Austrian economic news in a flash

(The most important economic news in Austria from 29 September)
 
Catering company  Do&Co has submitted a request to list its shares on the Istanbul stock exchange. Furthermore, the firm said it plans to raise its core capital by up to 25%, with the proceeds to be used for widening of the market presence and possible acquisitions. 
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Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) has acquired about 10% in Turkish non-life insurer Ray Sigorta, in which VIG's 60%-subsidiary TBIH Financial Services Group already owns 84.3%. VIG is to fully take over TBIH Financial Services Group in the near future.

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Investor Alexander Proschofsky has filed with the Vienna's commercial court an action for annulment regarding the squeeze-out of the minority shareholders of Constantia Packaging AG. According to him, the formal conditions regarding the launched by US financial investor OEP full takeover of the company had not been met. The outstanding shareholders got EUR 47 per share as compensation.

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The shareholders of real estate firm Immofinanz have rejected a management plan for a convertible bond as well as for a capital increase, WirtschaftsBlatt reported. Mainly institutional investors have voted against the intentions of the company's CEO. He wanted a green light for up to EUR 310.4m in convertible bonds in the next five years and for a capital hike of up to 50%. Now the management will have to work out a new plan for the firm's financing in the near future.
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The latest purchasing managers' index (PMI) of Bank Austria showed that the country's industry gained confidence in September. The index rose to 56.1 pts from 55.9 pts in August. The new business and the order books grew considerably in September, the specialists said. The companies also boosted their staff for a sixth consecutive month. Despite the strong increase in production and capacity, the growth in material costs took its toll in September, according to the economists.

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Builder Porr plans to issue a bond of up to EUR 150m for a period of five years.
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Collapsed financing firm AvW Invest AG, whose CEO Wolfgang Auer-Welsbach is currently in custody, cannot publish any financial reports anymore, the firm's insolvency administrator said. Due to missing documents and validations, the auditors cannot complete the 2009 report, he added.
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PC game developer JoWooD said it has to reduce its capital in order to cover its high losses. The decisions on the future of the company are to be approved at the forthcoming extraordinary shareholders' meeting at the start of November.
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The order book of Austria's construction sector stood at EUR 6.8bn at the end of June, down 4.6% in annual comparison, Statistik Austria reported. The sector's output was EUR 6bn between January and June, a decrease of 9.1% year-on-year.
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The turnover of Austria's production and construction sectors totalled EUR 19.7bn in June, an increase of 14.3% in annual terms, Statistik Austria said.