Business News & Financial News

The former minister mentioned the figure of 15 to 20 billion savings if the state gave shares in France Telecom, Aéroports de Paris, or Renault.

Patrick Devedjian (UMP) has called for Monday to resume the privatization of companies where the State is a party, seeing it as a deposit "of 15 to 20 billion euros."

Europe 1, former Minister launched as an example of struggle against deficits "are repeated privatization. There are considerable resources in terms of privatization."

He shelled several examples: "France Telecom, the state controls 27%. Me, I propose to sell 13.5%. It represents 4.7 billion."

"Airport of Paris. We do not have to keep control as powerful state of ADP. It is 3 billion. Renault, we have 15% of Renault. We sell.Air France we have 15%, we sell, "he said.

"Just on privatization, we can make 15-20000000000," summarized Mr. Devedjian. In more general terms, he said that Nicolas Sarkozy, the best candidate in his eyes to the right must, for the victory in 2012, presenting "an overall important and mind-blowing."

"If it is to have a policy that constitutes a system of patches that we deal with accidents one after the other, it is not convincing," he said. "When I see the left that has no project" is "a chance for our side if we come up with something strong, innovative," said the former leader of the UMP

"Who's next?" After the decision by Standard & Poor's rating to degrade the U.S., the sustainability of the note of other countries "triple A", including the United Kingdom and France, raises questions.

The rating "AAA" allows recipient countries to finance the best conditions in the bond markets, that is to say interest rates very low, also called "risk-free rate."

For now, Standard & Poor's is the only one of the three major rating agencies to have made the decision to deprive the U.S. of their triple-A to bring them to "AA +".Moody's and Fitch have confirmed their notes "Aaa" and "AAA".

When asked about France, officials from Standard & Poor's affirmed the "AAA" of Paris and its stable outlook.

"There is no need to worry about its solvency," said Carol Sirou, president of S & P France, Liberation.

This does not preclude some analysts to express concerns, and others estimate that a new exclusion from the club of "triple A" is not imminent.

Mohamed El-Erian, managing director of Pimco, believes that it is difficult to imagine that (…) S & P does not follow with at least one of the other members of the club AAA sovereign. "

"If this were to materialize, and involve a country like France for example, would complicate efforts, already fragile, made in Europe to save the country from the periphery," he adds.

More cautious strategies Commerzank wrote in a note that "the degradation (of the United States, Ed) suggests that other countries (…) 'AAA', such as France, might begin to feel the wind of the bullet ".

But Ciaran O'Hagan, rates strategist at Societe Generale, told Reuters on Saturday not to expect the degradation of another "triple A", including that of France.

The primary deficit IMPORTANT FROM FRANCE

Until the assumptions of one or the other materialize, France and Germany have issued Monday in short-term debt in much better conditions, that is to say, at rates significantly lower than the week or last month.

On the long curves of their interest rates, the France and Germany (part of the euro area), who benefited from risk aversion in the past weeks, Monday saw the return on their loans to 10 tender years together.

The criticisms are focused on France, its budget ratios – the worst of the group of "triple A" in the euro area (France, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Luxembourg).

The public deficit, which reached 7.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) last year in France, goes beyond the level of other "triple A" in the euro area.

The European Commission expects that this gap will remain this year, the French deficit to rise to 5.8% at end 2011 against 3.7% for the Netherlands and Austria, 2.0% for Germany and a , 0% for Finland and Luxembourg.

France is the only one of these countries show a primary deficit (excluding debt service) important. The Commission should represent 3.1% of GDP in France in late 2011 against 1.6% in the Netherlands, Austria 0.9% and 0.5% in Luxembourg.Germany and Finland for their part should end the year with a primary surplus (0.4% and 0.2% respectively).

Other major economies outside the euro area recorded "triple A" by the three main agencies are the United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Norway and Switzerland.

Many experts believe the "triple A" in the UK could also be subject to question.The Commission expects that the deficit of the United Kingdom will amount to 8.6% in late 2011, the primary deficit to 5.5%, for a debt ratio almost identical to that of France.

"A red line not to cross"

Faced with repeated questions, the French government assures it will take all necessary steps to meet its deficit reduction targets in order to quickly lower the debt ratio in the country.

