KFA owes Bank of Scotland $21.6m: UK High Court

Vijay Mallya-owned troubled Kingfisher Airlines owes Bank of Scotland USD 21.6 million in overdue lease payments for 10 ATR 72-500 aircraft, a UK High Court has ruled, paving the way for potential action by the bank to recover the outstanding sum.
According to flightglobal.com, Bank of Scotland had brought the action on behalf of a consortium of lenders against Kingfisher's parent company, United Breweries Holdings , which had guaranteed the airline's obligations.
In his January 13 judgement, Justice Eder said: "I am satisfied that the amounts claimed are due and owing and that therefore in those circumstances the claimants are entitled to summary judgement in the sum claimed, that is $21,589,972.56".
He said he saw "no other good reason" why the matter should not proceed to trial.
The judgement paves the way for a potential action in India, or elsewhere, as it enables Bank of Scotland to pursue United Breweries Holdings' assets to recover the outstanding sum, the report said.
Dependent on the location of those assets, interaction with the local jurisdiction may well be required. Bank of Scotland, as the security trustee for a group of syndicated lenders, funded KF Turbo Leasing, a special purpose vehicle incorporated in the Cayman Islands that purchased the ATR aircraft.
Each aircraft was leased then by KF Turbo leasing, for a term of 10 years beginning on the delivery of that aircraft, to Kingfisher, according to UK documents.
Both parties entered into the agreement on March 29, 2007. The cash-strapped airline is already neck deep in financial woes and has asked for government help to bail it out.

Greek Bailout Payment Set to Be Approved by Euro Ministers After Debt Deal

Euro-area finance ministers seeking to step past the largest sovereign debt restructuring in history will attempt to gain a foothold this week as they grapple with implementing the latest Greek bailout.
Ministers from the 17 nations that share the euro will gather in Brussels today to sign off on the 130 billion-euro ($170 billion) second package for Greece after bondholders agreed last week to take a loss on the country’s debt. They’ll also focus on Spain’s budget-cutting efforts and Portugal’s aid program, underscoring their desire to prevent contagion.

The debt swap seeks to wipe more than 100 billion euros off Greece’s books and contain an economic collapse in the country as European overseers work to hold Greek leaders to their commitments. The difficulties the government in Athens will confront in meeting creditors’ demands have prompted speculation of still further assistance.
“Nobody can now exclude that Greece at a single moment may need a third bailout,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was cited as saying in an interview published today in Belgian newspaper De Morgen. “I have all confidence that the measures that we have taken and that Greece must now implement - - no simple exercise -- will bring the country on the road to recovery.”

Sensex ends 358 pts up; metals shine, MCX rises 26%

The BSE Sensex staged excellent performance on Friday, trimming the major loss for the week as it had shed nearly 500 points in the previous three sessions. Successful completion of the debt swap deal by Greece with market participation at 95.7% helped the global markets to rally.
Short covering may be another reason that fuelled the rally. The BSE benchmark advanced 357.72 points or 2.09%, to close at 17,503.24 supported by 23 stocks. Meanwhile, the NSE benchmark gained 113.10 points or 2.17% at 5,333.55.
Rate sensitives saw huge buying interest ahead of monetary policy review (schedule to be announced on March 15) and even market experts see some action as industrial output dropped to 1.8% in December as against 5.9% in previous month. RBI governor D Subbarao too said they need to reduce bank's statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) going forward. "Number of preconditions need be met before SLR can be cut," he said. 
Shares of Multi Commodity Exchange ( MCX )

Sensex trims losses; Jaiprakash Associates, R Power up 6%

The BSE Sensex recouped its losses again, led by support from Infosys, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. L&T and SBI too recovered while Reliance Industries trimmed its losses to 2%.

The BSE benchmark fell just 11 points to 17,162.46 whereas the NSE benchmark gained 3 points at 5,225.55.

Among frontliners, Sterlite Industries, Sesa Goa, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki, Reliance Industries and BHEL were biggest losers, falling 2-4%.

However, Jaiprakash Associates shot up 6.75% after losing more than 7% in previous five sessions due to Bahujan Samaj Party lost election in Uttar Pradesh.

Reliance Power gained 6% on short covering. HCL Tech, Reliance Infrastructure, Bajaj Auto, Wipro, Tata Motors, DLF and HDFC Bank gained 1-2%.

State-run Bank of India fell 1% after Moody's downgraded the bank to D from D+, but kept outlook stable.

