Drug firm 'fires' BEE partner

(FIN24) - In a move probably unprecedented in South Africa, AltX-listed pharmaceutical and natural products company Imuniti has "fired" its empowerment shareholders.

The BEE shareholders include union and ANC connected heavyweights like Kopano, investment arm for Cosatu, Malibongwe, that works on women's empowerment for the ANC Women's League, and Star Choice, an investment vehicle for the Tambo family.

Imuniti CEO Paul Fouche could not comment on reports Fin24 received about the empowerment shareholders, saying if true it was a matter between Imuniti's founder members and the BEE shareholders. However an announcement is expected.

The rumours are also supported by an announcement on JSE news wire SENS on December 21 that Tembi Tambo, daughter of the late Oliver and Adelaide Tambo, had resigned as an executive director of Imuniti. She formed and ran Star Choice to look after the Tambo family's 3.3% interest in Imuniti.
 

 

Read more at FIN24

Schwarzenegger, Battling Deficit, Tries Again to Revamp Budget

(Bloomberg) -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is trying for a third time to overhaul state spending as he grapples with a growing deficit and resistance from Democrats who want higher taxes to fill the gap.

The governor, delivering his annual State of the State Address yesterday, called for a constitutional amendment requiring California to set aside a portion of surplus revenue during flush years to stabilize the budget in lean times. He said he will propose a spending plan tomorrow that cuts most programs in the state to eliminate a $14 billion shortfall in the coming fiscal year.

Schwarzenegger, a former bodybuilding champion and Hollywood actor, was swept into office in 2003, in part on voter angst over how his predecessor Gray Davis managed the most populous U.S. state's perennial budget problems. The state's finances are hamstrung by mandatory spending increases and a boom-and-bust cycle of revenue tied to income taxes.

 

Read more at Bloomberg

U.S. Will Escape Recession, Economists Say in Survey

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. will skirt recession as consumer spending slows without collapsing, a survey of economists showed.

Economic growth will average 1.5 percent in the first six months of 2008, matching the fourth quarter's pace, according to the median estimate of 62 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News from Jan. 3 to Jan. 8. The rate of expansion would be the weakest since the last nine months of 2001.

Read more at Bloomberg