Ben Bernanke, former Fed chairman, to write memoir
Ben Bernanke, who stepped down last month after eight years as chairman of the Federal Reserve, is planning a memoir.
Bernanke told The Associated Press on Monday that he will focus not just on the defining moment of his time at the Fed, the 2008 financial crisis, but on the “Great Recession” that followed.
Bernanke, 60, says he will cover his entire career at the Fed, starting in 2002, when he joined the Board of Governors. He was appointed chairman in 2006 by President George W. Bush, a Republican, and reappointed four years later by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. A former professor and head of the economics department at Princeton University, Bernanke is currently a fellow at the Brookings Institution.
WALMEX TO OPEN FEWER STORES IN 2014
Mexico’s Walmart de Mexico said it will increase its business investment 7 percent this year but shift its focus to remodeling existing stores rather than opening new stores.
Walmart de Mexico, which has slowed store openings amid a U.S. Department of Justice bribery investigation, will spend 15 billion pesos ($1.1 billion) in 2014 but it will only increase its floor space by 5.2 percent, Chief Financial Officer Rafael Matute told analysts Monday.
Last year Walmart de Mexico spent 14 billion pesos on investments and opened 235 stores in Mexico and Central America, increasing its floor space by 7.1 percent.
Walmex, which last week reported a sharp drop in its fourth-quarter profit, has been struggling amid tough competition and a sharp drop in consumer spending in Latin America’s No. 2 economy.
COSAN PLANS $4.7B TAKEOVER OF LOGISTICS FIRM
Brazilian sugar and ethanol firm Cosan proposed to take over America Latina Logistica in a $4.7 billion deal that would form Latin America’s largest railway and logistics company.
The planned takeover, which Cosan officials expect ALL’s board and shareholders to approve, would create a new logistical giant in a country where access to cheap transportation infrastructure comes at a premium.
In a separate securities filing, ALL said the combined value of the new company would total 10.96 billion reais ($4.7 billion), of which ALL shareholders would hold 63.5 percent. Cosan is proposing to value ALL shares at 10.184 reais per share, a 56 percent premium to its closing price on Friday.
HSBC TO SIDESTEP EUROPEAN UNION BONUS CAP
HSBC
As reported a profit for last year that fell short of analysts’ estimates, it laid out how it was changing its compensation for senior executives, becoming the first major bank here to describe in detail how it was circumventing a new European Union cap on bonuses.
HSBC also reported on Monday that its profit for last year fell short of analysts’ estimates and that it had missed some of its own cost-cutting targets as revenue fell.
The bank, based in London, said that it would award 665 of its senior managers — including its chief executive, Stuart Gulliver, and Iain Mackay, its chief financial officer — a fixed-pay allowance as part of their compensation. The allowance, which qualifies neither as a salary nor a bonus, would be exempt from recent EU rules that limit bonuses to twice a senior employee’s salary.
FORD TO DROP MICROSOFT FROM CAR SYSTEMS
Ford has found a new software partner to power its in-car entertainment and communications systems, making plans to drop technology from Microsoft in favor of software from BlackBerry.
For its Sync in-car system, which connects to mobile phones for access to music and other digital services, Ford intends to use software called QNX made by BlackBerry rather than the embedded version of Windows, Microsoft’s operating system, according to two people briefed on the automaker’s plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans are still private.
AUSTRALIA TO REVIEW QANTAS OWNERSHIP LAWS
The Australian government is planning to relax foreign ownership restrictions on Qantas Airways as the lossmaking flagship carrier battles to slash 2 billion Australian dollars ($1.8 billion) in costs.
Transport Minister Warren Truss said that his government is drafting legislation that would allow Qantas to be majority foreign-owned and remove other restrictions on the airline.
When the state-owned airline was about to be privatized, Australia’s parliament passed the Qantas Sale Act in 1992 which ensured that Qantas would remain majority Australian-owned. Foreign airlines can own no more than 35 percent on Qantas, no single foreign investor can own more than 25 percent and total foreign ownership is capped at 49 percent.
CHINA’S WEIBO PLANS PUBLIC OFFERING
Sina, one of China’s biggest Internet portals, is preparing an initial public offering in the United States for Weibo, its Twitter-like microblogging service, according to people close to the matter.
The offering, which has not been formally announced, could raise up to $500 million later this year. Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse have been selected to underwrite the offering, according to the people close to the matter.
Some analysts project that Sina’s Weibo unit could be worth $5 billion, even more than its parent, which is listed on Nasdaq.