Austrian Economic News - Week 17 -23 Sep

Monday

Cardboard maker Mayr-Melnhof Packaging (MMP) said on Monday it had taken over Plegacol in Columbia, in a move to secure its market leadership in the country. Plegacol has annual sales of EUR 15m.
Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) announced it has bought almost 75% in QBE Makedonija. Thus, VIG will control one-fifth of the insurance market in the Balkan country.
Refractory material maker RHI said it would have to revise its EUR 80m new plant project in Brazil. The move became necessary after the country's government decided to implement measures protecting the local producers.
Österreichische Volksbanken AG (ÖVAG) has earned some USD 174m from the divestment of its container leasing business to Fortress Investment Group, APA reported quoting informed sources.
McDonald's will launch in Austria sales of noodle boxes for the next two to three months. The project will be exclusive for the country only. 
ORF-Radio Niederösterreich reported on Monday that OMV has decided to withdraw from its shale gas plans in the country because of economic reasons. The initial plans of the oil and gas group were met with strong resistance from environmentalists and local residents.

Tuesday

Austria's utilities Verbund and EVN launched officially on Tuesday their first joint hydropower plant. The facility, in which 215m euro were invested, is located in northern Albania.
SW Umwelttechnik, a specialist in environment technologies, said it had received orders in Romania and Hungary worth 11m euro. The orders concern drinking water and sewage projects.
Austrian insurer Uniqa is in exclusive negotiations with the bidding group around Oliver W. Braun for the sale of its hotel portfolio. Uniqa operates 12 hotels in Vienna, Baden, Prague and Brno. 
The stake of the shareholder syndicate of Uniqa has increased from 91.13% to 92.11% following the latest capital increase in the company.

Wednesday

Office furniture company Bene said on Wednesday its revenue in the first half of fiscal 2012/13 increased by 14.3% to 100.8m euro. Net loss was reduced to 3.7m euro from 4.4m euro. The company said it is "cautiously optimistic" for the rest of the year.
The European Commission has given its green light to the state rescue of ailing bank ÖVAG. Among the conditions of the EC is the reduction of the bank's total assets to 18.4bn euro by the end of 2017.
Austrian DIY store chain bauMax plans to return to profit in three years, CEO Martin Essl told weekly News. The company will put on ice expansion plans and new investments and seek further costs savings.
Oil group OMV announced it is issuing a 1.5bn euro Eurobond in two tranches. The proceeds will be used for the repurchasing of current bonds.

Thursday

Crane maker Palfinger said on Thursday it had bought small Brazilian company Tercek. The firm has a patent for electrical bus lifts for passengers with limited mobility.
The European Commission has approved the planned E-mobility joint venture between Siemens Austria and utility Verbund, saying it would not affect competition.

Friday

Troubled Österreichische Volksbanken AG (ÖVAG) will have to reduce by half its current employee number of 2,000 by 2017, CEO Stephan Koren said on Friday. The move becomes necessary after the bank was rescued by the Austrian government and now has to apply to strict conditions set from the European Commission. Most of the job cuts will be implemented via the divestment of units. The manager also added that there will be mergers among the 62 regional Volksbanken.