Brazil regulations may hit Eletrobras investment
By Leonardo Goy and Anna Flavia RochasBRASILIA/SAO PAULO, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Brazil’s state-run
power utility Eletrobras could pare back ambitious
investments in Latin America’s largest economy as the renewal
of electric concessions threatens to pinch cash flow.Brazil is nearing a decision this year on power industry
concessions, with signs pointing to a steep cut in rates for
almost all of Eletrobras’s transmission contracts and about 40
percent of its generation contracts.”No one is taking care of this. Cash flow is going to fall
off steeply at Eletrobras and the government isn’t giving the
issue due attention,” said a lawmaker in the governing
coalition, who asked not to be named.The government is aiming to reduce the sale price of power
by as much as a third, as many generators have long since paid
off their original investments.Electricity rates in Brazil are among the world’s highest,
but this is in large part due to heavy taxes that provide a
steady source of income for the government — crucial for
Brasilia as the government seeks fiscal balance.Eletrobras, the country’s biggest power company, now faces
the possibility of lower revenues just months after it pledged
to double the pace of investments to keep up with Brazil’s
power-hungry economic growth.Major projects include a plan to build the world’s third
largest hydroelectric dam, the 11,200-megawatt Belo Monte
project due to start producing power in 2015.For those investments to go ahead as planned, the
government may have to inject more resources into its state-run
utility, according to energy consulting firm PSR. Eletrobras
could lose 4.5 billion reais ($2.5 billion) in annual revenue
under renewed concessions, PSR said in a recent study, equal to
half of this year’s investments.However, a government source told Reuters on condition of
anonymity that policymakers are not looking at compensation for
Eletrobras. The company declined comment on the issue.”If they lose revenue, then it’s lost. That’s part of it,”
the head of Brazil’s electric regulator, Nelson Hubner, told
Reuters.Hubner argued that an eventual drop in revenues for
Eletrobras will not necessarily slow investments, suggesting
financing for projects could be secured against future revenues
from new installations.Eletrobras is testing market appetite on a road show this
week for a bond issue worth up to $2.5 billion, at a time when
most Brazilian companies are backing away from financial
markets shaken by Europe’s tussles with debt concerns.
REN diz empresas internacionais de referência interessadas privatização
A edição de hoje do Jornal de Negócios adiantou que a
britânica National Grid é a décima quarta empresa
interessada na privatização de 51,1 pct da REN, operadora das
redes de transporte de electricidade e gás natural de Portugal.Outros pretendentes que têm sido apontados pela imprensa
portuguesa são a IPIC do Abu Dhabi, o operador colombiano ISA
e o grupo financeiro cipriota Tufton Oceanic.O Governo considera prioritárias as operações de
privatização da REN, bem como da EDP-Energias de Portugal
e da Galp Energia , no âmbito do ‘bailout’ de
78.000 milhões de euros (ME) a Portugal acordado com a União
Europeia e Fundo Monetário Internacional.O Estado controla cerca de 51 pct da REN, detém 20 pct na
EDP-Energias de Portugal e é dono de uma fatia de oito pct da
Galp.O Chief Executive Officer (CEO) da REN, Rui Cartaxo, disse Ã
Reuters, no mês passado, que já tinha recebido indicações do
Governo de que a privatização da REN ocorreria até ao final do
ano, referindo que espera que a privatização da REN “traga duas
vantagens: uma, o aumento do ‘float’ da empresa, duas, novos
accionistas que contribuam para a estrategia da empresa, e em
particualr a sua internacionalizacao”.Foram negociadas 54.844 acções da REN, a perderem 0,56 pct
para 2,127 euros.
BlackBerry outage frustrates investment bankers
“It’s one of those things — you don’t realize how important it is to breathe, until you can’t do it,” said the New York-based banker, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak about the subject on behalf of his bank.The banker is one of millions of BlackBerry users in various regions around the world who have been plagued by service disruptions over the last three days, with North American users of Research in Motion’s popular handheld device being the latest to get hit on Wednesday.Indeed, Wall Street honchos and others who tend to spend more time on their BlackBerry than perhaps with their families were left frustrated at the service disruption — a sentiment that does not bode well for Research in Motion.The disruptions were the worst since an outage swept North America two years ago, and analysts said it could ratchet up the negative sentiment toward a company already losing market share to rivals such as Apple and Samsung.Research in Motion advised clients of the outage in the Americas and said it was working to restore services. The company wasn’t immediately available to comment on this article.The disruption comes on top of increasing demand from bankers to be allowed to use other devices on company networks. Some do not want to carry two phones, and some prefer tablet computers such as iPads over laptops.Banks also have an incentive in allowing employees to use their own devices, as it can save on costs that come with the company paying for the BlackBerry and the service plan.One London-based banker, who advises telecom and technology companies, said he has been increasingly using an iPad with clients during pitches but was worried about data security.”I only use my iPad for publicly available information at the moment because we are not yet sure about security for nonpublic and sensitive information,” said the banker said, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the subject.One of Blackberry’s main selling points has been Research in Motion’s top-tier security features.But mobile device management companies such as Good Technology and MobileIron are offering alternatives, allowing some banks to start letting employees use other devices like iPhones, iPads and Google Inc’s Android-based phones on the company’s network.Credit Suisse, for instance, allows employees to connect to other devices, while Barclays Capital allows some employees to use iPhones and iPads. Standard Chartered switched from BlackBerry to iPhones for many users several months ago.At Sagent Advisors, an independent investment bank in New York, 10 percent to 15 percent of the users have switched to iPhones, while another 10 percent to 15 percent have taken up Android devices.”It is still mostly BlackBerry but quickly moving away,” said Terrence Barron, Sagent’s head of marketing and communications. “Over time there has been much more of sliding over to Android devices and iPhones for us.”Still, Blackberry remains ubiquitous on Wall Street, and some bankers said they prefer the device over others when it comes to work.One Houston-based investment banker who focuses on energy sector deals said while Wednesday’s disruption was frustrating, he felt it was not frequent enough to force a change at his firm.”If BlackBerry were down every other day it would be a pretty big issue,” the banker said. “It just forces you to actually call your assistant. It’s like the old days, when you had to talk to people.”The banker, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said he also carries an iPhone for personal use.
