Goldman Sachs

According to market sources National Bank of Greece (NBG) is planning to sell 100% of its stake in Turkish bank ‘Finansbank’. The same sources says the goal is to sell the shares of the Turkish bank at least double its ‘book value’, which corresponds to 3.8bln Euros. The pending ‘stress tests’ on the Greek banking system lead the management of the Greek bank to reevaluate its business plan.

U.S.-based investment bank Goldman Sachs has acquired a 13 percent stake in SOCAR Turkey for $1.3 billion, said the company in a statement on Aug. 14. 

"The building partnership by one of the world's leading investors to SOCAR Turkey, the largest investor of Turkey, has showed high confidence in our projects, company and country," said SOCAR Turkey President Kenan Yavuz. 

The White House on July 27 said that more than a dozen of America's biggest companies have pledged to tackle climate change, backing President Barack Obama ahead of a global summit.

“Take Greece and give us Puerto Rico”, German FinMin Wolfgang Schauble reportedly joked, when talking with US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

The usually frosty Schauble’s jest was obviously linked to the recent default of Puerto Rico, a long-time US territory. Essentially, he was saying the Eurozone would “cover” Puerto Rico, with “Uncle Sam” taking Greece into the “dollar zone”.

Goldman Sachs has released a report saying that regardless of the outcome of Greece’s Sunday referendum the country will remain in the Euro. As the reports states the final verdict of the referendum is likely to prove less significant than how domestic politics in Greece responds to it. The reports focuses on various scenarios of either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote.

Everybody who is anybody with money to burn would like an invitation to the Bilderberg meeting due to take place in Austria from June 11-14. Sworn to secrecy, nobody knows what the wealthy 120-150 leaders from the world of business, media, academia discuss. There is no agenda, no resolutions, no clues… sending conspiracy theories spiraling.

The appointment of John Cryan as chief executive of Deutsche Bank sent shares in Germany's largest lender up 8 percent on June 8 as investors judged the Briton a more credible contender than his two ousted predecessors to revive its fortunes. 

The Turkish branch of Azeri energy giant SOCAR will open the Petlim Container Port in the Aegean Sea this September to become an alternative to Greece's Piraeus Port for container shipments, according to Kenan Yavuz, the head of SOCAR Turkey and a board member of Petkim Petrochemical Holding.

A recent poll suggests that 58% of SYRIZA supporters would rather return to the drachma than to remain in a single currency on the condition of harsh austerity measures. From this viewpoint, it is not unlikely that Greece would choose to default and return to the drachma if the party’s “red lines” are crossed.

Swedish builder Skanska said May 29 that its LaGuardia Gateway Partners consortium had been selected as preferred bidder in a $3.6 billion project to build a new terminal at New York's LaGuardia Airport.