At last some insight into the Renault strategy of Gerard Lopez

Genii, run by Luxembourg entrepreneur Gerard Lopez, has recently added Formula One to their list, when it bought 75% stake  in Renault F1 racing.
Its strategy has been largely in doubt and some feared that Lopez would be the typical buy-in and sell withprofit type of capitalist but those who know Lopez in Luxembourg never saw him that way. One of the world's most iconic sporting brand and a platform to potentially adding to their enormous commercial wealth are target of longer range for the private investment company and Sportinglife just reveals some recent insight into this most fascinating story.



Just four months after standing on the precipice and staring into Formula One's abyss, Renault have been hauled back from the brink and had new life breathed into them.
The shame of last season's 'crashgate' scandal, in tandem with a third successive year of failure on the track, forced Renault to consider joining the exodus of car manufacturers quitting the sport.
Honda, BMW and Toyota had all previously walked away, no longer willing to pour millions of pounds into their F1 operations, not when the basis of their very existence was crumbling under the weight of the global financial meltdown.
Renault would undoubtedly have followed suit, scaling back their involvement to simply supplying engines, but for the intervention of Genii Capital, a Luxembourg-based private investment firm, who bought a 75% stake.

more:http://www.sportinglife.com/formula1/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=formula1/10/03/06/manual_135332.html

Photo:tageblatt.editpress.lu

Moody's Lowers BCEE's Hybrid Securities' Program Rating

(Source: Info-Prod Research (Middle East))Moody's Investors Service downgraded its rating on Banque et Caisse d'Epargne du Luxembourg (BCEE) EMTN program allowing for the issuance of undated junior subordinated debt, in line with its revised Guidelines for RatingBank Hybrids and Subordinated Debt published in November 2009. Moody's downgraded BCEE's junior subordinated debt program's rating to A1 from Aa1. This concludes the review for possible downgrade that was initiated on November 18, 2009. BCEE's Bank FinancialStrength Rating (BFSR) and debt and deposit ratings remain unchanged at C+ (stable outlook) and Aaa (stable outlook) / Prime-1, respectively. 

Lux gives further 1.56 M$ to Financial Sector Devlpmt in India

“The past and present generous support from Luxembourg will help continue our current technical assistance work plans and pave the way to an expanded fund supported by the ADB donor community,” said Tadashi Kondo, Head of ADB’s Office of Cofinancing Operations.
Note ADB is Asian Development Bank 

Some more want their money back from Luxi?

Lifemark, based in Luxembourg, issued bonds that were bought by money entrusted to Keydata by British savers. The bonds were backed by American life ...

Who in Luxembourg invests so heavily into Russia?

Top foreign investors in Russia last year included Cyprus, (contributing 18.3 percent of the total), followed by the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 2/27/2010

Foreign direct investment in Russia fell by 41.1 percent to 15.9 billion dollars in 2009, the Russian statistics service Rosstat said Saturday in a statement.

Total foreign investment fell by 21 percent, to 81.9 billion dollars (60.1 billion euros).

However, the total foreign capital Russia attracted rose by 1.4 percent compared to 2008, reaching 268.2 billion dollars (196.9 billion euros).

Top foreign investors in Russia last year included Cyprus, (contributing 18.3 percent of the total), followed by the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The United States was Russia's fourth largest investor, but its investment had reduced by 21 percent compared with 2008.

US Dennis Hastert- also paid by Luxembourg ??

This odious warpusher, scandal loaded and former Speaker of the House during the Bush area is back to the limelight in the US!  The Luxembourg originating Hastert is now - in a long list of embarrassing scandals - blamed for accepting on one side US tax-payer's money (nearly half a million $ in 2009) to maintain his office (which is seemingly perfectly legal) but at the same time cashing in heavily for Lobbying work with registration as a Lobbyist in Washington D.C.

In 2009, the budget for the low-key Yorkville office was nearly half a million dollars. Tax dollars have paid for cable bills, truck payments, office supplies and three staffers.Hastert staffers say the office is crucial to cataloging the records and coordinating the schedule for the man who served as speaker longer than any other Republican.

