GE Corporate Lending Provides $197 Million Asset-based Credit Facility to Steve & Barry’s

GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending today announced it provided a $197 million asset-based credit facility to Steve & Barry’s, a national apparel and accessories retailer. The loan will be used for ongoing working capital needs. GE Capital Markets arranged the transaction.

From more than 250 stores across the U.S., Port Washington, New York-based Steve & Barry’s offers private label and licensed apparel for the whole family at bargain prices. Steve Shore and Barry Prevor founded the company in 1985 selling discounted college apparel to students from stores situated near U.S. universities. In recent years, the company has attracted new shoppers by creating exclusive collections with Sarah Jessica Parker, Venus Williams, Amanda Bynes, Stephon Marbury and others.

“With specialists in retail, GE quickly understood our growth plans and structured a loan tailored to meet our working capital needs,” said Barry Prevor, co-founder and co-CEO of Steve & Barry’s. “GE’s access to capital and ability to make significant commitments also helped accelerate the financing process.”

“We’re dedicated to meeting the unique capital requirements of retailers,” said Jim Hogan, managing director of GE Corporate Lending's Retail group. “Providing smarter financing solutions to help retailers compete in an ever-changing environment is our focus.”

Industry Specialization

To better meet the unique financing needs of customers, GE Corporate Lending has a team of Industry Leaders supported by dedicated research analysts. These industry experts help build smarter financing solutions for companies across key industries: Aerospace & Defense; Automotive; Chemicals & Plastics; Construction; Food, Beverage & Agribusiness; Financial & Business Services; Forest Products; General Manufacturing; Metals and Mining; Retail; Technology & Electronics; and Transportation.

About GE Corporate Lending

With $14 billion in assets, GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending is one of North America’s largest providers of asset-based, cash flow, structured finance and other financial solutions for mid-size and large companies. From over 30 offices throughout the U.S. and Canada, GE Corporate Lending specializes in serving the unique needs of borrowers seeking $20 million to $2 billion and more for working capital, growth, acquisitions, project finance and turnarounds. In addition, Access GE provides clients with access to GE management best practices to improve business performance. Visit www.gelending.com/clnews to learn more.

About GE Commercial Finance

GE Commercial Finance, which offers businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services, has assets of over $300 billion and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut. GE (NYSE: GE) is Imagination at Work – a diversified technology, media and financial services company focused on solving some of the world’s toughest problems. GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit www.ge.com.

Hill International, Inc. Celebrates Transfer to the NYSE from Nasdaq

Hill International, a leading provider of program management, project management, construction management and constructions claims services, began trading today on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “HIL” after transferring its listing to the NYSE from Nasdaq. Hill International joined the NYSE as the first transfer from Nasdaq this year.

“We are pleased to welcome Hill International to our growing family of NYSE-listed companies and look forward to an outstanding and long lasting partnership with the company,” said Noreen M. Culhane, NYSE Executive Vice President, Global Corporate Client Group.

“Today was a tremendous milestone for our company and for me personally, having started Hill as a one-man consulting firm 32 years ago,” said Irwin E. Richter, Hill Chairman and CEO. “Joining the NYSE more than three decades later is a great accomplishment for our company and our employees,” Richter added.

Irvin E. Richter, together with President and COO David L. Richter and other senior Hill executives, commemorated the transfer to the NYSE by ringing today’s Opening Bell.

Hill International (NYSE: HIL)
Hill International, with 1,800 employees in 70 offices worldwide, provides program management, project management, construction management, and construction claims services. Engineering News-Record magazine recently ranked Hill as the 10th largest construction management firm in the United States.

About NYSE Euronext
NYSE Euronext (NYX) operates the world’s leading and most liquid exchange group, and seeks to provide the highest levels of quality, customer choice and innovation. Its family of exchanges, located in six countries, include the New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest cash equities market; Euronext, the Eurozone's largest cash equities market; Liffe, Europe's leading derivatives exchange by value of trading; and NYSE Arca Options, one of the fastest growing U.S. options trading platforms. NYSE Euronext offers a diverse array of financial products and services for issuers, investors and financial institutions in cash equities, options and derivatives, ETFs, bonds, market data, and commercial technology solutions. NYSE Euronext's nearly 4,000 listed companies represent a combined $30.5 trillion/€20.9 trillion in total global market capitalization (as of Dec. 31, 2007), more than four times that of any other exchange group. NYSE Euronext's equity exchanges transact an average daily trading value of approximately $141 billion/€103 billion (as of Dec. 31, 2007), which represents more than one-third of the world's cash equities trading. NYSE Euronext is part of the S&P 500 index and the only exchange operator in the S&P 100 index. For more information, please visit www.nyx.com.