INDIA: ITC : BUY

INDIA: ITC : BUY
BSE: 500875 | NSE: ITC
CMP : INR 210 , SL : INR 205 , TGT : 215
INTRADAY

Market Outlook for 7-Mar

The trend deciding level for the day is 17,331 / 5,270 levels. If NIFTY trades above this level during the first half-an-hour of trade then we may witness a further rally up to 17,534 – 17,895 / 5,334 – 5,446 levels. However, if NIFTY trades below 17,331 / 5,270 levels for the first half-an-hour of trade then it may correct up to 16,970 – 16,767 / 5,159 – 5,095 levels.

Choppy Sensex under pressure; ADAG stocks most active

The BSE Sensex continued to fall amid choppy trade, weighed down by banks, metals, oil & gas, realty and capital goods stocks. The market looked cautious due to likely impact on growth reforms after Congress lost elections in Uttar Pradesh and limited options with Congress to induce aam adami via upcoming budget. Even falling rupee that raises import bill and upcoming monetary policy are other reasons that market is eyeing.

Suresh Mahadevan, UBS Securities feels that the market is likely to remain nervous till Budget. He said that the market is now focussed on economic recovery and earnings momentum.

"Till Budget, the market may remain worsen. The other thing to watch out is global issues like crude which is also not working out in our favour. So a combination of all this could mean some kind of near-term weakness but I wouldn't worry about anything so fundamental or anything at this point," he elaborates.

The BSE benchmark was down 92 points to 17,081.18 and the NSE benchmark declined 29 points to 5,193.15.

Five Leadership Lessons From James T. Kirk

Captain James T. Kirk is one of the most famous Captains in the history of Starfleet. There’s a good reason for that. He saved the planet Earth several times, stopped the Doomsday Machine, helped negotiate peace with the Klingon Empire, kept the balance of power between the Federation and the Romulan Empire, and even managed to fight Nazis. On his five-year mission commanding the U.S.S. Enterprise, as well as subsequent commands, James T. Kirk was a quintessential leader, who led his crew into the unknown and continued to succeed time and time again.

Kirk’s success was no fluke, either. His style of command demonstrates a keen understanding of leadership and how to maintain a team that succeeds time and time again, regardless of the dangers faced. 

Here are five of the key leadership lessons that you can take away from Captain Kirk

Goldman’s Secret Greece Loan Reveals Sinners

Greece’s secret loan from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) was a costly mistake from the start.
On the day the 2001 deal was struck, the government owed the bank about 600 million euros ($793 million) more than the 2.8 billion euros it borrowed, said Spyros Papanicolaou, who took over the country’s debt-management agency in 2005. By then, the price of the transaction, a derivative that disguised the loan and that Goldman Sachs persuaded Greece not to test with competitors, had almost doubled to 5.1 billion euros, he said.

Papanicolaou and his predecessor, Christoforos Sardelis, revealing details for the first time of a contract that helped Greece mask its growing sovereign debt to meet European Union requirements, said the country didn’t understand what it was buying and was ill-equipped to judge the risks or costs.

“The Goldman Sachs deal is a very sexy story between two sinners,” Sardelis, who oversaw the swap as head of Greece’s Public Debt Management Agency from 1999 through 2004, said in an interview.
Goldman Sachs’s instant gain on the transaction illustrates the dangers to clients who engage in complex, tailored trades that lack comparable market prices and whose fees aren’t disclosed. Harvard University, Alabama’s Jefferson County and the German city of Pforzheim all have found themselves on the losing end of the one-of-a-kind private deals typically pitched to them by securities firms as means to improve their finances.

Goldman Sachs DNA

“Like the municipalities,

Lehman Says It Exits Bankruptcy, to Pay Creditors

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEHMQ), which filed the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history in 2008, said it was exiting bankruptcy and would make its first payment to creditors on April 17.

The defunct investment bank has about $18 billion of cash available, it has said. In theory, it could give creditors $12 billion to $14.7 billion initially, depending on how much cash it needs to keep in reserve for disputed claims, it has told a judge in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Today’s statement from Lehman didn’t specify the size of the distribution.

The failed energy trader Enron Corp.’s investors were paid 53 cents on the dollar, while Lehman’s $65 billion liquidation plan would give the average creditor less than 18 cents in the next few years, according to court documents.

The bankruptcy case is In re Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., 08-13555, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-06/lehman-amends-archstone-suit-against-bofa-after-zell-bids-1-5-billion.html