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International Business News
Bank of America to buy Merrill Lynch for $50b
AFP, hUOimgron
Bank of America has agreed to buy investment bank Merrill Lynch for 50 billion dollars in a transaction that creates the world’s largest financial services company, the bank announced early Monday.
"Acquiring one of the premier wealth management, capital markets and advisory companies is a great opportunity for our shareholders," Bank of America Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ken Lewis said in a statement of the 35-mUlion-eurodeai.
"Together, our companies are more valuable because of the synergies in our businesses."
John Thain, chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch, said he looked forward to working with Bank of America to create "what will be the leading financial institution in the world."
Under the terms of the transaction, Bank of America would exchange 0.8595 of its shares for each Merrill Lynch common share.
The transaction has been approved by directors of both companies and is subject to shareholder votes and standard regulatory approvals. It is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of 2009.
Three directors of Merrill Lynch will join the Bank of America board.
Following the acquisition of Merrill Lynch, Bank of America would have the largest brokerage in the world with more than 20,000 advisers and 2.5 trillion dollars in client assets.
Global banks pledge $70b to ease credit crunch
AFP, Washington
A consortium of 10 global commercial and investment banks announced plans Sunday to provide 70 billion dollars to help offset a credit squeeze amid an anticipated collapse of Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers.
Bank of America, Barclays, Citibank, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and UBS, said in a joint statement they "initiated a series of actions to help enhance liquidity and mitigate the unprecedented volatility and other challenges affecting global equity and debt markets."
They agreed to create a "collateralized borrowing facility" of 70 billion dollars, with each bank contributing seven billion dollars, to help ease access to credit.
They also said they would work together "to help facilitate an orderly resolution” of the derivatives exposures between Lehman Brothers and its counterparties.
"These actions reflect the extraordinary market environment," the statement said.
China appeals against WTO car parts ruling
AFP, Geneva
China has lodged an appeal at the World Trade Organisation against a ruling on its imported car tariffs which found Beijing's measures to be "inconsistent" with trade rules, a WTO source told AFP Monday.
"China has appealed," a WTO spokeswoman said just hours before the organisation's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) was due to meet to formally adopt the ruling.
Beijing had already signalled its intention to appeal in July, saying that it "does not completely agree with the content and conclusion of the dispute settlement panel's report".
"According to the dispute resolution procedures of the WTO, the Chinese side reserves the right to appeal."
"The affair is now in the hands of the DSB," the spokeswoman said, adding that the body will have between 60 and 90 days to come up with a new report.
Beijing has a minimum local content requirement of 60 percent for home produced cars. A vehicle that fails the criterion suffers the same tariff as if it had been imported completely built.
Business leaders say Britain slipping into recession
AFP, London
Britain's main association of business leaders became the latest group Monday to warn that the country was slipping into a recession, although it said the downturn should be short-lived.
In its latest economic forecast, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) predicted a "shallow recession" with the economy shrinking by 0.2 percent between July and September and a further 0.1 percent by the end of the year.
A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
The outlook follows similar predictions by the European Commission and the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The CBI cut this year's growth forecast from 1.7 to 1.1 percent and said unemployment would likely top two million next year.