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TUI buys Tuscany property for tourist resort; to invest 3-digit mln eur sum

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FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) – TUI AG said it is buying an 11 square kilometer property in the Tuscany region of Italy that includes a number of old buildings, a medieval castle, a hotel, and an 18-hole golf course to create a holiday resort.

TUI said it will invest a ‘medium triple-digit mln eur figure’ into the resort, which is already accounted for in its mid-term investment plan for its hotel division, according to a statement.

The resort, to be called ‘Toscana Resort Castelfalfi,’ will be 85 pct owned by TUI and 15 pct-owned by the property’s previous owner, whose name the company did not disclose in its statement.

TUI plans to refurbish buildings including a church and the castle as well as add a ‘wellness area,’ restaurants and boutiques.

The company also plans to maintain and restore local agriculture by tending to vineyards and olive plantations in and around the resort, which is part of the town of Montaione near Florence, Siena and Pisa.

TUI aims to secure regulatory approval to add three hotels in the resort as well as villas and apartments.

maria.sheahan@thomson.com

mas/ejp

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Mexican airlines look at Ark.

LITTLE ROCK (AP) – Two Mexican airlines wanting to reach a growing immigrant population in Arkansas and neighboring states may soon add direct flights to Little Rock.

Aeromexico and Mexicana, two of Mexico’s largest airlines, are in discussions to fly in and out of Little Rock National Airport, said airport spokesman Philip Launius. The hope, Launius said, is that the airport would be the central hub for travel to Mexico from Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Tennessee.

‘One of the Japanese steel company executives described Arkansas as being the navel of NAFTA,’ Launius said, referring to the North American Free Trade Agreement. ‘It’s about equidistant between the industrial part of eastern Canada and Mexico.’

Discussions between the airport and two airlines have been ongoing for about a year, Launius said, as officials offer the airlines statistics on the state’s Hispanic immigrant population, one of the fastest growing in the nation. U.S. Census Bureau statistics show that at least 130,000 Hispanics live in Arkansas, the majority of those from Mexico. But demographers and state officials believe that number may be much higher because illegal immigrants typically shy away from census counters.

But immigrant travelers and visiting family members wouldn’t be the only ones traveling between Arkansas and Mexico. State statistics show Mexico was Arkansas’ second-largest export destination, with $415 million worth of goods heading there in 2005. Canada was No. 1 with more than $1 billion.

‘It’s got both a corporate and a leisure component,’ Launius said. ‘We are really excited. Of course, that gives you international status in terms of an airport. It’s stepping up to a higher plane.’

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, more than 300 miles away from Little Rock, is now the closest hub for direct flights from Mexico for Mexicana. The airport once had direct flights from Aeromexico as well, but the airline left, an airport official said.

Memphis International Airport in Tennessee, about 150 miles away from Little Rock, has one direct flight to Cancun on Northwest Airlines.

Bruce Hicks, a U.S.-based spokesman for Aeromexico, said he had heard nothing about the negotiations. Officials with Mexicana could not be immediately reached for comment Friday.

Launius said Little Rock’s new Mexican consulate, which opened last month, has been providing extra leverage in the negotiations.

The Little Rock airport sees about 2.5 million passengers a year. If the airlines agree to fly to Little Rock, Launius said the airport would need to build a facility for U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to do inspections of incoming passengers.

While the airport has only a single concourse, Launius said the airport could use a ‘swing gate’ to move international passengers through inspections. Customs agents now have a small outpost at the airport to inspect cargo and private aircraft that land at the airfield, he said.

But even if Aeromexico and Mexicana back out of talks, Launius said that might be enough for roughly 10 new discount carriers in the country to take a look at Little Rock.

‘It’s not on the cusp of occurring, but the discussions have all been very positive. It is something that is continuing,’ he said. ‘We are judging by the questions they are asking that there is real interest.’

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Halliburton opens Russia training center

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HOUSTON (AP) – Energy industry service provider Halliburton Co. said Friday it opened a new training center for employees in Russia as part of a larger strategy to grow its business in that country and the surrounding region.

The new center is operated through an agreement with the Tyumen State Oil and Gas University and is already training students from five countries: Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia and the United Kingdom.

