Emerging markets comprise a collective hot spot that's attracting a ton of money and corporate facilities.

But finding solid online information about emerging markets isn't always easy. Users often face a frustrating exercise in hunt-and-peck; and some ostensibly promising sites turn out to have information available only in unfamiliar languages.

That's why this week's review spotlights two English-language Web sites that are centered on emerging markets. Mind you, neither may offer exactly the kind of information for which you're looking. Ultimately, how useful these sites prove to be for users will likely be largely a function of the industry in which their respective companies operate.

And to get the full value of either of these sites, you'll need to fork over some cold hard cash. For some users, though, this information may be useful enough to justify the outlay.

Emerging Markets Online: Focused
On Developing World's Infrastructure

One of these sites, Emerging Markets Online (www.emerging-markets.com), has been available since 1997.

With content largely based on reportage and reportage provided by sources based in China, India, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America, Emerging Markets Online's avowed goal is to be "the leader in infrastructure information services for the developing world." And for many companies, major new infrastructure projects in emerging markets are creating a wealth of location opportunities.

Emerging Markets Online's content is broadly divided into in-depth news, regional information, and company profiles and market data. Much of that information comes from newsletters and market studies that include "Latin American Infrastructure News Daily," "India Telecom News," "China Energy Report," "Latin American Power Watch," "Africa Oil and Gas Bulletin" and "Latin Telecom News Daily."

Some well-respected sources are part of that list. Again, though, you'll usually get only an excerpt from the full report or newsletter, not the whole informational enchilada. You can, however, also sign up receive online a full sample report of any publication in which you're interested.

Registration also allows you to receive executive summaries of some of the management studies that are available for purchase. And even though they're only summaries, they're pretty solid. The executive summary on the Latin American energy market from "The Latin American Petroleum Sourcebook," for example, provides a thorough framework of the relevant issues.

In addition, users can sign up for "The Emerging Market Online News," which provides summaries of special reports like the aforementioned Latin petro information, plus other tidbits on selected research, upcoming conferences, etc.

Emerging Markets Week Centers
On Debt and Capital Market Financing

The other site focused on developing market that some users may find beneficial is the home of the "Emerging Markets Week" newsletter, (www.emergingmarketsweek.com), which was first published in hardcopy in 1988.

As the site explains, " 'Emerging Markets Week' is the only weekly newsletter that deals exclusively with debt and capital market financing activities in Latin America, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and other developing regions."

This site does offer free online versions selected full-length articles from both current and archived issues of the newsletter. To get a full-blown version of the newsletter year-round, though, will cost you US$1,895 - and that's billed as a "special introductory price." That hefty tab also gives you online access to the online version of "Emerging Markets Week," which generally hits cyberspace a day or so before the hard-copy version mails (the exact advance time depends on your exact geographic location).

The site also allows you to pull up a sample issue, which gives you a bit more of the flavor. Briefly, features in the full-blown newsletter include:

• Deals in the Pipeline: Early warnings on deals that will take place anywhere from the next month to the next year - e.g., financial deals or mergers in the works, which investment banks are in the running for mandates, investors' likely receptions, etc.
• Local Corporate Financing Strategies: Details on how local corporations using the international financial markets, how they're acquiring or disposing of assets, near-term corporate plans for asset acquisition or disposition, the banks they're using, the prices they're getting or paying for assets, etc.
• Portfolio Strategies: How portfolio managers are investing in emerging markets, including what they're buying and selling, what they're considering doing next, etc.
• Privatizations: What government assets may be sold next, who will get the mandate, etc.
• Risk Assessments: Entry and exit barriers in specific markets, regulations governing foreign investors, required information disclosures, etc.

There's also a "Quote of the Week." Naturally, these tend to be a bit provocative. For example, when we went online, the quote was from Neil Jenkins, head of emerging markets for Deutsche Asset Management, who compared U.S. and western markets unfavorably with Turkey by saying, "I never thought I'd says this, but Turkey looks like a stable market."

Well, yes. Who'd 'a thunk it?

And that's the allure of emerging markets. However unpredictable they may be, someone is going to make a lot of money from their rising consumer expectations - with those someones likely including these two sites.