Alitalia auction closes without a serious bidder
A day after the withdrawal of Air One, the last serious bidder for acquiring Italy's national carrier Alitalia after Russia's Aeroflot pulled out last month, the proposed auction of Alitalia, has come to an end, with the fate of the airline uncertain.

Italy's commercial airline Air One withdrew from bidding for up to 49.9-per cent pf the Italian government's stake in Alitalia, of the government's stake saying, "Alitalia's "sustainable growth" would be compromised by the sale conditions."

Other potential bidders including Aeroflot gave similar reasons for leaving the sale process, and also complained about not being given "critical information" relating to Alitalia's financial position. (See: Aeroflot walks out of Alitalia bidding)

Other potential bidders to opt out of the auction include Lufthansa and private equity firm, Texas pacific Group.

The beleaguered state-owned airline Alitalia, which currently loses more than €1 million every day, faces the threat of being passed on to administrators after the government said the auction for its stake in the carrier had closed.

Alitalia has not made profits since 2002 and is estimated to have incurred a loss of €626 million ($841 million / Rs3,433 crore) last year. Uncertainty over the carrier's factual financial situation has clouded the entire bid process. (Read More)
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Delphi backs Appaloosa's $2.55 billion bid, rejects Highland's offer
Mumbai: Car parts manufacturer Delphi Corporation came a step closer to exiting bankruptcy after it backed a $2.55 billion financing package by a group led by Appaloosa Management LP, rejecting Highland Capital Management LP offer to invest up to $3.3 billion in the ailing firm.

Highland Capital, Delphi's second-largest shareholder, said it would seek additional discussions with Delphi for a possible deal. Highland had proposed to invest up to $2.4 billion in new Delphi shares, $450 million in Series A convertible preferred stock and $450 million in preferred stock, according to the filing.

The Appaloosa group agreed to buy $800 million of convertible preferred stock and about $175 million of common stock in the reorganised company. It would also buy unsubscribed shares of common stock related to a $1.6 billion rights offering that would be made to shareholders.

The Appaloosa-led group's offer to invest up to $2.55 billion in Delphi will be key to bringing the parts supplier out of bankruptcy protection. (Read More)
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Eaton to supply hydraulics package for Sikorsky CH-53K
The Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation has selected industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation to design, develop and supply the primary hydraulic power generation system and the fluid conveyance package for Sikorsky's new military heavy lift helicopter, the CH-53K.
With an expected production run of more than 156 aircraft for the US Marine Corps, as well as foreign sales, the potential value of the contract over its entire life, till 2014, is expected to exceed $200 million. (Read More)
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China's GDP growth hits 11-1/2-year high of 11.9 per cent in Q2 '07
Mumbai: China, the world's fourth largest economy, grew at a scorching 11.9 per cent - a 11-1/2-year high - in the second quarter of the current year, confirming analysts' fears of a further policy tightening to cool the world's fastest-growing economy.

China, now well on course for a fifth straight year of double-digit growth, is expected to overtake Germany as the world's third-biggest economy the end of the current year.

The 11.9 per cent growth that followed a first quarter gross domestic product growth of 11.1 per cent, also exceeded expectations of a 10.8 per cent rise in the second quarter, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics.

"We will continue with moderate tightening to control the monetary and credit situation," Li Xiaochao, a spokesman of the agency, said.

China reported a moderate rise in consumer price inflation, which hit a 33-month high of 4.4 per cent in June, up from 3.4 per cent in May, amidst soaring prices of pork and grain.

Industrial production in June rose 19.4 per cent from the same period a year earlier while urban investments grew 28.5 per cent. The yuan also edged up to 7.5632 per dollar from 7.5661 at the close of trading on June 18.

After overtaking Britain in 2005 to become the fourth-largest economy, China is now breathing down Germany's neck. China's GDP was $2.7 trillion in 2006, just below Germany's $2.9 trillion, according to World Bank figures. (Read More)
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Pacific theatre missile defence experts meet in Hawaii
Missile defence experts from all over the Pacific theatre are meeting at the Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, for the four-day Joint Interface Control Officer Conference 2007, which started on Monday 16 July. Army, Navy and Air Force missile experts from Japan, Hawaii and California, who have worked together virtually for many years, met face to face for the first time during the conference.

This is the second missile defence conference at Hickam Air Force Base. The first was held in 2006.

Tumultuous events set a background to the conference. In July 2006, North Korea test-fired seven missiles, including the long-range Taepodong-2. Later that year, North Korea exploded its first nuclear device. For the United States and its partners in the Pacific, these events underline the importance of a Pacific theatre ballistic missile defence system.

The Joint Interface Control Officer Conference brings members of different services together to plan and implement ballistic missile defence measures. (Read More)
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First unmanned aircraft squadron to fight Iraq insurgency
The first unmanned attack squadron in aviation history will shortly be deployed in Iraq, where it will drop 500-pound smart bombs and Hellfire missiles on the enemy, while the 'pilots' flying the planes will be far way from danger, sitting in the comfort of a US Air Force base in Nevada.

The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper UAV can be controlled through satellite link, thousands of miles away from the actual operational area. The planes are launched locally but are controlled by a pilot and a sensor operator sitting at computer consoles in a ground station, which can be operated by wireless signals in situated nearby, or by satellite signals to pilots and sensor operators in Nevada's Creech Air Force Base or in a similar facility thousands of miles away.

The MQ-9 Reaper is the Air Force's first hunter-killer unmanned aircraft; big brother to the deadly Predator, which has flown over 300,000 flight hours, mostly in combat. Predators have flown an average of 8,200 hours per month over the past six months, mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan, maintaining the highest operational readiness rates in the US military aircraft inventory.

