B4
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2016
MARKET E VA L UAT I O N W O R K S H O P
Workshop held to review results of 'Origin Oman' campaign Times News Service MUSCAT: A workshop to highlight and discuss results of an evaluation process made on Origin Oman campaign was organised recently by Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE) in collaboration with the London Marketing Office. The workshop was held at Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah in the presence of Chief Executive Officers of local companies. Eng. Basim bin Ali Al Nassri, Director General of Marketing and Media at PEIE, noted that the study has been carried out to evaluate the real return to the subscribers in Origin Oman Campaign through focusing on certain tools. Series of questions “A series of questions were addressed to the targets including those with regard to the campaign’s website, effectiveness of the exhibitions held as part of the campaign, and whether there is a real follow-up on the investments and businesses that were gener-
ated through the campaign,” he informed. He added that this workshop represents phase three of the evaluation process. “The first phase constituted direct interviews with a number of CEOs, VIPs and specialists in the field in order to identify the challenges facing Omani products as well as benefit from their rich experience in the field.” “Phase two of the process included an online survey for the companies and Origin Oman website’s subscribers. The questions addressed in the survey aimed at helping in understand the way the campaign works and to what extent it has been achieving its objectives,” he added. “The third phase represents this workshop that aims at highlighting the outcomes of the interviews and survey and thus discussing them to generate further views in an effort to serve the public interest and boost the value of Omani products,” Al Nassri pointed out. He added that PEIE has been undertaking a series of activities,
ECONOMY
Japan’s Abe plans up to $90.7 billion stimulus package TOKYO: Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to propose a fiscal stimulus package of as much as 10 trillion yen ($90.7 billion) after warning Group of Seven (G7) leaders that the global economy faces significant risk of another crisis, according to the Nikkei newspaper. Abe will seek a second supplementary budget worth 5 trillion yen to 10 trillion yen after July’s upper-house election, the Nikkei reported on Saturday without attribution. Proposals will include accelerating the construction of a magnetic-levitation train line from Nagoya to Osaka, issuing vouchers to boost consumer spending, increasing pay for childcare workers and setting up a scholarship fund, the Nikkei said. “When you want to get the economy going, as long as demand in Asia is weak, you need additional public spending,” Martin Schulz, a senior economist at Fujitsu Research Institute in Tokyo, said by phone. “Since private spending is still not picking up, the government is simply taking up the slack.” Abe is getting closer to delaying an increase in Japan’s sales tax, saying on Friday he’ll make a decision before an upper-house election this summer on whether to go ahead with a planned hike in the levy next April to 10 per cent, from 8 per cent. A formal announcement of a two-year delay is expected Wednesday at the close of the parliamentary session, the Nikkei reported. This would be the second postponement by Abe, as the tax was initially scheduled to be raised in October 2015. An increase in the levy in 2014 pushed Japan into a recession. Abe had previously said the tax hike would be delayed only if there was a shock on the scale of a major earthquake or a corporate collapse like that of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Since the previous tax hike, the economy has swung between
Eng. Basim bin Ali Al Nassri.
Werner Bullen.
— Supplied picture
— Supplied picture
initiatives and event to promote and develop Omani products. “A number of mobile exhibitions for Omani products have been held in the various governorates of Oman in addition to exhibitions held in the hypermarkets and com-
mercial centres. A number of Omani products exhibitions were also organised in schools in line with a MoU that was signed with the Ministry of Education to disseminate awareness on Omani products in the school communities.”
“Moreover, PEIE has launched a new website for the campaign. It has also participated in organising OPEX events in Riyadh, Jeddah, Doha, Dubai and Addis Ababa in cooperation with thePublic Authority for Investment Promotion and Export Development (Ithraa), and Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI),” Al Nassri said. “PEIE has also represented the Sultanate for the fifth consecutive year at Gulfood event through a pavilion embracing Omani companies. Adding to these initiatives, a team specialised in designing and packaging has been formed to undertake efforts aiming at developing the shape of locally manufactured products in terms of their design and packaging aspects. All these initiatives in addition to the presence in various media means have played a significant role in uplifting the presence of Omani products locally and externally and enhance the confidence of the consumers,” he added. On his part, Werner Bullen,
Popularity of campaign “The study also aims at understanding the expectations and real return of the participants in the campaign, the popularity of the campaign, to what extent the ROI is different according to market segment (e.g. food, industrial products), and whether exhibitions like OPEX and other activities are profitable or not for the participants. Based upon the recommendations collected, we define a long term strategy for development. The main goal is to change Origin Oman into a real business or profit centre where everything is monitored in order to be improved,” Bullen commented. The workshop ended with discussions and more ideas were generated to contribute to the final output of the study.
