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World Business Quick Take

■ FINANCE

BNP hires Lehman head

BNP Paribas Securities in Japan said it had hired Adrian Averre, formerly head of vanilla option trading at Lehman Brothers Japan Inc. BNP Paribas appointed Averre, 42, as head of its interest-rate and foreign-exchange trading, Kunihiro Murata, a spokesman at the firm said in an interview yesterday. Averre joined the French bank on March 1 and will primarily focus on expanding the firm's franchise in the yen rates trading area, including linear products, vanilla options and Libor exotics, a press release said. "Adrian's appointment is part of our long-standing commitment and ambition in Japan," Hikaru Ogata, general manager and head of fixed income of the firm, said in the release.



■ COST OF LIVING

Millionaire lifestyle pricey

Britons need a lot more than ?1 million (US$2 million) to enjoy the lifestyle of the rich and famous, a report by the National Lottery by the Centre for Economics and Business Research said yesterday. You need at least ?5.8 million to consider yourself "comfortably rich" in Britain, the report said. That sum allows you to buy a smart house, a luxury holiday villa and a top-of-the-range car. High property prices and rising inflation means a ?1.7 million National Lottery win would require careful spending to make the windfall last. It said ?108.6 million is needed to fund a lifetime of extravagant spending as enjoyed by David and Victoria Beckham and Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie.



■ TELECOMS

Sony Ericsson reviews ties

Sony Ericsson said yesterday that it was reviewing its business ties with NTT DoCoMo, Japan's top mobile telephone operator, which is struggling amid an industry price war. But the company, a joint venture between Japan's Sony Corp and Sweden's LM Ericsson, declined to confirm reports it will stop making handsets for DoCoMo. "It is true that Sony Ericsson is reviewing part of its product development plans with DoCoMo," company spokesman Toshiyuki Kawamura said. But he said the firm would continue to provide products to DoCoMo. The Nikkei Shimbun reported yesterday that Sony Corp would stop making mobile phones for NTT DoCoMo and instead focus on overseas markets.



■ FINANCE

Carlyle warns on sales

Listed mortgage-bond fund Carlyle Capital Corp Ltd said yesterday that it is in talks with creditors to prevent the liquidation of some US$16 billion in securities. Carlyle Capital, which shook financial markets last week after missing margin calls with banks on financing for its US$21.7 billion portfolio of residential mortgage-backed bonds, said that it believed some US$5 billion of the securities held as collateral may have already been sold by some of the banks. The fund, an affiliate of the US-based private equity firm Carlyle Group, warned that if it fails to reach an agreement on debt repayments with the remaining lenders who hold around US$16 billion in securities, those lenders may also liquidate their securities. Carlyle Capital's troubles have raised fears that the assets will flood the market, further depressing prices on fixed-income securities, which have dropped sharply in recent weeks as banks pull back on their lending to funds and investment vehicles, leading to forced asset sales.