Έτοιμο το νέο αεροδρόμιο Πάφου
Η Ηermes Airports ανακοίνωσε ότι οι εργασίες ανέγερσης του νέου Διεθνούς Αεροδρομίου Πάφου και ο εξοπλισμός του με όλες τις καινούργιες εγκαταστάσεις και τεχνικά συστήματα έχουν ολοκληρωθεί εγκαίρως και οι εργολάβοι του έργου το έχουν παραδώσει επίσημα στην εταιρεία την Τετάρτη 3 Σεπτεμβρίου 2008. Τα εγκαίνια του νέου Αεροδρομίου Πάφου προγραμματίζεται να γίνουν το Σάββατο 8 Νοεμβρίου 2008 και η επίσημη έναρξη λειτουργίας του νέου αερολιμένα θα γίνει τη Δευτέρα 17 Νοεμβρίου 2008. Στο διάστημα που μεσολαβεί από την παράδοση του έργου μέχρι την επίσημη λειτουργία του, δηλαδή στις 75 μέρες μέχρι τις 17 Νοεμβρίου - που είναι μέσα στα συμφωνηθέντα χρονικά πλαίσια - ο χρόνος θα αφιερωθεί εξ ολοκλήρου για συνεχή και συστηματική εκπαίδευση όλων των εμπλεκομένων, ούτως ώστε να εξοικειωθούν με τις νέες εγκαταστάσεις, τον προηγμένο τεχνικό εξοπλισμό και τα συστήματα λειτουργίας του νέου αεροδρομίου.
PHILELEFTHEROS
Economy | Business | Social | Leaked | Opinions
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Paulson Engineers U.S. Takeover of Fannie, Freddie
Paulson Engineers U.S. Takeover of Fannie, Freddie
Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government will take control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after the biggest surge in mortgage defaults in at least three decades threatened to bring down the companies making up almost half the U.S. home-loan market.
``It is necessary to take action,'' Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who engineered the takeover along with Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart, said in a statement today. ``Our economy and our markets will not recover until the bulk of this housing correction is behind us. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are critical to turning the corner on housing.''
The FHFA will take over Fannie and Freddie under a so-called conservatorship, replacing their chief executives and eliminating their dividends. The Treasury will purchase up to $100 billion of senior-preferred stock in each company as needed to maintain a positive net worth. It will also provide secured short-term funding to Fannie, Freddie and 12 federal home-loan banks, and purchase mortgage-backed debt in the open market.
The takeover of Fannie and Freddie is the biggest step yet in officials' efforts to grapple with a yearlong credit crisis that has caused more than $500 billion of losses and writedowns. The government is taking an increasing role in financial markets, after the Federal Reserve six months ago provided $29 billion of financing to prevent Bear Stearns & Cos.'s collapse.
`Freeze Up'
``The government wasn't going to allow them to muddle through this mess,'' said Paul Miller, an analyst with Friedman Billings Ramsey & Co. in Arlington, Virginia. ``No way were they going to be able to do that because the market was going to freeze up.''
Fannie Chief Executive Officer Daniel Mudd, 50, and Freddie CEO Richard Syron, 64, will serve in a transition period as consultants, Lockhart said in a statement.
Herbert Allison, former CEO of TIAA-Cref, will take over as Fannie's new chief executive, while David Moffett, who used to serve as vice chairman of US Bancorp, will head Freddie, Lockhart said.
The Treasury also said today it will purchase the mortgage- backed securities of Fannie and Freddie in the open market, seeking ``to broaden access to mortgage funding for current and prospective homeowners.''
Lockhart said today's action was prompted by a judgment that the companies ``cannot continue to operate safely and soundly and fulfill their critical public mission without significant action to address our concerns.''
Review of Capital
Paulson's decision, taken after consulting with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, followed a review that found Washington-based Fannie and McLean, Virginia-based Freddie used accounting methods that inflated their capital, according to people with knowledge of the decision.
Morgan Stanley, hired by the Treasury to probe the companies' finances, concluded the accounting, while legal, enabled Freddie, and to a lesser extent Fannie, to overstate the value of their reserves, according to the people who declined to be identified because the findings were confidential.
The FHFA will aim to ``preserve and conserve'' the companies' assets and property and put them ``in a sound and solvent condition,'' according to a fact sheet distributed by the Treasury. There is ``no exact time frame'' for when the conservatorship will end, the statement said.
Role in Crisis
Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee almost half of the $12 trillion in U.S. home loans and the government had been leaning on the companies to help pull the economy out of the housing crisis.
Concern over the companies' capital pushed their borrowing costs to record levels over U.S. Treasuries, sent their common and preferred stocks tumbling and boosted mortgage rates. Fannie is down about 66 percent in New York Stock Exchange trading since the end of June. Freddie has fallen about 69 percent.
Pacific Investment Management Co. and other large investors may put in their own money once the Treasury decides to inject government funds, Bill Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund at Newport Beach, California-based company, said Sept. 5 in a Bloomberg Television interview.
About 61 percent of Gross's holdings were mortgage-backed securities as of June 30, mostly debt guaranteed by Fannie, Freddie or government agency Ginnie Mae, according to data on Pimco's Web site.
Morgan Stanley
Paulson, 62, hired Morgan Stanley a month ago to advise on Fannie and Freddie. Paulson also consulted with Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis on his plan, according to people with knowledge of the talks. Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri declined to comment.
The Treasury briefed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama yesterday and has contacted Republican contender John McCain's staff. Officials also discussed the plans with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank.
Fannie was created by the government in 1938 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Freddie was chartered in 1970 to compete with Fannie.
