Europe clears urgent aid to save Greece from default

Eurozone finance ministers cleared the way Saturday for Greece to receive urgent funds to avoid imminent bankruptcy, but warned it would take weeks to conclude a new bailout for the debt-hit nation.

Greece is expected to receive 12 billion euros from the eurozone and IMF by July 15 after the ministers approved the fifth tranche of aid from last year's 110-billion-euro ($160 billion) financial rescue package.

The IMF is due to clear its slice of the next instalment, 3.3 billion euros, next week. The eurozone's share amounts to 8.7 billion euros.

Following a more than two-hour conference call, the ministers said in a statement they would also determine the details of a second bailout for Greece, including the scale of private sector participation, in the 'coming weeks.'

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble indicated that Greece may have to wait until autumn for a new rescue package as Berlin wants Athens to follow through with its commitments, including privatisations 'that should begin immediately.'

The IMF welcomed Europe's move Saturday.

'We welcome the eurogroup's commitment to a financing strategy that ensures the Greek economic program is fully covered,' chief International Monetary Fund spokeswoman Caroline Atkinson said in a statement.

'This commitment — together with the recent parliamentary passage of the necessary fiscal measures in Greece — will enable the IMF's executive board to consider the completion of the fourth review and the release of the next tranche under the current stand-by arrangement with Greece.'

Source : New Age

Japan officials draw up Tepco break-up plan

A group of Japanese government heavyweights have written a secret proposal to break up Tokyo Electric Power Co and nationalise its nuclear operations, a newspaper said on Sunday.

The plan, drawn up by deputy chief cabinet secretary Yoshito Sengoku, would force Tokyo Electric sell its power distribution business and bring its nuclear power operations under state control, leaving the company with power generation operations using thermal and hydraulic power plants.

It would leave Tokyo Electric, better known as Tepco, with only 1.6 trillion yen ($19.85 billion) in power business assets compared with 7 trillion yen at present, the Mainichi daily said, citing informed sources.

The proposal has been kept under wraps as the government focuses on a taxpayer bailout for the utility to soothe market worries.

Sengoku, who has held meetings with Tepco chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata several times, has notified Katsumata about the internal document, the report said.

In June, the government approved a draft law to help Tepco pay billions of dollars in compensation to refugees from around its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The nuclear crisis began with the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which knocked out reactor cooling systems at the plant, triggering meltdowns and radiation leaks that have yet to be brought under control.

For years Tepco has resisted any attempt to end its monopoly on power in Tokyo and the surrounding region. The disaster has given its opponents a chance to break up Asia's biggest power company.

Source : New Age

London investors to focus on BoE interest rate call this week

British investors will focus this week on an interest rate decision from the Bank of England amid a smattering of economic data and a dearth of company earnings news.

London's FTSE 100 index advanced 5.13 per cent over the past week to finish at 5,989.76 points on Friday — a massive jump on the back of easing fears over the Greek and eurozone debt crises.

The British central bank will announce its latest decision on Thursday after a two-day gathering of the nine-member monetary policy committee, with most economists expecting no change.

Policymakers kept the BoE's key interest rate in June at a record low 0.50 per cent, where it has stood since March 2009, as worries over weak economic growth offset high inflation.

Britain's manufacturing sector barely expanded in June, when the purchasing managers' index dropped to 51.3 compared with 52.0 in May, according to data from research group Markit on Friday. Any score above 50 indicates growth.

'The UK manufacturing PMI fell to 51.3 in June. The outcome marked the lowest reading since September 2009 and the index is now more than 10 points below its peak of 61.6 in January,' ABN Amro economist Joost Beaumont said.

Source : New Age

China IPOs slow in H1

China's IPO market slowed by a fifth in the first half of 2011 amid a lack of mega deals that hit the market the year before, with fundraisings dominated by small businesses, a trend that analysts said could last for a few more months.

In the first six months, only about one tenth of companies seeking a listing had chosen to do so on the Shanghai Stock Exchange while the rest had gone to the smaller Shenzhen bourse, which houses the Nasdaq-style ChiNext market.

Shanghai's sluggish IPO market had pushed down total IPO proceeds raised in mainland China by 20 per cent from a year ago to $24 billion in the first half of the year, data complied by Thomson Reuters showed.

