Marfin Investment Group SA, the Greek buyout fund whose biggest investor is the government of Dubai, called a management board meeting for February 14 to discuss a plan to cancel its own shares and buy back as much as 10 percent of outstanding stock. “Marfin Investment management considers that as long as the share price is at a level close to the current one, we can immediately create significant shareholder value by buying and canceling the company’s shares,’’ CEO Dennis Malamatinas said today in a bourse filing. The board will decide whether to submit the proposal to shareholders for approval. Athens-based Marfin Invest owns 5 percent of its own shares, according to data from the city’s stock exchange. (Bloomberg)

DAMASCUS (AP) –Syria and a Greece’s Intracom yesterday signed an agreement under which the Greeks would build a backup wireless telecommunications network for usage if the country’s telecommunication system stops functioning, reported the state-run SANA news agency. The agreement between the Syrian government and Greece’s Intracom Holdings was signed in Damascus by a representative of the Greek Foreign Ministry and Syria’s Communications Minister Imad Abdul-Ghani Sabbouni. SANA said the project, which will cost 40 million euros, will take 22 months to build. Under the contract, Intracom will build a “national wireless network that provides public institutions with emergency and disaster communications and a substitute communication, in case land and cellular telecommunication stop functioning.” Intracom Holdings is one of Southeastern Europe’s largest technology groups, with operations in 19 countries.

Turkey’s lira weakened as much as 2 percent yesterday to around two-week lows, hit by shrinking global risk appetite, while Turkish stocks fell more sharply than those in other emerging markets. Turkish assets are particularly sensitive to shifts in global appetite as Turkey has a gaping current account deficit and large amounts of foreign portfolio investment both in high-yielding lira bonds and the stock market. Foreign ownership of the stock market is over 70 percent and the market is more liquid than rivals, which also makes it vulnerable to sell-off. The lira ended at 1.2085 against the dollar on the interbank market, having earlier fallen as far as 1.21. Traders said it was following other emerging market currencies lower. (Reuters)

Austrian builder Strabag was selected by Bosnia’s Serb Republic cabinet yesterday to build a 3-billion-euro ($4.39 billion) highway network marking the Serb region’s largest postwar investment. “The contract with Strabag could be signed in three months,” Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik told a news conference. The autonomous region and Strabag agreed in November 2006 to form a joint venture based on a concession of at least 30 years to build three main highways by 2012. The highway project will be the Serb region’s largest postwar investment, Transport and Communications Minister Nedeljko Cubrilovic said. (Reuters)