Editor's letter

News
TFR Awards 2008
The voting in this year’s TFR Awards was not only the biggest ever, but also produced some of the closest voting ever, too – and some surprises.

Feature
Global Commodities Review: Going soft
Soft commodity prices are going into overdrive. Paul Schuilwerve of Fortis examines the factors driving the agri-commodities ‘super cycle’.

News
People & places: Lloyds TSB plans trade finance expansion
Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets is planning to increase its activity in structured trade finance (STF), participating in more of the major syndicated transactions as well as origination efforts within the local markets of its representative offices.

Feature
Legal spotlight: A game of three halves
Geoffrey Wynne, head of trade and export finance at Denton Wilde Sapte, reviews the recent ups and downs of the trade finance market.

Regular
Profile: Sal Chiappinelli
Sal Chiappinelli has had his share of ups and downs in his forfaiting career. But now, SFC Swiss Forfaiting Company is growing fast, once again.

News
People & places: BLME appoints Roscow Lucas head of syndication
Roscow Lucas has moved from ANZ to the Bank of London and the Middle East (BLME), the London-based Shari’ah-compliant wholesale bank.

Regular
IFA world: Fully loaded
Forfaiting is now firmly established as one of many tools in the trade financier’s armoury and is being used more and more during the credit crunch.

News
People & places: IFA launches in India and South Asia
The IFA has launched its India and South Asia Regional Committee in a reception attended by more than 70 delegates from major banking and forfaiting houses in the region.

News
Deal news: Suek concludes $800m PXF
Suek has concluded an $800m pre-export finance facility through a syndicate of eight international banks – the largest syndicated loan in the Russian coal sector to date.

News
Deal news: Norilsk nicks $1.5bn PXF deal
Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium, has signed a $1.5bn, three-year pre-export finance facility.

News
People & places: ICC elects new chairman and vice-chairman
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has elected a new chairman and vice-chairman at its World Council in Stockholm.

Feature
Global commodities review
Despite the gloomy economic outlook in some parts of the world, global commodities are booming, while the credit crunch has forced banks – and their clients – to move to more vanilla trade finance, writes Ivan Castano Freeman.

Feature
Global commodities review Q&A
Sky-high commodity prices – not just of metals and oil, but agricultural commodities too – have hit the headlines worldwide. TFR has talked to a range of top professionals in the market to find out what’s going on.

Regular
David Sullivan's Letter from Hong Kong
On my first day in Hong Kong my boss took me to lunch and I immediately became confused. We never went outside on the street, we just seemed to connect to one shopping centre after another like an air-conditioned commuter tunnel.

Feature
Latin America
Booming commodity prices – and an ‘uncoupling’ from the US economy – is helping Latin America to grow strongly. Ivan Castano Freeman reports.

News
Deal news: BLME arranges $50m syndicated Ijara shipping facility
The London-based Shari’ah-compliant bank, Bank of London and The Middle East (BLME), has concluded a $50m syndicated Ijara leasing facility for Dubai shipping company Al Ghadeer Marine Shipping.

News
Deal news: Belarusbank secures $45m syndicated term loan
Belarusbank has secured a syndicated term-loan facility of $45m with Bayerische Landesbank and Commerzbank AG acting as mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

Regular
Market view: The IFA team
Sal Chiappinelli, CEO of SFC Swiss Forfaiting Company, outlines how he would deal with non-payment of letters of credit.

News
Deal news: Anglo American scoops $4.5bn syndicated loan
South African mining giant Anglo American has increased a $3.5bn syndicated loan to $4.5bn after oversubscription saw the company attract a further 15 banks to the lending group.

News
Deal news: Evraz completes Ipsco acquisition
Evraz has finally completed its acquisition of ISPCO Tubulars, purchasing the company for $4.025bn from Sweden’s SSAB, but passing on IPSCO’s US tubular business to Russian rival OAO TMK for $1.25bn.

News
People & places: Falcon fills Brazil and Turkey positions
Falcon Trade Corporation has appointed Daniel Issa and Gamze Sarioglu as country managers for Brazil and Turkey respectively.

News
People & places: Reshuffle for top execs at EDC
Export Development Canada (EDC), the Canadian export credit agency, has reshuffled a number of top roles at the agency.