International Business News: Germany

GERMAN INDUSTRY BIGGEST POLLUTER IN THE EU

German industry causes more environmental and health damage than any other country in the European Union, amounting to billions of euros each year, according to a new EU report.

The study by the European Environment Agency (EEA) released Thursday ranked Germany ahead of other serious polluters like Britain, France or any eastern European countries.

But if the polluters were ranked based on economy size, eastern countries such as Bulgaria and Romania would be on top, according to the environmental watchdog.

The agency, which used 2009 numbers in factors including CO2 emissions, said that pollution from facilities like steelworks and power plants caused between €102 billion and €169 billion in health and environmental costs across the European Union.

AIR BERLIN NEEDING INVESTORS

Air Berlin Chief Hartmut Mehdorn has already held talks with Etihad Airways, based in the United Arab Emirates, and Chinese holding company HNA, the main shareholder of Hong Kong Airlines, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily said.

One option is the "selling of a large amount of Air Berlin shares," the daily said, without citing its sources.

Air Berlin's founder, Joachim Hunold, had always ruled out the option of seeking foreign investors but new boss Mehdorn appears to be pursuing a different strategy.

Company shares were down 2.64 percent at €2.58 in early trading in Frankfurt on the news.

The airline, which relies heavily on transporting German tourists, ran into heavy turbulence in 2008 after years of soaring growth and expansion.

The firm has suffered more than its competitors from external factors, such as the political turmoil in North Africa since the beginning of the year.

It has also been hit hard by rising fuel costs, the introduction of an aviation tax in Germany and uncertainties over the economy.

TOYOTA AND BMW IN 'GREEN' DEAL TALKS

Japanese car giant Toyota is in talks with BMW over a green alliance. Under the deal, the German automaker would provide diesel engines for Toyota vehicles, while Toyota would share its hybrid technology. It would mark Toyota's second green-technology tie-up with a major foreign automaker, following its agreement in August to develop hybrid-vehicle systems with Ford of the United States.

A Toyota spokesman said the report was based on "speculation" and refused to comment further.

Under the proposed arrangement, BMW would provide diesel engines for Toyota's passenger vehicles, most likely medium-sized cars of around 2,000cc to be sold in Europe, Nikkei said.

BMW, which inked a deal with France's PSA Peugeot Citroen Group in late 2010 to jointly develop hybrid systems for subcompacts, would be able to expand its lineup, the daily said.

Toyota has struggled to use its hybrids to expand its market share in Europe in a region where roughly 60 percent of passenger cars are powered by diesel engines, the daily said. Demand for diesel vehicles is forecast to grow since such engines are seen as an effective way to cut carbon dioxide emissions, and technological advances in the field are essential as emission regulations become tougher.

With the strong yen hurting the price competitiveness of its hybrids, Toyota was aiming to improve the marketability of its diesel vehicles by procuring engines from BMW, the daily added.

BERLIN BRANDENBURG AIRPORT NEARING COMPLETION

The new Berlin airport, Brandenburg, is expected to start operations in a little more than six months, has entered a key test phase and authorities are determined to figure out problems ahead of the June 3, 2012 opening. It will replace Schoenfeld and Tegel creating one of the largest airports in the world.

One thing is sure, said Manfred Körtgen, the head of Willy Brandt Airport said. The date will not be rolled back, Der Tagesspiegel newspaper reported on Saturday.

Körtgen said the airport is undergoing a massive series of tests and checks to make sure it can handle the traffic, luggage and passengers on the first day.

Located in a southeast corner of Berlin, the airport is currently the largest construction site in eastern Germany and has 5,500 workers hammering and digging away to get it ready. Practice run throughs will take place on Tuesdays and Thursday, Körtgen said.

Beginning in February, thousands of volunteers will play the role of passengers and help airport officials figure out what works and doesn’t.

The new airport has come under extensive criticism – and been the subject of many protests – by neighbours fearing noise and pollution problems.

The airport has a capacity of 27 million passengers per year and officials are expecting 23.5 million already in its first year.

International Business News: Brazil

WATER PROJECTS PLANNED FOR BRAZIL'S NORTHEAST

Brazil's Pernambuco state water utility Compesawill receive 80.9mn reais (US$42.8mn) in funding from the federal government to increase potable water supply and sewerage services in the northeastern state, a spokesperson for the cities ministry told BNamericas.

