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“Qatar Holding Becomes Songbird’s Top Shareholder - Khaleej Times” plus 4 more

Qatar Holding Becomes Songbird’s Top Shareholder - Khaleej Times
Bush-Cheney insider surfaces in Pemex scandal - Houston Chronicle
Citigroup sells off Phibro unit - Buffalo News
BB&T’s John Allison leads N.C. Business Hall of Fame class - MSN Money
Fire destroys business complex north of Elkhart - Elkhart Truth

Qatar Holding Becomes Songbird’s Top Shareholder - Khaleej Times

Posted: 10 Oct 2009 12:08 PM PDT

DUBAI Qatar Holding, the investment arm of Qatars sovereign wealth fund, said on Saturday it had become the largest shareholder in Songbird Estates, owner of much of Londons Canary Wharf  business hub.

AIM-listed firm Songbird has confirmed plans for a £620 million ($991.3 million) placing, an open offer of shares at one penny each and a £275 million preference share placing, the latter with Qatar Holding and China Investment Corp's (CIC) Fullbloom Investment Corp unit.

Qatar Holding said it had taken up its right to 24 per cent of ordinary shares issued, in addition to its subscription to preference shares and participation in a £135 million credit facility that it will provide together with other key Songbird shareholders including CIC and Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds.

"As a result, Qatar Holding has emerged as the largest investor in Songbird Estates with total investment exceeding £350 million," the firm said.

"We believe the very positive response to the offering shows the improving sentiment towards UK commercial property in recent weeks as well as the attractiveness of this transaction," Qatar Holding Managing Director and Chief Executive Ahmad Al Sayed was quoted as saying in a statement. On September 18, Songbird upped its interest in Canary Wharf Group to just under 70 per cent after the purchase of 54 million shares at 208 pence each from Commerzbank.

The Canary Wharf estate is one of London's two major financial centres, having emerged as an alternative to the traditional central "Square Mile" in the early 1990s. —

Bush-Cheney insider surfaces in Pemex scandal - Houston Chronicle

Posted: 10 Oct 2009 08:00 PM PDT

A man who was a press liaison for former President George W. Bush and ex-Vice President Dick Cheney is at the center of a case involving $2 million of fuel stolen from Mexican oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos that was resold in the United States.

Josh Crescenzi of Houston, former vice president for Continental Fuels of San Antonio, has been cooperating with agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for several months, helping them secretly record conversations that have resulted in the conviction of a Houston oil industry executive, another one from San Antonio and the president of a small oil and gas company in Edinburg.

Crescenzi's help is likely to lead to charges against more people, the San Antonio Express-News has learned.

Petroleum condensate, which Mexico claims was stolen by the Gulf Cartel's armed enforcement wing, Los Zetas, was sold to at least three oil companies in the United States — Germany-based BASF, Murphy Energy of Oklahoma, and Trammo Petroleum of Houston. Representatives for BASF and Murphy said the companies did not know the condensate was stolen.

The path of stolen petroleum also involves importers, including Petro Salum in the Rio Grande Valley. On Oct. 2, Jonathan Dappen, 29, of Petro Salum pleaded guilty in the wide-ranging conspiracy.

He followed Arnoldo Maldonado, president of Y Oil and Gas in Edinburg, and Donald Schroeder, former president of Trammo. All admitted they knew the condensate was stolen, court transcripts show.

Bragged of connections

Crescenzi is a former press advance representative for Bush and Cheney. They are not implicated in the case, but those familiar with Crescenzi said he was known to brag about his connections to further his business interests.

Crescenzi most recently supervised operations in the Rio Grande Valley for Continental Fuels. He resigned in May while cooperating with the feds and has not commented publicly. No charges have been filed against him.

Through records and interviews, the Express-News found he turned over bills of lading ICE agents believe were used to disguise shipments of the stolen condensate smuggled across the Texas border and stored at the Port of Brownsville.

As part of the probe, ICE agents seized more than $40,000 from Continental Fuels and $102,525 from Valley Fuels Ltd., another San Antonio company.

Valley Fuels president Steve Pechenik pleaded guilty Friday to charges of conspiracy to receive and sell stolen petroleum condensate.

Continental Fuels CEO Tim Brink of San Antonio and those who pleaded guilty were recorded on tape with Crescenzi's help, allegedly discussing the stolen condensate, records show.

"We're investigating the matter," one of Brink's lawyers, Van Hilley, said recently.Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim McAlister, who is prosecuting, declined comment when asked about the records.

Avoided one scandal

Before joining Continental Fuels, Crescenzi worked for lobbyist Stephen Payne, owner of Worldwide Strategic Partners in Houston and several related companies.

In July 2008, Payne appeared on a videotape made by London's Sunday Times offering a foreign government official access to Cheney and then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in exchange for a $250,000 "donation" to the private George W. Bush Presidential Library.

There is no evidence that Crescenzi was involved in the Payne scandal.

In the petroleum condensate case, ICE had learned from Mexican officials in 2007 about the illegal shipments from Pemex pipelines.

Crescenzi agreed to cooperate and made more than 400 hours of recorded conversations, including ones about the shipments.

