World Articles

The hands of talented British singer and songwriter Eric Clapton, nicknamed "God" (God), she plays alone, the ultimate sound of blues and rock'n'roll. Renowned for its crystal clear sound, the American brand of Fender guitars now also shine on the market scene on Wall Street.

Founded in 1946 by Leo Fender, the legendary American manufacturer of electric guitars, acoustic amplifiers and a record filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to enter "as soon as possible" on the Nasdaq. The date of the introduction, the number of shares offered and their prices have not yet been disclosed.

The company, which will appear on the Stock Exchange under the symbol "FNDR", hopes to raise up to $ 200 million. The inventor of the Stratocaster, the icon of the electric guitar and one of the most popular models in the world, with "use about $ 100 million of revenue raised through this IPO" to repay a portion of its debts, whose amount is close $ 250 million. "In 2011 we were number one in terms of market share in the U.S. in the field of electric guitars, acoustic, and bass amplifiers and electric guitars and basses," the company said.

Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, owned by the Weston Presidio investment fund, has made 700.6 million dollars in sales in 2011 to a net profit of 19 million. Some 45% of its sales generated outside the U.S., mainly on the European market.

Also Eric Clapton, Fender has among its faithful ambassadors Keith Richards, Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Bruce Springsteen or Jimi Hendrix in 1967 who sacrificed his Stratocaster on stage in setting them on fire before smashing against the ground guaranteed approval cash loans.

The inventor of the Stratocaster and Telecaster, Leo Fender, a creative force unmatched, gave his company to CBS in 1965. Fender grew considerably in the years that followed, before passing through an air hole associated with a lower quality instruments. In the 1980s, CBS will sell all its non-media related. A group of employees and investors led by William Schultz and his family and buy Fender to CBS in 1985.

Started from scratch

The new company had to start from scratch, including the sale or factory or machine. The emblem of the American guitar succeeds, however, his recovery, extending its grip on trademarks Guild, Gretsch, Jackson and Charvel excluding professional sound equipment. In 2008, Fender acquired Kaman Music Corporation (KMC), the largest U.S. independent distributor of musical instruments.

Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, with a production facility in Corona, California, Fender has continued to cross swords with Gibson, another giant of the electric guitar that Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, is one of the greatest followers. His fetish model, the Les Paul, was designed in the early 1950s. At its heavier and fatter than her rival Stratocaster, the Gibson Les Paul ignites always also rock the world stage.

On February 20, during the auction of the hamlet of Courbefy, located 40 km southwest of Limoges, no buyer had appeared, despite a retail price of only 300,000 euros. With the effect of media coverage, between 150 and 200 buyers from around the world are scrambling to try to acquire this highly original property, offered for sale price of a two-room Paris.

Without buyers, the entire village, 19 rustic buildings in various states, the boxes for horses, pool, tennis court, culminating in nearly 557 meters high with a beautiful view of the mountains of Chalus in the Périgord Limousin regional park, should return to Credit Agricole, creditor's last owner who could not repay the loan. Its proposed resort, launched in 2003, has never worked and went bankrupt, causing the abandonment of the site in 2008.

The news of the sale of Courbefy was first taken up by the media in France, before being scattered by the whole world, fascinated by the idea that a whole village could be sold for a price as ridiculous . "Admittedly, this is an offer very original, very unique, because the entire village is sold at once," says Mr. Paul Le Figaro Gérardin, counsel for the Credit Agricole. "It's because someone has bought one by one all the houses after the abandonment of the hamlet."

After being abandoned by its last inhabitants in the 1970s due to rural exodus, the small village of Courbefy might find occupants with a last minute deal last Thursday filed with the court registry by Limoges an American company, AHAE Press, registered in the State of New York. This entity belongs to the Korean-born American photographer Ahae, artist specializing in landscape photography and wildlife, whose exhibition "Through my window" must be presented at the Louvre in Paris from June 26 to July 23.

With its 10% deposit of the purchase price, the sale process is restarted, and new auction will take place at court of Limoges on May 21. "I'm sure will be many bidders," suggests Paul Gérardin me. "We have already responded to 150 to 200 inquiries from around the world. Initial requests are first come from the Paris region, London, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and other European countries before coming the United Arab Emirates, China, U.S. and Russian. "

One potential buyers, a Dutchman, wants to use the hamlet for a reality TV show in which participants would call premises in shape.

ALSO READ:

"A deserted village sold for 330,000 euros

"The billions of real estate sales of the state

SERVICE:

"All ads in France and in your region

FOLLOW THE ESTATE OF FIGARO:

"Twitter: @ LeFigaro_Immo

Monitoring greenhouse tomatoes by computer processing of GPS fields, sales of wheat on the futures market … French farmers have nothing to do with their ancestors. Now they are showing their attachment to the land of a sudden high-tech.Plus question, for example, to sow the fly in vegetable and grain farms. The embedded software on tractors is more effective. Sebastien Objois, wheat producer in Evry, came to be convinced to stand agricultural equipment of the Exhibition of Agriculture. He witnessed a demonstration of interest Farmstar, which uses data from satellites SPOT 4 and SPOT 5. With this system, a digital pad and connected to the preprogrammed drill or spray can, depending on the characteristics of the field, sow more or less dense or spread more or less treatment.

