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Government inaugurates EUR 135mn gas pipelines. PM Ivo Sanader inaugurated two pipelines, the construction of which cost a total of EUR 135mn. The first, 45km long one runs from oil and gas company INA’s platform Ivana K in the northern Adriatic to the gas terminal in Pula . It was built by INA over a period of six months and cost EUR 45mn. The second one is a 191km long trunk pipeline linking Pula to Karlovac and was built by gas pipeline operator Plinacro for EUR 90mn. Sanader noted that the two projects were part of the government efforts to ensure as much independence of the country from energy imports as possible. The plans are to invest EUR 440mn in gas pipeline construction in next five years.

Ulker sells out 19% stake in Datateknik to Yildiz Holding. Ulker Holding, one of the largest food companies, announced that it sold its entire stake in Datateknik to Yildiz Holding. A statement sent to the ISE by Ulker said that Yildiz Holding would pay USD 4mn for Ulker’s 19% stake in Datateknik, which produces Exper brand computers. Ulker sold its stake in Datateknik as it plans to be focused more on its core food business and withdraw from other sectors that are unrelated with food.

South Korea’s Kos Wire to invest EUR 21.5mn plant in Lovosice, to employ 90 people. South Korea’s company Kos Wire, a member of the Kos Wire Group, is to build a plant for manufacturing stainless steel wires worth EUR 21.5mn (CZK 606.7mn) in Lovosice, state-owned investment promotion agency CzechInvest announced. The new plant is expected to start operating at end-2007 and employ some 90 people. The project for the plant construction has been divided in three phases – in the first one, the plant would produce about 300 tones of wire per month; while in the last phase in 2013 the output is to reach 1,000 tons per month. CzechInvest’s representative Lucie Podrapska explained that Kos Wire has been lured to the Czech market by the South Korean Hyundai investment as the Losovice plant would produce above all wires for the car industry, as well as by the easy access to customers in Western Europe and collaboration with existing carmakers in the country. Kos Wire, established in 1969, employs 450 people in six Korean plants with total output of 4,000 tons of wire per month.

Societe Generale rumoured as preferred buyer of Ohridska Bank. The management of Ohridska Bank has decided to sell a 52% stake to France ’s Societe Generale, Vecer daily reports on the back of unofficial information. The share transfer is expected to place by the end of this year. Vecer adds that that it has not received a confirmation of the information from the local lender because its directors were absent. Ohridska Bank’s management has negotiated with two other suitors as well: Slovenia ’s Nova Ljubljanska Banka as well as a third foreign bank. Ohridska Bank reported pre-tax profit of MKD 164.3mn (EUR 2.7mn) for Jan-Sep, up 45% against the same period last year. The total assets of Ohridska Bank have increased by 12.6% to MKD 7bn (EUR 115.1mn) as of end-2005. The bank’s equity stood at MKD 874.2mn as of that date. The lender’s net profit has been MKD 106.1mn last year, up 4.3%. Ohridska Bank is listed on the Macedonian Stock Exchange and is included in its blue-chip index MBI-10.

Qatar Telecommunications plans to raise USD 2bn syndicated loan. Qatar Telecommunications Co (Q-tel) announced that it plans to raise a loan worth USD 2bn. Q-tel further said that it has appointed Barclays, Development Bank of Singapore, Gulf International Bank, Qatar National Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland as lead arrangers for a three-year revolving loan. Qatari daily The Peninsula reported that Barclays would act as the book runner.

Italy’s adhesive maker Mapei to invest HUF 1bn in production expansion. Italy’s adhesives maker Mapei plans to invest HUF 1bn in the expansion of its facility based in Soskut, managing director Bela Markovics announced. Following the investment the company expects that annual production volume would increase from the current 37,000 tonnes to some 60,000 tonnes in 2008. Mapei set up his Hungarian subsidiary back in 1991, but in the past five years it embarked on more significant outlays, which totaled HUF 1.4bn (including the construction of the Soskut-based facility). This year the company projects HUF 5bn in sales revenue, which also includes exports to Romania , Croatia and Ukraine .

"A global focus by private banks on clients in the wealth creation phase is further intensifying competition. Private banks have to convince clients that they have access to the best-of-breed third-party products in alternative investments, and access to balance sheets to aid high-net-worth investors in this phase of the wealth cycle.”