I do not feel to much interested about the question why Hastert - who stems from Osweiler near Echternach where he is occasionally celebrated as the local Saint -  should get much better funded than e.g. Bill Clinton and why he is allowed to at the same to cash heavily as A Washington DC lobbyist.

But then there's the question if Luxembourg as a country (together with Turkey) are paying this same guy money to defend Luxembourg's interests in Washington??
Do we really need this kind of clearly Ugly American on Luxembourg payroll ???
And how much do we pay him ??


http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/18/wilkes-hastert/

The Senningen Meeting today

Offshore centers seek to solve bank secrecy riddle

ZURICH (Reuters) - European offshore centers are seeking ways to ward off relentless foreign pressure on bank secrecy that is threatening their role as financial hubs, but appeared after talks in Luxembourg to lack a concrete strategy.

Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz met ministers from Luxembourg and Austria, the only two European Union states that still retain bank secrecy, and the prime minister of formerly black-listed tax haven Liechtenstein during closed-door talks in the heavily-guarded castle of Senningen.

They were joined for the first time by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, whose determination to hunt down tax cheats even by purchasing stolen data has rattled the multi-trillion dollar offshore banking industry.

Orange Luxembourg also goes for Mobile HD

BARCELONA, February 14 /PRNewswire/ --

    - Following the World's First Commercial Launch by Orange of a Mobile
      High-definition (HD) Voice Service in Moldova in Sept 2009, Orange Will
      Also Launch Mobile HD Voice in France, Luxembourg and Spain in Addition
      to the UK and Belgium in 2010

    - The Service Will Deliver a Significantly Improved Quality of Voice and
      Sound That Will Enable Orange to Transform the Mobile Experience for
      its Customers

Orange Accelerates the Roll-out of Mobile HD Voice in Europe -- re> BARCELONA, February 14 /PRNewswire/ --

Flint Group (Luxbg) acquire ink Manufacturer Torda

Flint Group (Luxembourg) has signed an agreement to acquire Torda (Lund, Sweden), a leading manufacturer of printing inks for the packaging markets in Northern Europe, the Balkans and the Middle East with a substantial presence in Eastern Europe. 
Torda generated revenues of approximately 23 million euros in 2009.
http://americanprinter.com/paper-ink/news/0212-flint-group-acquire-torda/

Rumor: Payment not received...

According to ISI - Emerging Markets subscription news service :"the Luxembourg-based Ternium (NYSE: TX) steel group announced that it has not received compensation payments scheduled to be made on February 8 by ..."  Ternium (NYSE:TX) for Sidor, a Venezuelan State owned mill, which started building a captive energy plant to supply its iron and steel facilities.
http://www.securities.com/googlenews.html?pc=DW&doc_id=252880193

Matt Moran new CFO @ Lombard Assurance in Luxembourg

The Irish Times report this Sunday morning that" THE FORMER director of finance at Anglo Irish Bank, Matt Moran, has taken up a new role as chief financial officer in Luxembourg at a wealth management company for high net-worth investors.

Mr Moran, who stepped down from State-owned Anglo shortly before Christmas, has joined Lombard Assurance International, which is part of the Friends Provident Group and a specialist in tax planning for wealthy investors.
"http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0212/1224264272966.html

Raid at former Kaupthing premises on Kirchberg

The Financial Times report on FT.com that Luxembourg Authorities have sent "dozens of investigators " to the former Kaupthing premises at Kirchberg These premises are now held by the British owned Havilland Bank.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/683b2926-17fb-11df-91d2-00144feab49a.html

Luxembourg for Finance: interesting even on Facebook

Fernand Grulms of Luxembourg for Finance is gearing his activity and vision with great consequence also into the web 2.0 world.
With close to 600 members and growing, the Facebook group with the same name, is now clearly attracting interesting discussions - and people!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Luxemburg-Luxembourg/Luxembourg-for-Finance/292226356416?ref=mf

And one more for Lux's SES ASTRA !

SES ASTRA Awarded Second Navigation Payload for EGNOS

Yes this news may be  a few weeks old for some of our readers , but it's another big step of this Luxembourg based company together with the precursor system of long expected Gallileo.