"A total of four wastewater projects valued at 72mn reais and two water supply projects valued at 8.9mn reais are planned," the spokesperson said.

Tacaratu will carry out a 27mn-real initiative to expand the Caraibeiras sewerage system. Work includes building three pumping stations, 39.3km of pipeline, 2,314 building connections and a wastewater treatment plant.

The towns of Venturosa, Tacaratu and Itapetim have been allocated 24.2mn reais, 12.3mn reais, and 8.6mn reais respectively for sewerage works.

IDB'S PORT DEAL SEALED

IDB and four other banking institutions have closed a US$430mn syndicated loan deal for Brazil'sEmbraport, which is building a multipurpose terminal at São Paulo state's Santos port.

The transaction involves a 15-year, US$100mn A loan from IDB and a 12-year IDB B loan of US$330mn from Germany's WestLB, Portugal's Caixa Geral de Depositos (CGD), HSBC (NYSE: HBC) and Spain's Banco Santander, according to an IDB release.

In parallel, Brazil's federal savings bank Caixa Econômica Federal (CEF) - with funding from national development bank (BNDES) - has approved another 633mn reais (US$336mn) for the project.

The global senior debt package will go towards phase I works on the new terminal, which will have capacity to handle more than 1mn TEUs/y, as well as liquid bulk.

Embraport, the largest multi-use private terminal currently under construction in Brazil, will allow the port of Santos to receive ships with deeper drafts, as well as improving traffic conditions through new road and rail connections that will move traffic away from Santos city's urban center.

CHEVRON LICENSE IN DANGER

Chevron's (NYSE: CVN) subsidiary Chevron Brasil could lose its Frade field concession license if it fails to identify the causes and responsible parties for the oil leak, a spokesperson at Brazilian hydrocarbons regulator ANP told BNamericas.

The watchdog has suspended permission for Chevron to drill any further well in Brazil until investigation of the leak is concluded. The company is however able to carry on with production operations in the field.

The offshore Frade field produces 79,000boe/d, according to a Chevron statement.

Frade is Chevron's first operating oil field in Brazil and is in roughly 3,700ft (1,128m) of water, 370km northeast of Rio de Janeiro. The field contains an estimated 200M-300Mb of recoverable oil and produced its first crude in the second quarter of 2009.

Chevron operates Frade with a 51.75% stake, while Brazilian state-run energy major Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) holds 30% and Frade Japão the balance.

Brazil's environmental protection agency fined Chevron 50mn reais (US$27mn) for the incident.

International Business News: India

GOVERNMENT IN AIR INDIA TALKS

MUMBAI: The government is in talks with the apex bank on providing relief to the cash-strapped national carrier Air India, civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi said on Thursday.

"The discussions with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are on. The discussions are on about Air India's balance sheet, financial position and future projects," Ravi said, adding that he was yet to get a response from the central bank on the issue.

Earlier on Thursday, sources told Reuters, the RBI has approved extension of the tenure of loans to troubled state-run carrier Air India to 15 years from 10 years.

INDIA OPENS DOORS TO GLOBAL SUPERMARKET PLAYERS

CHANDIGARH: India's growth story is still "credible" and the move to open up the economy to global supermarket chains will help growth and control inflation, RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao said on Friday.

"It's commendable that government has taken the initiative. Let's hope that it will improve the logistics chain and supply chain management in agriculture," Subbarao said in a speech in Chandigarh.

Late Thursday, the government approved 51 percent foreign direct investment in the supermarket sector, paving the entry of firms such as Wal-Mart, Tesco and Carrefour into one of the world's largest untapped markets.

RUPEE DOWN ON DOLLAR

MUMBAI: The rupee on Friday weakened by 19 paise to close at 52.25/26 against the dollar following fresh demand for the US currency from importers and weak equity markets.

Increased capital outflows as well as firm dollar overseas kept the rupee under pressure.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange ( Forex) market, the domestic unit opened lower at 52.15/16 a dollar from previous close of 52.06/07. It immediately touched a high of 52.06 on late morning recovery in stocks amid expectations of intrusion by the central bank and government's efforts to encourage foreign investments by liberalising some proposals.

WALMART WELCOMES INDIA'S NEW POLICY

NEW YORK: The world's largest retailer Walmart has termed India's decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail as a "first important step" and said it will study the finer details of the new policy to determine the impact on its ability to do business in India.

