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Economy ministry proposes simplification of investment aid rules. The rules for disbursing of state investment support should be relaxed till the end of the year, the economy ministry proposed. The new rules would remove the investment location as a criterion for approving aid and the minimum of jobs created for state support eligibility would be reduced from 1,000 to 800. Projects, concentrating on science and R&D, would be no longer considered for investment incentives and support for employee training would be cancelled from the support schemes. The ministry explained that these draft changes aimed to speed up the process of approving investment aid and would thus avoid the process to be governed by the new EU rules, taking force from the beginning of next year. It stressed that this threatened to damage the investor confidence since the new EU aid procedure might exclude some projects from being eligible for state aid, even though the investors already negotiated support with the cabinet. The proposed simplified rules by the ministry would concern investment projects with an aggregate cost of SKK 32bn and planned total job creation of 12,000 places.

But will others also shun the obligations foncières structure?

Over the years various European names have sold dollar bonds using global formats aiming to find non-European buyers. However, few have had much success in the US. This relative failure has been put down to various factors including the lack of familiarity with the concept of covered bonds and an insular outlook among the investor base. But there has already been evidence that things are changing.

If 2006 was the year that western financial institutions began to cherry-pick Russia’s tastiest retail banking operations, 2007 looks set to see them turn their attention to the country’s investment banks.

Concern that China is poised to diversify its currency reserve holdings has meant some downward pressure.

Kazakhstan, Ukraine discuss energy cooperation. Ukrainian PM Viktor Yanukovych and his Kazakh counterpart Daniyal Akhmetov discussed the prospects of cooperation in the field of energy. The main issue on the agenda was Kazakhstan ’s participation in construction of additional section of Odessa-Brody pipeline. The parties also studied possibility of filling the route with Caspian oil. Two options were discussed: providing 5mn tons of oil in case the pipeline is extended to Plotsk and 7mn tons if it is extended to Czech refinery in Kralupy (owned by Polish oil company - Orlen). Yanukovych also expressed interest in supplying Ukrainian airplanes AN-148 and railway cars to Kazakhstan . Interestingly, recently the Kazakh PM criticized national carrier Air Astana’s plans to purchase Ukrainian airplanes claiming Ukrainian equipment not to be modern enough. The two officials also arranged terms of holding the intergovernmental Ukrainian-Kazakh commission meeing, which would make place in early December. Yanukovych is to visit Kazakhstan by the end of this year.

Increased competition on cost between European exchanges might lead to liquidity fragmentation. Is there a solution to this?

If any mistakes are to be made – either on the price paid for assets or the financing structure behind an investment – the sheer scale of activity in the UK regulated utilities sector means it is one place to start looking.

Lithuania’s LAL reportedly to allocate up to EUR 120mn for Malev’s acquisition. Lithuania’s LAL would allocate some EUR 120mn for the acquisition of national airline Malev, according to representative of investment company Zia valde quoted by local daily Lietuvos Rystas and related by MTI News Agency . According to him the cost of the project, including further financial investments and takeover of state-guaranteed debt, was likely to reach some LTL 380-414mn (EUR 110-120mn). We note that Zia valde is one of the 3 main shareholders in LAL along with electronic solution company Fimainvetsment and logistics company Sanitex. Total of 4 bidders submitted offers in the tender for 99.95% stake in Malev. The other participants in the race are AirBridge Magyarorszag (a Hungarian-based company controlled by Russian businessman Boris Abramovich, who also owns Russian airline KrasAir), Sky Alliance (controlled by a group of former and current Malev pilots as well as some former members of the management) and businessman Ofer Hava with the backing and guarantees of several Hungarian and Irish investors.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world’s oldest bank, has been adapting to changing markets since 1472. Now it has to face up to rivals whose strength has been boosted by M&A activity. Monte dei Paschi’s general manager, Antonio Vigni, speaks to Peter Koh about the bank’s strategy and the role of its foundations.

Roger James finds out why the latest United Utilities water deal continues an amazing year for the UK inflation-linked market.

The first deal for the International Finance Facility for Immunization has priced. Iffim is an international development funding project supported by the governments of the UK, France, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain, South Africa and Brazil and by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It uses these donor sponsors’ future commitments to front load aid to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi) which is targeting 500 million children in the world’s poorest countries.