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Clear Channel files ‘anticompetitive’ complaint vs JCDecaux, Paris city – report

News

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13 December 2007

PARIS (Thomson Financial) – Clear Channel’s French subsidiary has filed a complaint against JCDecaux and the city of Paris over ‘anti-competitive practices’ related to the Velib bicycle-hire venture, Les Echos reported.

The city of Paris has proposed extending the Velib scheme by installing 300 Velib stations and 4,500 bicycles in nearby suburbs, with an investment of 7 mln eur per year, the paper said.

US-based urban furniture and outdoor advertising group Clear Channel says Paris authorities’ plan to base these new contracts on the existing contract with JCDecaux would be in violation of public market rights and principles of competition as it would give
JCDecaux an advantage in winning the contracts.

Clear Channel also bid for the Paris Velib contract but was unsuccessful. The company has already tried unsuccessfully to overturn the award of the contract to JCDecaux.

JCDecaux operates Velib through a joint venture, in which Publicis holds 34 pct.

helen.beresford@thomson.com

hem/lam

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No Danish referendum on EU’s Lisbon treaty – prime minister

News

Sam Allcock

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11 December 2007

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COPENHAGEN (Thomson Financial) – Denmark will not hold any referendum on the EU’s Treaty of Lisbon on the EU constitution, but will ratify it through a parliamentary decision, the internet version of daily Jyllandsposten said, citing Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Political parties ranging from the left-wing Enhedslisten to rightist Dansk Folkeparti have previously called for a referendum on the issue, but Fogh Rasmussen’s liberal party and the Social Democrats will have the necessary majority to ratify the treaty in parliament, the daily added.

gustav.sandstrom@thomson.com

gs/cmr

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Taiwan’s Taishin, Aegon ink contract for life insurance jv

News

Sam Allcock

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7 December 2007

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TAIPEI (XFN-ASIA) – Taishin Financial Holding Co Ltd (2888.TW) said it and Aegon Taiwan Holding BV have signed a contract to establish a life insurance joint venture pending regulatory approval.

Taishin will own 51 pct of the planned joint venture, while Aegon will hold 49 pct of the insurer, which is to be capitalized at 2 bln twd, the company said in a statement.

Taishin closed today’s trade up 0.05 twd or 0.36 pct at 13.80.

(1 usd = 32.20 twd)

adela.lin@afxasia.com

al/kmq

xfnal/xfnkm

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Alaska sues pension actuary for $1.8B

News

Sam Allcock

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7 December 2007

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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The state of Alaska filed a multibillion dollar lawsuit against its former actuary Thursday, claiming the company’s mistakes contributed to Alaska’s $8.4 billion pension shortfall.

The lawsuit seeks more than $1.8 billion from Mercer (US) Inc., the former actuary for Alaska’s Public Employees’ Retirement System and Teachers’ Retirement System pension plans.

‘Just like any other professional, Mercer was required to use due care, skill and diligence in advising the state how to keep its retirement plans financially sound,’ Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg said.

‘When it came to calculating expected health care costs for the plans, and in other areas, Mercer failed to meet those standards and caused a significant part of the current unfunded liability of the plans,’ Colberg said.

Messages left with Mercer after business hours Thursday were not immediately returned.

After 30 years advising the state on its public employee and teacher retirement systems, Mercer, a unit of Marsh & McLennan Cos., was replaced as the state’s actuary in 2005 by Buck Consultants, which did an extensive recalculation of Alaska’s pension and health care liabilities. Buck Consultants found that Mercer had underestimated medical costs by about 7 percent.

The state claims Mercer’s miscalculations on future medical costs led the state to develop an unfunded liability in the pension system.

That unfunded liability is the gap between the retirement systems’ total assets and the amount in benefits that would be required to pay all the people in the system. The shortfall would affect both the public employee and teacher retirement systems.

The state Department of Law has retained the law firms of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP of New York City and Lessmeier & Winters LLC of Juneau to assist with the litigation.

Porsche plans new paint-spray plant in Zuffenhausen for 200 mln eur

News

ABC Staff

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4 December 2007

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STUTTGART (Thomson Financial) – Porsche AG said it plans to set up a new paint-spray system in Zuffenhausen and will invest around 200 mln eur in this.
Construction of the paint-spray plant will start in the autumn of 2008 and operations will begin in 2011.
The plant has capacity for a three-shift production schedule. Under a two-shift system, it can paint-spray 170 vehicles daily, the company said.

marilyn.gerlach@thomson.com
mog/cmr
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Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.
The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.

Grupo Rayet to invest 110 mln eur in consortium to build two hotels

News

Sam Allcock

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3 December 2007

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MADRID (Thomson Financial) – Grupo Rayet said its Unico Finest Hotel joint venture with Pau Gardens will invest 110 mln eur for the first two projects in the development and management of its first luxury hotels in Dubai and Buenos Aires.

In a statement, Rayet said it holds 40 pct of Unico as an investor, while Pau Guardians has 60 pct and will focus on the hotel chain’s development.

In the spring of this year, the companies signed an agreement to invest at least 350 mln eur to develop five hotels in the international market in five years.

Grupo Rayet’s unit Rayet Promocion is currently in the process of merging with Astroc Mediterraneo SA and Landscape.

tfn.europemadrid@thomson.com

ccs/tr/ajb

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Man sentenced for market PIN pad scam

News

Sam Allcock

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30 November 2007

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – A California man has been sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison for his role in a criminal ring that stole financial information from Stop & Shop customers and used it to illegally siphon $132,000 from shoppers.

Arutyun Shatarevyan, 20, of Los Angeles previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy and identity fraud. As an Armenian immigrant, he will probably face deportation, his defense attorney, Alex Kessel, said.

