Coca-Cola Femsa: Asia in its sights?
You have to go back as far as 2001 to come across the old Coca-Cola slogan “Life is good”. But that phrase must have been on the minds of Coca-Cola Femsa executives on Thursday as they reported impressive third-quarter results. Continue reading »
Burger King beefs up in Colombia
Just months after it announced an ambitious plan to take on arch-rival McDonald’s in China, Burger King is back with another expansion plan.
This time, the company is teaming up with Promotora, a Colombian private equity fund, to beef up its presence in the Andean country. Burger King, which currently operates 20 restaurants there, is aiming to open 80 new restaurants over the next five years. Continue reading »
Mantega fights on
Anyone who was wondering whether Guido Mantega was on the way out need only read Valor Econômico on Wednesday for an answer. The indomitable Brazilian finance minister was there on the front page of Brazil’s leading business daily in fine form, delivering another salvo in the currency war, this time owning up to Brazil’s “dirty float” (of which more in a moment). Continue reading »
ZE PAK IPO: investors not rushing in
In the past, when Poland’s treasury ministry sold off big state controlled companies through the Warsaw Stock Exchange there was a frisson of excitement among investors – something that seems to be missing ahead of next week’s debut of power producer ZE PAK.
Earlier this week the government set the share price at 26.20 zlotys ($8.19), near the very bottom of its bookbuilding range of 26-33 zlotys, according to Reuters. Continue reading »
Megafon: more delays
More bad news for Megafon. Two days after the company’s Moscow-London IPO was put on the backburner, the company may now face problems with its planned acquisition of a 50 per cent stake in Russia’s largest mobile phone retailer.
Russia’s anti-monopoly service said on Wednesday it could need up to two more months to review Megafon’s plans to buy retailer Euroset. It had originally been expected to rule on the deal last week. Continue reading »
Romania: high marks from the IMF
Romania slowly recovering from economic crisis
Romania: pulling out of a serious crisis fairly successfully, but with a long way to go to attain rude economic health. That’s the International Monetary Fund’s conclusion following its latest staff visit to the country.
“Following the severe downturn in 2008–09, the Romanian economy has undertaken a large adjustment to restore macroeconomic stability,” the statement said in its opening line.
After pausing briefly to praise its own role in supporting recovery through stand-by arrangements – as well as that of the EU and World Bank, the Fund continued: Continue reading »
TNK-BP: rolling back Russian privatisation?
State-owned Rosneft buys TNK-BP Photo Bloomberg
Russia’s government did its best on Wednesday to affirm its continued commitment to privatisation plans, despite carrying out what is in effect the largest nationalisation in post-Soviet history this week.
Andrei Belousov, economy minister, insisted that the purchase of 100 per cent of oil company TNK-BP by state company Rosneft did not mean the government was rethinking its commitment to rolling back state ownership of the economy. Continue reading »
Kingfisher: pin-ups before payments
In 2007, the NDTV Good Times channel was launched as a joint venture between Delhi broadcaster NDTV and United Breweries, owned by billionaire Vijay Mallya, the self-styled ‘king of the good times’.
Now a warrant is out for Mallya’s arrest and the good times are no longer rolling. But that hasn’t stopped NDTV and United’s Kingfisher beer launching their annual hunt for the Kingfisher Calendar Girl, with Mallya’s son Sid in a starring role. Continue reading »
Egypt: subsidy cuts threaten after-dark traders
A delegation from the International Monetary Fund is due in Egypt next week to discuss a much-needed $4.8bn loan seen as a lifeline to an economy battered by almost two years of political turbulence. Crucial to securing the loan will be reforms to be unveiled by the Egyptian government aimed at helping it rein in an 11 per cent budget deficit. Cuts to the country’s costly energy subsidies (which suck in 20 per cent of the budget) are expected to be at the heart of these reforms. Continue reading »
Hero and Honda: a tale of two bikes
Photo: Bloomberg
In 2010, when the Munjal brothers bought out Honda from their 26-year-old joint venture, it seemed they were getting a pretty good deal. The 26 per cent stake in Hero Honda was worth around $2bn, but they acquired it for less than half that.
The JV fell apart, according to contemporary reports, over sourcing conflicts between the companies, Honda’s desire to expand in India under its own name and Hero’s ambition to expand globally. But two years out, Honda’s expansion in India is flourishing while Hero’s international plans have yet to take shape. Worse still, Hero is suffering at home as well. Continue reading »
New York headlines
* UAE anger at Britain hits business
* China may forgo easing as economy rebounds
* Brazil detains former bank president Continue reading »
Russia scraps bond sale after investors demand higher yields
Russia on Wednesday scrapped a bond auction for the first time since May as investors pulled in their horns following the recent weakening in oil prices and bad economic data from Germany and the eurozone.
Some fund managers may also have decided that this year’s rush into emerging market bonds, which has compressed yield spreads around the globe, may have gone a bit too far – although it’s early to make that call. Continue reading »
New rating agency to “align with common interests of human society”
Photo: Bloomberg
Credit rating agencies from China, Russia and the US are establishing a joint venture that they say will change the assessing of risk in global finance.
Dagong, a Chinese agency that has repeatedly downgraded the US, Egan-Jones, a small US agency, and Russia’s RusRating said they were answering calls for reform of the international credit rating system by linking forces to create the Universal Credit Rating Group. Continue reading »
Further reading: puppy love
Wednesday’s picks from the BB team: clean living in Russia; politics and the place of pets in China; and where’s Ambani gone? Plus: shoddy construction for Goldman in India; Syria’s black market for property; and Mexico, the Home Depot nation. Continue reading »
Video: Korean start-ups seek level playing field
While South Korea’s family-controlled chaebol conglomerates have been at the heart of the country’s rapid industrial development over the past 50 years, today many politicians are calling for a more dynamic small-business sector. The FT’s Simon Mundy explores the challenges faced by businesses living in the shadow of the country’s powerful conglomerates.
| About this blog | Headlines email | Blog guide |
| Regulars | Series | Archive |
Older entries
Stefan Wagstyl
Rob Minto
Pan Kwan Yuk
Jonathan Wheatley
Heba Saleh