The trend may last for a while longer pending the launch of the long-awaited international board to allow top-quality multinationals such as HSBC and Coca Cola to sell shares to domestic investors, analysts said.

'There will be larger IPOs coming to the market, especially if you take into consideration the international board, which we believe will be launched in the next six to 12 months,' said Cao Xuefeng, head of research at Huaxi Securities in the south western city of Chengdu. The two biggest IPOs in Shanghai this year were the $1.4 billion Sinovel Wind IPO and the $710 million IPO of Pangda Automotive Trade.

That pales when compared to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange which had seen a string of high-profile IPOs this year, including commodities trader Glencore's $10 billion deal and Italian fashion house Prada's $2.1 billion offering.

Source : New Age

market Disclosures

Nurul Islam , one of the sponsors/directors of the bank, has reported his intention to sell 10,00,000 shares out of his total holdings of 68,42,958 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Shahjalal Islami Bank
Khandoker Sakib Ahmed, one of the sponsors/directors of the bank, has reported his intention to sell 1,30,000 shares out of his total holdings of 62,67,701 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Delta Spinners
Trading of the shares of the company will remain suspended on record date today for EGM.

ICB mutual funds
On the close of operation on June 28, 2011, the ICB mutual funds have reported net asset value for First ICB MF of Tk 10,615.83, Second ICB MF of Tk 2,529.86, Third ICB MF of Tk 1,894.61, Fourth ICB MF of Tk 2,204.02, Fifth ICB MF of Tk 1,918.43, Sixth ICB MF of Tk 732.02, Seventh ICB MF of Tk 1,134.37 and Eighth ICB MF of Tk 828.86 per unit on current market price basis against face value of Tk 100 each. Whereas, on the basis of cost price, NAV per unit of the said eight ICB mutual funds were Tk 1,173.41, Tk 780.59, Tk 592.67, Tk 587.86, Tk 427.55, Tk 240.77, Tk 320.74 and Tk 277.71 respectively against face value of Tk 100 each.
    Source: DSE

Source : New Age

Northern General insurance re-elects chairman

Nasiruddin has been re-elected chairman of the board of directors of Northern General Insurance Co Ltd.

The board at its 129th meeting re-elected Nasiruddin as the chairman, said a news release.

Nasiruddin is a sponsor director and chairman of executive committee of Social Islami Bank. He is the owner of Nasim Trading Company and Nams Trade Corporation.

Source : New Age

Caviar makes itself at home in UAE desert

Far away from the Caspian Sea, sturgeon are raised in ponds cooled in the heart of the Gulf desert of Abu Dhabi, carrying in their wombs a form of black gold strange to these countries — caviar.

Production of the desert-grown caviar will begin later this year and by 2012, consumers in the oil-rich Gulf region will begin savouring the 'food of the kings'.

'Abu Dhabi is an ideal location for distribution of the world's growing markets for high-quality caviar and sturgeon fillet. In fact, in the UAE alone, demand is around 14 tonnes per year,' said Robert Harper, group commercial director at the Royal Caviar Company.

The first stock of fish was brought in to the United Arab Emirates from Germany and the factory, which will breed its own fish in future, aims eventually to produce 35 tonnes of caviar per year.

In the 50,000-square-metre (5,38,000 square feet) factory, in the Abu Dhabi's industrial zone, special equipment is used to clean water using a biological filtration system with a semi-automated feeding system.

The group also plans to finally produce its own fish food.

In another room, technicians in lab coats in carefully place the anaesthetised female fish on a marble slab, where she undergoes an ultrasound test to check for the presence of caviar, the results of which could either show no eggs, white eggs or the precious black caviar eggs.

'In this micro-environment, the sturgeon has no natural predators, and its mortality rate is extremely low,' says Harper. 'Caviar lovers can enjoy legally and ethically produced caviar.'

Meanwhile, Ahmad al-Dhaheri, chief executive officer of Bin Salem Holding group, which owns the The Royal Caviar Company, told reporters: 'The sturgeon are threatened with extinction in its natural habitat in the Caspian Sea and by producing it here, we are helping protect this species of fish.'

The waste water will be used to water green areas in the desert emirate of Abu Dhabi, said Dhaheri.

The project costs $115 million, according to the chief financial officer of the parent company, Michel Nassour.

