Search results for

Interview with Ralph Parks to accompany main cover story

After a year of volatility, recession and political uncertainty, the dust is settling on the changes the world's investment banks have made to their Asian operations. There are new leaders in place, new strategies underway, new areas of priority – and considerably slimmer headcounts. Who's come out looking best? In the following pages Matthew Montagu-Pollock assesses the positions of the traditional leaders and interviews JPMorgan's Asia chairman Ralph Parks.

No changes at the top of our travel poll this year – our respondents just can't find fault with the Ritz-Carlton Millenia in Singapore or Singapore Airlines. They are not so happy when it comes to in-room internet services in Asia's hotels, however. And if only they could stretch out completely on all long haul business flights... Olivia Chow and Robert Law report.

Technology Resources Industries (TRI) completed Malaysia's largest equity capital raising since the financial crisis in February. The restricted offer, run alongside a rights issue, brought together an important restructuring. But a last-minute objection from the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange meant it wasn't all smooth going. By Chris Wright

Orient Corp (Orico), one of the largest consumer credit companies in Japan, this week launched its second securitisation of card loans under its Clare programme. A single dollar tranche was offered in response to the strong demand on this currency in the previous deal in December. "The main reason for this transaction was follow-through demand on the dollar notes from the last deal that we couldn't satisfy at the time," said Richard Tarn, director of primary and structured finance at lead manager Mizuho International in London. "Orico returned to the market earlier than expected to respond."

The Australian debt market continues to show robust demand for primary issuance, supporting another spate of transactions. New Zealand's Meridian Energy, General Property Trust (GPT), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Pacific Life have all accessed the domestic market for new deals over the past week. Meridian Energy launched its debut A$100m 10 year medium term note (MTN) last Friday to strong demand. JP Morgan acted as sole lead for the electricity generator's debut issue, which was credit wrapped by XL Capital Assurance to provide an effective AAA rating.

CNOOC took the markets by storm this week, securing a full-to-bursting order book for its debut $500m global bond. The Chinese oil and exploration corporate's 144A Reg S deal is scheduled to be priced early in New York today (Friday).

Indonesia PT Medco Energi ended a roadshow in Europe yesterday (Thursday) for its $150m five year Eurobond issue. Credit Suisse First Boston is sole lead manager for the Indonesian oil and exploration company, which is rated B+ by Standard & Poor's, four notches higher than the sovereign.

The pipeline from Malaysia is swelling rapidly, with both the federation and Malayan Banking (Maybank) looking at opportunities in the international bond markets. The sovereign is considering how best to raise $500m, and observers believe the ministry of finance (MoF) is close to picking lead managers.

Lehman Brothers has completed a $100m convertible bond issue for recordable compact disc manufacturer CMC Magnetics Corp. The deal, for which there is also a $20m greenshoe option, was more than twice covered, according to bankers close to the transaction. Lehman and the issuer opted for a two year put structure with a zero coupon.

EuroWeek has conducted a straw poll of Asia bond market bankers and analysts at eight investment banks, to discover their views on where the markets are headed in the coming year. Here are the results. Where do you believe overall spreads for Asian high grade bonds and high yield bonds will move in the next six months?

* Fortis Finance NV Guarantor: Fortis (NL) NV, Fortis Bank NV