SES ASTRA has been awarded a second contract by the European Commission (EC) to provide hosted payload services for EGNOS, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service. The contract was awarded following a tender by the European Commission. EGNOS is Europe's first contribution to satellite navigation and a precursor of Galileo, the global satellite navigation system that the European Union (EU) is developing. The program is managed by the EC on behalf of the European Union.

http://www.free-gps-reviews.com/TB/?P=13

Luxembourg's SES ASTRA again involved front in technology advance

Luxembourg's SES Satellite Sevices provider which proved its financial strength when it published its annual figures yesterday, has proven again to be among the world top performers in high-tech innovation.

SES ASTRA Supplies ASTRA2Connect Terminals to GSE for Deployment in Italy

This iS A TEST BLOGGING FROM IPHONE

Taxes, black accounts and all that

The affair around the payment of 2.5 Million Euro by the German Government to the guy who sells them the names and details of 15.000 discreet or secret Swiss bank accounts, makes me think of a few side effects that this matter does certainly have.

Where is the seller located? Switzerland? Germany? Luxembourg ??

Does he pay tax on what will soon be "his" income?  Where?

Will his payment be made to a black Swiss bank account?

Or will it go to those similarly hated Cayman Islands?

Or does he know of a good laundering system?

Or is the German Government involved in a dirty deal?

Or is it all a staged affair, to scare more Germans away from Switzerland?

Will Mr Schäuble be asked to respond to all these questions?

Would my expert friend Egide Thein please take over from here??

SES announce new satellite launch with Russian Proton missile

  

International Launch Services (ILS) and global satellite operator SES (LUxX:SESG) today announced the ILS Proton launch of the SES-3 satellite with the Kazsat-2 telecommunications satellite in 2011.

The SES-3 satellite, the third in SES's multi-satellite procurement agreement with Orbital Sciences, will mark the fifth SES mission for ILS/Proton in 2010-11. SES-3 is intended to replace existing spacecraft over the Americas. The mission for the launch of SES-3 with Proton will be to insert the three-ton satellite into geostationary transfer orbit.

This agreement for the shared launch of SES-3 further demonstrates Proton's capability to launch multiple spacecraft. In February of last year, Proton successfully launched the dual Express satellite mission with the Express-AM44 and Express MD1 satellites.

The Proton vehicle is Russia's premier heavy lift launcher and is built by Khrunichev, the majority owner of ILS and one of the pillars of the Russian space industry. Proton has a long heritage with over 350 launches performed since its maiden flight in 1965.

Frank McKenna, President of ILS said, "ILS and SES have partnered in many industry firsts, including the first commercial Proton launch and the unique Multi-Launch Agreement to ensure access to space. Now, ILS will celebrate another launch milestone with SES with the shared launch of the SES-3 satellite on ILS Proton. This shared launch provides an alternative launch option that previously did not exist in the commercial launch market. We are pleased that we could deliver significant value for our long term partner SES with a cost-effective solution to meet their specific business needs."

"Since our first launch on an ILS Proton, SES has counted on ILS to provide access to space," said Martin Halliwell, President of SES ENGINEERING. "ILS and Khrunichev have always supported the ongoing growth and success of our business. With the development of this shared launch capability, ILS Proton has provided a real value alternative to meet our requirements for the launch of SES-3, and will allow us to continue on our course of expansion of our global fleet and our business."

RBC Global Asset Management chooses RBC Dexia to service Luxembourg-based UCITS/SICAV funds

RBC Global Asset Management chooses RBC Dexia to service Luxembourg-based UCITS/SICAV funds

Clearstream To Launch Luxembourg CSD

Clearstream, the international central securities depository (ICSD) within Deutsche Börse Group, is to launch a central securities depository (CSD) in Luxembourg in early 2011 called LuxCSD. The project has been in construction since early 2009, and will be jointly founded with the Central Bank of Luxembourg ... 

Unfortunately the rest of this news story is only available to registered  visitors of Global Custodian here:


http://home.globalcustodian.com/news/Market-Infrastructure/Clearstream-To-Launch-Luxembourg-CSD/36847