The UAE-made caviar will be sold at prices between four and six dollars per gram, said Harper, similar to the prices of Caspian Sea caviar.

The factory will also produce up to 700 tonnes of fresh and smoked sturgeon meat every year.

'Genuine' caviar is prized worldwide as a luxurious and highly expensive product due to the scarcity of the sturgeon and the long time it takes to the fish to carry the sought-after black eggs.

A sturgeon does not yield caviar until after four-and-a-half years, when its weight reaches around 10 kilogrammes, one-tenth of which would be pure caviar, said Christoph Hartung, chairman of United Food Technologies, the German partner in the project.

'The caviar of the desert will be excellent,' said Hartung.

The finest caviar comes from the Caspian Sea, where Iran is a leading producer.

Russia, the world's second-largest official producer of caviar, banned the harvest of sturgeon caviar in 2006 to help fight overfishing. Caviar production resumed in specially designed farms in 2010.

The Abu Dhabi-based factory, which began operations in 2008, currently has nearly 18 tonnes of fish with 124 more tonnes to arrive this year.

They will give birth to what the company says is the 'first generation of local' sturgeon in the Emirati capital, which sits on almost eight per cent of the world's reserves of oil — the country's other black gold.

Source : New Age

MA Halim Chy new AMD of Pubali Bank

The board of directors of Pubali Bank Limited recently appointed MA Halim Chowdhury as additional managing director of the bank on contractual basis.

Prior to the new assignment, he was deputy managing director of the bank, said a news release.

He was promoted to general manager of the bank in 2006. He joined Pubali Bank as principal officer in 1988.

Source : New Age

Tapan Chy new chairman of Pioneer Insurance Company

Tapan Chowdhury has recently been elected as the chairman of Pioneer Insurance Company Limited.

He was elected in the 158th board meeting of the company held on Thursday, said a news release.

Former adviser to the caretaker government, Chowdhury is the managing director of Square Pharmaceuticals, Square Textiles and Square Hospitals. He is also an executive committee member of board of governors of Bangladesh Enterprise Institute and board of directors of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association.

Source : New Age

BlackBerry under attack in corporate cradle

The BlackBerry, once ubiquitous in business, faces deep challenges in that market as more companies allow employees to pick their own smartphones and add third-party security applications.

One of the BlackBerry's main selling points has been Research in Motion's top-tier security and management features, which appeal to IT managers eager to control what workers do with corporate information and protect business systems from cyber attacks.

But with companies such as Good Technology and MobileIron offering applications that could untether IT managers from their BlackBerrys, analysts say that consumer-market pressures could intrude into RIM's mainstay corporate market.

Only two of nine major US companies contacted by Reuters said they exclusively use the BlackBerry, namely Boeing and Exxon Mobil.

The remaining seven—Alcoa, Caterpillar, DuPont, Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, Microsoft and Verizon Communications — support at least one other brand, such as Apple's iPhone or phones that run Google's Android or Microsoft Windows.

'I would say their enterprise base has been besieged really, first by Apple, then by Android,' John Jackson, a mobile device analyst at CCS Insight, said of RIM. 'What's happening in the consumer market is repeating itself in the enterprise market. They've been materially hurt in their core enterprise market.'

RIM's share of the US smartphone market stood at 25 per cent in April, down from 35 per cent in October last year, pushing BlackBerry to third place from first place in the market, according to research firm comScore.

Source : New Age

Majority feel British economy getting worse

Two thirds of British voters think the economy is getting worse, according to a survey out Sunday, while an even bigger majority think public spending cuts are inevitable.

The ICM poll in the News of the World newspaper found that 66 per cent thought the British economy was worsening and 23 per cent thought it was improving.

Some 66 per cent said they had cut back on spending, with a majority of those who had done so saying they were eating out less, giving up luxuries, sacrificing holidays and only buying sale items.

Thirty-eight per cent said they could never imagine having the money they wanted to meet their needs, while 52 per cent said they had less hope for the future, and felt much poorer than they did two years ago.

The News of the World said the results showed Britain's resilience was being tested and scared citizens were crying out for leadership and a bit of hope.

When asked who they would rather have tackling Britain's budget deficit, 41 per cent said Prime Minister David Cameron and finance minister George Osborne, compared to 25 per cent for the opposition Labour Party.