The MQ-9 Reaper is twice as fast as the Predator — it has a 900 HP turbo-prop engine, compared to the Predator's 119 HP power plant — and has far more firepower; 14 Hellfire missiles as opposed to two.

At five tonnes gross weight, the Reaper is four times heavier than the Predator — 36 feet long, with a 66-foot wingspan — it compares to the Air Force's workhorse A-10 attack plane. It can fly twice as fast and twice as high; at 50,000 ft, compared to the Predator's 25,000 ft. It will employ sensors to find, fix, track and target critical time-sensitive targets. Multiple aircraft will be operated from a single ground station, multiplying its overall combat effectiveness.

General Atomics has built nine MQ-9s at a cost of $69 million per set of four aircraft, including essential ground equipment. The Air Force now has a formal UAV unit, the 432nd Wing, established on 1 May 2007. It will fly 60 Reapers and 160 Predators when built up to full strength.
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CAE gets $105 million in long-term financing for aviation training
CAE, the Canadian manufacturer of flight simulators that is to be a partner in both the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udaan Akademi (UGRUA) at Rae Bareli, UP, and in the new flight school to be set up at Gondia in Maharashtra, has announced it has secured $105 million in long-term, non-recourse financing in support of the expansion of its training centres in Burgess Hill, UK, and Morristown, New Jersey.

CAE's Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer Alain Raquepas said that the company's ability to raise non-recourse financing secured by specific training assets and cash flow was a testament to the credibility of its civil training and services business. He said this agreement would enable CAE to obtain long-term financing for its growth initiatives in aviation training.

The financing is in seven-year and 11-year tranches. US-based institutional investors subscribed to a private placement for 60 percent of the total financing, while Export Development Canada (EDC) underwrote the remaining 40 per cent through a loan facility. SG Americas Securities LLC acted as financial advisor and EDC acted as lead arranger to CAE. (Read More)
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Brazil signals tough talks to save WTO deal
Brussels: Brazil has indicated that tough talks lie ahead to arrive at a consensus on global trade, as the last-ditch compromise proposals put forward by WTO mediators were skewed heavily in favour of the rich nations.

The WTO compromise proposals included detailed cuts to farm subsidies and import tariffs for countries around the world, including a proposed range of $13-16.4 billion for a ceiling on annual US farm subsidies, down from the $17 billion that the US is prepared to concede from the $22 billion at present.

The stand taken by Brazil and India has emerged as a rallying point for other developing countries seeking dismantling of the subsidies barriers that rich countries have built, while the EU and the EU want unfettered access to third world markets for their merchandise exports.

WTO countries are due to discuss the new negotiating proposals next week in Geneva.
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Standardising European mobile broadcast TV may retard competition: Datamonitor
The European Commission (EC) yesterday announced its backing of Nokia's DVB-H mobile broadcast TV standard, a development that London-based independent market analyst Datamonitor says may aid the mass-adoption of mobile broadcast TV services as a whole but might curb open market competition.

Datamonitor estimates Europe will have 42.7 million mobile broadcast TV subscribers in 2012 - making it the second largest subscriber base in the world after Asia Pacific.

Mobile broadcast television has the opportunity to combine two of the most successful consumer products in history; television and mobile telephony. However, since the early part of the decade there have been a number of competing formats using differing bearer technologies including MediaFLO, DMB, DAB-IP and DVB-H.

Each of these bearer formats has significant factors backing their adoption looking to generate revenue from their success. In an effort to homogenise the market, the EC is tackling fragmentation by promoting "a common European strategy" in an effort to "enable consumers and industry to reap the full benefits of economies of scale."

While DVB-H bearer technology provides an extremely attractive open standard akin to the current European terrestrial television infrastructure, the move potentially comes as a blow to an industry-led competitive marketplace.

MediaFlo, DMB and DAB-IP have all been put through trials throughout Europe and the market was expected to harmonise through technological innovation and chipset interoperability sometime in the near term.

Irrespective of the bearer technology, Datamonitor considers that some of the biggest concerns facing the adoption of the service still reside with consumer education.

Promoting public understanding and illustrating consumer benefits will therefore be a priority for market players to ensure that mobile broadcast TV is a success and not just the next expensive flop.
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Buyout firms may join fray for Jaguar, Rover, say reports
Mumbai: Ford Motor Company is expected to receive bids for its Jaguar and Land Rover brands from a clutch of companies, including private equity firms Cerberus Capital Management, even as the struggling US carmaker asserted that it was not holding talks to sell Volvo Car Corp.

"We're not in active discussion with any company involving Volvo Corp.," a report in the New York Times quoted John Gardiner, a spokesman for Ford Motor Co. in London, as saying. "Ford Motor has been assessing a number of strategic options of all of our operations," he added.

The Sunday Times had earlier reported that Ford is planning to sell its profitable Volvo brand for as much as $8 billion. Volvo is part of Ford's luxury stable of vehicles called the Premier Automotive Group, which also includes Jaguar, Land Rover and Lincoln.

Dearborn-base Ford is believed to be accepting bids only for Jaguar and Land Rover for now, according to the UK Internet portal Times Online.

Others that may bid for Jaguar and Land Rover include Ripplewood Holdings, a group headed by Thomas Stallkamp, former president of Chrysler, according to the report.
One Equity Partners, whose senior partners include Jacques A. Nasser, the former chief executive of Ford, may also take part in the opening round of bids.

Tata Motors Ltd. and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. are also exploring the possibility of bidding for Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover brands. Reports said Tata may bid jointly with venture partner Fiat.

While a Volvo sale is would attract many bidders, sources said Jaguar and Land Rover may not attract much interest.
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