Enron allegations: JP Morgan nears settlement
New York: J P Morgan Chase & Co is nearing settlement agreements with regulators to resolve allegations that the nation's second-largest bank helped Enron Corp gloss over its books, according to a newspaper report. The outcome of two separate negotiations - with Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau and the Securities and Exchange Commission - could be payments totaling as much as $175 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site on Tuesday.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the newspaper reported that the proposed settlement with the district attorney would involve a payment of roughly $25 million and allow it to avoid criminal prosecution. Morgenthau's office had empanelled a grand jury to investigate JP Morgan's alleged role in helping Enron conceal debt and otherwise burnish financial statements before the energy company filed for bankruptcy in December 2001. J P Morgan's investors have privately expressed concerns about the criminal inquiry, which could have devastated the bank by banning it from acting as a fiduciary for its clients, a role crucial to vast aspects of its operations, the newspaper said.
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MGM to up Vivendi bid if it gets more financial information
New York: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. told Vivendi Universal it will raise its bid for the media conglomerate's entertainment assets to $11.5 billion, but only if given access to more financial information about the unit, people familiar with the situation said on Monday, news agencies report. In a letter to Vivendi Universal chief operating officer Jean-Bernard Levy, MGM also threatened to walk away from the auction entirely unless it receives the information it is seeking by July 21, said the sources, who requested anonymity.

The tactical move could raise the stakes in the closely watched auction as MGM, the Los Angeles-based film studio, tries to advance Vivendi's timetable on the process and possibly to force rival suitors to hasten their own plans. A Vivendi spokeswoman could not immediately be reached and a woman answering the telephone at MGM said the company's spokesman was traveling. MGM originally valued Vivendi Universal Entertainment, or VUE - which includes a film and TV studio business, cable channels and theme parks -- at $11.2 billion and was thought by some observers to have submitted the highest bid. The new offer would add $300 million of cash.
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SingTel to up stake in regional associates
Singapore: Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, Asia's sixth-largest telephone group, has said that it wishes to hike its shareholdings in regional investments and renew a share buyback programme worth about S$1.4 billion ($804.7 million). Singapore's largest listed company, 67-per cent owned by the state, has stakes in Thailand's Advanced Info Service Plc, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd in India, Globe Telecom in the Philippines and Telkomsel in Indonesia. But analysts said boosting offshore stakes will be tough. Most of the holdings are already at a maximum foreign shareholding ceiling. "If they have the opportunity, they would do it," said Himanshu Chaturvedi, analyst at DBS Vickers. "Most of their associates are already at the foreign limit, so they can only increase their stakes if another foreigner sells."

"But certainly it can afford to raise stakes in these companies. The group will generate free cash flows of S$2.33 billion this year." That figure translates to $1.33 billion.The carrier was recently approached by Deutsche Telekom to buy the German group's stake of 24.8 per cent in Globe, worth an estimated $430 million."SingTel will continue to maintain its focus on execution and maximising the value of its existing businesses and its regional investments," Chairman Ang Kong Hua said in the group's 2003 annual report released on Tuesday.
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Mauritius too goes the cyber route
Port Louis: Mauritius is plunging into the high-tech world of information technology with plans to turn itself into a "cyber island" paradise linking Asian software expertise with Africa.A so-called cyber city is emerging amid green mountains near the capital Port Louis, built on the sugar plantations that for centuries formed the foundations of the Indian Ocean island's economic success, agencies report.

The government sees the 150-acre (60-hectare) city as the first of a new generation of state-of-the-art knowledge parks. It will include a multi-media zone, business zone, knowledge centre, a hotel and a residential and recreational complex.Taking advantage of its location - 4,000 km (2,500 miles) east of South Africa - the island aims to bridge the information gap by linking Asian computer know-how to African countries, through an underwater fibre-optic cable link.
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