Bayer close to choosing banks to arrange funds Bayer will probably raise more than $40 billion in short-term bridge financing and most of the remainder in term loans, said the people, who asked
Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe . — Bloomberg News
Managing Director of London Marketing Office said that this study aspires at raising awareness on the importance of purchasing locally manufactured products and services bearing the Origin Oman logo.
not to be identified
IN NEGOTIATION: The German company interviewed lenders at its headquarters in Leverkusen this week and is likely to select about half a dozen banks next week, the people said. — Bloomberg file picture
Providing the terms of the funding may help allay Monsanto’s concerns about the financing and let talks advance on Bayer’s bid to become the world’s biggest supplier of farm chemicals and seeds
because the talks contraction and growth, with consumer spending remaining weak. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has struggled to spur inflation despite record asset purchases and negative interest rates. Consumer prices excluding fresh food fell 0.3 per cent in April from a year earlier, after dropping by the same amount in March, data released Friday showed. Meanwhile, the yen has surged about 9 per cent versus the dollar this year, threatening profits for exporters including Toyota Motor and weighing on the nation’s stock market. The benchmark Topix index has fallen 13 per cent in 2016. The stimulus package would be the second this fiscal year after Japan approved a 778 billion yen supplementary budget this month to aid recovery from earthquakes in the Kumamoto region. The G7 industrial nations will use “all policy tools — monetary, fiscal and structural — individually and collectively to strengthen global demand and address supply constraints while continuing our efforts to put debt on a sustainable path,” the group said in a statement on Friday after a two-day summit in central Japan. — Bloomberg News
are private
LONDON: Bayer is close to choosing banks to arrange funds for its proposed acquisition of Monsanto, according to people familiar with the matter, after the US company rejected the initial $62 billion bid as too low and sought reassurances on the potential financing. Bayer will probably raise more than $40 billion in short-term bridge financing and most of the remainder in term loans, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. The German company interviewed lenders at its headquarters in Leverkusen this week and is likely to select about half a dozen banks next week, the people said. Funding negotiations are ongoing and the amounts could change, the people said. Banks are likely to offer additional financing to give Bayer room to increase its offer if needed, said the people. A spokesman for Bayer declined to comment. Providing the terms of the fund-
ing may help allay Monsanto’s concerns about the financing and let talks advance on Bayer’s bid to become the world’s biggest supplier of farm chemicals and seeds. On Tuesday, Monsanto said that while the original offer was inadequate, it’s open to further negotiations. Bayer remains confident about reaching an agreement on the deal, which would be the largest this year and biggest ever by a German company. Bridge loans Bayer is considering selling convertible debt for $2 billion to $3 billion, two of the people said. Banks are offering $40 billion to $50 billion in bridge loans, the people said. These are short-term funds provided by lenders in an acquisition while the buyer arranges longer-term funding such as term loans and bonds. The term loans could total more than $20 billion, one of the people said. Bank of America and Credit Suisse Group are Bayer’s main advisers and financiers. Rothschild is also advising Bayer. Shares of Bayer closed 0.4 per cent lower at 85.33 euros in Frankfurt on Friday. The stock
has dropped 15 per cent since May 11, the day before Bloomberg News reported that Bayer was exploring a possible bid. Monsanto, which has climbed 21 per cent in the same period, closed 0.1 per cent lower at $109.49 in New York on Friday. In unveiling its May 10 offer of $122 a share in cash, Bayer said the transaction would be funded with a combination of debt and equity, with about a quarter of the $62 billion in enterprise value coming from selling shares to existing investors. Bayer may also sell new hybrid bonds “to a very limited extent,” while relying largely on senior debt, Chief Financial Officer Johannes M. Dietsch told analysts on Monday. Bayer will probably make a higher bid, Jonas Oxgaard, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein in New York, said on Tuesday in a note, adding that an offer below $135 per share would be “challenging” for Monsanto to agree to. The offered price is unlikely to go beyond $140 a share, according to Jeffrey Holford, an analyst at Jefferies. Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday placed Bayer’s A3 credit
