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In the minds of many Kazakhs, the biggest challenge their country faces today is transparency. Unusually for the central Asian region, Kazakhstan boasts a decade of political stability, a developed and efficient financial sector, and a massive mineral wealth waiting to be exploited.

Over the past 10 years Turkish loans have been the staple diet of many banks in the Euroloan market. Regular refinancings, solid bank groups and ambitious borrowing plans have helped make the sector one of the permanent features of the market. However, the two financial crises of November 2000 and February 2001 severely curtailed lending activities and, as Colette Campbell reports, confidence is only now returning.

Approximately $15 million of Adelphia Communication's Century Cable bank debt traded in small pieces in the 91-92 range as the sunken levels reflect investors concerns that the company will be delisted from the Nasdaq exchange following its hearing on Thursday May 16. If the company's stock is delisted from the exchange, Adelphia may have to deal with $1.4 billion in convertible bonds that can be put to the company, traders said. Market players question whether the company has the liquidity to handle such an action.

State Street global Advisors, which manages roughly USD35.5 billion in fixed-income assets, is considering entering the collateralized debt obligation market. "We're certainly looking at [CDOs], because of the fee potential," said Joe Marvin, head of U.S. bonds in Boston. Any deal is on ice for the time being, he added, because SSgA is waiting for the Financial Accounting Standards Board's clarification of consolidation criteria. By consolidation, he is referring to FASB's proposal to raise the minimum equity level held by third-party investors in CDOs to 10% from 3% (BW, 3/4).

ABN AMRO is predicting the Korean equity derivatives market is going to take off and plans to hire additional marketers to cope with the demand. "We're looking to increase our resources," said Frank McKirgan, head of Asian equity derivatives in Hong Kong.

Asset management (or managed) synthetic CDOs effectively securitize investment-grade corporate credit risk. A managed synthetic CDO combines the structure of a traditional asset management cash flow CDO with the cost-effective risk transfer of a static synthetic CDO. The result is a portfolio credit product that provides investors with an efficient investment strategy in an actively managed, diversified pool of investment-grade corporate credit. The advantage of managed synthetic CDOs for investors is the same as it is for other actively managed CDO products: a tailored exposure to an expert manager's performance in the selected asset class. Although the market has not yet converged on a standard managed synthetic CDO structure, the broad characteristics have been established.

Advance Auto Parts, an auto parts dealer in Roanoke, Va., is considering using interest-rate swaps to even the ratio of fixed-to-floating rate debt on its balance sheet, according to Sheila Stuewe, director of investor relations "Looking at possible swaps has become part of our constant review of our financing. We haven't decided on a schedule, but it is something we are looking at closely," Stuewe said.

Barclays Capital plans to expand its German corporate risk advisory business as more accounting rules drive cfos to consider the impact of hedging on the company's balance sheet. Martin Gueldenberg, director and German head of corporate risk advisory in Frankfurt, said the firm plans to hire one or two marketers with cross asset class experience. Most of the department's business revolves around interest-rate and foreign exchange risk, but equity and credit risk are also increasingly important.

Barclays Capital has hired Boris Loshak, v.p. in the mortgage strategy group at Goldman Sachs, as an agencies strategist in New York, according to Brad Stone, head of U.S. fixed income marketing and derivatives strategy. Loshak, who joined the firm about two weeks ago, is filling a new position created to meet the burgeoning U.S. agencies market, which Stone noted is becoming a large part of the U.S. high-grade market (DW, 9/9). He said the agencies business has nearly doubled over the last four years.

Bear Stearns is considering structuring its first synthetic collateralized fund obligation referenced to a basket of hedge funds, according to an official familiar with its plans. The deal is expected to hit the market in the second half of the year, probably in the fourth quarter. Officials at Bear Stearns in London declined all comment.

Credit-default swap volumes tripled last week on electronics giant Fujitsu on the back of an upcoming convertible bond issuance. "Fujitsu's the highlight this week," said Ralph Orciuoli, head of credit trading at Bear Stearns in Tokyo. Traders noted that the spread on the five-year yen-denominated default swap blew out to 135-140bps last Tuesday from 85-95 basis points two weeks ago. The credit then settled around 99-103bps Thursday.