The draft law imposing a tax on financial transactions will concern only companies headquartered in France and whose market capitalization exceeds one billion euros, according to BFM radio-TV business, which publishes the text Monday.  

The project, to be presented Wednesday by the Cabinet, applies to "acquisition" of securities "issued by a company whose headquarters is located in France and whose market capitalization exceeds one billion euros in the first January of the taxation year ", according to this document.

It is therefore a levy of 0.1% on the exchange of shares and credit default swaps (CDS) called "naked", these financial derivatives intended to act as insurance to bondholders but are accused of promoting speculation on sovereign debt.

One hundred companies concerned

Currently, more than one hundred companies listed on the Paris Stock Exchange exceeds the market valuation. The high-frequency trading, suspected of serving speculation and based on discussions conducted a nanosecond, by computer, will also be affected by this law.  

But order cancellations or order changes will, however, lower taxes beyond a certain threshold. "Since the rate of cancellation or change orders within the scope of this tax exceeds a threshold, on a trading day, the tax amounts to 0.01% of the amount of orders canceled or changed beyond this threshold, "the statement said.

The document states that "the threshold is set by decree" but "can not be less than two-thirds of orders addressed and can be modulated depending on the size of balance sheet of the operators concerned." This tax would generate a billion euros a year will be applied from 1 August, stated the head of state Nicolas Sarkozy announcing its establishment.

The transaction is valued at 1.3 billion euros including debt Orange Austria amounting to around 1.1 billion euros.

France Telecom, owner of 35% of the operator, said it expects to receive "about 70 million" for the sale of its interest. The balance of the proceeds from the sale back to the investment fund Mid Europa Partners, owner of 65% stake in Orange Austria.

The owner of Hutchison Whampoa, the Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, to expand its presence in Europe. It is already present on the Austrian market through the brand "3".

After the acquisition of Orange Austria, Hutchison claims the number three spot in the Austrian mobile phone with 2.8 million subscribers and 22% market share.

The combined turnover of the two sociétésa exceeded 700 million euros in 2011 (nearly 500 million for Orange Austria).

In a second step, Hutchison will divest certain assets of Orange Austria (including the mobile operator Yesss!) To Telekom Austria for EUR 390 million, announced it.

The agreement, subject to approval of regulatory authorities telecom and competition, should be effective in mid-2012. 

THE ASIAN ASSETS IN EUROPE

Asian societies, with substantial funding, have increased the asset purchases in Europe in recent times while the euro area is mired in debt crisis.

Chinese Shandong Heavy Industry has acquired last month 75% of Italian yacht maker Ferretti Group. And the Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp has acquired 8.7% of the holding company of British Thames Water.

The group of Li Ka-shing, looking for infrastructure investments in Europe, has already acquired the UK Northumbrian Water for 2.41 billion pounds last year. He also acquired $ 5.8 billion book distribution network of UK electricity from French EDF in 2010.

Li, nicknamed "Superman" by Hong Kong media for his business acumen, began his career in artificial flowers. It employs 26,000 people in 55 countries.

Hutchison also has activities in the 3G mobile in the UK, Italy and Australia. In the UK, it is in competition with, the number one mobile phone, Everything Everywhere, a subsidiary of Orange and T-Mobile.

FRANCE TELECOM CONTINUES REVIEW OF ASSETS

For France Telecom, Orange Austria exit is the second operation in the curly part of its review of assets, which aims to disengage the group of mature markets low growth while giving rise to additional returns to shareholders.

The operator has already defeated its subsidiary Orange Switzerland, sold at the end of December to fund Apax Partners for 1.6 billion euros.

In a statement, the group was pleased to have reached a new milestone in its "strategy to optimize the asset portfolio." 

Analysts at Raymond James estimate that the incumbent is likely to announce a program of share repurchases by an amount of up to 800 million euros, half of the proceeds of both sales .

"This would not enough to pay half of the minority interests of Mobistar while the other half could be addressed by potential tax synergies", added the analysts in reference reference to the Belgian operator France Telecom which is the majority shareholder.

At 12:30, the action of the French group was down 0.22% to 11.4750 euros while the CAC 40 rose 0.41%.

The title of Hutchison has in turn made up 3.8% to 76.20 Hong Kong dollars to the announcement of the transaction in a generally stable market.

