marketwatch KEY DEALS (TT Mar09 p9)

With the bubble in commodities prices having finally burst, cash and not debt is the name of the game, according to Xstrata, the world’s leading acquisitive mining company.

If deleveraging of corporate balance sheets is to be one of the running themes of 2009, then Smurfit Kappa is in the industrial sector’s vanguard of companies shedding debt through buybacks.

Proven strong cashflows are the key to successful bond issues at present,according to international pharmaceuticalsgiant Novartis.