rating under review for a downgrade because of the Monsanto offer. Fitch Ratings also said it may cut the rating by from A to BBB, the lowest investmentgrade level. Clashes, disputes Monsanto is the largest seed supplier and a pioneer of genetically modified crops, which in the two decades since their introduction have come to account for the majority of corn and soybeans grown in the US. The company has become vulnerable to a takeover as a number of problems piled up this year: Monsanto has cut its earnings forecast, clashed with some of the world’s largest commodity-trading companies and become locked in disputes with the governments of Argentina and India. Bayer, a 152-year-old company, was founded by two friends who made dyes from coal-tar derivatives. Over the following decades, they expanded into other chemicals and pharmaceuticals, introducing heroin as a cough remedy in 1896 and then aspirin, the world’s first blockbuster drug, in 1899. — Bloomberg News
EURO ZONE CRISIS
Greek deal finally struck after late-night call to IMF chief
Christine Lagarde. — Bloomberg file picture
BRUSSELS: Another sleepless night in Brussels before another debt deal with Greece. So far, so routine in the euro zone crisis. But for once it was not highstakes calls to Athens that kept Europe’s finance ministers up into the early hours. This time they were kept waiting for IMF officials to yield after months of wrangling with Greece’s euro zone creditors over the Fund’s demands that the Europeans give Athens debt relief. The wait ended when absent International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde was reached on the phone as she travelled in Asia by her representatives in the room at the European Council’s headquarters in Brussels. But the signs of indecision in the IMF have prompted ques-
tions among EU officials about the Washington-based Fund’s commitment to rejoining their bailout for Greece — and about whether it is worth working with it in future. Even Finnish Finance Minister Alexander Stubb, an ally of Germany in insisting on an IMF role as a guarantor for northern European voters that the Greeks will not squander their money, wondered out loud this week whether the euro zone should keep trying to get the Fund involved again “at any price”. Questions about the IMF’s engagement were raised by about a dozen senior officials in private conversations with Reuters since the agreement was reached. At 2am on Wednesday, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselblo-
em presented a “breakthrough” deal under which the euro zone agreed to criteria for granting Greece relief on what it owes them in 2018. Poul Thomsen, the IMF’s director for Europe, pledged to seek IMF board approval for resuming its role in the bailout. The agreement ended almost a year of Transatlantic argument in which Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s cash-strapped government has often been little more than a spectator. The IMF says Athens’s debt burden is unsustainable and refused to be part of a third bailout package agreed by the euro zone in August unless the Europeans — not the Fund itself — rescheduled some of their loans. Some Europeans, led by veteran German Finance Min-
ister Wolfgang Schaeuble, refused. Schaeuble says Athens can survive for now and may be in a better position to pay in the future, and that writing off its debts would create a “moral hazard” that could undermine confidence. Difficult conversations During the negotiations this week, euro zone officials said they were startled by what they saw as unusually intense and difficult conversations among Thomsen and other IMF officials, and notably by the way in which the Dane had to wait for hours to reach Lagarde before finally accepting the accord. “It seemed the IMF couldn’t agree on a common position among themselves,” said a senior euro zone official, who noted the
Fund’s top lawyer had flown in from Washington to vet the deal. IMF officials said the delay was largely a matter of the logistics in reaching Lagarde, a former French finance minister, who was visiting Kazakhstan before going to the Group of Seven summit in Japan. Nor was it unusual to wait for her green light. Another European official said Thomsen seemed “frustrated” during a final 10-minute call he made to Lagarde from a corridor outside the meeting room. He was heard saying the Fund should not agree but seemed to lose the argument, the EU official said. A final call was “typical in such cases”, Rice added: “The managing director fully backed Poul’s position.” — Reuters