Walmart, which has been waiting in line with other global retailers like Carrefour and TESCO to tap the growing and lucrative Indian market with a 1.2 billion-strong population, said it was "grateful" that the Indian government realised and appreciated the value that foreign retailers like itself will bring to strengthen the country's economy.

"We believe that allowing 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail is a first important, step. However, we will need to study the conditions and the finer details of the new policy and the impact that it will have on our ability to do business in India," Bharti-Walmart MD and CEO Raj Jain said in an emailed statement to PTI.

FOOD INFLATION EASES IN INDIA

NEW DELHI: After hovering above double-digits for five consecutive weeks, food inflation eased in mid November prices of vegetables, fruits moderated much to the relief of policymakers. Data released by theCommerce ministry on Thursday showed food inflation stood at 9.01% in the week to November 12, easing from the previous week's 10.63%. It stood at 11.38% in the same year-ago period.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee hoped the moderating trend would continue. "I hope there will be moderation in the inflation and it will have its impact on the year-end inflation," Mukherjee told reporters.

The government expects overall inflation to ease between 6% and 7% by March-end 2012. Vegetables prices rose an annual 17.60%, easing from the previous week's increase of 27.26% while fruits prices went up 4.59% year-on-year, slower than the previous week's annual rise of 5.99%. The index for food articles group declined by 0.7% to 198.5 from 199.8 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of poultry chicken (6%), bajra and fruits and vegetables (2% each) and condiments and spices, urad, fish-inland, maize and moong (1% each). But the prices of masur and coffee (4% each), tea (2%) and barley, ragi, fish-marine, wheat and gram (1% each) moved up.

Sources: BBC News, Times of India

International Business News

DUBAI METRO OPENS!

In Dubai, the long awaited Dubai Metro opened some seven days ago and so far over 323,000 people have used the new transport system.

However there are still another 10 of 20 stations to be finalised and opened for commuters. How will it impact on Dubai? That remains to be seen as Dubai attempts to become the Las Vegas for the 21st Century or indeed the Entertainment Capital of the World (outside the United States at least!)

GLASGOW RAIL LINK AXED

Scottish ministers have been accused of being "anti-Glasgow" over the decision to axe the Glasgow Airport Rail Link amid concerns about spending cuts.

The city council said the move was "a dagger in the heart" of the west of Scotland economy.

Ministers highlighted significant investment in the city's transport, health and housing.

Up to £182m had been earmarked for improving the line between Glasgow and Paisley, with £47m already spent.

RECORD SALES FOR IKEA

Swedish furniture giant Ikea enjoyed record sales of 21.5bn euros ($30bn; £19.1bn), despite slowing growth.

Ikea said sales for the year to 31 August rose by 1.4%, down from 7% growth in the previous year.

"It has been a challenging year in which we have had to adapt to changed market conditions," said Ikea's new chief executive Mikael Ohlsson.

His predecessor slashed 5,000 jobs to cope with the drop in demand due to the financial crisis.

The company said it had opened 15 new stores worldwide since last September.


AIRLINE RAISES BILLIONS!

AMR, the parent of American Airlines, has raised $2.9bn (£1.8bn) of new financing to help it through the global downturn in air travel.

The group said $1bn of the total came from advanced sales of frequent flyer miles to Citigroup bank.

A further $1.6bn came from a sale and leaseback arrangement with General Electric's aviation division for planes it had already ordered.

The airline also said it would add capacity at key US airports.

Shares in AMR jumped 18% on the back of the news.

AFRICA ONLINE
A new high-speed undersea cable connecting East Africa with the rest of the world is poised to go live. The launch of the government-backed East African Marine System (Teams) comes as providers face a backlash over slow connection speeds and high prices.

Internet providers have increased speeds and lowered costs since the Seacom cable went live in August.

But users say services still remain too expensive for most ordinary Kenyans.

Senior government official Bitange Ndemo said there was evidence that some internet service providers (ISPs) were "fleecing the public".

Almost two months after the first high-speed cable made landfall, the highest residential internet speed offered by Kenya's largest ISP remains capped at one megabit per second (Mbps).

That speed is available only at night and at weekends, for an annual cost of $1,440 (£860). The average Kenyan annual wage is about $800, the UN estimates.