For Deals, Wall Street Goes East

Extracted 30SEP2011 from http://dealbook.nytimes.com/category/special-topics/special-section-fall-2011/

The story of Wall Street in the emerging markets has been a long one, filled with twists and turns. Most recently, deal makers and big banks have been contending with the global market volatility, which is rocking such risky locales.

But in the age of globalization, with developed economies beginning to slow, emerging markets — once considered the final frontier — are beginning to bear fruit for patient investors and firms that have waited decades, and in some cases more than a century...

Big private equity firms are also investing heavily, often at considerable cost, to build a presence in countries that were once considered unthinkable...

“The interest among Western institutional investors to getting exposure to China, Brazil and India is clear. It’s a big mind shift,” said Sarah Alexander, president of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association. And she added, they’ve been looking farther afield. “You’ve got Indonesia on the map, Colombia, Peru.”