As some states sweat to sell mountains of debt over the next year and beyond to pay for financial sector bailouts, capital markets bankers are expecting the private markets to take far more of the strain than in the past.

Private dealings mean less exposure to the vagaries of the public markets and less disclosure to jittery investors, analysts and traders. David Soanes, deputy head of global capital markets group at UBS in London, said: "It's a very sensible tactic, because the markets are clearly being driven by fears surrounding supply and rumour, to some extent. So, any ability to demonstrate alternative routes of finance will first benefit the borrower, before helping the market by taking out some of the supply pressure."