In Tuesday's Europe papers

16 September 2008 06:30  [Source: ICIS news]

FINANCIAL TIMES

Front page

Downgrades deepen AIG woes
AIG, the troubled insurer that sits at the heart of the financial system, on Monday had its key credit ratings cut, potentially triggering billions of dollars of collateral payments on its many derivatives trades.

BofA corrals the ‘thundering herd’
Bank of America’s $50bn acquisition of Merrill Lynch, announced on Monday at a hastily arranged press conference, will go down as a signature moment in the history of Wall Street.

Companies and markets

Best Buy to acquire Napster for $121m
Best Buy, the largest US consumer electronics retailer, is to acquire Napster, the music download provider, for $121m as it seeks to establish itself as a significant force in the global market for mobile devices and digital services.

Asian shares fall sharply as crisis spreads
Banks across Asia shares plunged as investors woke up to the reality of Lehman Brothers’ collapse. Japan, Hong Kong, China and South Korea lost between 5- 7% as they opened for business for the first time this week following a holiday long weekend.

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

Front page

Global shares fall after deeper Wall St. losses
Asian markets were down with the Nikkei and Hang Seng down more than 5%after US stocks fell 4.4%, dragged by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the sale of Merrill Lynch.

Georgia offers fresh evidence on war's start
A new front has opened between Georgia and Russia, now over which side was the aggressor whose military activities early last month ignited the lopsided five-day war.

Marketplace

Wall St. woes trigger Asian markets sell-off
Asian stock markets declined sharply Tuesday, as the shock waves from Wall Street's financial turmoil continued to roil global markets.

AIG's credit rating lowered
Credit ratings agencies downgraded AIG as the Federal Reserve was said to have asked two investment banks to put together $75bn in loans to help prop up the insurer.

THE MOSCOW TIMES

Front page

Medvedev denies a liquidity crisis
President Dmitry Medvedev assured the country’s top business lobby on Monday that the government would provide liquidity to the banking sector but failed to lift plunging markets and insisted that Russia was not facing a credit crisis.

Nervous investors rattled by Lehman
The markets took another hit Monday as grim economic news from the United States and a fall in crude oil prices sent banking and energy shares tumbling once again, after they had staged something of a recovery on Friday.

Business

S7 makes Austrian short list
Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and S7 were short listed for buying a stake in Austrian Airlines, Austrian newspaper Die Presse reported Monday.

Prices drop for cheaper apartments
Prices for new apartments in Moscow in the standard and economy classes fell in August from the previous month, even as the overall cost of the sector rose 4.1%, Miel Analytical Consulting Center said in a statement Monday. 

DER SPIEGEL

Front page

The West begins to doubt Georgian leader
Five weeks after the war in the Caucasus the mood is shifting against Georgian President Saakashvili.

Europe's biofuels conundrum
The European Parliament may be backing away from its targets for crop-based biofuels, but the EU is still hoping that it can create a certification scheme that will ensure that biofuels are produced in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.

TURKISH DAILY

Front page

A shaky life under dusts
Residents of the Cebeci neighbourhood in Istanbul's Gaziosmanpaşa district are protesting the stone quarries and sand-dumping sites located next to their neighbourhood.

Muslim cleric and Armenian priest united in all but headgear
The Islamic call to prayer and the tolling of church bells have echoed together on Anatolian lands for centuries.

Business and finance

Iron Maiden to the rescue for tourists
Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson flew to the rescue of holidaymakers left stranded abroad after Britain's third largest tour operator collapsed, newspapers reported yesterday.

US foreclosures hit another record
US foreclosure filings rose to a record in August as falling home prices made it harder to sell or refinance homes to pay off the mortgage, RealtyTrac said.

WARSAW BUSINESS JOURNAL

State to appeal ZE PAK ruling 
The Treasury will likely appeal a court's ruling that it must sell its remaining shares in ZE PAK to Elektrim.

Who will bid for Cefarm Białystok?
Firms interested in taking over state-owned Cefarm Białystok have until the end of the day to submit their bids.

ICIS Copyright © Reed Business Information 2009

Author: Staff Reporter
+44 20 8652 3214

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