Bamboo Innovator

Thais Clash While the Factories Keep Humming

Thais Clash While the Factories Keep Humming

By Bruce Einhorn January 30, 2014

It’s hard to tell which is the real Thailand: Is it the country whose politics are so divisive and violent that an army coup is possible? Or the country that hosts one of the biggest smoothly functioning carmaking hubs in the world? Thailand is both things—and that’s why the foreign and local business community greeted the latest chapter in its long political drama with a shrug. Upset about Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s proposed amnesty bill to allow her billionaire brother, former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra, to return from exile in Dubai and avoid prison for a corruption conviction, the anti-Thaksin Yellow Shirts took to the streets in August. Investors have grown accustomed to the contest between the Yellow Shirts and pro-Thaksin Red Shirts, so even as Yingluck’s opponents vowed to bring down her government, the markets stayed calm. Read more of this post

A closer look at a Goldman Sachs deal many in Denmark find rotten

January 31, 2014 2:42 pm

A closer look at a Goldman Sachs deal many in Denmark find rotten

By Richard Milne, Nordic Correspondent

Goldman Sachs has faced plenty of unsavoury claims in recent years – from accusations about its role in the global financial crisis to suggestions it helped the Greek government massage its figures. Now it can be said to have nearly brought down theDanish government. Read more of this post

Slump in real hits value of 3i’s investments in Brazil; The real has fallen in value from R$1.78 to the US dollar in December 2011 to about R$2.42 today

January 30, 2014 12:27 pm

Slump in real hits value of 3i’s investments in Brazil

By Jonathan Wheatley and Emily Cadman

A slump in the Brazilian real has contributed to a more than 20 per cent fall in the value of assets acquired there over the past 25 months by 3i Group, the London-listedprivate equity group, prompting it to abandon plans for a substantial investment fund in the country. Read more of this post

January losses prompt rethink for US equity investors

January 31, 2014 8:11 am

January losses prompt rethink for US equity investors

By Michael Mackenzie in New York

Was the stock market dip just a blip or the start of a correction?

Keep calm and carry on. That’s the message from Wall Street as a rough month for equities draws to a close.

Bears must be wary of drawing too many conclusions from just one month. In spite of the current bone-chilling temperatures and swirling flurries, spring beckons, say the eternal market optimists. Read more of this post

Shell’s capitulation to activist investors will send shivers through Big Oil

Shell’s capitulation to activist investors will send shivers through Big Oil

January 31, 2014 12:58 pmby Nick Butler

The package of announcements from Shell will send a shiver through the oil and gas industry. After years of resisting investor pressure for more immediate gratification, the company which more than any other regards itself as a social institution dedicated to the long term, has blinked. Capex is to be radically reduced. Costs are to be cut with a sharp knife. $15bn of assets are to be sold – enough in themselves to form a medium sized company. And the dividend is to be increased. There is a touch of theatricality in combining a profits warning with a dividend increase but the show satisfied the immediate audience. The shares rose. For the rest of the sector, Shell’s ability to deliver in this way poses a dangerous challenge. Read more of this post

Economic danger lurks in China’s shadow banks; The rescue puts off the immediate threat but raises the stakes

January 31, 2014 5:28 pm

Economic danger lurks in China’s shadow banks

By Simon Rabinovitch

The rescue puts off the immediate threat but raises the stakes, writes Simon Rabinovitch

Of all the economic dangers to flare up over the past week, the most unsettling was at first glance also the most esoteric: thenear default of a high-yield loan product held by a few hundred small-time Chinese investors. Read more of this post

Economic danger lurks in China’s shadow banks

January 31, 2014 5:28 pm

Economic danger lurks in China’s shadow banks

By Simon Rabinovitch

The rescue puts off the immediate threat but raises the stakes, writes Simon Rabinovitch

Of all the economic dangers to flare up over the past week, the most unsettling was at first glance also the most esoteric: thenear default of a high-yield loan product held by a few hundred small-time Chinese investors. Read more of this post

High-priced M&A still in vogue in slowing luxury industry

High-priced M&A still in vogue in slowing luxury industry

7:32am EST

By Astrid Wendlandt

PARIS (Reuters) – A scarcity of sellers, combined with a growing number of cash-rich buyers from Asia and the Middle East, mean high-priced takeover deals are set to remain in fashion for the luxury goods industry, despite slowing sales growth. Read more of this post

Physical commodity assets ‘inconsistent’ with Blackstone model: executive

Physical commodity assets ‘inconsistent’ with Blackstone model: executive

8:54am EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Blackstone Group’s (BX.N: Quote,Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) asset-light model may not fit with the potentially risky, capital-intensive business of trading physical commodities, a top executive said on Thursday, in comments that seemed to jar with its interest in the industry. Read more of this post

Two S’pore start-ups head Down Under for listing

Two S’pore start-ups head Down Under for listing

Saturday, Feb 01, 2014

Grace Chng

The Straits Times

SINGAPORE- Two Singapore start-ups have decided to head Down Under to mount public listings there.

Group discount start-up Dealguru Holdings, set up in 2010, merged with two other leading regional e-commerce start-ups to form iBuy, which was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) last month. Read more of this post

Circuit breakers won’t help small investors

Circuit breakers won’t help small investors

Friday, Jan 31, 2014

The Straits Times

SINGAPORE – The Singapore Exchange’s (SGX) new “circuit breakers” come 25 years too late, do not cover shares priced below 50 cents, and delay trading by only five minutes – it is 15 minutes on the New York Stock Exchange (“SGX circuit breakers to kick in next month”; last Thursday). Read more of this post

For companies, a rocky road ahead in emerging markets

For companies, a rocky road ahead in emerging markets

2:04pm EST

By James B. Kelleher and Martinne Geller

CHICAGO/LONDON (Reuters) – International companies are taking steps to mitigate the effects of the turmoil in emerging markets, including hedging foreign currency exposure more aggressively, reducing some investment plans, cutting costs, and raising prices frequently. Read more of this post

European chemicals: A German chemicals giant swaps its scientist boss for a restructuring expert

European chemicals: A German chemicals giant swaps its scientist boss for a restructuring expert

Feb 1st 2014 | BERLIN | From the print edition

IT IS always bitter for a chief executive to see his company’s shares spike when his departure is announced. But that is what happened when Lanxess, a German chemicals producer, said this week that Axel Heitmann would be leaving. He has run the business since it was spun off from Bayer, a pharmaceuticals and chemicals group, in 2004. Its shares did well in the early years, and recovered strongly after the financial crisis, but they have slid in the past year. Lanxess says the decision for Mr Heitmann to go was mutual. Read more of this post

Turkish conglomerates: Too big to fail, but in a good way; Two huge family firms, Koc and Sabanci, should weather Turkey’s crisis

Turkish conglomerates: Too big to fail, but in a good way; Two huge family firms, Koc and Sabanci, should weather Turkey’s crisis

Feb 1st 2014 | ISTANBUL | From the print edition

KOC HOLDING and Sabanci Holding, Turkey’s two oldest and largest business dynasties, are now in their third generation, having survived various political and economic storms down the years. Their interests stretch from banking and retailing to producing electricity, cars and fridges. They and their listed subsidiaries together make up more than a quarter of the market capitalisation of the Istanbul stockmarket. Many of their offshoots are joint ventures with global firms. Standard & Poor’s, a credit-rating agency, gives Koc a higher rating than Turkey itself. Read more of this post