"With board computerized equipment in the tractor plugged Spot 4 and Spot 5, you can sow your field with an accuracy of 2 centimeters," says Michel Fuga, who came to promote the Farmstar Porte de Versailles. Advantage for growers: Pesticide use is reduced by 5-15%. This saving can be amortized over three years the cost of equipment (about 15,000 euros).

More free time

Technological advances also benefit dairy farmers. With milking robots, the constraints of the morning and evening disappear. The cows go by themselves to trafficking. "The monitoring of the herd is behind the screen using a special software," says Eric Swartvagher, administrator ANEFA, National Association for the employment and training in agriculture.

Computers are also present in vegetable greenhouses. "Eating tomatoes above ground is now available from a computer, which controls the amount of water and air," says Angelique Delahaye, president of France and producer of vegetables in Touraine.

It is not enough to produce, we also sell the goods. The use of futures market or delayed deliveries, and a deadline for a given price, is becoming more common. "I practiced for several months to sell my pigs and to buy my food. But it took me to form, "says Philippe Upstream, pig farmer in Brittany.

"These new techniques not only meet the objective of increasing yields, and therefore income, but also a willingness of farmers to benefit from free time and family life close to those of society," said Christophe Malvezin, Agricultural Counselor, Embassy of France in Washington and former agricultural adviser of Nicolas Sarkozy.

Despite these advances, the French agriculture still has a wide margin for improvement. "While the United States, 80% of crops are produced by biotechnology, in France it is delayed, concludes Guy Vasseur, president of the Permanent Assembly of Chambers of Agriculture (APCA). France can not be a spectator in this area of ​​what is happening in the world. "

680,000 visitors to the agricultural show this year

Vintage 2012 International Exhibition of Agriculture (SIA) is very good. "We record 680,000 visitors, slightly more than last year," says Jean-Luc Poulain, president of SIA. This figure could be revised upwards as a computer bug has disrupted the counting inputs. "Merchants have never worked so hard that Wednesday, we recorded one of the lowest attendance days, with 55,000 entries," says Jean-Luc Poulain. The Friday night has been successful in statistics, with nearly 107,000 visitors for the biggest day of the show. Again this year, the SIA will remain the largest agricultural fair in the world with this feature: together in one place all the farm animals.

ALSO READ:

"The five major challenges of the next five-year farm

"An Exhibition of Agriculture policy very

"Whatever the horizon, the sun is unavoidable in our energy mix, as well prepared." Consultant with the firm Kurt Salmon, Celine Alléaume strongly believes in developing the sector in France and its performance on international markets, provided a policy and regulatory framework more stable and certainly more readable. A few weeks before elections, the firm Kurt Salmon and the think-tank France Monday Territory Solar publish the first edition of the Observatory for solar photovoltaics.

"This is an evolving tool, which will be updated and expanded every quarter. Relying on public data, our goal is to provide clear indicators that help to objectify the debate, "said Celine Alléaume.

The photovoltaic park remains marginal

The main finding of the observatory is hardly conducive to optimism: over the last two years, the French photovoltaic park has certainly developed to exceed the 2300-megawatt (MW) combined-connected power, but it remains marginal while digging its lag behind the most advanced countries. "The residential market, initial engine market and generates employment, came into decay since the moratorium of 2 December 2010. Other markets may follow the same trend in the next two years, "says this inaugural edition. According to several players, more than half the jobs in the sector (about 25,000 at the origin) have been destroyed over the past year.

For Celine Alléaume, the goal of the Grenelle Environment -5 gigawatts by 2020 – is already obsolete: "Other countries are growing so fast that the target should be revised upwards. If the government maintains, the French industry will not find that more difficult to place in world markets. Today, we talk a lot of sun in France but its weight is insignificant (0.29% of electricity production in 2011). "

Celine Alléaume still puts forward the statistics of the American NGO Pew Charitable Trust to attest to the weakness of the French position: "On some 56 billion invested in small solar projects in 2010, France has only counted a little over 3 billion. Similarly, while more than 22 GW were installed in Germany until 2011, our country has only one just over 2.5 GW. "Under these conditions, the whole" animation "of one sector and sectors that remains to be clarified: positioning research, choice of technology marketing, distribution of roles and responsibilities across the value chain

.

