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May 24, 2013 11:18

Amazonian Ambition: Rosneft signs another joint venture with Venezuela: Rosneft, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, is expanding its influence in Venezuela, via a subsidiary of the national oil company PDVSA. The two companies signed a joint venture agreement to develop a river basin in Venezuela.

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Google attempts to trump Facebook $1bn bid for Waze: Google is among a number of companies circling Israeli mapping software company Waze after Facebook put in a $1bln takeover bid.

EU wants big companies to reveal national tax bills: The EU is urging big companies to disclose the tax bills paid in each country where they operate in order to reduce tax avoidance among multinationals.

Global markets fall on news from Fed, China PMI: The Japanese Nikkei lost 7.3 percent on Thursday, the worst loss in over two years, after China released unexpectedly weak Flash PMI accompanied by hints that the US Federal Reserve could shut down its stimulus program in June.

Rusal’s new director entangled in Hong Kong trading scandal: Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer, is without the company’s independent non-executive director Barry Cheung Chun-Yuen, who has taken a leave of absence following an investigation into the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx) which he chairs. 1

Ford to shut down Australian production by 2016: The Ford Motor Company has decided to wind down production in Australia after 85 years. The car maker says the closure of two plants and the loss of 1200 jobs is because of production losses and the small market. 15

EU agrees to end ‘dangerous’ tax evasion and bank secrecy: In a period of record recession and unemployment, the EU has decided to recover a reported €1 trillion in tax revenue lost in loopholes and fraud, and has set a one year deadline to end banking secrecy. 32

VTB finds 'tricky' main SPO buyer: Qatar: Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund will become the main purchaser in VTB’s secondary public offering, buying $1 billion of the available $3.3 billion shares. It may prove to be a difficult shareholder for Russia’s second largest lending bank. 4

Gazprom squeezes Greece for better terms as sole major bidder for DEPA: Gazprom officials are in Athens for talks on acquiring Greece's public gas distributor DEPA. Gazprom is already DEPA’s major supplier and there are concerns the EU could block the deal in an attempt to limit Russia’s presence in its energy market. 4

Ceiling suspended: US takes on $300bn in new debt after hitting $16.7 trillion: America’s ticking debt bomb has been reset. Washington has suspended the debt ceiling, setting a date, and not a concrete dollar sum as a deadline, an unprecedented first in US history. 84

British business says 'Brexit' will cost UK $140bn annually: As the question of the UK's EU membership has taken the center stage of British politics, some of the UK's leading business heavyweights argue that political interests should not be placed before the economics. 80

Business snaps

Russia’s Gazprom to announce ‘fundamentally new LNG project’: Gazprom will soon announce a fundamentally new liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Russia, the gas giant’s CEO Aleksey Miller announced. Miller, speaking recently in Tomsk, declined to comment further on the project. This could be a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant that will extract gas from the unified gas supply system, a source in the gas industry told Interfax. The source did not exclude the possibility that the Baltic LNG project in the Leningrad Region could be resurrected – a project Gazprom had announced but decided against in favor of Shtokman.
Google, Facebook in talks to buy Waze for about $1bn – report: Google is considering buying Israeli mobile satellite navigation startup Waze Inc. in a move that may lead to a bidding war with Facebook, Bloomberg reported. Waze is seeking more than $1 billion and is fielding multiple interested parties, according to sources familiar with the matter. Facebook Inc. has reportedly held talks to buy Waze for as much as $1 billion. Google and other parties approached Waze after the Facebook talks became public, but none of the bidders are reportedly close to sealing a deal.
General Electric considering IPO for finance business: General Electric is considering spinning off parts of its financial arm, GE Capital, through an initial public offering, Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said. GE planned to reduce GE Capital's ending net investment (ENI), a balance sheet measure, to between $300 billion and $350 billion by the end of 2014, Reuters quoted Immelt as saying. General Electric said on Monday that GE Capital would pay $6.5 billion in dividends to its parent in 2013.
Russian-backed software developer Luxoft files for US IPO: Luxoft Holding Inc., a Russian-backed software developer, has filed for an initial public offering in New York, Bloomberg reported. The company is preparing for an $80 million offering, though this amount is a placeholder that may change. UBS, Credit Suisse Group AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co., VTB Capital and Cowen & Co. are managing the sale. Luxoft is a unit of Moscow-based IBS Group Holding Ltd. IBS President and main shareholder Anatoly Karachinsky said in November he sought to spin off Luxoft to unlock value for shareholders who are not interested in the Russian part of the group’s business.
Trading suspended: Asian stocks plunge: Futures trading in Osaka was brought to a stop at 14,780 yen at 2:28pm Tokyo, a first since March 2011. The Asian regional benchmark is inching towards its biggest drop since November 2011, on weak Chinese production output. China’s biggest metal producer has dropped down to 3.26% at 15:00 in Hong Kong. Toyota Motor Corp plummeted 4.1 percent early but has since recovered. The biggest loser is the Nikkei Index, which is down 7.32 percent at 16:00 in Tokyo. The Nikkei index is down 7.32 percent and the Hang Seng is down 2.53 percen
Russia’s VTB completes placement of 102.5bn rubles in new shares: Russia's VTB bank has completed the placement of 102.5 billion rubles ($3.3 billion) in new shares, bank chief Andrey Kostin said. “It would be no exaggeration to say this was an unprecedented deal,” Kostin said during a working meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. “All the shares have been sold in Russia and invested at the Moscow Exchange,” Kostin added. The sovereign wealth funds of Qatar, Norway and Azerbaijan and China Construction Bank bought about 55 percent of the new shares on offer from Russia’s second-largest bank. A share issue was essential for VTB to improve its capital adequacy ratio and fuel lending growth targets.
Hong Kong police probe failed mercantile exchange: Police have begun investigating the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange Ltd., owner of a failed commodities market, after the securities regulator found suspected financial irregularities, Bloomberg said. Three men were arrested after the May 18 shuttering of the exchange, and Chair Barry Cheung has taken a leave of absence from all public positions. Cheung has not been accused of wrongdoing. HKMEx lost its trading license after failing to attract sufficient volume to compete with rivals such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the London Metals Exchange, which was bought by Hong Kong’s stock exchange operator last year.