Highlights
China's house prices jump
Brazil protests: Dilma speaks
Chart of the week: Turkey, Google and censorship
Romano Prodi: Ukraine must bridge east and west
China: Vipshop’s in fashion

Daily Archives: Aug 3, 2012

Chilean regulator calls foul on Enersis cash call

Aug 3, 2012 10:45pm by Ian Mount
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On Friday Chile’s securities regulator (SVS, for its initials in Spanish) put up a roadblock to Enersis’s novel plan for an $8bn cash call. For $4.86bn of the funds, Enersis – Chile’s largest power producer – planned to accept assets in lieu of cash from its majority owner, Spanish power company Endesa. And that’s where the problems began: Endesa’s valuation of the assets was, to some analysts and shareholders, far too rich. Among the shareholders, Chilean pension funds, known in Chile as AFPs, “strenuously rejected” the cash call because of the valuation. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , Posted in Chile, LatAm |

Echeverria Izquierdo helps Chile top LatAm IPO league table

Aug 3, 2012 8:02pm by Ian Mount
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It wasn’t pretty, but it worked.

The Chilean construction and engineering company Echeverría Izquierdo on Friday raised $87.4m in an initial public offering on the Santiago stock exchange, making Chile the most active IPO market in Latin America so far this year.  Continue reading »

Tags: , , , Posted in Chile, LatAm |

Zambia draws $3.7bn investment from First Quantum

Aug 3, 2012 6:22pm by Eleanor Whitehead
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It was bad news for Zambia in March when Fitch, the ratings agency, downgraded the country’s economic forecast, citing concerns over the new government’s direction on mining reform. But things seem to be looking up for Africa’s biggest copper producer, with First Quantum Minerals announcing a hefty $3.7bn investment in the country. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , Posted in Africa, Zambia |

Egypt’s new cabinet: short-termism wins over forward planning

Aug 3, 2012 4:52pm by Andrew Bowman
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Maintaining the status quo, short-termism and a failure to address Egypt’s need for change and reform. That seems to be the promise of Egypt’s new cabinet, sworn in on Thursday after a deal was struck between the country’s military and its new president, Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , , , Posted in Africa, Egypt |

Guest post: Iraq’s lifeline to Greek exporters

Aug 3, 2012 3:59pm by beyondbrics
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By David Edgerly

Overlooked in the rubble of Greek public finances is the performance of those Greek companies that have managed to survive and even grow throughout the drama of the country’s struggle to meet the demands of its creditors and remain in the eurozone.

The key to success for most of these companies is the ability to find export markets. And few of them have gone quite as far as the dairy products company Kri Kri to find new outlets. Long active in Germany and neighbouring Bulgaria, the company’s decision to invest in Iraq a few years ago is beginning to pay real dividends. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Iraq, MidEast |

Moody’s downgrade hits Slovenia’s borrowing costs and focus turns to banks

Aug 3, 2012 2:54pm by Kester Eddy
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Slovenia’s borrowing costs surged on Friday after Moody’s downgraded its sovereign rating a full three notches, from A2 to Baa2, with continued negative outlook, prompting fears that the Alpine country could be forced to seek a bail-out.

The ratings agency said the move – to just two grades above junk status – reflected problems with Slovenia’s “challenged banking system,” the increasing cost of government borrowing and the country’s deteriorating economic outlook . Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Europe, Slovenia |

Guest post: Youth unemployment in the Arab world: tackling the demographic time bomb

Aug 3, 2012 2:18pm by beyondbrics
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By Majid Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum.

The threat to stability in the Arab world posed by youth unemployment is such that governments old and new must urgently address the worsening economic environment. If a solution is not found soon, the whole region risks instability or even secondary revolutions. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , , Posted in Africa, Egypt, MidEast |

India’s stop-gap solution to Iranian oil sanctions

Aug 3, 2012 1:20pm by Andrew Bowman
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As sanctions on Iranian oil exports tighten, some relief for Tehran has come from the Indian government, which will support insurance for tankers transporting Iranian crude to Indian refiners.

India follows China and Japan in providing insurance support in response to EU sanctions introduced on 1 July, targeting insurers of ships carrying Iranian oil. But it seems likely to be no more than a stop-gap solution to shortages already hitting India’s refineries, as new sanctions are expected to make the trade increasingly difficult. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , Posted in India |

Goodbye to Shanghai

Aug 3, 2012 12:13pm by Patti Waldmeir
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Do they know something the rest of us don’t? According to Friday’s state-owned Shanghai Daily, more than 1m Shanghainese citizens are living overseas, an increase of 50 per cent over the past eight years. This news comes at the same time as foreigners hit by the global financial crisis have increasingly been seeking their fortunes in Shanghai.  Continue reading »

Tags: , , , Posted in Asia, China |

New York headlines

Aug 3, 2012 11:54am by beyondbrics
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* Annan quits as UN envoy to Syria

* Ukraine’s linguistic balance in doubt

* Jubilee puts a gloss on Portmeirion Continue reading »

Posted in Global |

Corporate watch: Bosideng looks to London for international inspiration

Aug 3, 2012 11:44am by Rob Minto
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When Chinese clothes maker Bosideng decided to open its first overseas flagship store at the prestigious address of South Molton Street in London, it could hardly have foreseen the problems it would run into.

A re-landscaping of South Molton Street was one; the nearby huge Crossrail underground development was another, causing power issues and other disruption. Then the Olympic Games hit town, meaning there were fewer shoppers in London after the transport authority warned people to stay away from the city centre. A week after it opened, the shop is still running off generators rather than the electricity grid. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , , , Posted in Asia, China |

Further reading: judonomics

Aug 3, 2012 10:12am by beyondbrics
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Friday’s picks from the BB team: Dilma Rousseff lays down the law to Brazilian industry from the Olympics; Kofi Annan writes for the FT on what is to be done for Syria; Putin wasn’t just here for the judo; plus, Turkey means business in Iraq. Continue reading »

Posted in Global |

Turkey: trade figures mask deeper problems

Aug 3, 2012 9:39am by David O'Byrne
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At first glance, newly released figures for Turkey’s foreign trade suggest the country’s economy is holding up well despite the travails of its neighbours in Europe.

But as ever the devil is in the detail and hidden away in the numbers are some more uncomfortable indications that darker days lie ahead for the Turkish economy. Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Europe, Turkey |

China slowdown: feeling the pain in the Pearl River Delta

Aug 3, 2012 8:34am by Zhou Ping
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China’s overall GDP figures give reason enough to worry about its economic slowdown (or Chindown). But the story is even more worrying at a local level.

In Dongguan, a manufacturing hub in Guangdong province, GDP growth in the first half of this year hit a three year low. Its expansion of just 2.5 per cent shows the pain China factories are feeling as the engine driving the world’s second biggest economy begins to misfire. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , Posted in Asia, China |

London headlines

Aug 3, 2012 5:30am by beyondbrics
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* Asian stocks fall after ECB disappointment

* Putin and Cameron emphasise trade ties

* Mongolia’s ex-president given four-year jail term in graft trial

* Ambani, Tata ‘islands’ shrug off grid collapse Continue reading »

Posted in Global |
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15.3% Annual increase in home prices in May in Guangzhou, China, highlighting risks of a property bubble.

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