Finance Minister (Chancellor of the Exchequer), George Osborne, warned that the UK economy might slide into recession if the debt crisis was not quickly resolved.

"If the rest of Europe is heading into recession, it may be difficult to avoid in the UK," he told parliament in his address to the biannual budget.

The news is almost unnoticed but it is huge. This is another step in Beijing's policy to internationalize the Chinese currency. The Chinese government seeks to ensure that the renminbi becomes progressively currency regulations of global trade flows. He also wants it to become a reserve currency, equal to the dollar and the euro.

The first European bank also warned that it could leave the United Kingdom, where its headquarters for more than twenty years, due to new rules on capital that could cost him dearly.

Over the period from July to September, HSBC made a profit taxable underlying decline from 36% to $ 3 billion (2.18 billion euros).

The bank has already cut 5,000 positions from the first quarter of the 30,000 cuts announced by 2013.

HSBC said its provisions for credit risks, and charges were up $ 700 million at quarter end compared to their levels of last year at this time, partly because of the moratorium on foreclosures in the the United States.

"The outlook for the global economy are very difficult, as problems in developed markets beginning to affect the growth rate worldwide," said HSBC.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Monday decided to submit the European Agreement on the rescue plan of the euro zone to the approval of its citizens. This plan, adopted in pain by 17 members of the euro area on October 26, provides for the deletion of a portion of the debt of Athens, in exchange for austerity and still more vigorous supervision of a strengthened donor country (EU, ECB and IMF), the famous "troika".A meeting between Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, the EU and the IMF is also scheduled for tomorrow Wednesday in Cannes, which is scheduled for the G20 summit.

Papandreou's why he called the referendum?

The Greeks "do they want the adoption of the new agreement or reject it? If the Greeks do not want it, it will not be adopted," said the Prime Minister on Monday night before the parliamentary group of the Socialist Party (PASOK ). "The will of the Greek people be binding on us," he added. What is certain is that the announcement of the referendum is a real surprise. Members of the majority, including Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, were not aware. Two Greek Socialist MPs already challenged the decision of George Papandreou, the one announcing his defection, the other calling for a cabinet "national salvation".A poll published last weekend showed that a majority of Greeks believe the decisions of the European Summit negative, only 12.6% considering them positive.

What will happen if the majority rejects?

This is the future of Greece in the euro area is at stake the Cypriot economy Christopher Pissarides, Nobel laureate, is not optimistic. "If no victory, Greece would fail immediately. I do not see it stay in the euro," he predicted. "The risk is that the international community shuts off the money and the country ends up leaving the euro," said Christoph Weil, an analyst at Commerzbank. The negative consequences of this event for Greece would be immense. Of course, out of the eurozone would allow Greece to devalue its currency and become competitive.

Chancellor Angela Merkel ended the discussion at a joint press conference with Nicolas Sarkozy, saying that the finance ministers of the euro area were working on two models to strengthen the capacity of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF).

"The two do not include the European Central Bank because the treaties do not allow it," she said.

Nicolas Sarkozy for his part said that France "is as much" the independence of the ECB as Germany and he returned not to the Heads of State and Government instruct the guarantor of stability of the euro.

France is still defended publicly on the eve of the weekend to grant a banking license in EFSF, which would have the advantage of giving unlimited access to liquidity from the ECB.

It could rely on the support of 14 of the 17 countries in the euro area, Italy, Spain and Belgium being advanced against a Germany that had only the Netherlands and Finland to its sides.

While the looming G20 summit in Cannes in early November, the United States, the major emerging countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also grew in the wings for the firewall erected by Europeans to be the strongest possible and involve the institution in Frankfurt.

"The problem is not Greece, but installing an effective firewall to prevent contagion to the rest of the euro area," summarized a source close to the G20, which emphasizes the risks posed by European dithering on the global recovery.

"For this, we must size and speed (…) Only the ECB has the size and speed of action needed," the source said.

FAST ACTION

Another source said that if the French Minister of Economy, Baroin, suggested Friday night flexibility on this issue was first to open the door to possible trade-offs between different aspects of the response to crisis in which STRIPS Europeans.

Because if the Germans are opposed to the transformation of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) in the bank and to leaving the ECB to become lender of last resort in Europe, the French refused to endorse them on the discount of 60% Berlin demanded that the Greek bonds.

