•  Die industrielle Agrarproduktion nimmt besonders mit ihren langen Transportwegen und der Tierhaltung Einfluss: "Klimakiller Landwirtschaft"?. Quelle: Neues Deutschland.

•  Klimaforschung: Die Umweltnaturwissenschaftlerin Michèle Bättig, ETH Zürich, beschäftigte sich mit dem Einfluss der Wissenschaft auf die Klimapolitik, und außerdem mit der Kooperationsfähigkeit der internationalen Staatengemeinschaft. Lesenswert!, bei www.ethlife.ethz.ch.

Meanwhile, another well-known retailer I've been watching is trading near its all-time high: Staples (SPLS). CEO Ron Sargent is one of those smart operators who stays under the radar. He's low-ego -- a trait that has helped the company pursue rational growth. When Sargent holds a conference call with investors Tuesday morning to talk about cost savings from Staples' $4.7 billion acquisition of Corporate Express, he's expected to forecast savings in the range of $200-300 million. But that's probably conservative, as Sargent tends to be. Gary Balter, the hardlines analyst at Credit Suisse, contends that savings could actually exceed $400 million. Balter also notes that Staples' operating margin is 8%, twice Corporate Express's margin. The margin of the combined businesses could well head to 10%, he says.

Money tends to be made in tough times like these, when flagging retailers go Chaper 11 (like the Mervyns department-store chain and Bennigan's eateries lately) and others cut capital spending and consolidate. Talking about Staples' weakened rivals, Balter notes that over a year ago Office Depot (ODP) management talked about adding 150 new stores in 2008 and 200 in 2009. Now Office Depot is aiming for eight new stores in 2008. (Eight in '08 may be lucky in China, but not in America!) Office Max (OMX), another competitor, is slashing its new-store openings and remodeling plans as well. Meanwhile, Staples' expansion continues rationally as it builds out its newest market, Houston -- which happens to be one of America's prospering metro areas these days. The stock is approaching $25. Balter's target: $29.

P.S. Do you know the fascinating origin of Corporate Express and its eccentric founder? See my recent post, The origin of Staples' big deal.

London's recently-elected mayor Boris Johnson on Tuesday called for a new airport to the east of the city to ease congestion at the other five which serve the capital.

"It is... ever more urgent that we investigate the possibility of a long-term solution, in the form of a new and more eco-friendly international airport," he wrote in The Daily Telegraph.

Johnson, who was elected in May, doubted that a proposed third runway for Heathrow, carrying 68 million passengers a year, would ever be built, and said Gatwick, London's second biggest, was "full to bursting".

"The Mayor is keen to know what the alternatives are to expansion at Heathrow and would like to know whether the idea of a new airport in the Thames estuary would be viable or not," a spokesman for the Mayor said.

"He has asked officers to consider the feasibility of a new airport to see if the idea is worth further consideration," he added.

Johnson has said he also supports expansion at east London's City Airport, popular with business travelers due to its proximity to financial districts.

London City, owned by a consortium including the insurer American International Group and Credit Suisse, wants to expand annual flights to 120,000 from 80,000.

A City Airport spokeswoman said the growth would not need any new build, although an application to proceed with the development was delayed by Johnson last month due to concerns it may affect a proposed Thames Gateway bridge.

Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted are all owned by BAA -- the subject of a Competition Commission investigation into whether its monopoly should be broken up.

BAA, owned by Spanish group Ferrovial, is under fire from airlines for its high charges, while many critics feel its efforts to improve infrastructure at its airports would be greater if it was competing for passengers.

The Competition Commission could publish its latest report on the issue next week, a spokeswoman said, although no firm date has been set.

(Reuters)

Nach über 20 Jahren als Chairman ist Steven Rattner zurückgetreten. Das teilte das US-Unternehmen, die Private-Equity-Sparte von Credit Suisse, am Mittwoch mit. Rattner wolle mehr Zeit mit seiner Familie verbringen.

