Daily Archives: October 28, 2010

LAN-Aires deal heats up frequent flyer turf war

October 28, 2010 11:43 pm by Naomi Mapstone
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Enrique Cueto, head of LATAM Airlines GroupAs Chile’s LAN airlines continues its march towards regional dominance with the purchase of Colombia’s Aires, it’s worth taking a look at another turf war in the making: oneworld versus Star Alliance.

LAN’s merger with Tam of Brazil still has many regulatory and political hurdles to overcome before a newly created LATAM Airline Group could become the region’s biggest airline and one of the world’s top 15. One of the key questions for passengers that is yet to be answered is whether LATAM’s passengers would be earning frequent flyer points with oneworld (LAN) or Star (Tam) – or both. Continue reading »

Tags: Posted in Global, LatAm |

Americas markets wrap: Currencies and stocks gain on QE hopes

October 28, 2010 9:58 pm by Shannon Bond
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Mexico's IPC indexMost Latin American markets gained Thursday as the dollar weakened, commodities rose and investors looked ahead to next week’s Federal Reserve meeting, which is expected to bring another round of monetary stimulus. But Brazil’s benchmark Bovespa fell as credit card processor Redecard tumbled after reporting a 2.7 per cent drop in profits. Continue reading »

Posted in Global, LatAm |

Emerging Europe: not fast enough?

October 28, 2010 6:58 pm by Henry Mance
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First, the good news for central and eastern Europe: its economies are growing faster than previously thought, says the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and will expand by 2.2 per cent this year.

Now the reality check. The EBRD points out that emerging Europe was hit harder by the global slowdown – and is recovering slower from it – than any other emerging region. “We have reasons to be concerned,” says its chief economist, Erik Berglof. But he may be setting too high a standard. Continue reading »

Posted in Europe, Global |

Political change in Brazil and Argentina

October 28, 2010 6:45 pm by beyondbrics
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The FT’s World Weekly podcast includes discussion of Argentine politics after Néstor Kirchner’s death, and the final round of Brazil’s election on Sunday as Dilma Rousseff – president Lula’s chosen successor – looks strong in the polls.

Posted in Argentina, Brazil, Global |

CEE markets wrap: Hungary’s forint leads currency recovery

October 28, 2010 6:34 pm by Henry Mance
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Central and eastern European stocks were mixed on Thursday. Turkish stocks rose for a second day, although Citigroup joined those predicting the market will underperform in coming months. The region’s currencies reduced recent losses against the dollar – with the Hungarian forint up 2 per cent (see chart), with a draft of the country’s 2011 budget due to published by Sunday. Continue reading »

Posted in Global |

Walmart forced to rethink S Africa plans by local shareholders

October 28, 2010 5:47 pm by Simon Mundy
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Having boasted of how it would drive dynamic growth at Massmart, its South African takeover target, Walmart may now be wishing it had played down the impact of the deal.

Massmart’s major shareholders, conscious of the company’s likely rise as part of the Walmart family, have apparently insisted on staying on board – meaning that the world’s biggest retailer may now have to scale back its planned $4.6bn acquisition, and allow Massmart to retain its public listing. Continue reading »

Tags: Posted in South Africa |

Turkey’s sin tax

October 28, 2010 5:04 pm by Delphine Strauss
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Who better to tax in an election year than the people who are least likely to vote for you? That seems to be the strategy adopted by Turkey’s ruling Justice & Development Party, which on Thursday announced an increase of 25 to 30 per cent in special consumption taxes on alcohol.

Sin taxes are popular with any government, but Turkey has become an increasingly expensive place to drink since the Islamist-rooted AK Party came to power in 2002. Continue reading »

Posted in Turkey |

Deal of the day: Chile’s LAN strikes again, now in Colombia

October 28, 2010 3:50 pm by beyondbrics
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By Hanna Gezelius and Paul Francis-Grey of mergermarket

Airlines in trouble tend to have two options: going bust or getting bought. Mexicana chose the first, and is wading through bankruptcy procedures. Now Colombia’s second-largest operator Aires has chosen the second option – and unsurprisingly it’s Chile’s ambitious, efficient LAN Airlines which has flown to the rescue.

LAN, which in August announced a plan to create Latin America’s biggest airline by merging with Brazil’s TAM, has provisionally agreed to pay just $32.5m for Aires. That price suggests the debts and the dilemmas that are facing the Colombian airline, now that it has boosted market share by cutting prices and buying jets. Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Chile, Colombia |

Nawras IPO: a bad omen for the Gulf?

October 28, 2010 2:12 pm by Robin Wigglesworth
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After a quiet year for initial public offerings in the Gulf, many have hoped that a share sale by Nawras, a successful Omani telecoms company, might open the door for other companies to follow, but it seems the non-alcoholic champagne might have to be re-corked for now.

Nawras’ IPO closed today at OR0.702 ($1.8) per share, the lowest end of the mooted price range, and that only after bankers kept order books open for an extra week to attract more retail investors. Continue reading »

Tags: Posted in Oman |

Indian electricity: so far behind China

October 28, 2010 12:24 pm by Anjli Raval
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India may be catching up with China in terms of GDP growth but it still lags far behind on electricity provision. The contrast between the two global heavyweights is stark: nearly 404m Indians currently live without any electricity at all, compared to 8m Chinese.

What’s more, while China is projected to achieve universal electrification by 2015, India won’t be fully electrified until 2030, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency. Continue reading »

Posted in India |

Asia markets wrap: bank profits fail to lift Shanghai

October 28, 2010 12:23 pm by Henry Mance
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Chinese bank stocks rose on Thursday following the lastest of a series of strong third-quarter results, but the Shanghai Composite slipped slightly. Indian stocks also fell on continued caution ahead of next week’s US Federal Reserve meeting, although mortgage lender HDFC outperformed after its recent results.

Elsewhere, Taiwan’s main index rose on stronger-than-expected results from chipmaker TSMC, and Thai shares were up after the central bank increased its growth forecast for 2010. Continue reading »

Posted in Global |

New York headlines

October 28, 2010 11:43 am by beyondbrics
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* Wal-Mart may scale back bid for Massmart

* Valley’s venture capitalists eye Asia for IPOs

* Venezuela moves more oil exports away from US

* S Korea considers more capital controls

* Emerging markets lift P&G fortunes Continue reading »

Posted in Global |

Video: Kirchner and the market

October 28, 2010 11:05 am by beyondbrics
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Markets know their enemies, and Néstor Kirchner was one of them, says the FT’s James Mackintosh. In this video, he analyses why the appetite for Argentine bonds has picked up following the former president’s death.

Tags: Posted in Argentina |

Middle East public policy: going round in circles

October 28, 2010 9:44 am by Andrew England
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As chief executives and government officials descended on a sprawling resort in Marrakech, the themes laid out for discussion at the annual World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa were designed to be forward looking: “Development Drivers,” “Building the Future Middle Class” and “The Power of Desert Energy”.

But for veterans of WEF summits, many of the topics that reverberated around the plenary sessions and debates merely represented more of the same – the failings of education systems, the need to address skills gaps among indigenous populations, improve governance and develop the private sector. Continue reading »

Posted in Global, Middle East |

Further reading: bubbles, banks and bonds

October 28, 2010 9:19 am by beyondbrics
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From the FT,

From elsewhere,

Posted in Global |
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