It has already announced it would reduce the need to "niche" amputate tax revenues of the state in a proportion higher than the 3.0 billion expected for 2012 for now.

"The 'triple A' was confirmed by the three agencies and it was a red line not to cross on deficit reduction," said Saturday a source familiar with the Finance Minister Baroin. "It will result in measures in the draft budget law and the bill for funding Social Security in 2012 to be presented to the Cabinet in September."

The French government is committed to reducing the public deficit to 5.7% of GDP end of 2011, 4.6% in late 2012, 3% and 2% end 2013 end 2014.This path should enable it to as reverse the spread of debt / GDP ratio from 2013 to put it on a downward path.

Paris believes that this ratio will continue to increase, to 85.4% of GDP at end 2011 and 86.9% in late 2012, then it will fall to 86.4% at end 2013 and 84.8% at end 2014.

This path will be updated in September, when presenting the draft budget for 2012 to reflect the increase of some 15 billion euros by 2014 (0.75 percent of GDP) financing needs French , because the new plan to support countries in the euro area in difficulty adopted at the European Summit of 21 July.

The possibility of a default part of Greece, triggered by a redemption or exchange of debt securities, is at the heart of discussions between leaders of the euro area in Brussels, where a summit decisive for the future of the single currency s is open.

According to a draft statement obtained by Reuters, the 17 Heads of State and Government also advanced to an overhaul of the fund to support the euro area (EFSF) to enable it to act preventively, to recapitalize banks or buy bonds on the secondary market to stop the contagion.

In preparation for this summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy Wednesday identified a common position on a new bailout Greek, which includes private sector, after seven hours of talks "very tight, "according to members of the French delegation.

Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy have called mid-term to Jean-Claude Trichet to join them in Frankfurt, suggesting that the compromise has the support of the President of the European Central Bank.

Several diplomatic sources said that if the question of a defect Greek – very short – is not fully resolved, the principle is accepted by all.

"It will not be made clear but it will be induced by the measures to be presented in the final declaration," said a source following the talks.

For its part, the Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager, told his parliament that this possibility was not excluded.

"The demand to avoid a default selection is no longer on the table.We can continue on the path of a banking plan, which remains confidential, "he said.

REDEMPTION OF BONDS

According to the draft final statement, the fund will support euro area could now be used by countries in need loans of up to 15 years and at rates of about 3.5%, against seven and a half years and between 4.5 and 5.8% today.

It could also lend money to proactively country through a crisis of liquidity and recapitalize banks via loans to governments, even if they do not have a plan to help the EU and the Fund International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Finally, it could also be involved in the secondary market, provided that the European Central Bank does not declare an "emergency situation".

All these measures were presented for the first time in the spring but Germany had blocked when considering that they went too far.

The IMF, which is represented in Brussels by its new CEO Christine Lagarde, has previously recommended to the leaders of the euro area to replenish the EFSF and make it more flexible.

This redesign, however, require an amendment to the articles of EFSF and ratification by national parliaments, and could take several months.

It is also not clear whether the Permanent Mechanism for stability (MES), which will follow the EFSF July 1, 2013, will also perform these operations.

NO TAX CREDIT

According to several sources, the option to buy back Greek bond at a discount to face value is favored over an exchange or a "rollover" of bonds as it would greatly reduce the total amount of government debt, which is around 350 billion euros.

The new aid plan in Athens, which should amount to some 115 billion euros, against 110 billion for the first, will include participation estimated at 30 billion euros from the private sector.

The modalities of this participation of the banks had to be a presentation of Baudouin Prot, BNP Paribas – the bank most exposed to French Greek debt – and Josef Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank and the Institute of International Finance (IIF), which represents banks.

However, the solution of taxing the banking sector, which the banks were strongly opposed because they felt it unfair to those of them who are not exposed to the Greek debt was excluded.

The euro rose Thursday morning after having returned and was finally up sharply in the afternoon, boosted by the prospect of an agreement.

European shares have resumed their so-early in the afternoon after playing on a hesitant note before.

In the bond market, the yield spread between German debt – seen as a safe haven investment – and the debt of peripheral countries in the euro area has narrowed.

Nearly 200,000 managers should be recruited this year, up 18% year on year, but fears a slowdown in APEC in 2012. Nearly 200,000 managers should be recruited this year as APEC.

