Search results for

Indonesia's inflation soars, and foreign direct investment doubles, Temasek buys into Chandra Asri, and talk of electricity price hikes spark protests.

With Japan's economy picking up speed after a generation in the doldrums, Asiamoney talks to fund managers and investors to find the country's best deals of the year.

Rahmat Waluyanto, the director of Government Securities Management at the Ministry of Finance in Indonesia, sat down with Asiamoney to discuss some of the government's international bond issuance plans and its investment bank selection process.

China has a history of quasi-securitizations stretching back to the late 1990s, when toll-road operators and utilities issued financial instruments with some of the characteristics of true asset-backed securities. In 2004, Credit Suisse and Chinese bank ICBC completed another proto-securitization—a Rmb2.6 billion bundle of non-performing and sub-performing loans from the bank's Ningbo branch. By Elizabeth Ryan

Bank Negara approves new takaful licences, CIMB suspends shares a head of delisting.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China finalizes a 10% stake sale to a Goldman Sachs-led consortium, Shin Corp of Thailand is sold to Singapore's Temasek, Lotte Shopping goes public in Korea, and Bank of China gets the nod for its US$7 billion Hong Kong IPO.

India's once-stable family businesses are softening at the seams as foreign investors buy into the country, bringing cash, corporate governance and professionalism. In many cases, once-favoured scions are being passed over by chairmen in favour of professionals with Harvard MBAs. The process, now started, is only set to continue, says Elliot Wilson.

Australia's competition watchdog has come out fighting against cartels. This time, it's in the ring with its biggest target yet—billionaire businessman Richard Pratt and related businesses in the packaging industry. Giles Parkinson reports.

China's securitization market, first mooted back in 1998 by the China Development Bank, has spent years going nowhere. But a clutch of deals in December lit the touch-paper. Now everyone's waiting for the next round. Elliot Wilson and Elizabeth Ryan report.

BNP Paribas has built a reputation for smart innovation over the past five years, as the structured products market has grown in size and importance. Under the watchful eyes of Laurent De Meyere, head of equity derivatives in Asia and Henry Pang, head of equity derivatives sales, Asia ex-Japan, the bank's has enjoyed strong prominence in the region.

Calyon's three-year presence in Asia's structured products scene has been dominated by building its profile. When Credit Agricole merged with Credit Lyonnais in 2002, the new entity had virtually no brand recognition outside France, let alone in Asia. In a burgeoning equity structured products market full of some of the best-known names in banking, this was a handicap. With this in mind, in the past two years the bank focused on retail flow and commoditized product areas, including capital-guaranteed funds and more recently equity-linked notes, which have constituted the majority of its business. The French bank is also interested in expanding its efforts in the Hong Kong warrants business by introducing index-underlying warrants, which could increase its market share from the current 5%, as index-underlying warrants contributes more than 40% of the HK warrants market turnover.

Citigroup was a late starter in Asia's equity structured products markets. It began putting a regional team together only in 2001 when it appointed Harold Kim—a veteran of the Asian equity derivatives business since 1995 as the new head.