‘Halliburton understands the importance of hiring and training its work force in locations where resources already exist, in terms of both personnel and oil and gas,’ said Halliburton Vice President Lawrence Pope in a statement.

The company now has 12 training centers worldwide.

Shares of Halliburton Co. rose 28 cents Friday to $33.09 in midday trading.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Peruvian group suing Oxy over pollution

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LOS ANGELES (AP) – Members of an indigenous group in Peru are suing Occidental Petroleum Corp., claiming the company’s oil production operations in the Andean nation resulted in toxic levels of pollution that left many people sick or at risk of serious illness.

The complaint, filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, was brought by 25 Achuar Indians who claim they suffered health problems from cancer to lead poisoning due to exposure to contaminants from Occidental’s oil production operation.

The group also blames the death of one of the plaintiffs’ children on the company’s actions.

A call to Los Angeles-based Occidental seeking comment was not immediately returned.

The suit seeks class-action status and unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

‘With this lawsuit, I am here demanding Oxy clean up and compensate for the contamination it left in the Rio Corrientes region,’ Apu Tomas Maynas Carijano, the lead plaintiff, said in a statement. ‘We can no longer eat the fish or drink the water. Our children are guaranteed death unless Oxy acts now.’

The group is native to Peru’s Upper Corrientes Basin. They claim the region gradually became contaminated by pollutants over the three decades since Occidental first established operations there.

According to the lawsuit, Occidental discharged millions of gallons of water used to process crude oil back into local waterways, flooding rivers with heavy metals, radioactive compounds and other harmful compounds.

The crude oil processing also released gasses that have contributed to air pollution and acid rain, the group claims.

The Achuar’s land was also exposed to contamination from chemical waste, which the company stored in unlined earthen pits, according to the lawsuit.

Government health studies have found that Achuar Indians in the zone suffer high blood concentrations of cadmium and lead — a problem that Peruvian officials have said goes back to the 1970s when Occidental operated in the region.

The company pumped oil in Peru’s northern jungle until 1999, when its operations were bought by the Argentine-run company Pluspetrol.

Last year, that company signed an agreement with the Peruvian government to stop dumping contaminated oil waste by July 2008 after two weeks of protests by an Indian group.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Budapest shares close up in thin trade ahead of US rate decision UPDATE

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BUDAPEST (Thomson Financial) – Budapest shares closed up in line with major European markets after yesterday’s bout of profit taking, but with trade thin ahead of this afternoon’s interest rate decision in the US, and gains limited after US markets opened down, dealers said.

The BUX index of leading Hungarian shares closed up 0.67 pct at 25,842.87. Trading volume was around two thirds of the daily average.

The Hungarian forint was down as the euro rose 0.30 pct to 246.99 forints and the US dollar ticked up 0.10 pct to 182.30 forints.

Magyar Telekom, due to report a decline in first quarter profit tomorrow, finished up 0.87 pct at 1,045 forints, after falling over 2 pct yesterday.

The two pharmaceutical stocks, Richter and Egis, recovered some ground lost yesterday after the companies posted first quarter results below market expectation.

Richter was up 0.77 pct to 37,145 forints, while Egis was up 0.87 pct to 19,790 forints after falling nearly 7 pct yesterday.

Banks were broadly positive, with OTP up 0.52 pct at 9,777 forints after yesterday’s losses, and state-controlled mortgage bank FHB gaining 1.79 pct to 2,275 forints.

FHB is expected to post a decline in first quarter profits on Friday as its key mortgage business is hit by increased competition in the Hungarian mortgage market.

However, the bank’s stock is being supported by the government’s intention to sell its controlling stake, which is expected to happen later this year.

Oil stock MOL finished the day up but eased off an intra-day peak after a key US report showed motor fuel stocks increased.

MOL has also been associated with a 150 mln usd purchase of Croatia’s Tifon, the third largest petrol station operator in the country.

MOL stock closed up 0.78 pct at 22,575 forints.

edward.krudy@thomson.com

ek1/cml

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ProSiebenSat.1 Q1 EBITDA up 16.1 pct on higher TV advertising revenues

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FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) – ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG said first-quarter EBITDA rose 16.1 pct to 82.0 mln eur from 70.6 mln a year earlier on the back of rising advertising revenues.

The result beat the 78.7 mln eur consensus forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Financial News partner dpa-AFX.

