AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, telecommunications briefs
By AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Feb. 22--EGYPT'S MOBINIL SEES $29M Q4 LOSS BUT SUBSCRIBERS UP: Egyptian mobile operator MobiNil has posted net losses of EGP177m ($29.32m) for the fourth quarter of 2011, hit by spiralling operating costs, Reuters has reported. "The results clearly illustrate the extent of the challenges the business was facing in a turbulent political, social and economic environment," said MobiNil chief executive, Yves Gauthier. The telecoms firm posted a net income of EGP342m in the same quarter of 2010.
ZAIN KSA POSTS 26 percent EARNINGS INCREASE, REVENUES UP: Zain KSA has posted a 26 percent increase in total earnings for the year 2011 to SR3.2bn, compared with total earnings of SR2.53bn recorded for the year before, Saudi Gazette has reported. Revenues also climbed 13 percent from SR5.93bn in 2010 to SR6.7bn last year. The firm said its new operational strategy has helped reducing operational losses by 30 percent to SR811m from SR1.16bn un 2010.
UAE'S ETISALAT SEEKS $2BN SYNDICATED LOAN FOR CORPORATE PURPOSES: The UAE's largest telecoms firm, Etisalat is seeking a syndicated loan of up to $2bn for general corporate purposes, Reuters has reported, citing bankers close to the deal. The deal is expected to carry a three-year tenor, but this is subject to change, the bankers noted. Etisalat lined up a $12bn loan early last year to back its bid for a controlling stake in Kuwaiti rival Zain, but the deal was pulled when the company withdrew the offer in March, citing Zain's divided board, extended due diligence and regional unrest. Etisalat is rated 'AA-' by Standard and Poor's, 'Aa3' by Moody's and 'A+' by Fitch.
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(c)2012 AME Info (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)
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Read More»Kevin Aussef to run regional CBRE office
By Jack Katzanek, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.
Feb. 17--Long-time veteran commercial real estate operator Kevin Aussef will head CB Richard Ellis' Inland offices, it was announced this week.
Aussef will be senior managing director and will be based in the Ontario office. He will oversee all operations for CBRE in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Aussef will take over for Natalie Bazarevitsch, one of the area's best-thought-of executives. Bazarevitsch will now oversee CBRE's Los Angeles North Region, with an office in Universal City. Bazarevitsch, who has been with CBRE in the Inland Empire for 17 years, will oversee a large region that includes the entire San Fernando Valley, Simi Valley and Santa Barbara County.
Aussef has spent his entire career with Marcus & Millichap, much of it in the Inland region. Recently he has been partner and managing director for the Western Region for the company, where he led 15 offices and 500 sales executives.
"Kevin is a natural leadership coach with proven success developing and mentoring sales professionals. His dynamic and energizing leadership approach has proven extremely successful throughout his career," Lewis C. Horne, Executive Managing Director for CBRE's GLA/OC Region, said in a statement.
Aussef said in a statement that CBRE "has always been the firm to beat in the Inland Empire," and he's excited to be joining this team.
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(c)2012 The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.)
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Read More»Calamar expanding into new enterprise
By Jonathan D. Epstein, The Buffalo News, N.Y.
Feb. 09--A regional real estate development company better known for building senior housing and other land projects has launched a new business division to advise new heirs of family businesses or estates on what to do if they have no experience or desire to manage them.
The new venture by Wheatfieldbased Calamar Enterprises joins an already crowded field of lawyers, accountants, financial planners and other consultants seeking to tap a growing demand for help in dealing with estates and inheritances.
But where others help with succession planning in advance of the generational transfer, Calamar Family Asset Management steps in afterwards, when no succession plan is in place. Instead, it will work with those other family professionals in advising heirs on strategic planning for their own futures, and how to handle unexpected inheritances, the company said.
That could include how to manage assets such as estates or businesses, by monitoring them and looking for opportunities for them, acting as interim managers, or just consulting on how to improve their operations. Or it could mean helping to sell them and cash out.
"There's a lot of financial and business expertise here, but the whole focus is in trying to arrange a strategic plan for the person or persons who inherit these things," said Daniel G. Kantor, a veteran business owner and nonprofit executive, who will lead the new unit for Calamar. "This is really taking family assets and managing them."
Such a relationship could last
just a short while, such as a couple of years or as long as it takes to sell the assets, or it could be a long-term, ongoing relationship if the family desires, Kantor said. But it is not meant to replace the attorneys, accountants, financial advisers or other professionals whom the family already works with.
"We're not looking to supplant those people," Kantor said. "We're looking to provide a plan that will meet the expectations of the lifestyle that the heir envisioned for themselves."
Read More»Miles & Stockbridge Frederick office expands
By Ed Waters Jr., The Frederick News-Post, Md.
Feb. 08--The past president of the Frederick County Bar Association and an attorney whose family has provided legal services in the area for more than a century have joined Miles & Stockbridge.
Paul D. Rose Jr., past president of the local bar association, is originally from Severna Park. Rose moved to Frederick in 2004, and he is active in charitable and community organizations.
Rose is on the board of directors' executive committee of theArc of Frederick County. He has been honored as Volunteer of the Year by both the Maryland and Frederick County Arc organizations and is a 2005 graduate of Leadership Frederick County.