New breath of optimism on the use of frames: the number of hires will increase by 18% in 2011 compared to last year after rising 15% in 2010, with a total of almost 200,000 recruits. "The trend on the labor market framework should remain on the rise in the second half of 2011" and throughout the year, 194,600 executives could be hired, "exceeding the forecast six months ago for business," of only 181,000, said in a statement Jacky Chatelain, executive director of the APEC, the Association for the employment of executives who publishes these figures on Wednesday.

These figures confirm a good momentum already started in the first quarter of 2011, but the movement might not last.The increase in recruitment could then slow down to 8% in 2012, 5% in 2013 and 6% in 2014 before starting to decline by 1% in 2015, according to these forecasts. Recruitment would be weakened by "investment companies that should not regain the strength he had in the past," said the APEC provides an evolution "hit" of growth.

Low employment growth

The economy may "encounter headwinds" associated with "sovereign debt crisis of some European countries" and also inflationary and fiscal impact, she believes."The contours of economic growth, low employment seem to be emerging" new hires who are constrained by the willingness of companies to "restore" their productivity, "deteriorated during the crisis" of 2008 – 2009, the study said.

Finally, the year 2015 was "marked a plateau for hiring managers in a market that lacks strong enough levers," said the APEC. In addition, new legislation on retirement and the employment of seniors, as well as the economic context, would encourage more frames from position before retirement, notes the study.

The future of the distribution sector in Brazil may well depend on the negotiation skills of a Swedish marketing expert and a French magnate of finance.

Lars Olofsson, Executive Director of Carrefour, and Jean-Charles Naouri, his counterpart at Casino, compete for the number one Brazilian distribution Grupo Pao de Acucar (GPA), a valuable market share in the seventh global economy.

Carrefour intends to merge its local branch with GPA to create a retail giant weighing about 27% of the Brazilian market of food distribution.

A victory would ensure the Swede Lars Olofsson, 59, a significant boost at a time when he tries to get out of the rut the group after starting three warnings about its benefits in less than a year.

But before him, Jean-Charles Naouri, 62, intends to defend the position of Casino in the Brazilian market, and warned that its controlling stake in GPA made illegal incursions of rival Carrefour.

Casino is indeed a shareholder of Grupo Pao de Acucar (GPA) up to 43.1% of the shares and exercise operational control on par with the billionaire Abilio Diniz – Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Brazilian distributor – in the Wilkes holding.By exercising a purchase option in Wilkes Casino also has the opportunity to be sole master on board from June 2012.

The battle for the Brazilian market – which represents some 230 billion dollars in revenue each year – is likely to be resolved in the political corridors and courts.

Olofsson, MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS

Lars Olofsson has spent 32 years in the Swiss giant Nestlé food before being propelled in 2008 to head the world's second largest distribution, supported by Bernard Arnault and U.S. real estate fund Colony Capital, former shareholders of Carrefour within the alliance Blue Capital.

At the head of Nestlé in France and Europe, Lars Olofsson has advanced the group's profitability and has earned a reputation as an expert in marketing and communication.

"This is a man who can kick ass people, without really bothers them," said James Amoroso, a consultant who has clients such as Carrefour and Lars Olofsson known for over ten years.

Six months after his arrival at the head of Carrefour, Lars Olofsson announced a comprehensive restructuring plan over three years through drastic savings of 4.5 billion euros.

Last September, he unveiled Carrefour Planet, a new hypermarket concept whereby – in return for 1.5 billion euros of investment – it is hoped that the hypermarkets end up slowing the favor of consumers in France and Europe .

But the results so far have been mixed, and doubts arise about the ability of Lars Olofsson stand up to Blue Capital.

Earlier this year, Blue Capital has thus forced to support a plan to split the group of real estate assets, triggering a sharp dispute within the group, as the stock market.

Lars Olofsson had no choice but to postpone the draft terms of division, but showed he could be ruthless, winning the departure of James McCann, executive director of Carrefour France and leading critic of the plan of division.