Am 5. August erschien eine Meldung, in der darauf hingewiesen wurde, dass Rattner mit Kelly Milne eine Affäre gehabt habe. Er habe ihr eine Summe von 500.000 US-Dollars geboten, wenn sie nach New York übersiedle, wäre mit ihr nach Macao gereist, auf die Philippinen, nach Frankreich und Monaco. Außerdem habe ihr Rattner einen Ferrari und viele andere Geschenke versprochen, wenn sie für zwei Jahr mit ihr zusammenlebe. Verbreitet wurde die Meldung von Tommi Cosgrove, dem Ehemann der Kelly Milne, deren wirklicher Name Kelly Cosgrove war. Um ihre Ehe zu retten, soll Kelly ihrem Mann alles erzählt haben, während Rattner die Affäre beendete und seiner Frau alles beichtete. Vor einigen Wochen fing Tommi Cosgrove mit der Demontage Rattners, den er beschuldigt, er habe ihm seine Frau gestohlen, an, indem er übers Internet alle Kollegen und die Vorgesetzten Rattners informierte. Rattner musste in der Folge aufgeben.
Einen ausführlicheren Bericht finden Sie hier.
via SideEffects

UBS, une des trois banques du monde les plus durement touchées par la crise des "subprimes" après Citigroup et Merrill Lynch.+Plus

Por Larissa Santana

exame

No final do ano passado, as perspectivas da Agrenco, empresa que atua no setor do agronegócio, pareciam ótimas. A empresa tinha acabado de abrir seu capital, levantando 666 milhões de reais, estava prestes a fechar o ano com um faturamento de 3,5 bilhões de reais (crescimento de 40% em relação a 2006) e tinha planos para começar a investir em biocombustíveis e energia. A foto ao lado foi tirada justamente nessa época de euforia. Nela aparecem — da esquerda para a direita — o diretor de relações institucionais Francisco Ramos, o conselheiro José Guimarães Monforte, o fundador e presidente Antonio Iafelice e o diretor financeiro e de relações com investidores Theodorus Zwijnenberg. A fase otimista vivida pela Agrenco, porém, ficou para trás. No dia 20 de junho, Ramos e Iafelice foram presos pela Polícia Federal, juntamente com Antonio Pires, diretor de operações. Controladores da Agrenco, os três respondem à acusação de crimes financeiros, como lavagem de dinheiro e estelionato (todos foram soltos no dia 16 de julho). “Fiquei muito surpreso com as acusações”, diz o conselheiro Monforte, que presidiu o Instituto Brasileiro de Governança Corporativa (IBGC) até março de 2008 e participava de um evento na Coréia do Sul quando recebeu a notícia da prisão.

Do dia para a noite, a rotina de Monforte mudou drasticamente. Com a companhia acéfala, o comando da Agrenco caiu no colo do conselho de administração, composto de outros dois membros independentes — Cássio Casseb, ex-presidente do Banco do Brasil e do Pão de Açúcar, e James Wright, professor da Universidade de São Paulo e da Fundação Instituto de Administração (FIA). Liderado por Monforte, o grupo recebeu a missão de encontrar um novo comprador para a empresa (até o fechamento desta edição, a venda não havia sido concluída). “O conselho entrou numa espécie de reunião permanente para resolver a situação”, diz Monforte. Na prática, isso significa que os três tiveram de se envolver em negociações que avançam na madrugada e não têm trégua nem nos fins de semana — algo que eles jamais previram que faria parte de suas atribuições.

A situação vivida por Monforte, Casseb e Wright demonstra a extensão dos riscos de quem exerce o papel de conselheiro. A operação policial na Agrenco envolveu apenas os controladores — o que os deixou sem pendências com a Justiça. Mas, como membros da instância máxima da gestão da companhia, eles não escaparam do escrutínio da opinião pública. A principal dúvida era se eles nunca tinham percebido irregularidades na Agrenco — apesar de, teoricamente, terem acesso a todas as suas informações. À reportagem de EXAME, os três afirmaram desconhecer qualquer indício de anormalidade. “A Agrenco é uma empresa de capital aberto, auditada pela KPMG, fez a abertura de capital com o Credit Suisse e tem um conselho forte”, diz Casseb. “Tomei todos os cuidados antes de aceitar o convite e ainda assim estamos nessa situação.” Logo após o anúncio das prisões, Monforte pediu aos integrantes de outros cinco conselhos de administração dos quais participa, entre eles o da construtora JHSF e o da operadora de telefonia móvel Vivo, a chance de explicar o que havia ocorrido. “Todos dispensaram as explicações por confiar na minha reputação”, diz Monforte. Wright teve de encarar a curiosidade dos alunos do MBA de executivos internacionais que coordena na FIA. “Eles queriam saber o que tinha acontecido”, diz. “Mas em nenhum momento duvidaram de mim.”

