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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: maceng2 who wrote (177711)	7/7/2002 6:31:00 AM
From: maceng2	Respond to of 436258

Schröder says state could aid Babcock Borsig The German government may step in to save Babcock Borsig, the 111-year old engineering group that filed for insolvency on Friday, to prevent a high-profile corporate casualty less than 80 days before the country's general election. A collapse of Babcock Borsig, which has 22,000 employees worldwide, would be the latest in a string of insolvencies in Germany, following the downfalls of construction group Philipp Holzmann, media group Kirch and aircraft maker Fairchild Dornier. Any state aid would probably face tough scrutiny by European Union regulators in Brussels. Nonetheless, the federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Babcock is based, indicated they would be prepared to help the cash-strapped company with funding to the tune of €300m ($294m). This would need to be matched with backing from creditor banks, many of which are reluctant to prop up the business at a time when they have mounting bad debt provisions. Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor, faces a tough general election battle in September. He said on Friday: "The North Rhine-Westphalia government knows that, within the bounds of budgetary constraints, we support its efforts politically and materially." Babcock's main shareholders include West LB, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank, tourism group TUI and Guy Wyser-Pratte, the US investor. Dirk Lohmann, an analyst at HSBC, said: "The banks, particularly those that are listed, are themselves under pressure not to pour money down the drain." Wolfgang Clement, North Rhine-Westphalia's prime minister, acknowledged that the situation remained "very difficult". Babcock's funding requirement is estimated at €700m, including €200m needed immediately for wages and other payments. The company, which has been trying to stave off bankruptcy for nearly two weeks, filed for insolvency as a deadline to obtain emergency funding expired late on Thursday. But it held out hopes that it might be able to withdraw the filing if continuing talks bore fruit. Babcock, already under pressure from the weakness of the German economy, in March sold a 25 per cent stake in the HDW shipyard to One Equity Partners, a unit of Bank One, the US bank. The move helped trigger a current cash crunch, stripping the group of its most profitable asset and reducing it essentially to its loss-making power engineering units. The company is facing legal challenges from Mr Wyser-Pratte over the HDW disposal, which led to a collapse in Babcock's shares. Mr Wyser-Pratte, who owns about 8 per cent of Babcock, said on Friday he would persist with his campaign against the company's management regardless of the insolvency filing or a possible bail-out. "We are not of the kind that drops initiatives," he said. news.ft.com

To: maceng2 who wrote (177711)	7/7/2002 11:07:46 AM
From: (Bob) Zumbrunnen	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

I logged in but cannot post. The screen shows me logged in as "guest" You're not really logged in. I double-checked your account and the system says the last time you logged in was also the last time you posted, back in March. It should have taken you right back to the login screen if it didn't like your loginID/password combo. Could you try again and email (bobz@investorshub.com) or PM me here with your loginID and password if it fails so I can try it and see what's going on? Edit: Minor grubbage. 4 7's. The best losing poker hand I ever had. Got $930 from the "Bad Beat" jackpot on that hand.