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With nearly $2bn of offerings from the country last year and a rapidly building pipeline of deals, 2003 promises to be a rewarding year for Russian equity issuance. But success is far from guaranteed: not only do many of the old problems remain, but there are some new hurdles as well. Steve Metcalfe reports. All the signs are point to increasingly positive sentiment towards Russian equities. On a grand scale, BP's $6.75bn deal with Alfa Group has investors taking a fresh look at the country - the logic being that if a businessman as canny as BP's chief executive Lord Browne is investing, Russia must be a good opportunity.

This year, for the first time, EuroWeek is proud to announce the winners of its MTN awards. The winners were chosen by EuroWeek 's MTN journalists after a series of one-on-one meetings with the MTN market's leading dealers. We think that they reflect excellence and innovation in the market, and we hope that they serve to encourage more of the same.

This year, for the first time, EuroWeek polled the market's leading houses for their views on the challenges to be faced in the year ahead, their MTN capabilities and their relationships with issuers. Jonathan Sibun reports.

The commercial mortgage backed securities market is expanding rapidly and this has allowed banks, including Aareal and Eurohypo, to develop their fluid buy and sell strategies in the real estate market. However, senior bankers suggest that much still needs to be done in Europe to match the impressive US market.

Aareal Bank, born out of the old Depfa Bank, operates on a new model for international real estate that is free from the restrictions of the German Mortgage Bank Act - and is a frontrunner for the sector that is encouraging rivals to adopt a similar business strategy. With the incalculable benefit of hindsight, the analysis published by Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) on the old Depfa Bank in October 2000 could scarcely have been more accurate.

The Pfandbrief market is in a state of flux. Barely a week passes without news of a downgrade, restructuring or regulatory move, as issuers contend with a deteriorating economy at home and greater competition abroad. But treasury officials at Germany's mortgage banks are optimistic that the market's initiatives could see a return to the good old days of five years ago. Neil Day reports.

The rouble bond market now offers investors much cheaper funding than they can get on bank loans, with the result that more than 100 deals have been issued since August 1998. Kathryn Wells reports on a market where growing deal sizes and lengthening tenors are becoming the norm. When fixed line telecoms operator MGTS issued a R1bn bond in February, the first two year corporate issue not to include a put option, it marked a milestone for a market in which investors have traditionally sought to buy short term instruments.

Two new deals from Gazprom and MTS have cemented Russian corporate paper as the must-have asset of 2003. Kathryn Wells reports on how the corporates' success is managing to draw previously sceptical US investors back to Russian credits. Russian corporates have begun 2003 as they left off last year, with Gazprom proving to investors that big is definitely beautiful when it comes to Eurobonds. The world's largest natural gas producer launched a $1.75bn 10 year offering at the end of February, the biggest ever bond by an emerging market corporate.

German bankers have been singing the praises of synthetic securitisation, a technique that allows issuers to avoid the country's high tax payable on special purpose vehicles. But there are some members of the choir who are still keen to see the market open up to true sale deals, and the cost savings that accompany them.

The flexibility of the EuroMTN market has enabled it to thrive at a time when the equity and public bond markets have been volatile and closed to many borrowers. Investors have been able to boost their returns by turning from credit to interest rate risk, while issuers have been able to move quickly to take advantage of pockets of demand. Neil Day reports on how MTN dealers have been keeping liquidity flowing.