"This is someone who can work in teams. He listens to advice and he can share the work," said Maurice Levy, CEO of Publicis. "He's a friendly people.This is an advantage, but the downside is that sometimes it does not push enough. "

It will, however, that Lars Olofsson make tough if he intends to overcome the opposition of Casino, which not only ruled illegal the merger of Carrefour with GPA, but has already initiated arbitration proceedings against Abilio Diniz to enforce the shareholders that binds to Casino.

NAOURI, the infallible INTELLECTUAL

Born to a doctor father and a mother an English teacher, Jean-Charles Naouri seemed destined for a bright future right out of the Ecole Normale Superieure and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA).

He started his career in government departments, including finance, where he was chief of staff Socialist Minister Pierre Beregovoy in the 1980s, before converting to the private sector and join the Rothschild bank in 1987.

"It is extremely bright and you can be sure he always three moves ahead," slips one of his employees, saying his "determination and tenacity."

Passionate opera buff Greek and Latin, Jean-Charles Naouri was found in the distribution sector through Rallye, the holding company which controls 38.5% stake in Casino.

In 1992 he made his debut in the environment by countering a hostile takeover of the group Promodès, which will then be taken over by Carrefour.

Casino became CEO in 2005, Jean-Charles Naouri managed to straighten the group by offloading its loss-making activities and opening the high-growth emerging markets such as Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia and Thailand.

An analyst who knows the man describes as "very bright and very demanding" and said he was not surprised by his firmness in the Brazilian case.

Casino recently received some letters seized from his rival Carrefour can be kept by bailiffs to be possibly used in court.

Moreover, according to a source familiar with the matter, Jean-Charles Naouri went to Brazil to meet with officials from the Brazilian National Bank of Development, which supports the merger, Carrefour said Saturday GPA but no funding would be committed without Agreement Casino.

Despite its firmness displayed so far, those who know him say that Jean-Charles Naouri could consider a compromise. Last year, he had thus reached an agreement with Lars Olofsson by acquiring the assets of Carrefour in Thailand.

"It is no fun and it's not a choir boy. But it will not crash. He knows his interest and he could negotiate," said one analyst.

The president of OPEC maintains there is no need to put more oil on the market Monday and deplored the initiative in this direction taken by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IEA).

The IEA last week announced the release of emergency reserves, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had decided earlier not to increase production to compensate for the lack of Libya.This is only the third time that the IEA takes such a decision 37 years of its existence.

"The market is in normal (…) There is no need to increase supply," said Iranian Oil Minister Mohammad Aliabadi, who holds the rotating presidency of OPEC to the end of the year.

He was speaking in Vienna where he met officials from the European Union for an annual exchange of ideas, regularly since June 2005.This meeting could be much more animated than usual, at least behind the scenes, given the divisions within OPEC and tensions between the cartel and consuming countries, especially since the use of reserves.

Mohammed Aliabadi wondered why major consuming countries do not have adhered to the principles of free trade they advocate. "Why do they not respect these principles, it's really a big issue for us.We think prices should be determined by the market itself, "he said.

Iran is one of the OPEC countries to have this month blocked a proposal to increase the production promoted by the Saudis.

The price of Brent crude for August delivery touched a session low of 102.28 dollars a barrel on Monday, down about 10% from its close of Wednesday, the eve of the announcement of the IEA .

"The big problem is that Iran has the presidency of OPEC in 2011 and is a political instrument," said Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix. "The news emanating from the current OPEC is irrelevant because Iran has kidnapped the OPEC and we will have to wait for 2012, perhaps, see OPEC again work as an institution."

The heads of state and government agreed Friday to appoint Mario Draghi as President of the European Central Bank from 1 November 2011, announced the European Council president, Herman Van Rompuy.

"The European Council has just agreed on the appointment of Mario Draghi as the next President of the European Central Bank," said Herman Van Rompuy in a message posted on Twitter, confirming information from diplomats.

The current governor of the Bank of Italy, aged 63, will succeed to Jean-Claude Trichet, who will leave his post in late October after eight years at the head of the institution.

Athens will open the capital or fully privatized company thirty by the end of 2013. The objective is to provide 50 billion euros by 2015.

Rail, ports, airports, banks, lotteries, electricity, water companies or highway Athens plans to open the capital or fully privatize some thirty companies by the end of 2013, on which investors eyeing competitors creditor countries.