I hear that she’s been holed up in the Hamptons, and I expected her to take a while to find a new job. Some speculated that she would go to a hedge fund such as Chicago-based Citadel or Och-Ziff (OZM), and maybe even get out of town following a harrowing seven months trying to defend Lehman from worried investors and shortsellers. But Callan is the daughter of a New York City cop and has decided to stay in the game right here. Credit Suisse is one of the few investment banks that’s picking up key talent as the rest of the Street is reeling, as I said in a post three weeks ago. Meanwhile the heat is on Lehman CEO Dick Fuld to do whatever it takes—a deal or some sort of capital infusion—to shore up the company.

P.S. Since Callan and president Joe Gregory stepped down five weeks ago, Lehman’s stock has fallen from $23.75 to $12.40.

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether two former Credit Suisse (CS) brokers lied to investors about how they placed their money into auction rate securities, a type of bond investment that has hurt investors, reports the Wall Street Journal. The $330 billion market for auction rate securities allows issuers such as municipalities and student loan companies, closed-end mutual funds or financial institutions to borrow money in the form of long-term bonds. The market has treated these bonds like safe, short-term investments because investors can sell them at weekly auctions. But the auction market for these bonds dried up when the credit crisis hit, and investors were trapped in these long-dated securities because there were no buyers.

The investigation is being conducted by the U.S. attorney's office for New York's Eastern District, according to the Journal. Many individual investors have already filed lawsuits in an attempt to get their money out of these bonds. Some of these claims say brokers misleadingly described auction-rate securities as "money market" funds, or other cash equivalents. Massachusett's regulators last week filed a civil fraud suit against UBS (UBS) executives, alleging that UBS brokers told investors the securities "were safe, liquid 'cash alternatives' when UBS knew they were not." UBS has denied wrongdoing.

In the Credit Suisse case, New York-based brokers Eric Butler and Julian Tzolov resigned from the firm on Sept. 7, 2007, amid accusations by clients that they were misled about the nature of the auction-rate securities they bought, according to the report. Clients said they were told the securities they purchased were backed by student loans, but they were really backed by risky collateralized debt obligations, or pools of bonds tied in part to subprime mortgages, said the Journal. Credit Suisse has said that it is working with regulators to get to the bottom of the matter, and the report says it is not a target of the investigation.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office and Paul Weinstein, a lawyer for Mr. Butler, declined to speak with the Journal. But Kenneth Breen, a lawyer for Tzolov, said his client is a well-respected broker who shouldn't be blamed for an unforeseeable market failure. "Julian Tzolov deceived no one," he told the newspaper. "He had his clients' interests at heart at all times. We are confident that the U.S. attorney's office will make the correct decision and choose not to bring charges."

Both brokers joined Morgan Stanley a few days after leaving Credit Suisse; but a Morgan Stanley spokeswoman told the Journal that they were fired on Monday and declined to elaborate.

However, the EBK’s co-regulator, the Swiss National Bank (SNB), is now saying boo. It wants to strengthen risk-weighted capital measures that have been in operation, under the Basel 2 capital-adequacy rules, since the beginning of this year. It is also proposing a maximum “leverage ratio”, a limit on the ratio of a bank’s gross assets to its capital.

America, the OECD and the European Union are always ready to attack the Swiss private banking model, with its notorious secrecy, as an unsporting competitor.

Now UBS has given the American authorities an opportunity to demand details about banking clients. The Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are getting unprecedented co-operation from their Swiss counterparts, with the nice distinction that the Swiss will help in cases of tax fraud but not tax evasion. (Tax evasion is not a criminal offence in Switzerland.)

The DoJ is investigating whether UBS helped American clients avoid taxes. This week a judge ruled that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) could require UBS to identify American taxpayers with accounts not declared to the taxman.

Swiss bankers insist that they are fully compliant with international agreements and that banking secrecy is not absolute: they will breach it for cases of severe crime, such as money-laundering or financing terrorism. But they will not give out names and account data willy-nilly in response to “fishing expeditions”, says Michel Dérobert

The big question is whether UBS can remain independent and intact. Banks that have slipped up have often become takeover targets.

