I first told you about this merger, which would consolidate company operations, back on May 8, here on the Emerging Markets Blog.

The BBC reports that VW is suspending talks with Porsche saying that, “constructive negotiations were not possible at the moment.” Porsche has a significant amount of debt, and VW wants the luxury car company to reduce that debt.

Ironically, Porsche took on about $12.2 billion in debt so that it could increase its stake in VW…

The history between these two companies is long and complicated, and while VW says its backing away from the table, the two own stakes in each other and were founded by the same family. Porsche says the talks are still ongoing.

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Post tags: German Car Companies, Merger, Porsche, Volkswagon

Roxana Saberi had been working as a freelance journalist for the BBC and NPR, and had moved to the country in 2003. In January, she was arrested for buying a bottle of wine, and the International Herald Tribune says the charges grew from there.

She was next charged with working without a press card (which had expired in 2006), and finally with spying for the United States. Last month, she was convicted but Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked the prosecutor to take a second look at the case.

The International Herald Tribune article on the release quotes Saeed Leylaz, a political analyst in Tehran:

Maybe Iran wants to send a message to Washington with her release that we are powerful. Secondly, that we are flexible, and thirdly, that if we receive the right incentives, we will hold talks as well.

It might win Iran some chips at the table for the ongoing wrestling match over the country’s nuclear program.

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Post tags: Iran, Journalist Freed, Nuclear Program, Roxana Saberi

“Toyota Motor Corp. lost 765.8 billion yen ($7.74 billion) in its fiscal fourth quarter, leading the world’s largest auto maker by car sales to its first full-year loss in 59 years and setting the stage for even worse results in the current fiscal year.” (from the Wall Street Journal)

The first full-year loss in 59 years! That’s astounding…

It seems like the auto industry doesn’t quite know which end is up… General Motors (GM:NYSE) just posted a $6 billion loss in its first quarter, but is seeing some interest in the potential sale of its Opel division from some European buyers - including Fiat SpA (F:Milan), who has already entered a deal with Chrysler, and has said it would be interested in GM’s Latin America, Russia and China operations.

Porsche (PAH3:XETRA) and Volkwagon (VOW:XETRA) are going to merge… Russia’s OAO GAZ Group (GAZA:Russia) is selling its LDV brand (a U.K. van maker) to Malaysian-based Weststar - and also showed interest in GM’s Opel division.

And Ford (F:NYSE) wants to convert one of its SUV manufacturing plants to an electric vehicle production line.

It’s like a giant game of 52-card pick up, where the cards raining down magically turn into cash… GM gets leaner, losses debt and gains potential government investments… European car makers find synergy and savings in merged operations… And everyone goes home happy, right?

Only when people start buying cars again.

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Post tags: Ford, General Motors, Global Auto Manufacturing Companies

I was musing on a BBC News article talking about how some Europeans feel about the European Union, and its latest expansions. To be sure, there has been a lot of grumbling about propping up economically distressed Eastern European members, like Hungary and Poland.

And there has also been some upset about jobs and factories moving east to take advantage of lower wages and costs, and about immigrants to Western countries taking jobs from locals.

Quite reminiscent of what’s happening here in the States with Mexican workers, yes?

Well, this got me thinking why the European Union would want to include Eastern European countries in its membership in the first place… It had to be something other than spreading “inclusive democracy,” right?

Of course… In fact, on Thursday, the Czech Republic will hold an “Eastern Partnership” summit with six former Soviet states to discuss energy and trade ties. The Czech Republic currenty holds the presidency of the European Union, and the former Communist country may just be the right fit to entice closer ties with ex-Soviet states.

My Taipan Insider article goes into more depth about just what’s at stake here. Be sure to read it.

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Post tags: Czech Republic, Energy Agreements, European Union, Immigration

But I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read this BBC News article, “Egypt slaughters pigs to stop flu.”

Egypt has between 250,000 and 400,000 pigs, and the mass slaughter are eliminating them by the thousand.

There has been 159 deaths associated with swine flue but all of them have been in Mexico, with the first U.S. death coming today with a child in Texas.

There have been two confirmed cases of Swine flu in Israel, but there has been not confirmed connection to pigs in Egypt. The country has a right to be cautious. Twenty-two people died in a bird flu outbreak in the country between 2004 and 2008.

But slaughtering all the pigs is quite over-the-top. There have been no cases of swine flu found in anyone in Egypt.

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Post tags: Egypt, Slaughtering Pigs, Swine Flu

Mexico City is home to some 20 million people, and right now, it’s the epicenter of a swine flu outbreak that has countries all over the world ready to cut off access to the country and its pork industry.

At least 1,614 people in Mexico have been infected by the virus, and an estimated 103 have died, though at last count only 20 of them have been confirmed swine-flu deaths. But the Mexican government is taking no chances, and schools are closed until May 6, and even the bars and night clubs in the popular resort town of Puerto Vallarta have been ordered to close.

Mexico City might even halt all economic activity of the outbreak is not contained.

The airline and pork industries have been hit pretty hard, too, so traders and investors alike might want to keep an eye on these two industries as this story develops.

© Sara Nunnally for Taipan's Emerging Markets Blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Epidemic, Mexico, Pork Futures, Swine Flu