Remains unknown: the position of the European Central Bank after Jean-Claude Trichet has left office, October 31.

The French are hostile to the evolution of double EFSF and the institution of Frankfurt but his successor, the Italian Mario Draghi, the current governor of the Bank of Italy and considered more pragmatic, there is not necessarily opposed.

"It is likely that Italy is on the side of France against the toughest positions defended by Germany and the Netherlands", do you confirm the Italian Treasury.

The arrival of the "pragmatic" Jörg Asmussen to the Board of the ECB to replace the "hawk" Jürgen Stark as the representative of Germany as well as a possible French digitally replacing Jean-Claude Trichet could also influence the position of guardian of the euro.

In the past, the ECB had similarly plot of "red lines", as its absolute refusal to buy government bonds markets or to consider a discount of Greek debt to be forced to abandon with worsening of the crisis.

Meanwhile, two solutions remain on the table to maximize the firepower of the EFSF: Germany and the ECB's call for a partial insurance mechanism sovereign debt of countries in the euro area.

The alternative would be to create a special vehicle powered by such banks as well as foreign sovereign wealth funds and resources which the Fund would be available to intervene in the secondary market.

The announcement comes as pressure intensifies on European banks to increase their own funds.

In a document addressed to the regulators, the largest bank in the euro area states want to increase its capital by about $ 1.5 billion in Santander Consumer States.

The transaction values ​​Santander Consumer United States to four billion dollars, according to estimates by the bank.

Last month, its chief executive Alfredo Saenz was, however, said the bank did not plan to raise equity.

The consortium Sponsor Auto Finance Holdings Series subscribe to the capital increase up to a billion dollars and Dundon DFS up to $ 150 million.

Santander will retain a majority share of 65% in Santander Consumer United States after the operation, Sponsor Series Auto Finance Holdings will own 25% and 10% DFS Dundon.

The consumer credit in the United States is one of the most profitable activities of Santander, analysts said, and generated a net profit of $ 455 million in 2010.

Around 8:45 GMT, taking 2.73%, outperforming the IBEX simultaneously up 1.13%. The Stoxx Europe 600 bank and earned 2.02%.

The rating agency Moody's Investors Service gave the first Monday penknife to the sacrosanct "AAA" rating of France, announcing that it gave three months to determine whether his perspective "stable" was still justified in view of the deteriorating economic situation."Over the next three months, Moody's will monitor and evaluate the stable outlook (the note of the country) in the light of progress made by the government to implement" the measures announced to reduce the budget deficit, said the agency rating in a statement.

France has currently the highest rating possible from Moody's (a "Aaa"), as from its main rival Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings. This high rating allows it to borrow on the markets in very favorable terms to finance its budget deficits. If the prospect of this note should be revised to "negative", this would imply that Moody's would likely reduce the medium-term (usually for a term of three to twelve months).And France would become the new big country, after the United States to lose the precious talisman financially.

The agency is careful to note that this review is part of its annual study on the accounts of France and that it is not – at this stage – a decision on the note country. But it is the first of three major rating agencies and to cast a shadow on the "Aaa" French. Last week, Moody's had yet to confirm the strength of the French note, after the announcement of the restructuring of the bank Dexia.

Keeping the promise of deficit reduction

In addition to the ability of the French government to meet its budget commitments, Moody's says it will consider in its deliberations "new negative developments in the economy or financial markets."In its statement, Moody's notes that the financial strength of the French government, although still very high, "has weakened, as is the case for other countries in the euro area, as the economic and financial crisis in the world has led to a deterioration in its debt ratios, which are now among the lowest rated countries Aaa + + ".

For Moody's, so it is "crucial" for France to maintain "investor confidence in its ability and willingness to deal with unforeseen challenges."Or "France could face a number of challenges in the coming months – such as the need for additional support to other European countries or its own banking system, which could increase so significant commitments that must support the country's budget, "said Moody's.

"The deterioration of debt ratios and the ability to see new potential liabilities are putting pressure on the prospect of stable rating Aaa + + of the country," said the agency. For Moody's, the French government now less room for maneuver in 2008 (…) "during the crisis of" subprime "." The continued commitment to implement economic reform measures and budgetary and visible progress in the goals "for reducing debt" will be important for maintaining the stable outlook "of the note of the country, the agency warns.