In Brief
Gov’t concerned at MIG’s ever rising stake in OTE The ministers, of Economy and Finance, Giorgos Alogoskoufis, and, of Transport and Communications, Costas Hatzidakis, will today meet with Andreas Vgenopoulos, the vice president of Marfin Investment Group (MIG) in an effort, according to sources, to dampen the ambitions of the buyout fund regarding the acquisition of a large stake in OTE telecom. The government now has a 28 percent stake in the country’s main telecoms operator, and MIG, backed by Gulf-based investors, has gradually raised its share from zero to 17 percent in recent months. The meeting, the second in as many months, has been called at Alogoskoufis’s initiative, who has said that the government wishes to find a European peer as a strategic investor in OTE. Louis, Carnival, MSC Cruises plan joint bid Louis Ltd, the largest publicly traded cruise line and hotel operator in Cyprus and Greece, Carnival Corp and MSC Cruises plan a joint bid to lease a terminal and cruise-ship pier in the French port of Marseille. Louis is «cooperating» with Carnival unit Costa Croiciere and MSC Cruises, the company said in a statement to the Cypriot stock exchange today. Carnival is the world’s biggest cruise operator. Marseille has become «one of the most significant cruise centers» in the region and will expand further, Nicosia-based Louis said. Louis, Costa Croiciere and other companies are also bidding to develop the port and marina of Larnaca, Cyprus, the statement said. (Bloomberg) Postal Savings Postal Savings Bank, the lender that listed on the Athens Exchange last year, said nine-month profit fell 20 percent on lower trading gains. Net income declined to 73.8 million euros from 91.8 million euros a year earlier, according to a statement to the Athens bourse today. Trading gains fell 65 percent, while income from fees and commissions dropped 57 percent. Income from lending gained 17 percent to 215.4 million euros as the savings bank used its deposit base of about 10 billion euros to sell more mortgages and consumer loans. (Bloomberg) Turk markets firmer Turkish markets strengthened yesterday on the back of improved global sentiment amid hopes for strong US retail sales in the approach to the winter holidays. The lira closed 0.5 percent stronger at 1.1950 against the dollar from Friday’s interbank close of 1.2015. Istanbul’s main stock exchange rose 0.67 percent to 52,682.48 points. Friday saw small gains, following losses on six out of seven days in the past week. «We had a very harsh sell-off last week, and you can’t fall for six days without some sort of rebound, it’s technically impossible,» said Ayse Colak, head of research at Tera Brokers. (Reuters) Kozloduy is back Bulgaria’s nuclear power plant Kozloduy reconnected a 1,000 megawatt reactor to the national grid after it was shut down following a steam leak on Saturday, it said yesterday. Bulgaria closed two of Kozloduy’s 440 megawatt reactors at the end of last year over safety concerns. (Reuters)
