For decades, one of the biggest problems in cross border investments has been the exchange risk. This is particularly true in emerging countries, where many have sunk millions of dollars in hard currencies into various projects only to watch their investment eroded by currency depreciations. By Robert Bestani, director general private sector department, and Ajay Sagar, senior structured finance specialist, Asian Development Bank.

The deal setting the standard for international and domestic cooperation in large scale financings is in Taiwan. Eastern Multimedia Co Ltd (EMC), established in June 1995, is one of the largest cable TV and broadband service providers in Taiwan. EMC, through its 13 majority-owned system operators in Taiwan (the SOs), have a 54% market share in affluent Taipei and a 24% market share in Taiwan as a whole. As of the end of 2003, EMC and the 13 SOs (the EMC Group) served more than one million cable television subscribers. By Nic Johnston, partner, Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer.

It has always been a role for the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to assist its corporate citizens - either in the export or import of equipments, or investments in overseas opportunities, and the bank has never stopped looking at new ways to help. Minerva Lau reports.

Over the past 20 years, China has experienced a colossal rise in demand for electricity, with growth averaging 8.2% annually over that time. A large part of the demand was required to meet the needs of China's burgeoning economy which, in recent times, has grown at staggering rates. This has made China the world's second largest producer of electricity in the world (after the United States), with the power industry accounting for around 5% of its gross domestic product. According to some projections, China's electricity demand will continue to increase at an average annual rate of 4.3%, reaching 3,596GWh by 2025. By Mitchell Silk , partner (Hong Kong) and Matthias Voss, senior associate (Shanghai) of Allen & Overy.

Prospects in the Indian power sector are looking up due to the passage of the Electricity Bill last June. The legislation is expected to provide much-needed investment for the sector and may be the antidote to India's perpetual power shortage. By Sharon Klyne.

The purchase of two state of the art CCGT plants in Bangladesh in December 2003 marked the transformation of Globeleq from a passive minority investor into an operating power company with significant market presence - and the implementation of the first stage of the company's strategic vision. Formed in 2002, Globeleq inherited from its parent, CDC Group plc (CDC), a portfolio of minority investments in power generation assets in the emerging markets. By Stephen Cake, head of business development for Asia, CDC Globeleq.

Regular readers of this journal will know that LNG is now grabbing the headlines - the statistics all point to growing demand for gas in Asia, giant new markets in China are openingup and new sources of supply in Indonesia, Russia and Australia are jostling with the traditional players for market space. By Ashley Wright, managing associate at Linklaters Allen & Gledhill, Singapore.

Islamic finance in Malaysia has enjoyed encouraging progress, with market participants showing greater interest in adopting Islamic financing methods to meet their investment and funding requirements. The popularity of Islamic debt project financing has been one of the major contributors to this promising growth. Mohd Izazee Ismail of Rating Agency Malaysia looks at the development and future direction of Islamic finance in Malaysia.

It is said that about 70% of all LNG is consumed in Asia. The demand will continue to grow as it serves a new alternative to oil. Also, the market is seeing the emergence of new buyers as well as new sellers to the region Indeed, the LNG market in Asia is changing. The new LNG buyers include China, India and even the Philippines, while Russia and Australia are the new kids on the block of gas suppliers, competing with Indonesia and Malaysia. By Minerva Lau.

The demand for LNG in China is growing rapidly along with the high economic growth experienced in the last few years. In addition, the Chinese government has been encouraging the use of more environment-friendly gas, instead of coal, in new power generation plants. Discussing the latest developments in the LNG industry in China are Anzhong Gu, Yumei Shi and Rongshun Wang of the School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University in China*.