As losses on the mortgages grew late last year, the companies recorded $14.9 billion in combined net losses, eating into their capital. Fannie raised $14.4 billion since November and Freddie sold $6 billion of preferred securities. Plans for a $5.5 billion sale were delayed as the company's fortunes sank.
Capital Levels
Fannie had $47 billion of capital as of June 30, according to company filings. The company is required by its regulator to hold $37.5 billion. Freddie's capital stood at $37.1 billion, compared with a requirement of $34.5 billion, filings show.
Fannie's market capitalization is now $7.6 billion, down from $38.9 billion at the end of last year. Freddie's has fallen to $3.3 billion, from $22 billion over the same period.
Bernanke participated in the meetings because the central bank was given a consultative role in overseeing Fannie's and Freddie's capital under legislation approved in July.
The FHFA was scheduled to release its assessment of the companies' capital levels as early as last week as part of a quarterly appraisal of their finances.
BLOOMBERG
Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government will take control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after the biggest surge in mortgage defaults in at least three decades threatened to bring down the companies making up almost half the U.S. home-loan market.
``It is necessary to take action,'' Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who engineered the takeover along with Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart, said in a statement today. ``Our economy and our markets will not recover until the bulk of this housing correction is behind us. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are critical to turning the corner on housing.''
The FHFA will take over Fannie and Freddie under a so-called conservatorship, replacing their chief executives and eliminating their dividends. The Treasury will purchase up to $100 billion of senior-preferred stock in each company as needed to maintain a positive net worth. It will also provide secured short-term funding to Fannie, Freddie and 12 federal home-loan banks, and purchase mortgage-backed debt in the open market.
The takeover of Fannie and Freddie is the biggest step yet in officials' efforts to grapple with a yearlong credit crisis that has caused more than $500 billion of losses and writedowns. The government is taking an increasing role in financial markets, after the Federal Reserve six months ago provided $29 billion of financing to prevent Bear Stearns & Cos.'s collapse.
`Freeze Up'
``The government wasn't going to allow them to muddle through this mess,'' said Paul Miller, an analyst with Friedman Billings Ramsey & Co. in Arlington, Virginia. ``No way were they going to be able to do that because the market was going to freeze up.''
Fannie Chief Executive Officer Daniel Mudd, 50, and Freddie CEO Richard Syron, 64, will serve in a transition period as consultants, Lockhart said in a statement.
Herbert Allison, former CEO of TIAA-Cref, will take over as Fannie's new chief executive, while David Moffett, who used to serve as vice chairman of US Bancorp, will head Freddie, Lockhart said.
The Treasury also said today it will purchase the mortgage- backed securities of Fannie and Freddie in the open market, seeking ``to broaden access to mortgage funding for current and prospective homeowners.''
Lockhart said today's action was prompted by a judgment that the companies ``cannot continue to operate safely and soundly and fulfill their critical public mission without significant action to address our concerns.''
Review of Capital
Paulson's decision, taken after consulting with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, followed a review that found Washington-based Fannie and McLean, Virginia-based Freddie used accounting methods that inflated their capital, according to people with knowledge of the decision.
Morgan Stanley, hired by the Treasury to probe the companies' finances, concluded the accounting, while legal, enabled Freddie, and to a lesser extent Fannie, to overstate the value of their reserves, according to the people who declined to be identified because the findings were confidential.
The FHFA will aim to ``preserve and conserve'' the companies' assets and property and put them ``in a sound and solvent condition,'' according to a fact sheet distributed by the Treasury. There is ``no exact time frame'' for when the conservatorship will end, the statement said.
Role in Crisis
Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee almost half of the $12 trillion in U.S. home loans and the government had been leaning on the companies to help pull the economy out of the housing crisis.
Concern over the companies' capital pushed their borrowing costs to record levels over U.S. Treasuries, sent their common and preferred stocks tumbling and boosted mortgage rates. Fannie is down about 66 percent in New York Stock Exchange trading since the end of June. Freddie has fallen about 69 percent.
Pacific Investment Management Co. and other large investors may put in their own money once the Treasury decides to inject government funds, Bill Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund at Newport Beach, California-based company, said Sept. 5 in a Bloomberg Television interview.
About 61 percent of Gross's holdings were mortgage-backed securities as of June 30, mostly debt guaranteed by Fannie, Freddie or government agency Ginnie Mae, according to data on Pimco's Web site.
Morgan Stanley
Paulson, 62, hired Morgan Stanley a month ago to advise on Fannie and Freddie. Paulson also consulted with Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis on his plan, according to people with knowledge of the talks. Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri declined to comment.
The Treasury briefed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama yesterday and has contacted Republican contender John McCain's staff. Officials also discussed the plans with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank.
Fannie was created by the government in 1938 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Freddie was chartered in 1970 to compete with Fannie.
As losses on the mortgages grew late last year, the companies recorded $14.9 billion in combined net losses, eating into their capital. Fannie raised $14.4 billion since November and Freddie sold $6 billion of preferred securities. Plans for a $5.5 billion sale were delayed as the company's fortunes sank.
Capital Levels
Fannie had $47 billion of capital as of June 30, according to company filings. The company is required by its regulator to hold $37.5 billion. Freddie's capital stood at $37.1 billion, compared with a requirement of $34.5 billion, filings show.
Fannie's market capitalization is now $7.6 billion, down from $38.9 billion at the end of last year. Freddie's has fallen to $3.3 billion, from $22 billion over the same period.
Bernanke participated in the meetings because the central bank was given a consultative role in overseeing Fannie's and Freddie's capital under legislation approved in July.
The FHFA was scheduled to release its assessment of the companies' capital levels as early as last week as part of a quarterly appraisal of their finances.
BLOOMBERG
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