Greece increased the pressure on its creditors late on Tuesday, as it looks to secure a bond swap deal that will help write off an estimated 53.5 percent of the country’s privately held debt. Athens informed creditors that it is reassessing its options concerning non-payment, saying it will default on any bondholders unwilling to participate…
Greek Tourism Minister Pavlos Yeroulanos believes that the EU is responsible for Greece’s current economic situation. “People should remember that European institutions have been monitoring the Greek economy since 2004… What happened between 2004 and 2009? Either the EU was not doing its job correctly, or it knew what the situation was and hid it,”…
Global shares in commodities such as copper and natural gas took a hit in early trading on Tuesday as investors tried to digest the repercussions of China’s announcement that it is to scale back its expansion plans. China, for the first time in eight years, has cut its annual economic growth target to below eight…
Glencore, the globe’s largest commodity trader, said on Monday that the $37bn offer for Xstrata is a fair deal, and is a “logical” next step for the two companies. There was no indication that it was willing to improve its offer to win over hesitant investors. Last month Glencore released estimated 2011 earnings together with…
Viviane Reding, the EU’s Justice Commissioner, has announced that Google’s new privacy policy, effective as of midnight on March 1, represented “a breach of EU law”. In the face of entreaties from the EU to cease and desist earlier last week, Google went ahead with the privacy policy update, and issued a statement declaring that…
Shares in Peugeot fell around 7.7 percent following a debt rating cut by Moody’s late on Thursday. The move saw the French car manufacturer’s rating drop to “junk” status, which may hinder a proposed deal with General Motors. According to Moody’s, a GM alliance would possibly weigh on earnings in the short term without yielding…
The US Airforce late on Tuesday unexpectedly cancelled a $355m light aircraft contract granted to Sierra Nevada and Brazil’s aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The deal was scraped following objections from a rival US aerospace company. Hawker Beechcraft protested the award, saying its AT-6 plane was unjustly shut out from the competition. The deal for 20 Embraer…
WPP, the world’s largest advertising and PR network, today reported an annual profit of £1.008 bn, representing not only an unprecedented 18.5 percent rise on 2010’s results, but the first time the communications leviathan has broken the £1bn profit mark – and WPP say they expect their revenue to increase in 2012. A spokesman for…
India’s economic growth in the three months to December was at its weakest in over three years due to a slowdown in agriculture, mining and manufacturing, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, higher interest rates, a decline in domestic demand and an increase in input costs hampered investment,…
Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s late on Monday declared Greece in “selective default” following its private sector involvement deal which will see bondholders take a 70 percent haircut on the net value of their bonds. As part of the agreement an estimated €100bn will be wiped off Greece’s debt. The average maturity of creditors…