eBay and Facebook unveil e-commerce partnership
SAN FRANCISCO Oct 12 (Reuters) - Facebook executive and
eBay Inc board member Katie Mitic unveiled a
partnership between the two companies designed to create a new
crop of e-commerce applications with social networking
features.Mitic said on Wednesday that Facebook’s so-called Open
Graph — the map of connections that Facebook users create with
friends and online content — will be integrated “seamlessly”
into applications developed with certain eBay services and
technologies.EBay is trying to encourage outside developers to create
applications for its e-commerce platforms and is making a
particularly strong push in mobile commerce.The company launched X.commerce, its new division aimed at
software developers, at a conference in San Francisco on
Wednesday.Weaving Facebook features into e-commerce products has the
potential to make online shopping a more personalized
experience, by displaying people’s thoughts about products on
the virtual store shelves.Speaking at the conference, Mitic said Facebook’s Open
Graph would be integrated into applications developed with eBay
services such as Magento, a service for building online
storefronts, and GSI, which handles order fulfillment.Some analysts and e-commerce experts had expected a deeper
partnership, possibly focusing on PayPal, eBay’s electronic
payment system.Mitic’s announcement was met with little applause from the
3,000 strong crowd in the conference hall.Shares of eBay were up 1 percent at $33.17 late Wednesday
afternoon, in line with the broader market.EBay and Facebook have an existing partnership the allows
the purchase of Facebook self-serve ads and Facebook Credits
using PayPal, eBay’s electronic payments system.At the end of September, Katie Mitic, head of Platform and
Mobile Marketing at Facebook, joined eBay’s board of directors,
sparking speculation that the two companies were working on new
partnerships.
Hedge fund couple split businesses after separation
* Emergent criticised in Oakland Institute report this yearBy Laurence FletcherLONDON, Oct 12 (Reuters) - David Murrin and Susan Payne, the
UK-based husband and wife hedge fund team accused by one U.S.
thinktank of fuelling and exploiting a global commodity crisis,
are to split the two businesses they founded together after
agreeing to separate.Murrin, a former oil company geologist well known in the
hedge fund industry for his outspoken geopolitical views, has
taken sole ownership and become CEO of London-based Emergent
Asset Management, a spokesman said on Wednesday.Meanwhile, Canadian Payne, a former Goldman Sachs banker,
has quit as Emergent’s CEO and become UK-based executive
chairman of South Africa-based Emvest, which will continue to
run the African Agriland fund — a portfolio that has courted
some controversy for its investments in African farmland.”They’ve had an amicable separation … and they’ve decided
to divide up the businesses,” a spokesman said.The company has declined to say how much money it manages,
although it said in January that Agriland was the largest
agricultural fund in Africa.The separation follows news of the high-profile divorce of
Pierre Lagrange, star manager at GLG, part of Man Group .This summer Emergent came in for criticism from
California-based thinktank the Oakland Institute over the
Agriland fund, which aims for returns of 25 percent a year from
land price appreciation, and food and biofuel production.In a June report entitled “Understanding Land Investment
Deals in Africa”, Oakland — which said Emergent has close to
$540 million invested in African land deals — said the hedge
fund firm was engaged in a “quest for control of global food
markets”.It added that Murrin and Payne “have played leading roles in
creating the commodity crises they are presently exploiting
through funds such as the African Agriland Fund”.In a statement emailed to Reuters, Emvest said Oakland had
“misrepresented … the reality of much agricultural land
development in Africa.”Our focus concerns increasing food production involving
commercial farms and smallholders alike, uplifting communities
through, for example, the provision of employment, access to
agricultural support for improved crop production, access to
markets for small scale farmers, access to clean water, and
various facilities and health care.”Murrin, who has stepped down from the board of Emvest, plans
to unveil new directors and new projects for Emergent, the
spokesman said, although he declined to give further details.Emergent’s investments are driven by Murrin’s views as
outlined in his book “Breaking the Code of History”, which
focuses on his theory of historical cycles.One prediction included “armed conflict” as China expands
and the United States’ power declines.Earlier this year he outlined plans for funds based on six
trends he believes will define the coming decades: the rise of a
multipolar world, increased commodity rivalry, increased
polarisation and a “move to war”, growing military spending, a
rising tide of epidemics and climate change.Payne confirmed her new role but declined to give detailed
comments.Meanwhile Emergent director Alfred Vinton, who owned 5
percent of the firm, has left the firm.
