Asia's wild ride 15 years of the best deals.

This article focuses on financial deals in Asia from 1989 to 2003. Prior to the deal between Yuen Foong Yu Paper Manufacturing and Bankers Trust International, Taiwan's equity market was shut to foreign investors except through four closed-end funds. But following complex negotiations with the Ministry of Finance about the first euro-convertible bond, Bankers Trust successfully opened up a market that had previously been closed off to many foreigners. The deal that topped in the region was the global depository receipt arranged for Korea's Samsung Corp. by Credit Suisse First Boston. International investors were allowed direct access to the Korean equity markets. But what also made the deal continue to stand out was that it was carried out in a very bearish market. The deal that beats the initial public offering of Brilliance China Automotive is the convertible preference share deal of the Philippine Long Distance Co. It was the largest equity offering from the Philippines and it was also the largest convertible offering in the U.S. by a foreign issuer. The deal of 1994 that stood out was in the equity markets and was the part privatization of state-owned telecom company, Indonesian Satellite Corp. in Indonesia. It was the first Indonesian company to be dual listed on the Jakarta and New York Stock Exchanges and it was the first attempt to privatize a state-owned company.