| RUSSIA: Magnit prepares London share listing
Magnit, the Russian grocer, is looking to list on the London Stock Exchange to raise money for expansion in its home market. Magnit plans to offer 11.3m shares in the company, Reuters said today (26 March). The company is Russia's third-largest food retailer and operates almost 2,200 stores throughout the country. Last week, Magnit booked a 47% rise in full-year sales to US$3.7bn. Russia's food retail sector is seen as one of the fastest-growing around the world as Western shopping habits begin to appeal to the country's ever-more affluent consumers. Yesterday, X5_Retail_Group, the country's largest food retailer by sales, said it had agreed to buy out a franchisee of its Pyaterochka discount stores. Reports have arisen in Russia that a minority shareholder in X5, Andrei Rogachev, had hired Morgan Stanley to advise on selling his 21% stake in the business.
Bus tours market foreclosed properties in Florida, Calif.
The white bus rumbles into the quiet suburban neighborhood, heading toward a foreclosed home that sits empty. Neighbors, young and old, cock their heads in curiosity or point at the slow-moving coach. Once the vehicle stops, about 20 potential buyers file out and become detectives, opening and closing cabinets and drawers, knocking on walls and asking about the price, the previous owners and what repairs may be needed. .
Sign of the Times: High-End Brooklyn Flea Market Readies for Debut
On April 6, a weekly Brooklyn flea market will kick off in Bishop Laughlin Memorial High School in Fort Greene, but the event is a far cry from your neighborhood stoop sale or the dusty, glorified junkyards that linger in Manhattan. For one thing the “Brooklyn Flea" is curated, said founder Jonathan Butler—until recently known only under his nom de plume Brownstoner. Mr. Butler and his partner Eric Demby, a former communications officer for Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, handpicked about 200 up-and-coming designers as well as vintage clothing and antique vendors out of the 700 who expressed interest. You won't be able to find much junk there, but you will be able to buy hardwood tables hand-carved in Dumbo out of former bowling lanes; Belgian Waffles; and slinky silk tops—think Portobello Road by way of Brooklyn.
Free-market thinking takes hit from US economic crisis
Traders work the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after the Federal Reserve board interest rate decision was announced on March 18. A deepening economic crisis has led to unprecedented actions by US policymakers that raise questions about how far government regulation should go in a free-market economy, analysts say. .
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