Thu, Aug 07, 2014 page15

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  BANKING

  Greece deal nearly done

  The private-equity arms of Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Deutsche Bank AG were close to sealing a deal to purchase the buyout unit of National Bank of Greece SA (NBG), Bloomberg reported yesterday, citing sources. Goldman Sachs Asset Management and DB Private Equity were in talks with one of Greece’s big four banks to buy NBGI Private Equity Ltd for about ￡300 million (US$506 million), two people with knowledge of the matter told the news agency. Although no final decision had been taken, NBGI Private Equity’s management, lead by chairman and chief executive officer Pavlos Stellakis, were negotiating terms that would allow the buyout business to remain based in London after the deal was inked, the sources told Bloomberg.

  RETAIL

  Prices in UK’s shops fall

  Prices in British shops fell last month at the fastest rate since records began seven-and-a-half years ago, the British Retail Consortium said yesterday, marking 15 months of declining prices. The consortium said retail prices last month were 1.9 percent lower than a year earlier, marking the largest drop in shop prices since the series started in Dec. 2006. Prices had fallen by 1.8 percent in June. Food prices rose just 0.3 percent, also the smallest rise on record, compared with 0.6 percent in the previous month, while those for furniture, electrical goods and gardening tools fell at a faster rate last month, the consortium said.

  TRADE

  Canada, EU settle on deal

  Canada and the EU have settled on the final text of a landmark free-trade deal, which is expected to come into force in the middle of 2016, Canadian officials said on Tuesday. The 1,500-page document — which is to eliminate 98 percent of tariffs on goods and services, increase cross-Atlantic worker mobility and harmonize professional qualifications — must still be translated into 23 languages and be reviewed by lawyers, trade officials in Ottawa said. That could take up to two years, and then lawmakers must still ratify the agreement — which has not yet been made public.

  BANKING

  Bankruptcy plans panned

  US regulators warned on Tuesday that 11 giant banks have submitted unrealistic contingency plans in the event of bankruptcy, warning that unprepared lenders could plunge the world into a new financial crisis. The US Federal Reserve and US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said the 11 titans, popularly known as “those too big to fail,” must make better plans to restructure their firms in the event of failure. FDIC Vice Chairman Thomas Hoenig said they had failed to show “how, in failure, any one of these firms could overcome obstacles to entering bankruptcy without precipitating a financial crisis.”

  COMMUNICATIONS

  Sprint abandons buyout bid

  US wireless carrier Sprint has decided to abandon a bid for rival T-Mobile, viewing the tie-up as unlikely to win regulatory approval, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Sprint, which is controlled by Japan’s Softbank, had been close to a deal valued at about US$32 billion, according to several reports. The Journal said Sprint gave up after officials from the US Department of Justice and the US Federal Communications Commission indicated they would oppose a deal merging the the third-largest carrier Sprint with the fourth-largest T-Mobile.
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