The suggestion is a slap in the face for both UBS and Credit Suisse. Their leverage ratios have grown dramatically in the past ten years. Philipp Hildebrand, vice-chairman of the SNB, points out that the two banks’ combined assets amount to seven times Swiss GDP. In no other rich country do bank assets tower above the economy to such a degree (see chart).

The credit crisis interactive analysis covers more than 350 credit crisis or subprime events and the functionality allows you to investigate it from different angels. I've been using it myself and some interesting patterns show up. It has been tested with Explore and Firefox 3.0. It works on both, but Firefox is much faster.

The sale of up to 256.9 million common shares and 164.4 million preferred shares will take place as soon as tomorrow, Rio de Janeiro-based Vale said today in a statement. The shares are worth 20.5 billion reais ($12.8 billion), based on yesterday's closing price in Sao Paulo.

Vale said June 10 it planned to sell as much as $15 billion of stock to fund expansion and possible acquisitions. The Rio de Janeiro-based company abandoned a $90 billion bid for Xstrata in March that would have made it the world's biggest miner.

Credit Suisse Securities LLC will manage the sale, in which international investors may opt to receive American depositary receipts, Vale said. Vale will apply to list its ADRs on the Paris-based Euronext exchange.

Vale preferred shares rose 35 centavos, or 0.8 percent, to 43.75 reais at 10:29 a.m. in Sao Paulo. Common shares fell 6 centavos, or 0.1 percent, to 52.13 reais.

The maniac work ethic paid off. Dougan, now 48, still keeps up the pace, say his colleagues. Though these days, he runs early in the morning—in Zurich, where he's based, or near his Connecticut home, when he works out of Credit Suisse's New York office. Viewed as green when he took the top job in in May 2007, Dougan has performed pretty well in a punishing environment. It sounds crazy to say that $8 billion in asset writedowns is good, but in fact it is compared to rivals like UBS (UBS), Citigroup (C), Merrill Lynch (MER) and Morgan Stanley. Since the start of 2007, those banks have taken bigger hits than Credit Suisse has. Among its major rivals, only Goldman Sachs (GS) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) have beat Credit Suisse in 12-month stock performance.

Of course, Dougan and his rivals are still wrestling with the downturn. But Credit Suisse has managed to pick up talent, particularly in private banking and investment banking. Rob Shafir, the CEO of asset management and the Americas, joined Credit Suisse from Lehman Brothers (LEH) last year. Norman Mineta, the former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, is newly on board advising clients in ever-hot infrastructure investments. And with blood in the streets, Dougan seems hungry to recruit more.

P.S. Also at last night's Credit Suisse soiree: Norm Pearlstine. He's the former editor in chief of Time Inc.—and once my boss's boss. Pearlstine recently left Carlyle Group, the private equity firm, to go to Bloomberg in a new position, chief content officer. Ever since, I've wondered what he's really up to—and what his arrival might mean for expansion-minded Bloomberg. I asked him. "So, Norm, did you go to Bloomberg as a deal guy or as an editor?" Pearlstine smiled and replied, "I have two desks." In fact, he does—one next to Bloomberg editor in chief Matt Winkler and the other near the company's president, Dan Doctoroff. Who knows what that setup signals?

Kloppers also told reporters following a speech in London that a new iron ore price settlement between rival Rio Tinto (RIO.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and China's Baosteel (600019.SS: Quote, Profile, Research) [ID:nSHA250087] was positive but represented a small step in a needed adjustment for a disparity in freight rates from Brazil and Australia.

BHP supports the new OTC market after Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank announced last week they would offer cash-settled swaps in iron ore across a range of maturities. [ID:nL23582773]

"We've said right from the start that we would be a participant and we'll continue to be a participant. We see that as a very important development," Kloppers said.

While annual talks between miners and steelmakers over benchmark contract prices still get heavy focus from the iron ore sector, that benchmark system is already on its way out, Kloppers said.

"Most iron ore is not traded on the benchmark system anymore... so that just means to me that only with great difficulty can I see longevity in the traditional system."

About half of Chinese iron ore consumption is met within the country and falls outside the benchmark system while all of Indian iron ore is sold on a market-clearing basis, he said.

