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Paris-based Ofivalmo Gestion, an asset manager and subsidiary of the Ofivalmo Group which manages more than EUR8 billion in assets, and Calyon have priced a callable synthetic CDO. Eiffel is a seven-year CDO which can be bought back by Ofivalmo after three years. If not bought back, the coupon paid to investors steps up. It allows for multiple issues of notes with fixed, floating or hybrid spread coupons linked to a 123-name synthetic portfolio with a average rating of BBB plus. Marketing of the note started in December.

Dawnay Day Quantum, a U.K. structured investments provider, has issued a revamped version of its commodity-linked note to lure investors still interested in the asset class. Commodities Turbo II consists of a six-year option on a basket of eight commodities which includes natural gas, brent crude and zinc. The option offers 155% participation in the upside of the basket and a zero coupon bond ensures 90% of investors' capital is returned at maturity if there are no gains on the basket. The note is a year longer than Turbo I because commodity buying for typically five-year retail investment notes makes pricing more attractive beyond this date.

Lehman Brothers' Robert Lance, managing director and co-head of Asia-Pacific equity in Hong Kong, has left the firm for personal reasons, according to officials familiar with the move. Lance, who joined in 2003 from Deutsche Bank to build up the hedge fund sales desk, could not be reached. Jonathon Wharton, spokesman for the firm, declined all comment.

Chinese Yuan rises, India's interest rates, Japanese investment in Vietnam

Hungary's Samurai bonds, growth slows in Ukraine

Moneymen welcome Brazil and Venezuela's decisions to retire more than $10 billion of bonds issued to bail out governments in the 1990s

Bad loans in China, the Philippines' rating

Eight analysts and investors choose what's hot and what's not in emerging markets this year.

When Bank of America bought into China Construction Bank it surprised many, not least its own shareholders. Until then, the North Carolina-based bank, was known mainly in Asia for offering steady, reliable revenue-generating commercial banking services to US and Asian corporates. But at a stroke its US$3 billion investment for 9% of China's third-largest lender thrust it firmly into the spotlight. Elliot Wilson asks whether it was just a flash in the Asian pan.

Regulatory reforms are ushering in open architecture for offshore funds in Taiwan. But industry players may not be ready to make full use of it, reports Aradhna Dayal.

Keen management and an unprecedented commodities boom has made BHP Billiton king of the mining heap once more. Riding the resources wave may seem like a simple management proposition, but decisions made by CEO Chip Goodyear today will be reflected in years to come. Giles Parkinson reports.

Drug company Ranbaxy has been a trailblazer in Indian corporate circles, evolving from a family-owned business to a global player with visionary founder Parvinder Singh at the helm. But the company has fallen far from its previous highs, and faces a hard road ahead to achieve its ambitious goals, writes Yassir Pitalwalla.