Argentina’s debt: quantified
Argentina is fond of repeating that it has no immediate plans or need to return to international capital markets. But in order to keep the window to doing so open, should the need arise, it files an annual update of its accounts to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, in the form of an 18-K filing.
This year’s filing reveals a trove of information the government usually prefers to keep under wraps. Continue reading »
Peru: holding oil companies accountable
By Dan Collyns
Peru has leased its first five oil and natural gas exploration contracts since bringing in a new law designed to protect the country’s indigenous communities – one of the top priorities of president Ollanta Humala’s new administration.
The law is designed to prevent the kind of behaviour by oil companies that has sparked hundreds of violent protests in recent years resulting in the loss of several lives. The fact that it is up and running – and, apparently, working – bodes well not only for indigenous communities but also for the future of oil exploration in Peru. Continue reading »
Serbia: cleaning up like the neighbours
The arrest of a former mining boss on the Macedonia-Greece border might seem far from the corridors of Brussels, but the desire for EU membership takes many forms.
Serbian police in the last two days have arrested Dragan Tomic, the former head of Kolubara coal mine and 16 others for alleged embezzlement over equipment leasing. Tomic, who headed the state-owned mining company in 2004-08, was arrested on the border while apparently trying to flee to Greece. Continue reading »
Putin’s Eurasian Union: what’s in it for Kazakhstan?
Vladimir Putin has outlined a grand vision to create a Eurasian Union of former Soviet states to compete with the European Union and China.
But what does this mean for oil-rich Kazakhstan, the sprawling country on Russia’s southern flank? Continue reading »
India: cracking down on “black money”
India’s explosive growth might have fuelled a rise in personal banking. But in many aspects of Indian life, cash is still king. Apartments are regularly sold in half “white money” – that is, a cheque – and half “black money” – that is, cash.
And the average Indian, in an almost universally-accepted practice, tends to keep a fair amount of cash at home – the better to avoid the taxman. Little surprise then that news that India has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Switzerland is causing quite a bit of consternation among India’s monied class – whose cash can’t quite fit in the cupboard, or beneath the mattress. Continue reading »
US-China: don’t fear a trade war (yet)
As the world’s two biggest economies square off with talk of a trade war, you would think that it would send markets into a tail-spin.
But no. There’s just too much going on in the world right now, according to analysts. The Hang Seng may be down 3 per cent on Tuesday, but that’s been the pattern for the last week as investors take fright. Continue reading »
Chile and China: no deals
You don’t have to be long in Chile (an FT report on the country is published on Tuesday) to be struck by one very big difference between this and other resource-rich Latin American economies: where is China?
That might sound like a strange question. China is, after all, Chile’s most important trading partner. Its voracious demand for copper, Chile’s biggest export, is a key driver the metal’s global price. Continue reading »
Unilever: Mr Africa, I presume?
Frank Braeken of Unilever
One sign of how multinationals are taking Africa more seriously, is Unilever’s decision to turn the continent into one of its eight global operating regions.
While it’s small in revenue terms in comparison with Europe or North America, it’s big in sales growth – expanding at a rate of more than 10 per cent a year, compared with 4 per cent last year for Unilever as a whole. The reorganisation, completed last month, also helps the company focus on one particular fast-expanding range of products – hair and beauty treatments for black people. Continue reading »
Guessing the bottom: a gamble
Investment gurus often warn against bottom fishing based on fundamentals because when you think a market can’t go any lower, it often does.
But the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is now trading at estimated price-to-earnings ratios last seen in the week when global stock markets crashed in October 2008. That has lured some investors into “risk-on” mode again. Continue reading »
New York headlines
* Brazil’s oil future hinges on bill to share wealth
* Carlos Slim: $16.5bn poorer
* Mordashov adds steel mills as Mittal retrenches Continue reading »
Investing in Russia: uncertain times
Vladimir Putin’s announced return to the Russian presidency on September 24 took most people by surprise- including most of Russia’s political class- and led to some unsettling mutinies.
An FT Special Report, on investing in Russia, looks at the opportunities – and the risks – posed for investors by Putin’s planned return to the Kremlin. Continue reading »
The Middle East has found its biggest bull and he’s a heavyweight: Mark Mobius.
Amongst the confusion of the region’s protests and crackdowns the exuberant executive chairman of Franklin Templeton’s emerging markets group is thrilled about investing in the Middle East. Continue reading »
Further reading: China vs US
Tuesday’s top picks from the beyondbrics team: Gideon Rachman on the growing rivalries between the world’s two great powers; Evo Morales and his environmental difficulties, and the enormity of Africa’s famine. Continue reading »
Moroccan tonic for Hikma
Hikma Pharmaceuticals, the fast-growing Jordan-based drugs group hard hit by the Arab Spring, is trying to capitalise on the opportunities created by the political turmoil.
Late on Monday it announced plans to buy a $111.2m controlling stake in Morocco’s Societe de Promotion Pharmaceutique du Maghreb (Promopharm) to secure access to one of the Arab world’s more promising markets. Continue reading »
Sundance backs A$1.65bn Hanlong deal
The stock market may be shot and commodity prices all over the place, but China’s drive for natural resources acquisitions goes on. Tuesday’s news is that Australia’s Sundance Resources has recommended a sweetened takeover bid worth A$1.65bn from Hanlong Mining.
Even an annoying insider dealer probe involving three Australia-based Hanlong executives hasn’t derailed the deal, which Sundance has backed after Hanlong improved its initial offer. No shortage of funds, then, when it comes to buying strategic assets – in this case Sundance’s African iron ore deposits. Continue reading »
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