BHP has long been calling for a more transparent system of pricing to replace the traditional yearly price negotiations for iron ore with steelmakers.

FREIGHT DIFFERENTIALS

The largest iron ore producer, Brazil's Vale (VALE5.SA: Quote, Profile, Research) (RIO.N: Quote, Profile, Research), agreed annual price hikes with steelmakers of 65-71 percent in February, but Australian rivals BHP and Rio (RIO.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) have been pressing for higher settlements from Asia customers.

They have been arguing that they should get better prices since Asian steelmakers have to pay much lower freight costs from Australia versus Brazil.

Rio announced on Monday that Baosteel had agreed to pay 79.88 percent to 96.5 percent more for iron ore under its long term contract.

Kloppers declined to say if BHP would agree to the same terms, but said this was a positive development.

"We're talking about a quarter of the (estimated) long term freight differential that was captured, but at today's rates it's only about a 10th," he said. "Clearly this is something we need to work at."

The gap in freight rates between the two regions has skyrocketed in recent years as a commodities boom has led to sharply higher shipping costs. The Baltic Dry Cargo Index .BADI has jumped 1,100 percent over the past six years.

BHP in February made a formal takeover bid for Rio Tinto to forge a mega-mining group with a market capitalisation of nearly $400 billion.

Rio has repeatedly spurned BHP's all-share takeover proposal, currently worth around $170 billion, saying it fundamentally undervalued Rio and its growth prospects.

16/06/2008, São Paulo - IlustraBrasil! 5

Organizado pela SIB — Sociedade dos Ilustradores do Brasil (www.sib.org.br), o IlustraBrasil! 5 reunirá, este ano, 96 expositores que irão mostrar ao público ilustrações com diferentes idéias, técnicas e estilos.

O universo da ilustração será tema de debate entre profissionais da área de todo o Brasil a partir do dia 16 de junho em São Paulo, no Senac Lapa Scipião.

O evento volta em 15 de julho no Senac Santo Amaro, em agosto no Senac Santana e no Senac Piracicaba, em outubro no Senac Campinas e, por último, em novembro no Senac Taubaté.

Em sua quinta edição, o evento apresenta uma mostra de trabalhos dos associados da SIB, uma série de palestras, debates e oficinas. Entre os palestrantes convidados, um dos destaques é o ilustrador e cartunista mineiro e residente em Salvador Cau Gómez, premiado em diversos salões internacionais e colaborador do jornal “A Tarde”. O Ilustra Brasil!5 tem entrada franca e encerra sua série de palestras na unidade Scipião com o cartunista Caco Galhardo e o multimídia Marcelo Tas, no dia 8 de julho, às 20h. Informações e inscrições podem ser feitas pelo site www.sp.senac.br

Programação do IlustraBrasil! 5

Abertura: 16 de Junho ás 20h - coquetel e abertura da exposição

- 18/6, às 20h: Palestra com Cau Gomez premiado ilustrador e cartunista mineiro, premiado dentro e fora do Brasil
- 19/6, das 14h às 17h: Oficina com o Cau Gomez (Unidade Scipião do Senac)
- 24/6, 20h: Romero Cavalcanti, com a Palestra ilustração arte & ilustração para arte
- 25/6, às 20h: debate prós e contras das adaptações literárias para os quadrinhos
- 30/6, 20h: Palestra O poder das criações virtuais e o processo de animação 3-d
- 1/7, às 20h: Palestra Ilustrador de publicidade: o camaleão das artes gráficas
- 8/7, às 20h: Palestra O personagem nos quadrinhos e na tv

Abertura de exposição em outras unidades Senac (veja site).

16/06/2008, São Paulo - Arte contemporânea brasileira - Doação Credit Suisse

Celebrando a aquisição de obras de dez artistas brasileiros, viabilizada pelo patrocínio do Credit Suisse com incentivo da Lei Rouanet, a Pinacoteca do Estado inaugura a exposição Arte Contemporânea Brasileira – Doação Credit Suisse.

A mostra apresenta 15 obras de: Beatriz Milhazes, Caetano de Almeida, Carlos Zílio, Carmela Gross, Daniel Senise, Efrain Almeida, Ivan Serpa, Marepe, Rosângela Rennó e Valeska Soares.