The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) says a booming India and China can be of benefit
to economies in Africa. In a policy insight
document, the Paris-based think-tank said there are a number of ways
the continent can gain. The OECD says Indian and Chinese growth has
dampened world inflation pressures, lowered global interest rates,
and raised raw material prices. This in turn, it says, has helped to
improve Africa's terms of trade.
'Skill formation': It
also says China and India are markets for African goods as well as
competitors, especially in the export-oriented clothing and textile
markets in which quotas to protect African exporters were removed in
January 2005. "On the other hand, African consumers gain from cheap
consumer goods sourced from the Asian drivers [India and China] and
African investors from cheap and appropriate capital goods" the
report says. The research paper also points out that China and
Indian firms are increasingly outward-oriented and resource-hungry.
It says this opens up many opportunities to African governments as
Asian corporate presence in India increases. This can in turn be
used by African nations as "a source of technology, skill formation
and world market access, apart from foreign finance that come with
the investment".
Top law firm faces fraud charges
One
of the US's biggest law firms has been indicted by a federal grand
jury - accused of paying people who agreed to be plaintiffs in class
action cases. Milberg Weiss Bershad &
Schulman, and two of its partners, face 20 charges including fraud,
perjury and bribery. The firm's officials deny the charges,
describing the indictment as "unjust". Prosecutors claim that over
20 years, the defendants paid bribes to three clients in lawsuits
which netted the firm more than $200m (£107m) in fees.
As well as Milberg Weiss itself, the two partners
facing charges are David Bershad and Steven Schulman.
'Particularly incensed':
Milberg Weiss said it was "particularly incensed" that the
government chose to indict the firm, which includes 125 lawyers
among its 365 employees. "It is unprecedented for a law firm to be
indicted," said Les Corwin, a lawyer with Greenberg Traurig, in New
York. Specialising in class actions, New York-based Milberg Weiss
has in the past brought cases against collapsed US energy group
Enron, and against Swiss banks on the behalf of Holocaust survivors.
It has won more than $45bn in damages in total from suits against
big businesses. Many of its cases are brought for shareholders who
claim that flotations were manipulated by investment banks to
inflate market prices.
NYSE in $21bn Euronext merger bid
Euronext shareholders will meet on
Tuesday to discuss the firm's fate.
The New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE) has unveiled plans to merge with the pan-European Euronext
exchange. The proposed move would create a transatlantic stock
market giant worth 16bn euros ($21bn; £11bn). Under the terms of the
deal, each NYSE share would be converted into one share of common
stock in the merged company, which would be renamed NYSE Euronext.
If successful, the merger bid would trump rival plans by Germany's
Deutsche Bourse for a tie-up with Euronext.
Shareholder decision:
Euronext controls the Paris, Brussels, Lisbon and Amsterdam
exchanges, as well as the London-based Liffe international
derivatives exchange. The Paris-based operator has itself been at
the centre of takeover plans for the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
News of the NYSE offer comes a day before Euronext's annual general
meeting, where shareholders are expected to consider the future of
the company. A merger between the NYSE and Euronext would see NYSE
Group boss John Thain become chief executive of the combined group,
with Euronext chief executive Jean-Francois Theodore becoming deputy
chief executive officer. Separately, the Financial Times Deutschland
reported on Monday that Deutsche Boerse was considering making an
all-share offer for Euronext. The German operator reaffirmed its
interest in merging with Euronext on Friday.
Ex-Ahold bosses await court fate
Ahold is on the road to recovery
following the scandal.
Four former bosses of Dutch
supermarket giant Ahold are expected to learn their fate on Monday
for their role in one of Europe's largest accounting scandals. A
court in Amsterdam is due to hand down its verdict in the fraud
trial of ex-Ahold chairman Cees van der Hoeven and three other
managers. They are accused of bringing Ahold to the brink of
collapse following a 1bn euro ($1.2bn; £686m) financial scandal. The
four, who deny any wrongdoing, face prison sentences if found
guilty.
'Prejudices and
assumptions': Mr van der Hoeven, former Ahold chief financial
officer Michiel Meurs, former European activities director Jan
Andreae and the former chairman of Ahold's accounting commission
Roland Fahlin have been on trial since early March. Prosecutors have
described the fraud trial as one of the biggest in Dutch legal
history. Ahold saw its share price collapse in February 2003
following the revelation that it had fraudulently included profits
and revenues of independent overseas subsidiaries on its own balance
sheet. The company, which at the time was the world's fourth largest
retailer, only managed to avoid insolvency by selling assets and
securing an emergency credit line from its banks. Defence lawyers
have described the case against the defendants as one based on
"prejudices, assumptions and approximations". But prosecutor Hendrik-Jan
Biemond told the court: "Everything that stood in the way of growth
objective was banned...the absence of integrity was characteristic
of this management." The defendants have already settled fraud
charges in the US connected to Ahold's American chains Stop & Shop
and Giant. Under their deal with US financial watchdog Securities
and Exchange Commission, they admitted no guilt but accepted a
lifetime ban from holding office in a publicly traded company.
Prosecutors have demanded for a 20-month jail sentence - six of them
suspended - for Mr van der Hoeven and Mr Meurs.
Centrica raps French gas merger
The deal would leave the French firms in
control of a key pipeline.
British Gas owner Centrica
has urged the European Commission to block a merger between French
utility firms Suez and Gaz de France. In a written submission to
Brussels, Centrica says the planned tie-up would limit competition
and drive up prices. A merger could leave a big question mark over
UK supplies, Centrica warned. The call came days after European
competition watchdogs raided some of Europe's biggest utility firms
as part of an anti-competition inquiry.
The EU has recently expressed concern about the need
for more competition in energy markets across Europe, after a cold
winter in which political problems led to supplies being disrupted.
Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said the Commission was
particularly worried about the way firms granted, or restricted,
access to pipelines.
Supply fears: Centrica
confirmed that it had raised concerns about gas supplies to the UK
in its letter to Brussels. A merger would leave the UK heavily
dependent on gas supplied via a Suez-Gaz de France pipeline through
Belgium and UK consumers could be forced to pay higher prices as a
result, Centrica said. The 70bn euro (£48.5bn) tie-up sparked
controversy when it was announced in February, triggering claims
that France was guilty of so-called "economic patriotism". The deal
came hard on the heels of the news that Italian utility Enel planned
to bid for Suez and prompted a warning from Brussels that state
efforts to protect firms from foreign takeovers were illegal.