On the Greek front, the relief was short-lived. The hope of a crisis after the announcement of an agreement between the austerity coalition in power has been showered later that evening by the Eurogroup. Indeed, the forum of finance ministers of the monetary union has not given the green light yesterday to the outbreak of a new critical assistance for Greece. "Despite the significant progress made in recent days, we did not have all the necessary elements on the table to make decisions" in the immediate future, said President of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, to outcome of the meeting.

The central bankers of the euro area have put three conditions for granting a new loan in Athens, and set a new appointment next Wednesday. Those responsible for the euro area demand and the Greek parliament approves austerity plan Sunday in the day yesterday accepted by the Greek political parties and its creditors. Finance ministers of the euro area also ask Athens to make "additional savings to the tune of 325 million euros" in the 2012 budget of the country, and that "by Wednesday," said Jean-Claude Juncker.

Finally, the euro area expected "strong political guarantees", written by the coalition parties in power in Athens no fax pay day loan. "We want real commitments" on reforms that are carried out, said the president of the Eurogroup. The Greek government estaccusé not fulfill all the promises of budget savings and reforms promised in exchange for international loans. However, to ensure that the funds will go far in debt repayment, the Franco-German proposal to create a special escrow account is seriously considered, said yesterday the European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Olli Rehn.

The doubts of the euro area are justified: the new agreement accepted yesterday by the ruling coalition was the same day denounced by the Deputy Minister of Labour, Giannis Koutroumanos and has not received the green light for conservatives Antonis Samaras. But the Greek Socialist Minister of Finance, Evangelos Venizelos, is intent on achieving an agreement. Last night he gave notice to the Conservatives to support additional budgetary savings at risk if not to see the country forced to exit the euro area.

ALSO READ:

"Rigor" Greece has no choice "

The German electricity grid are on the go. Wednesday they activated two gas plants located in Austria, Theiss and Korneuburg, called "cold reserve" and the old coal plants, normally unprofitable.

But contrary to information relayed by AFP, no nuclear reactor, one of eight closed last spring, has restarted.

"Nuclear power plants have not restarted," said Le Figaro Uwe Ditz, spokesman for the power grid Tennet. "This is a decision of political authorities." In fact, the licenses of eight reactors arrested were withdrawn by the government even if it did not rule out restarting three reactors in case of peak demand caused by a cold snap.

Restarting a nuclear reactor is more complex and longer than that of a gas turbine, coal or fuel oil.

In this period of extreme cold, Germany, with its thermal reactivated, manages to export electricity to France. The German Minister of Ecology, Norbert Röttgen, welcomes the surplus products, against all odds in winter, solar and wind power: "We had these last days capacities up to 10,000 megawatts (MW) solar energy , the equivalent of ten nuclear power plants and up to 11,000 MW of wind power. "

We already knew: the end of July with the recruitment of the Argentine Javier Pastore, 42 million euros, PSG beat this year's record for the most important transfer window of the history of Ligue 1. More than 80 million euros on the table to secure the services of Kevin Gameiro, Blaise Matuidi or Mohamed Sissoko, in addition to the Argentine star.

But these numbers make you dizzy do not stop there. According to information from Parisiende this Friday, players Parisians would also take the upper hand with regard to wages. If this is the side of the Canebière found the most important emoluments (midfielder Lucho Gonzalez for 360,000 euros gross per month), 11 players received wages in the capital to more than 200,000 euros according to the daily gross , 9 against Olympique de Marseille.According to the survey, the highest salaries are in fact looking in the stands payday loan no faxing. For the largest stamp in Paris, would be to … Leonardo. Each month, the sporting director of PSG would receive 400,000 euros gross in fact, about 200,000 euros net. Almost three and a half times what his counterpart perceives Marseille Jose Anigo …

Hours before the "Clasico" between the league leaders in the tenth current is therefore the capital club who won the prize of wages. The findings of this match organized by the newspaper should not fail to elicit reactions to two years of the transition to "financial fair play" in the world of football, which calls among other things, the moderation of the wage bill. From this point of view, the pills of the stars of the French capital, however, reach the peaks found in other European leagues.

The virtues of rental real estate are well known. This is one of the only investments that can make on credit to build wealth. It is also a good way to prepare additional income for retirement. Finally, it is a way to accommodate her children or send them a valuable asset to start in life. However, the life of landlords is not a bed of roses! Some trace their route on this road winding and sometimes treacherous.

This is the case of Vivian B., 57, teacher. This Lyonnaise conducted between 1991 and 2010, three rental investments in his city. "I spaced each acquisition a decade, the time each time to pay off my credit. I always chose the studios in the IVth arrondissement of Lyon, an area popular.The lease payments used to pay me a portion of the loans, but each time I had to add 100 to 150 euros a month, "she says. Handyman, Viviane never hesitates to restore its apartments, it manages solo. Another "trick" by Viviane: the choice of holiday rental. "This formula provides short leases, or a year. Thus, it is easier to separate from a deadbeat tenant. "

1500 euros of additional income per month

For her, the acquisitions will stop, "because this investment is not worth the shot," given the rise in property prices in particular. "Every studio brings me 6%. But if I bought the same day, the yield would fall to 2.5 or 3%. "Soon to retire, Viviane Heritage is satisfied that it has formed. "My pension should be around 1.300euros month.