Consumer confidence recovers slightly in October. The consumer confidence index increased slightly to 91.56 in October from 91.36 a month earlier showed the survey carried out jointly by the central bank and the statistics institute. In January, the index stood at 101.7 but hit 88.6 in July that was the index’s lowest level recorded ever. A figure below 100 indicates pessimistic outlook. As far as main sub-indexes are concerned; the sub-index measuring consumers’ assessment of current economic outlook fell to 83.11 in October from 83.12 a month earlier. Consumers are less optimistic about the future; the sub-index measuring their assessment of economic conditions for the next three months declined to 85.82 from 85.92 in September. The employment prospects sub-index for the next six months fell sharply to 87.05 in October from 91.1 a month earlier. The sub-index for consumers’ assessment regarding their current purchasing power climbed to 83.5 from 82.4 in September.

Albanian unit to join UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. Defence ministers of Albania Fatmir Mediu and Italy Arturo Parisi decided that the Albanian army will deploy an elite unit to assist the peacekeeping efforts of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The unit will be under Italian command. The decision was made during Mediu’s recent official visit in Rome . The country has pledged to support the UN mission in Lebanon earlier. Mediu also highlighted that Albania stands firm by its reform commitments and hopes to receive a clear signal for its NATO membership perspective at the organisation’s summit in Riga on November 28. In the meantime, the US Senate has passed a resolution in support of the aspirations of the three Adriatic Charter countries ( Albania , Croatia and Macedonia ) to join the alliance. After the Riga summit, the heads of NATO states will hold a summit in Washington , DC in 2008.

NBH governor Jarai: MC made bad decision to hold rates on Nov 20. The Monetary Council (MC) made bad decision on Nov 20, when it voted to hold rates at 8%, central bank governor Zsigmond Jarai said. He confirmed earlier media information that seven of the 13-member Council voted for unchanged rates, while 5 were for a 25bps hike. We note that the absent MC member is broadly perceived as “hawk”, which means that technically the vote was 7-to-6. According to Jarai, potential hike would have had much better impact as it would have signalled NBH’s commitment to defend its inflation target. Still, the governor maintained his earlier stance that further monetary tightening was not excluded if there was “danger for the inflation target”. Jarai openly spoke about stagflation, saying that NBH’s goal now should be to prevent the combination of economic slowdown and accelerating inflation. We recall that the November Inflation report of the NBH projected headline CPI rise at 4.1% y/y in 2008, which is the horizon of central bank’s monetary policy. On the other hand the inflation target is set at 3%+/-1pp.

Romtelecom listing postponed. The listing of Romtelecom on the local stock exchange is no longer possible this year, line minister Zsolt Nagy admitted. The consultants, CSFB and IEBA Trust, have not received all the information needed from Romtelecom, minister Nagy explained. He could not predict another deadline for the company’s listing. Though, he said that the barriers are rather technical and dismissed views that Romtelecom would refuse cooperation in response to the market regulator’s body decisions. Romtelecom has frozen a massive investment programme this year citing the decisions of the market regulator body on the inter-connection fees.

Privatisation agency signs draft sale contract for Bulgaria Air. The privatisation agency has successfully completed the talks with the first ranked bidder Balkan Hemus Group in the tender for the national flag carrier Bulgaria Air. The agency has also signed a draft sale contract but will finalise the deal after confirmation by the supervisory board of the agency, the council of ministers, and the antitrust watchdog. The state is selling the full stake in Bulgaria Air but will retain a "golden share" with the right to block key decisions. Balkan Hemus Group, representing the country's second largest air carrier Hemus Air, has offered EUR 6.5mn for full control of Bulgaria Air, investment plan of EUR 82mn over a 5-year period, and a twofold employment growth to 1,062 workers at the end of the same period. Hemus Air is part of the country's largest holding company Chimimport, which has successfully operated an initial public offering in September and has market capitalisation of some EUR 450mn at present. The other candidate, Italy 's Air One, has filed a price bid of EUR 5.32mn and much weaker investment commitments of EUR 8.1mn. Bulgaria Air reports net sales of around EUR 100mn, 750,000 passengers, and pre-tax earnings of EUR 0.26mn for last year. It has licences for servicing 30 international lines. The financial flows of the air carrier have rapidly deteriorated this year and unofficial information presented in the press points to big losses in the tune of EUR 3-4mn in Jan-Sep.. The market capitalisation of the holding reached EUR 388mn at the end of the yesterday's trading session.