Schroeder testified that he was contacted by representatives from Continental and Murphy who "told me they had some Mexican condensate they would like to sell."

"A little bit later, I received a call from Josh Crescenzi, … and he had told me that the condensate was stolen," Schroeder said, describing the January phone call.

"And, so what did you do about it?" U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. asked.

"I bought it and sold it," Schroeder answered.

Prosecutor McAlister told the judge that Trammo received $150,000 in profits from the stolen condensate.

Joel Androphy, a lawyer for Murphy Energy, said in an interview that the government subpoenaed documents from the firm, and that Murphy cooperated. He also said Murphy lost almost $1 million in the deal .

"Murphy has no knowledge of any scheme to do anything illegal," Androphy said. "We paid market value for a product that someone now says was stolen."

Daniel Pepitone, a spokesman for BASF, said the company also is cooperating and, "we have no reason to believe BASF had any involvement in the alleged wrongdoing."

In August, U.S. officials handed Mexican dignitaries a $2.4 million check from Trammo as compensation to Pemex.

Schroeder, who is cooperating, was fined $2 million and will be sentenced in December. Maldonado and Dappen face sentencing in January and also are cooperating, records show.

gcontreras@express-news.net

Citigroup sells off Phibro unit - Buffalo News

Posted: 11 Oct 2009 04:21 AM PDT

DIVESTITURES

NEW YORK — Citigroup Inc. is removing one of the irritants in its relationship with the government, its Phibro commodities trading division that is paying one trader an estimated $100 million this year.

The deal announced Friday carries a tradeoff for Citigroup: While the $250 million sale to Occidental Petroleum Corp. means a bit less government scrutiny, it also means the bank is losing hundreds of millions of dollars in annual income that could help repay $49 billion in bailout money.

Phibro, which makes most of its money through oil and natural gas trades, earned an average $371 million annually during the past five years. Citigroup sold it for about $250 million, which means Occidental could recoup its investment in less than a year.

A Citigroup official with knowledge of the deal said the bank wanted to sell Phibro by year's end. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Citigroup considered Phibro a "political hot potato" that would hurt the company despite its financial success.

The income lost to the Phibro sale will have little effect on Citigroup's earnings because the company has bigger problems with losses from failed loans, said Gerard Cassidy, a banking analyst with RBC Capital Markets.

Officials at the Treasury Department declined to comment directly when asked whether the government had pressured Citigroup to dump Phibro, its huge pay packages and the volatility that goes along with trades in the energy market.

The government now has a 34 percent stake in Citigroup, putting the bank under close watch by federal officials. The company came under further scrutiny this year after it agreed to pay Phibro trader Andrew J. Hall an estimated $100 million.

Hall's pay will now be Occidental's responsibility. It's not known whether the Obama administration's pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, will continue to review Hall's pay package following the sale to Occidental.

BB&T’s John Allison leads N.C. Business Hall of Fame class - MSN Money

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 01:06 PM PDT

Three North Carolina business stalwarts, led by BB&T Corp. Chairman John Allison, will be inducted into the N.C. Business Hall of Fame on Nov. 5 in Charlotte.

The other inductees are James Maynard, co-founder of the Golden Corral restaurant chain, and Smedes York, a former Raleigh mayor who is chairman of three Triangle-area companies.

BB&T's Allison will retire as chief executive at the end of the year, with Chief Operating Officer Kelly King succeeding him. Allison's decision to retire is the latest step in a five-year management-transition plan.

Allison will step down as chairman of the BB&T board at the end of 2009, though he plans to continue as a board member after that.

BB&T (NYSE:BBT) is based in Winston-Salem.

Meanwhile, Maynard's Golden Corral chain has grown to more than 490 restaurant locations in 42 states. And York's Triangle-area business interests include York Properties, McDonald York Building Co. and Prudential York Simpson Underwood.

N.C. Business Hall of Fame inductees are chosen annually by the N.C. Chamber of Commerce and Junior Achievement of the Central Carolinas Inc.

For 22 years, the hall has recognized individuals who've made outstanding contributions to the economic development of North Carolina. To date, 84 laureates have been inducted.

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Fire destroys business complex north of Elkhart - Elkhart Truth

Posted: 11 Oct 2009 08:10 AM PDT

"I though I smelled something, but you're allowed to smoke in (Tobacco Mart)," said employee Natasha Scholl. "So I was looking for a hot cigarette butt in the trash when he came in and said the building was on fire."

Buckley said he called 911 at 5:12 p.m. to report the fire, which quickly engulfed the center and south side of the building. The fire was called under control at about 7:35 p.m. but at 9 p.m. firefighters were still putting water on a few stubborn flames to prevent them from reaching the Tobacco Mart and the entrance to Midwest Retail Shop.

Ron Myers, who leased a section of the building for his computer business, The Lazer Store, watched firefighters' progress silently.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll be open for business tomorrow," he said.

According to Johnston, no one was injured in the blaze. Osolo has responded to previous fires at the same location, he added, but none as bad as Saturday's.

Business

Sunday, October 11, 2009