Print

Mail

wiki links

World Business Quick Take

■ Banking
Rescue funds expanded
Japan's Financial Services Agency plans to broaden eligibility of banks for public fund injections to help prevent a financial crisis, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. The agency may allow banks with capital-adequacy ratios higher than the minimum required level to apply for public funds, according to the newspaper, which didn't say where it got the information. It will submit a bill to next year's regular session of parliament allowing it to change rules of eligibility, the report said. The agency wants to reduce concern about the financial system by injecting funds into banks that meet minimum standards but are unable to improve their finances, the paper said.

■ Trade
Japan to start FTA talks
Japan will start talks to establish free-trade agreements with the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand by the end of the year, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. Thailand is calling for tariffs on rice, chicken and other agricultural products to be abolished, while the Philippines and Malaysia are asking for Japan to allow nurses and other workers into the country, the Nikkei said. Japan and Mexico failed to sign a trade agreement by the middle of last month as planned because Tokyo did not accept Mexico's request to eliminate tariffs on orange juice and pork, the newspaper said. Japan's only free-trade agreement is with Singapore, which doesn't have a large local agricultural industry.

■ Investment
Silverstein to recoup equity
World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein and his investors will get back US$98 million of the US$125 million in equity they put up to lease the property as part of an agreement to pay off his lender, GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp, the New York Times said. Silverstein and his partners will retain control of their rights to rebuild the site, the paper said, citing people who have been briefed on the deal. Silverstein put up US$14 million of the US$800 million in fees and down payments made to the Port Authority of New York and in New Jersey in July 2001, the Times said. Total payments over the 99-year lease would have to come to US$3.2 billion. Under the deal to pay off GMAC's US$563 million loan and buy out Westfield America Trust's retail rights for US$140 million, Silverstein will in effect get back some of the collateral used to obtain the loan.

■ Trading
Insider selling rises in US
Insider selling compared to buying last month was the most lopsided in at least a decade, indicating that executives are skeptical about the future of their companies' stock prices, Barron's said, citing Lon Gerber of Thomson Financial. Executives bought US$52 million worth of shares last month, the least since July 1995, and sold US$3.2 billion worth, Barron's said in its ``Up and Down Wall Street'' column. The same is occurring this month, with insider selling totaling US$2.7 billion while buying amounts to US$47 million, the weekly newspaper said. The selling has been concentrated in companies that make semiconductors, such as Texas Instruments Inc, Lam Research Corp and Intel Corp, Barron's said.

This story has been viewed 1558 times.