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CA-BUSINESS Summary

30/11/08

BCE seeks huge fee from Teachers if no deal: report

TORONTO (Reuters) - BCE Inc. is demanding that the Ontario Teachers' Pension Fund pay a C$1.2 billion termination fee if the leveraged buyout of the company fails to go through as expected, a newspaper reported on Saturday. Citing people familiar with the situation, the Globe and Mail said BCE is pushing to get Teachers, the lead suitor in the C$34.8 billion ($28.3 billion) buyout deal, to pay the huge fee should the tangled, two-year-old bid for the owner of Bell Canada fall apart before a December 11 deadline.

Uranium readies for revival

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Uranium miners have found themselves with a hearty recipe for powering a stock market revival: rising prices for the nuclear fuel, strong demand, and supply disruptions. The only ingredient missing is investors. The spot price for uranium has surged 25 percent over the past five weeks, a performance unmatched by the stocks of companies in the uranium sector. From a basket of 56 stocks tracked by Haywood Securities, for example, 42 fell over the last week, three were unchanged, and just 11 saw gains.

Flaherty defends plan to end party subsidies

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on Friday defended a government proposal to eliminate subsidies to political parties, saying it was wrong to confiscate tax dollars to redistribute to politicians while the country was tightening its belt. In the fall fiscal update presented by Flaherty on Thursday, the Conservative government said it wanted to eliminate the payment of C$1.95 that Ottawa makes each year for every vote a party receives in the last general election. The subsidies cost about $27 million annually.

RBS bailout, Santander up pace of bank shake-up

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's government bought a majority stake in one of the country's biggest banks and Germany's Commerzbank accelerated its takeover of a rival as the shake-up of European banks gathered pace with help from taxpayers and shareholders. Britain's move was the latest attempt by countries around the world to shore up ailing banks amid a global credit crisis and give them a more solid footing for looming recession.

OPEC defers new oil supply cut as divisions emerge

CAIRO (Reuters) - OPEC on Saturday deferred a decision on a new oil supply cut amid signs that Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies are demanding tighter adherence to restraints put in place over the past two months. Gulf producers want to see strict compliance with recent output curbs of 2 million barrels a day before considering further reductions when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meets in Algeria on December 17.

CAW union blast Ottawa on lack of auto aid plan

TORONTO (Reuters) - The leadership of the Canadian Auto Workers union blasted the Conservative government on Friday, saying it has played down the economic crisis and has failed to address the problems in the auto industry. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty "has failed miserably," said Jim Stanford, the CAW's economist, at a meeting in Toronto the union called to discuss the slumping auto sector.

TSX closes higher for 6th straight session

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index rallied to its sixth straight gain on Friday as financials surged higher on hopes that U.S. stimulus efforts unveiled this week would help boost the economy. After adjusting more than 150 points higher minutes after the closing bell, the S&P/TSX composite index <.GSPTSE> ended the day up 516.85 points, or 5.9 percent, at 9,270.62.

CIBC, former trader Flynn settle market-timing feud

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce said on Friday that it resolved legal matters with a former New York-based trader who was accused in 2004 of helping hedge funds in the mutual fund market timing scandal. In a brief statement, CIBC said it reached an "amicable resolution" with former employee Paul Flynn and was "sympathetic" to the difficulties he had faced over the last five years.

Bank of Canada announces new term liquidity action

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada announced on Friday a series of new term loan facility transactions and term purchase and resale agreements for the rest of December and January. The actions are part of liquidity measures the bank has undertaken and are in addition to several actions previously announced.

Asian economies stumble

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. shoppers awoke early for post-Thanksgiving sales on Friday in a key test of the country's ability to withstand economic turmoil as sharp production declines in Asia gave fresh evidence of the global crisis. Fighting wore on in India's commercial capital, Mumbai, where Islamist militants launched attacks on Wednesday, while unrest in Thailand also underlined the political risks facing emerging markets already grappling with economic disarray.

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