Shatarevyan and three other California men were arrested in Coventry on Feb. 26 as they attempted to perform the scheme at a supermarket check-out lane.

Investigators say the men would enter supermarkets late at night, distract the cashier and swap a PIN pad with an alternate machine that recorded each customer’s financial data. They could swap the equipment in as little as 12 seconds, prosecutors said.

After a while, the men would return, retrieve the machines and harvest the credit and debit card information. At least six supermarkets in Rhode Island and Massachusetts were targeted, and 238 people lost money.

One co-defendant, Mikael Stepanian, 28, had a laptop inside his hotel room that allowed him to create ATM cards using information downloaded from the PIN pad machines. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 6.

Two other defendants already have received prison terms for their role in the plot. Arman Ter-Esayan was sentenced to six years in federal prison, while Gevork Baltadjian was ordered to serve just over five years.

Stop & Shop is a unit of Royal Ahold.

US, El Salvador tout CAFTA benefits

ABC Staff

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29 November 2007

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SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) – A free trade agreement between El Salvador and the United States is boosting economic growth in the Central American country, Salvadoran and U.S. officials said Wednesday.
El Salvador’s economy grew 4 percent since it joined the Central American Free Trade Act, or CAFTA-DR, last year, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Sullivan said.
‘This hadn’t happened in more than 10 years,’ Sullivan told reporters while visiting a San Salvador factory that manufactures pupusas — thick, stuffed corn tortillas served with pickled cabbage — to sell in cities throughout the U.S.
The trade agreement, which slashes tariffs on U.S. exports, was approved by Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador in 2006, as part of a push by the U.S. to boost exports worldwide. The Dominican Republic signed on in March 2007 and, after a hotly contested referendum, Costa Rica’s president signed the agreement into law last week.
El Salvador’s Economic Secretary Yolanda Mayora said the country’s own textile and agricultural exports have increased since the accord took effect.
‘The United States is El Salvador’s main commerce partner and we send 57 percent of our exports there,’ she said.
Traditional Salvadoran food exports to the U.S., where 2.5 million Salvadorans live, have reached about $19 million in the last year, she said.
‘El Salvador is the (member) country that has benefited the most from this accord, and the country whose exports to the U.S. have had the greatest growth,’ Mayora said.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Saint-Gobain’s long-term IDR affirmed at ‘A-‘ on EC fine announcement – Fitch

Automotive

Elliot

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29 November 2007

0

MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) – Fitch Ratings affirmed Compagnie de Saint-Gobain’s long-term issuer default and senior unsecured ratings at ‘A-‘ and short-term IDR at ‘F2’ following the announcement that the French glassmaker was fined 133.9 mln eur by the European Commission for price fixing.The ratings agency said its outlook for the long-term IDR is negative.Fitch said the fine announcement relates to the investigation in the construction glass sector, while another investigation related to automotive glass is ongoing. However, the timing and the size of any potential cash outflow from the latter investigation is presently unknown.Fitch said it expects that the construction glass fine will represent less than 5 pct of Saint-Gobain’s 2007 cash flow from operations, which, overall, is not considered sizeable. However, the negative outlook continues to reflect Fitch’s view that the underlying free cash flow margin of 0.9 pct in 2006 is weak for the current ratings.Moreover, an outcome for the automotive glass investigation implying a fine in sizeable excess of current provisioning might also prompt a rating review, Fitch added. But an expectation of a reduction in net leverage in the next 18 months, arising from likely disposals, mitigates to some degree the potential negative impact on free cash flow generation, it said.TFN.newsdesk@thomson.comndi/ranCOPYRIGHTCopyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.

Court revives FEMA trailer fine case

News

ABC Staff

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29 November 2007

0

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – A south Louisiana motorcycle and motor home dealer is again facing $46,000 in fines for selling new travel trailers to a government agency without a proper license in the weeks following Hurricane Katrina.
The 1st Circuit Court of Appeal, in a ruling issued this month, reversed an earlier decision by state District Judge Wilson Fields, who ruled in September 2006 that Bourget’s of the South had a proper license to sell the trailers.
Bourget’s attorney, Robert Tarcza of New Orleans, said Wednesday he will ask the 1st Circuit to rehear the issue to clarify and possibly change its conclusion.
Bourget’s, a company owned by the father and uncle of state Rep. Gary Smith, D-Norco, obtained a license in January 2005 to sell new and used motorcycles, and used motor homes and travel trailers. On Sept. 9 and Sept. 17 that same year — soon after Hurricane Katrina hit — Bourget’s entered into contracts with FEMA to sell 279 travel trailers for evacuees.
Bourget’s delivered 211 of those trailers before a competitor filed a complaint Oct. 12, 2005, with the Louisiana Recreational and Used Motor Vehicle Commission. The complaint said Bourget’s was selling new trailers instead of used ones.
Bourget’s applied for a license to sell new motor homes and trailers on Oct. 17 and a license was issued the next day. But the new license fixed the effective date retroactively to Jan. 1, 2005.
During a Sept. 19, 2006, hearing before Fields, Commission Executive Director Jack Torrance testified that despite the effective date on the license, he considered the effective date to be the date it was actually issued, Oct. 18, 2005.
The commission fined Bourget’s $46,000, or $2,000 for each day it sold travel trailers before getting the proper license.
The appeals court ruling by a three-judge panel said the commission must be given deference in interpreting its own rules and that the commission’s ruling in the Bourget’s case was ‘not arbitrary, capricious or characterized by an abuse of discretion.’
The court added: ‘It is undisputed in this matter that regardless of the stated effective date on the license Bourget’s received, Bourget’s did not apply for or obtain a license authorizing it to sell new recreational vehicles until after it had already begun selling the vehicles to FEMA. Clearly Bourget’s could not have obtained a license within the meaning of the statute before it ever applied for one.’
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.