Sales in the three months through March grew to 501.2 mln eur from 465.3 mln eur, the German broadcaster said. Analysts had expected 495.1 mln.

Net profit for the period grew to 40.6 mln eur from 30.7 mln eur, compared with the consensus forecast of 39.5 mln.

‘The ProSiebenSat.1 Group got off to a good start this year. We saw growth in both our core business in Free TV and our new operations,’ chief executive Guillaume de Posch said.

‘We are confident that our stations’ programming will pick up further strength, while we continue to build up our diversification and online initiatives.’

ProSieben also reaffirmed that it expects its advertising revenues to grow slightly faster than the German TV advertising market as a whole, which is expected to show net growth of 2-3 pct.

ProSieben also expects revenues and earnings, as well as its profitability, to increase this year.

ProSieben, which was last year taken over by private equity groups KKR and Permira, affirmed it expects both sales and earnings to increase this year as it anticipates the German TV advertising market will grow 2-3 pct.

KKR and Permira now own 88 pct of voting common shares and about 13 pct of non-voting preference shares, collectively representing about 50.5 pct of the aggregate share capital.

De Posch last month said the company could take over SBS Broadcasting Group by the fourth quarter of this year in a bid to create one of Europe’s leading television companies.

ProSiebenSat.1 will make a decision on whether to make a bid for SBS by the end of July, after completing due diligence, de Posch said.

The company would finance the takeover with loans rather than a capital increase, to take advantage of its low debt level, he said.

alfred.kueppers@thomson.com

amk/slj

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Ericsson, Sun to collaborate on open source Java technology multimedia

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STOCKHOLM (Thomson Financial) – LM Ericsson AB said it is to collaborate with Sun Microsystems Inc to develop an open source Java technology-based multimedia application server, as well as a supporting programme for (software) developers.

Ericsson said it will contribute parts of its server development to the open source project GlassFish.

‘The supporting program includes a variety of tools and expertise to support developer communities, as well as a possibility for developers to test their applications on a live IP Multimedia Subsystem-based network, Ericsson said.

TF.TFN-EuropeStockholm@thomson.com

hc/gp

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AP Moller Maersk believes oil production in North Sea has reached its peak

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COPENHAGEN (Thomson Financial) – Management at AP Moller Maersk’s Maersk Oil & Gas division believe oil production in the North Sea has reached its peak, daily Boersen reported.

‘Production is, under all circumstances, expected to decline during coming years, but our task is to counteract this as far as possible,’ Maersk Oil & Gas deputy director Anders Wurtzen said according to Boersen.

However, the Danish Energy authority expects new technology will help increase oil production in the North Sea, Boersen added.

AP Moller Maersk said in April that oil production at its partly owned Dansk Undergrunds Consortium’s 14 oil fields in the North Sea had fallen 8 pct year-on-year in March 2007.

gustav.sandstrom@thomson.com

gs/bsd

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Piaggio to launch 55-56 new models this year

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MILAN (Thomson Financial) – Piaggio SpA’s chairman Roberto Colaninno said the motor bike and scooter firm will launch 55-56 new models this year, including 25-26 completely new products for the group’s various brands.

Speaking at the annual shareholder meeting, he said the recently-launched three-wheel MP3 scooter is ‘a big success’, while in September, the Gilera brand will launch a scooter with an 800 cubic centimetre-sized engine, which will reach a speed of 200 kilometres per hour.

In India, he said production is expected to reach 160,000-170,000 units, up from 140,000 in 2006.

nigel.tutt@thomson.com

nt/lam

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WPP Group’s Wunderman acquires Belgium marketing agency These Days

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LONDON (Thomson Financial) – WPP Group PLC said its wholly-owned operating unit Wunderman, a direct, promotion and marketing network, has acquired Belgium-based These Days NV, for an undisclosed sum.

These Days, an interactive marketing agency, reported a full-year revenue of 4.6 mln eur for the year to end December 2006, and had gross assets of 3.7 mln eur.

Earlier today, WPP had said its wholly-owned operating unit Grey Healthcare Group, a healthcare-communications network, has acquired the business of WestawayGillis Consulting for an undisclosed sum.

TFN.newsdesk@thomson.com

kkb/tsm/jag

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