The hope prevailed on Monday in the Paris Bourse. After the meeting of eurozone leaders in Brussels on the CAC 40 closed up 1.55% to 3220.46 points in a modest trading volume of just over 2.5 billion euros. In its wake, London ends up 1.08% and 1.41% in Frankfurt. In New York, the indices were also well directed, the Dow gaining 0.82% and the Nasdaq more than 2% mid-term.

Regarding the debt crisis, the hope seems to come on the market. EU leaders agreed to increase the firepower of the European bailout fund (EFSF), to recapitalize banks and erase part of the Greek debt. On this point, the euro area is "relatively close" to an agreement with private creditors. European states are now seeking 50 to 60% of discount.The details of this comprehensive agreement should be announced Wednesday, after a summit. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that the situation remains "very complex" but that "negotiations are progressing. A consensus is emerging, "he said.

First question, Greek banks have reacted badly to the news. Some securities industry lost more than 20% of their value on the Athens Stock Exchange. It has also closed down 4.51%.

Caution

In Paris, investors have decided to extend the rally started vendredi.Cet optimism was tempered, however, by indicators in the euro area and France who fear a recession. The publication of the PMI in October in the euro area showed an increased risk of recession. Contraction accelerated to $ 47.2, against 49.1 in September.These indicators are reminders of the fragility of the European economy and the urgent need to halt the crisis.

Highly vulnerable to swings in investor sentiment, banking stocks have evolved sawtooth. Societe Generale has finally closed up 4.11% to 19.75 euros, Credit Agricole gained 2.77% to 4.97 euros and BNP Paribas climbed 0.69% to 32 euros.

Renault, which goes like rival PSA Peugeot Citroen, use measures of short to deal with a slowdown in demand, has closed up 2.83% to 28.30 euros. Air France-KLM has won his side 2.20% to 5.75 euros, while the new management group has given priority to "react to the emergence of new competitors, especially low-cost airlines," said the boss of the group, Jean-Cyril Spinetta.Icade, despite the publication of a revenue increase of 11% in the first nine months of 2011, ended down 1.08% to 64.30 euros.

ALSO READ:

"CRISIS SPECIAL: fear of debt

From our correspondent in Beijing

It became the big hot topic on the Chinese Internet to the desktop as local leaders. The distress of Chinese SMEs in need of cash is in China proportions "hysterical", according to press reports in Hong Kong. To the point that the government has announced a package of measures to help them and calm the unrest.

The crisis of Chinese SMEs is symbolized by the incredible epidemic of bankruptcies in the city of Wenzhou, in the heart of the exporting province of Zhejiang. The Chinese press said Thursday that since the beginning of the year, more than 200 patrons had fled or hid after their coffers have dried up. Others have committed suicide. Some 20% of the 360,000 SMEs in the region have already had to close shop for lack of money.And the situation will get worse in January, when the Chinese New Year, traditionally the time when patrons enjoy a vacation to disappear without paying their employees. According to the New China News Agency, SMEs create around 80% of jobs in the country.

The State Council (Chinese government) has subsequently announced Tuesday a series of measures, financial and tax to help small and medium enterprises. The first is to facilitate access to credit. To do so, against the current of their policy, the authorities will allow the minimum reserve ratios "comparatively low" for local banks lending to SMEs, while this ratio was usually around 21% for large banks. Moreover, these small businesses can more easily borrow by issuing bonds. The other part is to exempt SMEs from a battery of taxes and charges.Banks are also prohibited from charging their services at prices "unreasonable."

"Informal Credit"

Wenzhou has become a symbol for it is the Chinese capital of the "informal credit". Private reserves by banks, which prefer to grant loans to large corporations, small businesses are strangled. They have no recourse but to turn to private security companies that have developed lending. The rates are incredibly high, ranging from 20% to over 100% … Some analysts believe that the share of informal loans may exceed 25% of total credit in the country. Credit Suisse has estimated that black market credit of 456 billion euros, with an increase of 50% per year.

Chief economist at the Development Research Centre of the State Council, Zhang Wenkui believes that the latest measures only bring temporary relief.And nothing will change until the banking sector do not be reformed, by offering different services to different types of customers. He has a vivid picture to describe the current situation: "It's like an irrigation system with water that would go to large trees and ignore all the shrubs." The problem is that in the short Beijing term can not open the floodgates too, failing to challenge its efforts to the credit crunch.

ALSO READ:

"The growth of China stalled