CBS Investment

At the end of last week, a major mining company Rio Tinto – the world’s second-largest supplier of iron ore – announced its plans to establish a joint venture (JV) with rival BHP Billiton. If the transaction receives the approval of regulatory authorities, the joint venture will control some 60% of the world market of iron ore – the main ingredient for steel production, transfers Reuters.

At the same time, experts point out that this union of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton will be good for their Brazilian rival Vale, as it will strengthen the position of suppliers of iron ore in negotiations with Chinese customers.

In addition, the number of companies participating in the annual price negotiations with steel workers will decline, and it will just happen at the same time when China will be fighting for a greater price declines than the one agreed to by the steel companies of Japan and South Korea.

Future plants of Renault (Renault) in Spain are hanging in the air after the announcement of 78% drop in profit for 2008, which amounts to € 599 million. The same uncertainty is with the group Peugeot-Citroen (Peugeot Citroen), which has lost € 343 million over the last year and reported the need to reduce 11′000 jobs.

Dutch bank ING has announced that he ceases to sponsor the team Renault in Formula One. The Bank has supported the Renault and Fernando Alonso in the past few years, but now it comes out of sponsorship for the purpose of saving up. The decision will come into force next season after the current contract ends this year.

New Year continued the trend of the last year. The largest-ever registration performance decline in the production of cars in Spain was recorded in January this year. The disappearance of the demand led to a 53% reduction in relation to the level of last year, and conveyors let out only 123′762 new cars.

Global Automotive World is rapidly changing its appearance under the influence of the global economic crisis. General Motors, founded in 1908, the largest automakers in the world for 77 years, applied to the court a statement of voluntary bankruptcy on June 1, which provides court protection from creditors. Most recently, symbolizing the power and dynamism of the American economy GM is now entering a tenuous band of crisis management under state control.

General Motors told the court that its overall debt has reached $ 172.8 billion, that is twice the value of its assets, and it could not undertake a restructuring. This is the largest-scaled of bankruptcies in the American industry.

Restructuring under the leadership of the American state would require the U.S. government $ 50 billion, in exchange for this the U.S. government will receive about 60% GM. The government of Canada, on which territory there are a number of GM factories, will receive 11.7% stake in GM in exchange for loans of $ 9.5 billion. A further 17.5% stake in the health insurance fund will go to the union United Auto Workers, acting on a North American factories GM. Owners of GM bonds will receive 10% of the shares of automakers, since their share can be increased by another 15%.

«The new GM» must occur in 60-90 days, after which the company will get out of court protection from creditors. Basically, the restructuring will bring to a quick sale of unprofitable assets and the elimination of unprofitable brands such as Saturn and Hummer. At least 11 North American factories of GM will be closed. Also, due to a new contract with United Auto Workers union costs for labor will be reduced. About 21 000 members of the 54 000 workers at GM plants in North America will lose their jobs.

As a result of the restructuring the «new GM» should reduce its debt by half and reserve the brands Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick and GMC in the U.S. market. However, it is clear that as a result of the restructuring the «new GM» will be much smaller than the «old» one.

Almost simultaneously with the GM, Crysler, the third-largest U.S. automaker declared about its voluntary bankruptcy. Italian Fiat will restructure its assets.

Immediate effect from the bankruptcy of the pillars of the American automobile industry will be the sharp decline of its share in the domestic market, which inevitably will take the competitors. Asian companies – Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Hyundai are more likely to do so.

Google Inc has established a $100 million venture fund to invest in start-up, but full of potential Internet firms, which need early stage funding to develop their business.

Google Ventures will wholly belong to the Cupertino company and will actually look for firms through which Google will increase its revenue in this hard times.