This is followed by $287 billion in loans & bonds rated 
below investment grade raised by European companies, since the beginning of 2007. With PE firms and hedge funds pumping truck loads of money into debt ridden & virtually moribund companies, investors are gambling on their life. Asia too has an unusual spending story to tell. Never before in the history of Asia, people have witness such huge credit card lending boom and never before Asians have used credit cards to purchase houses. Bank for International Settlement (BIS) in it’s June Bulletin, anticipates a credit card bubble for the Asian economies, which till now has been individually experienced by Hong Kong in 2002, Korea (15% indebtness in 2003) & Taiwan (9% indebtness in 2005). According to BIS, the total credit card usage volume, increased by 200-500% in many Asian markets between 1998 and 2005. By 2005, credit card receivables in these markets ranged between 3-15% of total household lending. At a time when profits are raining, it is difficult to ring alarm bells, but prudential measures should be put in place.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
Boston based private equity firm, finally got consent to acquire The Guitar Center, the biggest retailer of musical instruments in the U.S. The deal has been sealed at $1.9 billion and assumes the debt of $200 million which will drive the transaction to $2.1 billion. Bain Capital has also promised a premium of 26% at $63 per share to the shareholders of the retail firm. Guitar Center believes that Bain Capital has a successful track record and investment experience and the deal would be of interest both, to the company and the stockholders. Guitar Center has hired Goldman Sachs & Co. to proceed with the auction. The deal is expected to close by fourth quarter.
hand are governed by laws of its own. Criminal factions doubling as land grabbers coupled with government corruption and backed by large corporations (mostly American), see a great potential in bringing down forests and using the land thus obtained, to serve their purposes. Those reporting abuse of the forest to government agencies oft en face violent harassment for taking on the land mafia, backed by the large corporations. The forest is a giver. Besides providing us with vital elements necessary for life, it provided shelter to millions who do not speak like us and are clueless of happenings outside the mighty greens. Save the forests, save lives.
and has always been the unquenched thirst or, for that matter, unflinching greed driven by the profit-seeking multinational companies. And at the receiving end then, has been the environment. Bush hates environment, but he has practical reasons for that, which are camouflaged in the unending control that multinationals have over the decision-making process of his administration. For example, Bush’s solution for controlling the rising energy bills of the Americans is to drill more oil from Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in north- east Alaska (which is an environmental nightmare!). Bush’s reasoning for enhanced supply is to help the consumers. But his dubious association with the US oil lobby suggests that the glib talk about not controlling the demand for energy is aimed at promoting the interests of his election fund raisers. And nothing proves this better than Exxon Mobil’s penchant to fund those who oppose climate change issues. Incidentally, the US is the maximum polluter in the world, accounting for around 34% of global emissions.