Cameron's Conservative-Liberal coalition government has embarked on an austerity package of spending cuts in a bid to rein in Britain's record deficit.

Some 82 per cent thought the government's cuts programme was inevitable after bailing out Britain's stricken banks during the financial crisis.

While 77 per cent supported reining in spending, two-thirds of voters said the cuts were being imposed too fast.

Source : New Age

ECB set to unveil 2nd rate rise

The European Central Bank is set to unveil its second rate rise since April on Thursday, but might then pause to assess the eurozone's economic prospects as Greece grapples with its debt crisis.

ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet repeated last week that the ECB governing council was 'in a state of strong vigilance' regarding inflation, a code phrase for a rate hike announcement.

'A 25bp (basis points) hike to 1.5 per cent therefore looks like a done deal,' said Capital Economics senior European economist Jennifer McKeown, a view shared by essentially all others.

The ECB wants to bring eurozone inflation that now stands at 2.7 per cent back towards its target of just below 2.0 per cent.

It will also consider the broader macro-economic picture, which includes unemployment that remained at 9.9 per cent for the third month in a row in May amid signs the 17-nation economy was cooling down.

The latest purchasing managers index published by the research group Market showed in addition a widening gap between core eurozone members and several on its periphery.

In London meanwhile, the Bank of England is expected to keep its main rate at a record low level of 0.50 per cent on Thursday.

Source : New Age

Greece wary anti-austerity riots may impact tourism

With television images of anti-austerity rioters clashing with police in Athens, the Greek government hopes the pictures will not affect one of the country's main moneymakers — tourism.

'Fortunately we do not see many cancellations, but we must be very careful to safeguard tourism and promote Greece's strong points,' Yiorgos Telonis, chairman of the Hellenic association of travel and tourist agencies (Hatta), told the AFP on Sunday.

But Telonis warned of the long-term effects the riots may have and would not rule out more cancellations, especially for hotels located around Syntagma, the capital's main square where most of the clashes took place last week.

Greek lawmakers on Wednesday voted a massive austerity package demanded by international creditors as an angry mob protested against the measures outside the parliament building which overlooks the square.

Protestors shattered the marble stairs of the front entrances of three luxury hotels located around Syntagma square using the rubble as ammunition against the police.

The rioting prompted the high-end King George hotel to evacuate the building.

The Association of Athens-Attika Hotel Owners said it supported the decision as well as steps taken by other affected businesses.

'The association stands by the hotel that was forced to take extraordinary measures for the protection of its guests and employees,' the association said on Thursday.

'Some foreign visitors are afraid of what they see on TV, but this only affects Athens, not the islands,' a travel agent who would not give her name told the AFP.

'That's why more and more planes fly directly to the islands, bypassing Athens,' she added.

The Greek government is trying hard to persuade foreign tourists that Greece is a safe destination.

'These events, although unfortunate, were local and do not represent in any way everyday life in the city. Visitors in Athens continue to enjoy a secure and tranquil environment and a very vibrant cultural experience,' minister of culture and tourism Pavlos Yeroulanos said.

'Greece is a country that provides an excellent tourism product which must not be tarnished in any way. We must now turn the page.'

Yeroulanos told private television channel Skai that a 'collective effort' had been undertaken to lure clients from countries like Israel, Russia and Turkey to Greece.

'But honestly we don't get a second chance. What happened the other day was the beginning of a very dangerous situation,' the minister said.

Government efforts to boost tourism in the wake of the political and social upheaval in North Africa that left thousands of tourists to seek other destinations such as Greece seem to be paying off.

'There is a five to six per cent increase in the number of visitors from last year, with the figure expected to rise to eight per cent in the coming months,' the chairman of the association of travel and tourist agencies told the AFP.

'Only through tourism will Greece achieve growth and reverse the recession troubling the country,' Telonis added.

Greece's tourism industry generates 18 per cent of gross domestic product.

Protests last year against the socialist government's austerity measures aimed at overcoming a severe debt crisis had specifically targeted key tourism infrastructure including hotels, Greece's main port of Piraeus and the Acropolis.

At the time, the government offered to compensate travellers stranded because of strikes. Price cuts by operators limited the damage to the industry but caused a fall in revenue.

Source : New Age