Emerging market consumers snap up PCs at record pace
Like pharma groups and mobile phone companies, PC makers are counting on robust sales in emerging economies to drive growth.
The global PC market is set to expand 20 per cent in 2010, thanks in large part to emerging market demand, according to a report from IDC, the market research group.
Argentina steps in over Metrogas debt
The state steps in. Again. Argentina’s Planning Ministry has announced it will take over administration of the company’s biggest gas distributor, which is controlled by BG Group and Repsol-YPF, after the loss-making company said it could not meet its $20m debts.
It is not the first time the government has made such a move – gas transport company TGN, and motorway group Autopistas del Sol have also been subject to government intervention. Some in the market see such intervention as a step towards nationalisation.
Americas markets wrap: US data weighs on stocks
Fears over the US recovery weighed on Latin American stocks today, but a bounce in the euro helped drive risk appetite, lifting most currencies in the region.
Currency strategists at Brown Brothers Harriman wrote:
While the current risk on trading is welcome, we would like to reiterate our view that [emerging markets foreign exchange] is unlikely to mount a sustained rally until the European crisis has been addressed once and for all. We don’t think we’re there yet, and look for more bad news to come out of Europe that continues the line of contagion from Greece to Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Italy, and now France and the core eurozone. That will mean continued volatility in [emerging markets currencies] vs. [US dollars].
Argentina’s debt swap looks increasingly Messi
Argentina’s 4-1 victory over South Korea today puts the national side on course to move ahead solidly in its World Cup campaign. If only things were so simple with the debt swap and plans to return to international financial markets.
The offer closes on Tuesday and the government vows there will be no new extension – suggesting that Argentina’s last-minute courting of creditors in Italy and Japan has paid dividends and it will scrape together the 60 per cent acceptance it has promised. Earlier this month, it said it had 54 per cent overall and that institutional investors accounted for 46 per cent of the acceptances.
New bill puts Nigeria’s deepwater oil industry on hold
Nigeria knows the misery of oil spills all too well. But might BP’s disaster in the Gulf of Mexico drive investment into the young and growing deepwater sector of Africa’s biggest energy industry?
The prevailing uncertainty makes such a prospect unlikely. Deepwater production already accounts for one-third of Nigeria’s output, in part offsetting the effects of violence and underinvestment in the Niger delta, whose creeks have long been despoiled by crude. But new projects have stalled amid much gnashing of teeth over proposed changes to oil legislation.
Chinese government plans more curbs on energy consumption
By Leslie Hook in Hong Kong
China is about to get tougher on energy-intensive industries, according to Xie Zhenhua, a top official responsible for the country’s climate-change policies. Xie, vice-chairman of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission, sounded a note of alarm about China’s decrease in energy efficiency this year and outlined stricter policies to curb energy consumption in an interview with the People’s Daily earlier this week.
Investors race for a share of Turkey’s non-life insurance market
Three years ago, international investors were flooding into Turkey’s insurance sector. Now, bankers hope that Japanese NKSJ’s unexpected entry to the market will restart a flow of deals interrupted by the global downturn.
The biggest surprise for locals in NKSJ’s purchase of Fiba Sigorta, announced this week, was the Y28bn (485m TL, $307m) price – equivalent to around 4 times book value, and more than $100m per 1 per cent of market share.
India’s granary under threat as farm chemicals pollute land
India’s north-western state of Punjab has long been known as the nation’s granary, producing a large portion of the rice and wheat that feeds India’s 1.2bn people. Multinational companies including PepsiCo, McDonald’s and Wal-Mart, are also active in the region, sourcing items ranging from potatoes for crisps and fries to fresh vegetables for grocery store shelves nation-wide.
But a new study by Greenpeace Research Laboratories argues that Punjab is now on the brink of an ecological catastrophe, the result of the overuse of highly-subsidised synthetic nitrogen fertilisers by farmers striving to step up their output.
Despite the crisis, somebody is buying a Hungarian bank
It’s fair to say that now seems like a peculiar time to buy a Hungarian bank.
With a new government frightening financial markets, banning lucrative foreign-exchange lending and imposing a hefty tax on financial institutions, investors could have been forgiven for waiting on the sidelines.
But FHB Mortgage Bank clearly has other ideas. Hungary’s second biggest mortgage lender announced today that after five months of negotiations it has agreed to acquire the Hungarian banking unit of Allianz, the German insurer, in a share-exchange deal.
Visa-free travel distracts Serbians from the country’s larger woes
Europe’s most isolated country for much of the last two decades has crossed a long-standing, symbolic hurdle with the start of ratifications for its Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union.
But locally the reaction was subdued, especially in contrast to the enthusiasm surrounding EU’s lifting of visa requirements for Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia in January. Serbs are more interested in taking advantage of their new visa-free status to jet-set across Europe.
“Visa liberalisation – and the ability to visit [EU] countries without lining up and going through police procedures – touches the life of every citizen,” said Bozidar Djelic, deputy prime minister for European integration.
St Petersburg forum: of dreams and swamps
‘St Petersburg is Russia, but it’s not Russian’ – that’s how Tsar Nicholas II described the Baltic city built by Peter the Great.
That can also be said of the annual St Petersburg Economic Forum, which presents an ideal version of Russia, minus the corruption, dysfunctional bureaucracy, and north Caucasian civil wars. It presents a glimpse of Russia the way it could be in ten years if everything goes right. But that’s very big ‘if’.
Deal of the day: Rhodia’s Chinese buy looks a good fit
By Fay Sanders of mergermarket
Shares in Paris-listed chemicals company Rhodia climbed 4.8 per cent this morning after news broke of its purchase of Chinese group Feixiang Chemicals.
Priced at $489m, with a 9x EBITDA multiple, the deal was considered inexpensive and clearly persuaded investors of Rhodia’s commitment to expand in emerging markets. Once the deal has been finalised, the firm will generate around one third of its €4bn revenues in Asia.
New York headlines
*AgBank and StanChart in strategic tie-up
*Toyota China supplier hit by labour unrest
*Asia corporate sentiment at 5-quarter high
*UK-listed emerging market groups outperform the rest
*China pension fund to increase investments abroad
*Coffee growers warn of rise in narcotics crops
*India hopes monsoon will tame inflation
*India to buy back $2.1bn of debt
*Reliance Communications may sell Globalcom stake
*Mukesh Ambani’s group eyes 26% stake in Fortis
*China forex agency to raise scrutiny of hot money
*Reliance Capital to buy 18% in Bloomberg UTV
*Markets mixed
Asian shares made modest gains and slight losses on Thursday as concerns about the general state of the global economy looms. Shanghai’s Composite index opened slightly down after a three-day holiday, as investors stayed away from short-selling, amid a lack of clarity about the future impact of the euro contagion on Asian markets.
“We’re much happier over here in Asia, but we don’t live in our own world. What happens in the West will affect Asia,” Nicholas Yeo, who helps to manage Aberdeen Global China Equity Fund told Reuters.
Most Asian currencies slipped in day trading on fears that European debt will dilute demand for US dollars.
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