He was the Frederick co-chairman of the political campaign for Gov. Martin O'Malley in 2006.
"This is a great opportunity," Rose said in joining Miles & Stockbridge.
Rose is a graduate of Frostburg State University and University of Baltimore School of Law. His specialty fields are corporate law, financial and intellectual property litigation, labor and employment investigations and litigation.
Rand D. Weinberg's family has been serving the legal needs of area residents since 1901.
He has been an attorney for more than 30 years, following the profession of his father, David, and grandfather, Manuel.
Weinberg, who has previously worked with attorneys from the Miles & Stockbridge office at 30 W. Patrick St., will serve as "of counsel" with the firm. Weinberg will retain his law firm at 15 N. Court St., but provide his expertise to the company when needed.
Weinberg's expertise is in real estate law, planning and zoning, corporate law, acquisitions and restructurings.
Weinberg has served on the boards of directors for FCNB Bank and Jeanne Bussard Training Workshop, and on the board of trustees for The Community Foundation of Frederick County.
"This is great for us," said Thomas E. Lynch III, a principal of Miles & Stockbridge.
"It will benefit all of us, creating a deeper and broader team that can draw from experience."
Rose will be the third member of the firm to have served as president of the local bar association. Lynch and Anne Rollins served in that position.
Michael H. Delauter is the managing principal of the Frederick office.
Read More»Witness says Stanford bribed regulator
By Terri Langford, Houston Chronicle
Feb. 04--When the federal government made inquiries about his operations in mid-2005, R. Allen Stanford drafted a favorable report on his bank in Antigua, and a regulator there he had bribed for years presented it to U.S. authorities on an official letterhead, according to testimony Friday in the former tycoon's fraud trial.
The regulator, Leroy King, former head of Antigua's Financial Services Regulatory Commission, is accused of taking bribes from Stanford including cash and Super Bowl tickets. In exchange, according to the testimony, King helped keep the lid on Stanford's fraudulent operations and alerted him to official inquiries.
Documents admitted into evidence Friday show the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission notified King in mid-2005 that it was investigating Stanford International Bank in Antigua, a Caribbean island nation. The bank was a subsidiary of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group.
The discussion of Stanford's relationship with King came during the second day of testimony by the prosecution's key witness, former Stanford Financial Group Chief Financial Officer James Davis -- who said that because of the bribes, King gave Stanford a heads-up on the SEC letter.
"One day he (Stanford) called me and said stand by a fax machine," Davis recalled.
Stanford then faxed the letter the SEC had sent King. The letter informed King of the SEC investigation and stressed that it be kept secret. "This correspondence is confidential and privileged," the SEC letter said. "We ask that this letter request and its contents not be communicated to any third party without the authorization of the SEC."
Davis testified that King's reply to the SEC -- printed on his agency's letterhead and confirming the bank's "compliance with all areas of depositor safety" -- actually was drafted by Stanford and his company's general counsel after the two huddled in Antigua with King. The counsel could not be located for comment Friday.
Davis said King was paid $10,000 to $15,000 to accept phony quarterly investment disclosure forms produced by Davis and Stanford. Davis admitted that he never saw Stanford give the bribes to King, but described seeing cash in an open briefcase, which Stanford said was for King.
Davis has pleaded guilty to fraud charges and is testifying for the prosecution.
Read More»St. Joe refocuses ‘build it and they will come’ strategy
By Randal Yakey, The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.
Jan. 31--WATERSOUND -- The St. Joe Co. is changing its strategy.
The WaterSound-based company plans to cut $190 million from its upscale planned community projects in Northwest Florida, putting an end to the "build it and they will come" strategy they have had in place the past few years.
The company's board of directors adopted a revamped real estate investment strategy focusing on reducing future capital outlays and employing "new risk-adjusted investment return criteria." Plans to cut their losses and restructure their infrastructure and sell undeveloped properties in "bulk" at lower discounted prices are also in the works, the company announced in a government filing.
St. Joe, with numerous upscale developments in Bay, Walton and Gulf counties, among other places in Florida, has freely admitted it overestimated the housing downturn.
But, it's unclear what the immediate effects will be on developments already under way, such as Breakfast Point in Panama City Beach. Citing unnamed sources, the Wall Street Journal reported the company likely would "put on hold" development at WaterSound and WaterColor. Commercial real estate developments, such as at VentureCrossings adjacent to the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, are not expected to be as heavily affected by the strategy change.
Company officials said Monday they were in a "quiet period" and would not comment further on the company's status before February's earnings report is released.
As the company stated in a Nov. 3 news release, the new management team led by Park Brady, who assumed the role of CEO in October, and Patrick Bienvenue, who joined the company as its executive vice in president in September, commenced a review of all of the company's assets and projects.
"In 2011, the new board directed management to reduce expenses. We have met that goal and, as a result, we currently expect to have positive operating cash flow in 2012, excluding discretionary capital expenditures. The next request of our board was the evaluation of our assets and development of a strategy to reduce future capital outlays. ... We believe this new strategy will fulfill that request," Brady said in a news release Friday.
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