16.07 2011

Fab 8 now ready for manufacturing equipment

Fab 8, the computer chip factory being built by GlobalFoundries in Malta, is ready for manufacturing tool installation.

This comes as the company says its expanded clean room in Dresden, Germany is also ready for the installation of tools.

Tools are the multimillion dollar manufacturing machines that process round silicon wafers in the ultra-sterile clean rooms of a chip factory, or fab.

Fab 8 has been designed to process 60,000 wafers a month.

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15.07 2011

Invista to acquire Liverpool city centre bank building

Invista to acquire Liverpool city centre bank building

A BUILDING in the heart of Liverpool city centre’s retail district is about to change hands in a £5.55m deal.

Invista Foundation Property Trust has exchanged contracts with Aviva on 88-94 Church Street, which is located on the corner of Church Street and Hanover Street and is currently home to Lloyds TSB.

The transaction will reflect a net initial yield of 11.3% and is expected to be completed on July 22.

The property comprises ground-floor retail space and office accommodation arranged over basement, ground and seven upper floors.

The entire property is let to Lloyds TSB at £664,000 per year, on a full repairing and insuring basis, for a term of 25 years with effect from December 25, 1989, and expiring on December 24, 2014.

The bank occupies the basement to second floors as a bank and the third to seventh floor offices are sub-let to a legal firm until Lloyds’ lease expires.

Invista says that, as well as offering an attractive initial yield, the property offers scope for asset management, including the potential for a lease extension.

It adds that, although the rent paid currently exceeds the market rent, the prominent position and the planning consent for a bank should assist future letting prospects.

Duncan Owen, chief executive of Invista Real Estate Investment Management, said: “The acquisition of Liverpool at 11.3% follows Keith House, in Edinburgh, which was purchased at a price reflecting a yield of 14%, illustrating that we continue to identify new investment opportunities with good property fundamentals at attractive pricing and income yields.”

15.07 2011

Gold rallies to record $1,600 an ounce in best run since 1980

According to Bloomberg.com gold rose to a record above $1,600 an ounce as debt concerns in Europe and the U.S. boosted demand for the metal as a protection of wealth. Bullion climbed to all- time highs in euros and pounds and silver topped $40 an ounce.

President Barack Obama is pressing congressional leaders for a multitrillion-dollar agreement in deficit-cutting talks as negotiators near an Aug. 2 deadline for raising the debt limit. A default would cause more panic than the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers told CNN in an interview broadcast yesterday.

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15.07 2011

This morning’s top AP business headlines

Officials say Libyan opposition to be recognized

Embattled News Intl CEO Rebekah Brooks resigns

Citigroup posts 6th quarterly profit in 2Q

Icahn Enterprises makes $10.2B bid for Clorox

Stocks muted ahead of EU bank stress test

Italy to give final OK to austerity package

Mattel 2nd-quarter net income jumps 56 percent

Oil above $95 after Bernanke stimulus comments

Debt face-off shifts to Congress, bargain in play

14.07 2011

The Is The Best Answer We’ve Seen To The Question: Is Gold Money?

On Wednesday, when Bernanke was doing his Humphrey-Hawkins testimony, Ron Paul asked him if gold was money. Read more…

14.07 2011

Walmart completes renovation of East Greenbush supercenter

Walmart said it completed the renovation of its supercenter on Route 4 in East Greenbush and will hold a re-opening ceremony on Friday at 8 a.m. The store has new signage, enhanced lighting, new paint and a new layout.

The store also has an expanded electronics department.

A ribbon-cutting will be held at 8 a.m., with customer appreciation events throughout the day.

14.07 2011

Corporate Report: Mosaic down 5 percent

GEO Group Inc. — The Boca Raton-based operator of detention and correctional facilities said the state of California cancelled contracts to house low-level state offenders at three of its facilities. As part of a restructuring, California is expected to delegate tens of thousands of low-level state offenders to local county jurisdictions effective Oct. 1. As a result, the state won’t need to house the offenders at a 305-bed GEO facility effective Sept. 30, and at 643-bed and 625-bed GEO facilities effective Nov. 30. GEO said it is marketing the facilities to local county agencies in California, which are already at or above their capacities and will now be responsible for housing the low-level state offenders. I Read more…