehensively as to make the new template virtually unrecognisable compared with its predecessor.

Foreign direct investment in Russia has largely been conspicuous by its absence to date. But there are signs that the country may at last be beginning to attract the foreign funding necessary to unlock its huge economic potential. Guy Norton reports. Russia may be firmly back on the radar screens of both international debt and equity investors, but foreign direct investment has proved much more difficult to attract. Indeed, in absolute terms foreign direct investment has been on a downward trend since 1999. According to the Central Bank of Russia, FDI in 1999 reached $3.3bn, but has since slipped to $2.7bn in 2000 and $2.5bn in 2001. As a result, FDI in Russia accounts for less than 1% of Russian gross domestic product, far below the 5%-10% which is common across central and eastern Europe.

Private deals surge in MTN market

Along with the rest of Europe, Spain's IPO market has been in almost permanent hibernation over the past 18 months. With Spanish corporates shying away from issuing equity-linked deals, ECM bankers' main hope for the rest of the year is the emergence of more secondary offerings. Steve Metcalfe reports. Spanish equity capital market bankers have had a disappointing year, but Santander Central Hispano's (SCH) planned secondary sale of Banco Español de Crédito (Banesto) will be a welcome boost for the deal-starved market.

Eurobond issuance out of Russia has followed a pattern of all or nothing since the City of Moscow became the first issuer back to market after the crisis of August 1998. Kathryn Wells looks at why the market is on such a roller coaster ride and assesses the issuance prospects for the rest of this year's bulging pipeline. Potential Russian Eurobond issuers have been faced with a dilemma this autumn. Should they push ahead with deals, knowing that they will have to pay more than they would have had to earlier in the year, or hold off in the hope that markets will improve but risk having to pay even higher premiums in the future?

With international banks moving into the Spanish market as arrangers and participants in syndicated loans, and local banks become more fee-driven, Spanish borrowers are having to adhere to international standards of pricing and structuring. Colette Campbell and Ruth Lavelle look at how and why the Spanish syndicated loan market is maturing. The Spanish loan market has historically been a proud and protective one, with most loans syndicated at home by local, liquid banks.

Spain has long had a broad framework for securitisation, for corporate and bank issuers. But banks have remained the core issuers. Neil Unmack looks at the attraction securitisation holds for different bank issuers and the potential for a more varied market.