Gazprom says on brink of UK deal

(Reuters) - Russian gas giant Gazprom is close to closing a deal to increase its market presence in Britain, Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev said on Sunday.

"In the near future there will a deal to further increase the customer base on the British market," he told reporters at an economic forum in St Petersburg, without giving details.


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Sinosteel signs accord with JPMorgan

(Reuters) - "Through strategic cooperation with JPMorgan Corp.
Sinosteel can further enhance its overall combined strength and
core competitive ability for a more active leading role in the
trade," a senior Sinosteel executive was quoted as saying.




Sinosteel would also tap JPMorgan's expertise in
international capital markets, acquisitions, and fund
management, according to the report.


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Haines of SEC Says Connecticut, Texas Seek to Avoid Health Care Accounting

(Bloomberg) -- The Securities and Exchange
Commission's lead municipal bond regulator today criticized bids
by Texas and Connecticut to bypass accounting rules forcing them
to disclose how much they will need to pay for retiree health
care.

Efforts by those states to reject common, national
accounting standards would leave investors without the
information they need to assess the risk of purchasing bonds,
Martha Haines, head of the SEC's Office of Municipal Securities,
told a meeting of the Government Finance Officers Association in
Anaheim, California.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Most Gulf businessmen see '07 profit over 5 pct: survey

(Reuters) - HSBC, which conducted the business confidence survey with polling company YouGov Siraj, said 52 percent of the respondents were planning to increase investment in their businesses in 2007 and 55 percent said they will hire more staff in the next 12 months.




HSBC's Gulf business confidence index eased to 99 from 100 in the first quarter, with Qatar, at 114, reporting the strongest growth in confidence and Kuwait, at 95, the weakest. A score greater than 100 indicates a positive shift in confidence and below 100 a negative shift.


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Base metals down on inflation, demand worries

(Reuters) - Base metal prices fell on Friday and were seen holding lower levels on fears of inflation and a slowdown in demand from China, analysts said.

"We remain neutral on the commodities asset class as a whole as the global business cycle continues to mature and demand is set to slow," investment bank UBS said in a note.


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Matsushita in talks with Kenwood on JVC stake-sources

(Reuters) - Kenwood, a maker of audio equipment and car electronics, is
in talks to buy 20 billion yen worth of new
shares from JVC and then merge operations with JVC under a
joint holding company, said several sources.




Matsushita would then sell part of its 52.4 percent stake
in JVC to the holding company. Matsushita is aiming to get
loss-making JVC off its consolidated accounts, but would likely
hold on to some of its shares, the sources said.


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Yingli Green Energy shares decline in market debut

(Reuters) - The 29 million-share offering was priced at $11 per American depositary share compared with a forecast range of $11 to $13, according to an underwriter. The offering raised $319 million.




Each ADS represents one common share in the IPO. Underwriters were led by Goldman Sachs and UBS Securities.


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