Citigroup hike's stake in Pudong Bank to maximum limit
Shanghai: Citigroup Inc, the world's biggest bank, will increase its stake in Pudong Development Bank Co. to 19.9 per cent, from its earlier stake of 4.6 per cent. The move will increase Citigroup's holding to the maximum level permitted under Chinese regulations, the Shanghai-based Pudong Bank said in a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange.

The move by Citigroup has come as the Chinese lender agreed to scrap an exclusivity agreement, which will allow Citigroup to invest in other Chinese banks.

Citigroup is leading a bid of about 22 billion yuan ( US$2.7bn) for 85 per cent of Guangdong Development Bank, which is aiming to be the first Chinese bank to sell at least 51 per cent of its shares to private investors. Citigroup's bid for Guangdong Bank, the second-largest lender in the southern Chinese province, had required approval from Pudong Bank because Citigroup agreed in 2003 that it wouldn't invest in a second bank.

Pudong Bank, with 335 branches nationwide, is targeting 18 per cent annual earnings growth for the next five years. The company's bad-loan ratio was 2.2 percent on Sept. 30, compared with 3.9 percent at China Construction Bank Corp., the nation's third-biggest lender, as of June 30.
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Major Wall Street firms invest hundreds of millions in online casinos
New York: According to a New York Times report, major Wall Street firms currently hold hundreds of millions of dollars in the shares of online casinos which are headquartered outside the United States.

The report says that the shares are traded publicly on the London Stock Exchange with increasing participation from U.S. investors. The US government however deems them illegal operations. The U.S. Justice Department says since Americans place bets online using their home computers, the operators are violating U.S. laws.

Legal experts are however divided over whether U.S. investors, and the firms that operate mutual funds, could themselves be seen as criminally liable for their actions by providing financial backing for offshore casinos, The Times report says.
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Guild workers enter bid for Knight Ridder sale
New York: The Newspaper Guild in the USA has announced that it is going to seek "worker friendly" investors to bid for nine Knight Ridder union newspapers: The San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, the Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune, the Lexington (K.Y.) Herald-Leader, the Monterey (Calif.) Herald, and the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald.

According to the Banc of America, about 28% of Knight Ridder's workforce are represented by unions, or about 5,000 full time employees. Knight Ridder has 13 unionized markets that represent roughly 40% of revenues, and the nine markets the Newspaper Guild has identified accounts for the majority of those revenues.

Analysts however find the move by the Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America to jump in on the Knight Ridder bidding process as vague. They say that it remains unclear how the union would be able to raise capital and what concessions they may have to make with any financial/strategic partner.
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