May, 2016

• 1 May

  German banks see no quick pick up in Iran business

  

    Berlin / Reuters Restoring German banks’ financial ties with Iran will take time given debt owed to Berlin and transparency concerns, the head of the German banking association said, dampening expectations before a business summit in Tehran. Iran owes Germany about €500 million ($569 million) under so-called Hermes covers, a German government arrangement that protects German companies if foreign ...

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• 1 May

  Spain’s Bankia Bank sees low interest rates marring profits

  

      Madrid / AFP Spain’s state-rescued lender Bankia has posted a 3.3-percent fall in first-quarter net profit due in part to lower interest rates and fierce competition which hurt its margins. The bank reported a net profit of 237 million euros during the first three months of the year, below analysts’ forecasts of 246 million euros, according to a Factset ...

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• 1 May

  Italy’s Atlante raises $4.8bn for bank IPOs, bad loans

  

    Bloomberg Italy’s Atlante, the government-orchestrated banking fund, raised € 4.25 billion ($4.9 billion) from 67 domestic and foreign institutions to help the country’s lenders build capital and reduce bad debt. Atlante, which targets a 6 percent annual return from investments, will invest as much as 70 percent of its money in capital increases by Italian banks, Quaestio Capital Management, ...

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• 1 May

  Turkish conglomerates race into construction, seek quick profits

  

    Reuters Turkish conglomerates are racing to add high-end apartment blocks and office towers to Istanbul’s rapidly-changing skyline, turning to one of the world’s most profitable real estate markets for quick returns as other parts of the economy suffer. Anadolu Holding, which has interests in banking, retail and brewing, plans to venture into real estate with two developments in Istanbul ...

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• 1 May

  Cousins properties to buy Parkway for $1.95bn in stock

    Bloomberg Cousins Properties Inc. agreed to buy Parkway Properties Inc. for about $1.95 billion in stock, then spin off the combined company’s Houston office buildings into a separate real estate investment trust. Parkway shareholders will receive 1.63 shares of Cousins stock for each share they hold, the companies said in a statement. The deal values Parkway at $17.46 a ...

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• 1 May

  US home prices rise at solid pace, even with flat sales

  

    AP U.S. home prices continued their steady upward march in February as buyers competed for a limited number of available properties. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 5.4 percent that month compared with a year earlier, according to a report released on Saturday. That’s down slightly from January’s 5.7% rise. Prices are rising even as sales ...

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• 1 May

  Biggest A320neo customer IndiGo weighs rival to Pratt engine

  

    Bloomberg India’s largest airline, which faced delivery delays for its first A320neo jets over issues with Pratt & Whitney engines, said it would consider a competing CFM International power plant for a later order. IndiGo, Airbus Group SE’s biggest customer for the fuel-efficient A320neo, has chosen Pratt for the first 150 of the aircraft, Aditya Ghosh, the carrier’s president, ...

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• 1 May

  United ex-CEO got $36.8mn after ouster

    Bloomberg Jeff Smisek walked away with $36.8 million in severance and benefits from United Airlines after he was ousted as chief executive officer last year. Smisek, 61, received about $6.6 million in cash plus equity awards valued at $29.4 million, according to a proxy statement filed by Chicago-based United Continental Holdings Inc., the airline’s parent. He resigned as president, ...

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• 1 May

  Bombardier family digs in heels on dual-class shares matter

  

    Bloomberg Bombardier Inc.’s founding family is rejecting demands by Canada’s government to loosen its control of the company in exchange for financial assistance. “It’s not our intention to change anything in this regard,” Bombardier Chairman Pierre Beaudoin said in Montreal. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is said to be pushing for corporate governance changes, including the dual-class structure that ...

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• 1 May

  German retail sales dips in March by 1.1pc

  

    Frankfurt / AFP German retail sales, a closely watched measure of household confidence, declined in March, official data showed last week. Retailers’ sales fell by 1.1 percent in March compared with February, the federal statistics office Destatis said in a statement. The previous month, retail sales had remained unchanged. On a 12-month basis however, business increased, edging up by ...

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