Barclays comes up against RBS led trio
Edinburgh: The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) leading two other banks, has proposed a €72-billion ($98 billion) bid for Dutch bank ABN Amro, threatening to topple a takeover bid by British rival Barclays. The RBS group includes Spain's Santander and Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis, which plans to offer €39 a share for ABN, provided the Dutch bank scraps its planned $21-billion sale of US unit LaSalle Bank to Bank of America.

The offer, comprising 70 per cent cash and 30 per cent in RBS shares, is better than the all-share bid announced on Monday by Barclays that was worth €65.2 billion or €35.2 per share at current market prices.

However, the consortium, which met at the behest of ABN said ABN's deal to sell Chicago-based LaSalle would have to be cancelled. LaSalle is ABN's most attractive asset for RBS, which already has the biggest US presence of any overseas bank.

A bid by RBS and its partners would result in a full break up of ABN. Sources familiar with the matter said the RBS deal would involve fewer job losses than under Barclays, which would cut 23,600.
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LN Mittal acquires Kazakh oil co for $980 million
Moscow: Billionaire Lakshmi N Mittal has acquired Russian oil firm Lukoil's 50 per cent stake in a Kazakhstan oil firm for $980 million (nearly Rs4,000 crore). Mittal Investments will also take over half of Caspian Investments Resources (CIR) outstanding debt, equivalent to about $175 million Lukoil said in a statement.

CIR has equity in five Kazakh oil fields — Alibekmola, Kozhasai, Northern Buzachi, Karakuduk and Arman — in the Aktyubinsk and Mangistau regions. Current production from the fields with total proven reserves of about 270 million barrels, is more than 40,000 barrels per day and are set to rise in future.

Kazakhstan is one of the 10 countries Mittal had originally identified for exclusive pursuit of hydrocarbon opportunities in joint venture with Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC).

ONGC sees the acquisition as violation of the pact unless Mittal transfers the stake to the joint venture firm, ONGC-Mittal Energy Ltd.

Mittal and ONGC had in July 2005 agreed to participate on an exclusive basis through OMEL in Angola, Azerbaijan, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Romania, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
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IMF foresees World Cup effect 'negative' on Caribbean
Barbados: A report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) foresees the net effect of the 2007 Cricket World Cup as 'negative' in the Caribbean region in light of the associated fiscal costs and the already high public debt burdens in the region.

There is a growing perception in the Caribbean is that the International Cricket Council (ICC), West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) with its subsidiary, Cricket World Cup (CWC), West Indies, combine may have taken the Caribbean governments for a ride and an independent probe is being urged by experts.

Since the region's successful bid to host the historic event back in 1998, many things have went wrong. The Host Agreement (HA) between WICB/CWC Inc with the ICC was not shared with the Caricom governments till the hosting of the World Cup had become a virtual fait accompli for them.

By the time Caricom representatives began demanding for the copy --thanks to militancy of a few of their own attorney generals — some amount of collective sovereignty of Caricom governments had been undermined.
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