Islamic banking is witnessing a strong continuous growth at a rate of about 35% across the globe, with assets of financial institutions reaching a phenomenal $600 Billion in 2007, as reported by Arab News. Furthermore, the number of operating Islamic banks reached nearly 470 in 2007, a significant increase from the 276 banks operating in 2005.
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Following Croatia’s announcement that it is looking to sell more of its stake in state oil company INA, MOL and OMV have both shown an interest. However, as the companies attempt to try to assert de facto dominance in south-eastern Europe by buying a controlling stake in the Croatian oil major, MOL’s expansion plans may be hampered by OMV’s ongoing efforts to purchase its Hungarian counterpart.
FedEx is reported to be interested in acquiring TNT, which seems to suggest that it does not want to rely on organic growth to strengthen its position in the global express market. Although combining two of the world’s leading players would put strong pressure on the other two integrators, UPS and DHL, overall, the competitiveness of the industry looks set to remain intact.
FedEx, which reported negative results in the last quarter of its financial year and subsequently issued a pessimistic outlook, is heavily reliant on the slowing US market. As a result, it now appears to be looking for radical ways to improve its position in the global express sector. Despite the weakened US dollar, the effects of a tougher economic environment and rising fuel costs appear to have sparked FedEx’s renewed interest in the acquisition of Dutch mail and express rival TNT. Read more…
OMV, Rompetrol and Petrom are to build 10 new service stations on the Sun Motorway in Romania. Although these additional sites alone will see the total number of motorway sites more than double, the vast motorway construction project that is currently underway could see a further 87 stations added between now and 2016.
The Romanian Ministry of Transport has announced that 10 motorway stations will be built along the Sun Motorway (A2), more than doubling the number of motorway service stations from the current eight. OMV, Rompetrol and Petrom are the companies that have won the concessions, which will run for a maximum of 29 years. Upon signing the contract they were obliged to set up temporary service stations within 60 days, after which they will have four months in which to establish permanent structures. Read more…
Gazprom Marketing and Trading has taken a major step towards delivering smart metering by acquiring an equity stake in TruRead. The rationale is to raise Gazprom’s presence in the UK gas market and ultimately expand its UK customer portfolio. At a superficial level, this is a win-win situation for its UK customers; however, there are deeper strategic implications if other firms fail to follow. Read more…