Combined with the acceleration of the exploitation of property assets held by the state, the objective of these assignments is to generate 50 billion euros by 2015 to reduce the debt of 340 billion euros and a boost moribund economy by encouraging competition.

An "agency management to independent and professional" will be created to ensure the implementation of the plan, said the Troika of the creditors of Greece on Friday.The EU requested the establishment of an agency with foreign representatives, modeled on the German Treuhand, which dismantled the East German conglomerate after the fall of the wall.

In the following list, the first number indicates the interest held by the current state capital of the company, the second, the share sale, followed by the date of transaction. For some companies, the percentage of participation for sale was not reported./ P>

The Dow Jones and S & P 500 closed Friday on a sixth consecutive week of declines, a first since mid-2008 on Wall Street, burdened by fears for growth after poor figures from China's foreign trade.

The gloom has also been fueled by persistent concerns about Greek debt and uncertainty about a second bailout plan for Athens.

The Dow Jones finished lower by 1.42% (172.45 points) to 11,951.91, falling below the 12,000 points at close for the first time since mid-March.

The Standard & Poor's 500 broad, yielded 1.4% (18.02 points) 1.270.98, while the Nasdaq, which has erased all its gains since the beginning of the year to return to negative territory, dropped 1.53% (41.14 points) to 2643.73.

For the week, the Dow Jones has sold 1.6%.For their part, the S & P 500 lost 2.2% and Nasdaq 3.3%, their sharpest decline since August 2010 weekly.

Penalized by a burst of unfavorable indicators, the S & P has dropped about 7% since a peak in early May and many analysts expect to see the reference index fund managers fall to its lowest point in March, around of 1,250 points, where valuations might encourage investors to return to the equity markets.

"Vendors could they overwhelm buyers for a while? It's possible, but once we declined to levels correction in March, I think the market will stop (its decline)," Judge Robert Lutts, Cabot Money Management.

TOWARDS CORRECTION FOR THE S & P?

Around 1.250 points, the S & P 500 is about 2% below its current levels and closer to a contraction of 10%, generally considered to indicate a correction.

New figure sending the thesis of an economic slowdown, China's trade surplus accounted for $ 13.1 billion in May against 18.6 billion dollars expected, due to a surge in imports and a weakening of the Growth in global demand.

In particular, sales from China to the United States and the European Union were at their lowest since late 2009, excluding Lunar New Year holidays.

Bank stocks were among the most affected by the overall decline on Wall Street.The Federal Reserve announced plan to increase the number of establishments which will be charged annual assessments on the level of capital and the ability to raise dividends.

The KBW regional bank index ended down 1.11% and the S & P financial sector by 0.71%.

Adding to the gloomy mood of investors, poor market conditions prompted the organization of auto loans and real estate Ally Financial, which the American state is the majority shareholder, to postpone its initial public offering of six billion.

Concerns over the poor job creation figures released Friday drove down U.S. markets, signs of growth seen in the services sector, however, provide from light support values.

The three major indexes on Wall Street have closed down, the Dow Jones lost 0.79% or 97.29 points to 12,151.26 points.

The S & P 500 declined 0.97% or 12.78 points to 1,300.16 points while the Nasdaq has sold 1.46% (40.53 points) to 2732.78 points.

For the week, all three indexes have lost 2.3%.This is for the S & P 500's worst weekly performance since mid-August.

The statistics published in the day by the Labor Department reported a number of new jobs far below expectations for the month of May.

Shortly after the publication of these figures, the three major indexes plunged more than 1%, reaching their lowest in session.

Investors are however hook the ISM services index, which indicated an increase higher than expected activity in the service sector in May.

On several occasions during the session, the S & P 500 tested its support threshold of 1294.70, corresponding to its lowest in April.Analysts estimate that by keeping this threshold, the index could revert to its moving average of 200 days, about 1,250.

The energy sector has managed to finish the session in positive territory, with the sector index up by 0.03%.

Recent statistics published in the United States outline a slowdown in economic recovery, and investors wonder about the extent and duration of this trend.

"The general opinion is that for now the economy is a bit bogged down, and everyone wonders how it will be temporary, and if we see a real change or just a bump on the passenger road to recovery . For now, this is a jolt, "said Giri Cherukuri, head trader at Oakbrook Investments Fund, Illinois.