South African nationalisation: business speaks out
South Africa’s business elite was unsettled this month by the influential Julius Malema’s re-election as president of the African National Congress Youth League.
Malema has been calling consistently for the nationalisation of the country’s mining sector: a prospect viewed with horror by the business community. It is now raising its voice in response.
MSCI EM reaches three-week high
Emerging market stocks rose for a third consecutive day on Thursday, sending the benchmark MSCI EM index to a three week high.
The rise was a result of easing concern of a Greek default – following prime minister George Papandreou winning a second parliamentary vote. Continue reading »
Polkomtel stake sale to Solorz-Zak approved
The supervisory board of KGHM Polska Miedz SA, the Polish copper producer, approved the sale of its stake in Polkomtel SA on Thusday.
Jacek Kucinski, head of the board, told Bloomberg it had agreed to sell the company’s stake in Poland’s second largest mobile phone operator to billionaire Zygmunt Solorz-Zak. Continue reading »
Casino: should it stay or should it go?
Amid all the noise and smoke of battle over Grupo Pão de Açúcar’s attempted tie-up with Carrefour in Brazil, one thing is clear: the deal is going nowhere unless Casino – Carrefour’s arch rival and co-controller of GPA – says Yes.
And Casino could not have given a more resounding No. But will it change its mind? There are powerful reasons for saying it should never think of such a thing – but others for thinking it just might. Continue reading »
Inflation weighs on India’s crops
After four consecutive bumper crops, Indian granaries are overflowing with wheat and rice grain. And the Indian government is considering lifting its 4-year old ban on wheat and 3-year old ban on rice exports to allow the country’s farmers to benefit from international prices.
But there’s a hitch, at least according to one market trader: the country’s troubles reining in persistently high food inflation, currently around 9 per cent, could limit grain exports. Continue reading »
Deal of the day: Goldman sells $242m Inner Mongolia cement company stake
By Olia Wang of mergermarket
Inner Mongolia is on the agenda in Beijing with the publication of a State Council paper entitled “Several Opinions of the State Council on Promoting the Construction and Development of Inner Mongolia”.
And it’s on the agenda at China Resources Cement Holdings Limited (CRC), the state-owned cement group, which is entering Inner Mongolia, paying Goldman Sachs $241.65m for a 40.6 per cent stake in Inner Mongolia Mengxi Cement. Continue reading »
RTS and Micex: the long road to modernising Russia’s financial markets
By Ben Aris in Moscow
Oleg Jelezko just made a packet from the biggest private equity deal in Russia to date. Da Vinci Capital Management, of which Jelezko is managing partner, can partly cash out of its 20 per cent stake in Russia’s RTS after the exchange announced it would merge with its larger rival Micex on Wednesday, June 30. Continue reading »
[snap] India: Vedanta Resources approved to buy Cairn Energy
India’s cabinet have granted conditional approval to Vedanta Resources to buy British oil explorer Cairn Energy’s Indian assets, Indian minister Krishna Tirath has said.
The approval, granted on Thursday and reported by Reuters, is one of the largest in India’s energy sector. Vedanta Resources shares have since risen 2 per cent. Continue reading »
Turkey’s economy: on fire
Turkey has outpaced China with first quarter output growth of 11 per cent – but its red-hot economy is more a headache for policymakers than a cause of celebration.
Thursday’s data, showing growth still driven mainly by consumer spending, will fuel doubts over the central bank’s unorthodox low-interest-rate attempt to cool the economy. With other data revealing the trade deficit at an all-time high of $10.1bn in May, there’s now no doubt about the scale of the central bank’s challenge in curbing domestic demand before it’s too late. Continue reading »
Piaggio in Indonesia: redux
Italy’s Piaggio is plotting a comeback in Indonesia, where it sold hundreds of thousands of scooters before leaving over a decade ago.
In an interview with beyondbrics, Piaggio’s head of Asian operations waxed lyrical about Indonesia’s scooter market, citing millions of new motorcycles being sold in Jakarta alone each year. But readers would be forgiven for thinking, isn’t it a bit late for Piaggio this time around? Continue reading »
New York headlines
* China curbs rash of high-yield bank products
* Poland to focus on crises as it leads EU
* Hope of Chinese tonic for UK drugs industry
* KBC said to seek first-round bids for Polish units
* Taiwan’s trade link with China set to grow Continue reading »
Poland: looking for new goals
Poland is in a good place: it is taking over the presidency of the European Union, it has the fastest-growing large economy in the union, and the Euro 2012 football championship is coming.
No wonder, prime minister Donald Tusk, who faces elections this autumn, is popular. But, with inflation high, the global economy uncertain, local politics turbulent, Tusk can’t afford to celebrate quite yet, according to an FT special report. Continue reading »
Casino ups stakes in Brazil
Casino made clear on Thursday that it won’t give up without a fight.
The French supermarket chain announced it had increased its shareholding in Grupo Pão de Açúcar by 6.2 percentage points to 43.1 per cent in the face of an attempt by arch-rival Carrefour to grab a stake in Brazil’s top retailer. But that’s unlikely to stop Carrefour – or do anything to restore relations with Abilio Diniz, Casino’s Brazilian partner. Continue reading »
India wants some dim sum too
An Indian company is the latest to want a taste of the growing offshore renminbi-denominated bond market.
According to Reuters, a unit of Indian lender Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services has mandated Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank to explore a potential offering of these so-called “dim sum” bonds in either Hong Kong or Singapore. Continue reading »
Further reading: China, watch the trap
Wednesday’s top picks from the beyondbrics team: How China can avoid a middle income trap, and Lex on nationalising South Africa’s mines. Elsewhere, why the army may be supervising Russia’s high school exams. Continue reading »
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