Intel
to reopen Jerusalem chip plant
Mumbai: Intel Corporation is planning to reopen
a chip plant in Jerusalem it had closed earlier in
the year, Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Intel's
move follows additional tax incentives announced by the Israeli government, the
paper said. The company is likely to move some production lines from Southeast
Asia to Jerusalem, the report added.
The Jerusalem plant produced chips for
the automobile industry.
Intel,
which has operated in Israel for more than 30 years, is one of Israel's largest
exporters.
Back
to News Review index page Currency
converter
Two
more firms fall prey to US mortgage lending crisis
Mumbai: Two more US firms quit mortgage lending
business amidst a deepening of the subprime mortgage
lending crisis.
Impac
Mortgage Holdings Inc said it would quit most lending and cancel its dividend,
while Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co posted a big quarterly loss and said
its survival remained in doubt.
The
developments came a day after another struggling lender, NovaStar Financial Inc,
gave up its real estate investment trust status sooner than expected because it
could not pay a $157 million dividend to keep it.
Irvine, California-based
Impac said it has fired 144 workers and will stop making "Alt-A" home
loans, its main business, citing "market disruptions and illiquidity."
The
company also said it is quitting warehouse and commercial lending, and will keep
only a small number of offices that make loans eligible for purchase by Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac. It doesn't expect to pay its 10 cents per share quarterly
dividend at least through year-end.
Impac
also said it has sold $900 million of mortgages since August 1, but has found
it "extremely difficult" to sell more, and is working with its own lenders
to find ways to do so.
San
Diego-based Accredited, which makes subprime loans to people with weaker credit,
posted a loss of $260.2 million, or $10.29 per share, for the quarter ended March
31, according to a delayed report filed with securities regulators. That compared
with a profit of $35.8 million, or $1.61 per share, a year earlier.
Accredited
said results suffered from a large loss from the sale of mortgage loans.
It
also said it expects to need further amendments to or waivers of covenants in
its credit facilities in 2007. "We cannot assure you that we will continue
to operate as a going concern," it said in its quarterly report.
Earlier
this month, Accredited closed much of its lending operations, eliminating 1,600
of 2,600 jobs. It had made $15.8 billion of home loans last year.
Accredited
is suing to force private equity firm Lone Star Funds to complete a $15.10 per
share takeover announced in June.
Back
to News Review index page Currency
converter
