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Despite political uncertainty and recurrent outbreaks of violence, foreign investors have not been deterred from buying more than a billion dollars' worth of Indonesian companies from PT Holdiko Perkasa, a subsidiary of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (Ibra), over the past year. Holdiko Perkasa deals with the assets of the country's largest former conglomerate, the Salim group, which makes up around 45% of the companies under Ibra's divestment programme by value. In the past year the company has used a mix of market deals, local IPOs, sales to strategic investors and open tenders to raise more than Rp10 trillion (US$851.7 million) for the government. Apart from the sale of PT Astra International for US$506 million,the largest deals were the sale of Salim's plantations for US$368 million to Malaysian investor Kumpulan Guthrie, its mosquito coil business to Reckitt of the UK for Rp610 billion, and its coal business for US$45 million to a Thai investor. Shortly to be completed is the transfer of Indocement, the largest local cement company, to Heidelberger of Germany in a complex deal that involves debt to equity swaps and a rights issue. A local listing of a 15% stake in TV station Indosiar raised Rp193 billion, and a further stake may be sold later to foreign investors following a change in legislation related to broadcasting and a debt refinancing deal.

There were mixed fortunes in Asia last month for two on-line bond platforms. E-Bond Securities, a joint venture between Lehman Brothers and Softbank, closed its doors, while BondsInAsia announced a new member, BNP Paribas. E-Bond Securities, which was established in October 1999 but began operating much more recently, was owned 60% by Softbank and 40% by Lehman Brothers. It was formed to operate a proprietary trading system dealing mainly in municipal bonds and bank and corporate debentures. The company had planned to contract with at least 50 brokerages but struggled to find participants and was reported to have had only 10 signed clients at the time of its demise. A spokesman has been quoted as saying: "It was too early for our business model."

Syndicated lending, the stalwart of the region's loan sector, should remain a vibrant market despite a difficult first quarter. But demand for assets on the part of banks will continue to drive pricing down for strong borrowers. Joy Lee reports.

Last June, Asiamoney printed a rather controversial cover. It depicted Lee Hsien Yang, the CEO of Singapore Telecom (SingTel) whose more famous relatives include his brother, deputy prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, and his father Lee Kuan Yew – the founder of modern Singapore. In the picture, he was arm in arm with Singapore's famous landmark, the merlion. Both of them were sinking. The story followed SingTel's very public failure in two conspicuous and politically charged acquisition attempts, first for Cable & Wireless HKT in Hong Kong and then for Time Engineering in Malaysia, and argued that SingTel was always going to struggle to make regional acquisitions so long as it was perceived to represent the Singapore government itself. (SingTel was, at the time, 78% held by Temasek, the company that owns and manages the government's direct investments.)

When Shaukat Aziz, Pakistan's finance minister, announced at the end of March that the country had met most of the performance conditions tied in to its IMF loan programme, the country's equity markets had reason to respond positively. Whilst such a modest statement would not necessarily inspire confidence outside Pakistan, within the country there were many that could relate to his enthusiasm. In the past, Pakistan has mostly found itself breaking ties with the IMF straight after the first tranche was disbursed, usually over its failure to fulfil conditions agreed earlier with the fund. For Aziz, the IMF's release of U$133 million in March from a U$592 million standby loan agreed last December was therefore a rare event. "It is an important step in our economic reforms – it shows that we are serious," says Aziz, a former top Citibank executive who was inducted by Pakistan's military regime following its October 1999 coup.

South Korea has a lot on its hands: the threat of recession, developing relations with the North – and then there's the continuing restructuring of the capital markets. Fiona Haddock reports.

South Korea has a lot on its hands: the threat of recession, developing relations with the North – and then there's the continuing restructuring of the capital markets. Fiona Haddock reports.

Tension is building in South Korea as the country reaches a crucial chapter in the restructuring of its capital markets. Will the powerful chaebol be overthrown at long last? And if so how will that affect the country's smaller players – and ultimately its workforce? Fiona Haddock reports.

Tension is building in South Korea as the country reaches a crucial chapter in the restructuring of its capital markets. Will the powerful chaebol be overthrown at long last? And if so how will that affect the country's smaller players – and ultimately its workforce? Fiona Haddock reports.

Asiamoney's first law firm poll shows some interesting trends among Asia's in-house counsel – but we suspect there is one piece of data that Asia's corporates all want to know about: cost. And so they should, when a quarter of them spend over US$2 million a year on lawyer's fees. By Olivia Chow and Robert Law.

Lower interest rates. A lower budget deficit. The private sector as the engine of growth. That's the virtuous circle which the new Philippine secretary of finance hopes to achieve. Known as Mr Accountability, two-term senator and former budget secretary Alberto Romulo is an enemy of pork barrel politics and all forms of cronyism and corruption. He puts the case for small but efficient government to Matthew Montagu-Pollock.

Cushioned for decades from the full impact of interest rate volatility by a cartel, Hong Kong's banks have been able to keep the party going amid tough operating conditions. But the good times could be over when interest rate deregulation is fully implemented in July. Pauline Loong looks at how the city's banks intend to survive in the further deteriorating business environment.