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Egypt’s rally: can it last?
The massacre that was widely expected when Egypt’s bourse finally reopened its doors after a revolution and several weeks of clumsily-handled closure has turned out to be nothing more than some slight...
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Kuwait’s Stock Exchange: gambling den no more?
Kuwait’s stock market may be one of the oldest and largest in the Arab world, but has long been synonymous with rampant market abuses such as insider trading and pump-and-dump trading by powerful...
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Dubai Bank taken over – an isolated case?
“Extend and pretend”, a common if maligned banking tactic when important clients are unable to repay their loans, can only get you so far, as Dubai Bank, an Islamic bank majority-owned by the...
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Egypt: friends rally round; will stocks rally, too?
A friend in need is a friend indeed, or so the saying goes. Egypt is certainly in need of friends that can help it financially in the wake of its revolution, and the US and Saudi Arabia have kindly...
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Banks reap profits from M&A deals in emerging markets
Leading international banks have piled into emerging markets in recent years, dispatching thousands of their best and brightest to recondite but promising parts of the global financial system to...
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EM bonds: roaring back to life
Emerging market debt was one of the last shoes to drop when Europe’s simmering sovereign debt crisis once again turned into a full-blown panic this summer, but when it finally did, it landed with a...
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Saudi Arabia: spend it while you can
While most western governments are by now checking ministry sofas for any loose change that might have been lost in the creases, Saudi Arabia increased spending by 25 per cent this year – and has still...
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A new high for EM bond issues
Debt may have been the drug of choice for western economies – at least before the financial crisis turned leverage into a dirty word – but emerging markets are increasingly starting to dabble in the...
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Saudi equities: a lifting of the veil?
Riyadh may be a parched, inhospitable place for dapper fund managers, but many may start to make more regular pilgrimages to the capital of Saudi Arabia in the coming years – and not just to raise...
View ArticleFrontier equities: still out of favour
While interest in frontier market debt may be waxing, international investment in frontier equity markets has waned considerably of late. After robust inflows over most of 2010, funds dedicated to...
View ArticleLesson for Greece from the Caribbean
What country enjoys a bountiful tourism industry and pleasant weather, but has seen a government overspending and ill fortune send its indebtedness soaring, forcing a sorely needed sovereign...
View ArticleState-owned EM cos: more value than you think
Emerging market equity investors may not always like the smell of state control, fearing that the interests of minority shareholders may be hijacked by activist governments, but as Morgan Stanley...
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MSCI and Saudi Arabia: friends again
After a discreet but damaging spat over licensing that saw Saudi Arabia fall out of MSCI’s indices in 2009, the Middle East’s largest economy and the world’s most influential emerging markets index...
View ArticleVTB: going perpetual
UBS’ capture of Italian dealmaker Andrea Orcel from Bank of America Merrill Lynch has paid another dividend in the form of a lead role on VTB’s $1bn perpetual bond sale, the first VTB deal the Swiss...
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Mobius: time to feast
There are many investors whose success and longevity has translated into financial fame. But few have been the subject of a Japanese Manga-style illustrated book detailing their exploits. Yet Mark...
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The Caribbean’s towering debt crisis
If only the economic performance of the Caribbean matched the sporting prowess of its athletes. The Caribbean may be sunnier than Europe, but it shares many of the Old Continent’s problems – namely...
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Zambian bonds: a safer bet than Spain’s?
Spain may not be Uganda, as its premier Mariano Rajoy undiplomatically exclaimed in a text to his finance minister earlier this year. According to bond investors, it is Zambia. The Republic of Zambia...
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Africa’s bond markets – on the rise
Sub-Saharan Africa’s local bond markets are for the most part small and rudimentary and lack transparency. In some cases even yields are difficult to find. But many have made significant progress in...
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Argentina: no reprieve from vulture bondholders
While most Americans were queuing to cast their votes in the US presidential election, lawyers working for Elliott Associates were filing a request for a New York court judge to expedite its ruling...
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Belize: undercooking the debt
Sovereign debt restructuring is like baking a cake, some experts quip. With the appropriate ingredients – creditor pain stirred in, a sprinkle of fiscal adjustments – the process can be relatively...
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