New York Stock Exchange To Suspend, Apply to Delist American Depositary Shares of Quilmes Industrial (Quinsa), Société Anonyme ("Quinsa")

The New York Stock Exchange announced today that trading in the American Depositary Shares of Quilmes Industrial (Quinsa), Société Anonyme ("Quinsa") - ticker symbol "LQU" - will be suspended immediately. Following suspension, application will be made to the Securities and Exchange Commission to delist the issues.
Trading was suspended after the public tender offer by Companhia de Bebidas das Américas - AmBev ("AmBev") [NYSE: ABV, ABV.C] to purchase up to 5,483,950 Class A shares and up to 8,800,060 Class B shares (including Class B shares held as American Depositary Shares ("ADS") of its subsidiary Quilmes Industrial (Quinsa), Société Anonyme ("Quinsa") announced on December 21, 2007. As a result, Quinsa advised the NYSE that 114,311 American Depositary Shares remained outstanding after the expiration of the offer.

The NYSE said it normally considers suspending and removing from its list the securities of a company when the number of outstanding American Depositary Shares, representating common securities, is less than 600,000.

Sun Microsystems Announces Agreement to Acquire innotek, Expanding Sun xVM Reach to the Developer Desktop

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) today announced that it has entered into a stock purchase agreement to acquire innotek, the provider of the leading edge, open source virtualization software called VirtualBox. By enabling developers to more efficiently build, test and run applications on multiple platforms, VirtualBox will extend the Sun xVM platform onto the desktop and strengthen Sun's leadership in the virtualization market.


With over four million downloads since January 2007, innotek's open source VirtualBox product has been quickly established as one of the leading developer desktop virtualization platforms. Now, as part of the Sun xVM portfolio, VirtualBox will have the support of Sun's global development community, field resources and partners to make VirtualBox even more compelling to developers and end users, driving greater adoption across a broad set of communities. VirtualBox enables desktop or laptop PCs running the Windows, Linux, Mac or Solaris operating systems to run multiple, different operating systems side-by-side, switching between them with just a click of the mouse. This allows software developers to more easily build multi-tier or cross-platform applications, or power-users to take advantage of applications that may not be available for their base operating system of choice.

"VirtualBox provides Sun with the perfect complement to our recently announced Sun xVM Server product," said Rich Green, executive vice president, Sun Software. "Where Sun xVM Server is designed to enable dynamic IT at the heart of the datacenter, VirtualBox is ideal for any laptop or desktop environment and will align perfectly with Sun's other developer focused assets such as GlassFish, OpenSolaris, OpenJDK and soon MySQL as well as a wide range of community open source projects, enabling developers to quickly develop, test and deploy the next generation of applications."

VirtualBox is open source, and can be freely downloaded without the hassle of payment or frustrating license keys at virtualbox.org or openxvm.org. The download is less than 20 megabytes and the software is easily installed on any modern, x86 architecture laptop or desktop system running Windows, Linux, Mac and Solaris operating systems, in just minutes. Supported guest operating systems include all versions of Windows from 3.1 to Vista, Linux 2.2, 2.4 and 2.6 kernels, Solaris x86, OS/2, Netware and DOS.

The Sun xVM family of products uniquely integrates virtualization and management to help customers better manage both physical and virtualized assets across heterogeneous environments. Previously announced products in the Sun xVM line include Sun xVM Server and Sun xVM OpsCenter. Sun xVM Server is a datacenter grade, bare-metal virtualization engine with advanced features such as live VM migration and dynamic self-healing, and can consolidate Windows, Linux and Solaris operating system instances. Sun xVM Ops Center is a unified management infrastructure for both physical and virtual assets in the datacenter. Sun has announced partnerships and endorsements for xVM with Microsoft, RedHat, Intel, AMD, Symantec and Quest Software. More information about Sun xVM solutions can be found at: http://www.sun.com/xvm.

The agreement to acquire innotek follows Sun's announcement on January 16 of a definitive agreement to acquire MySQL, the world's most popular open source database. These acquisitions reaffirm Sun as the largest commercial open source contributor.

The stock purchase agreement to acquire innotek is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed during the third quarter of Sun's 2008 fiscal year. The terms of the deal were not disclosed as the transaction is not material to Sun's earnings per share.

About innotek

innotek is an internally funded software company located in Stuttgart, Germany with offices in Dresden, Berlin and the Russian Federation. Its team of international specialists has focused entirely on the development of high-tech system software. innotek has been at the forefront of PC virtualization technology since 2001 and now staffs Europe's largest and most experienced team of PC software virtualization experts with numerous Fortune 500 and government customers.



About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Sun Microsystems develops the technologies that power the global marketplace. Guided by a singular vision -- "The Network is the Computer" -- Sun drives network participation through shared innovation, community development and open source leadership. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com.

Bank of America Corp. and Chevron Corp. will replace Altria Group, Inc., and Honeywell International, Inc., in the Dow Jones Industrial Average

Bank of America Corp. and Chevron Corp. will replace Altria Group, Inc., and Honeywell International, Inc., in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, effective with the opening of trading on February 19, Dow Jones & Company announced.
These changes are the first in the 111-year-old stock index since April 8, 2004, when three stocks out of 30 were replaced.

"The catalyst for these changes is the restructuring in progress at Altria, which will result in a much smaller and more narrowly focused company," said Marcus W. Brauchli, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal. The Journal's top news editor oversees the makeup of "The Dow," which Charles H. Dow created as a 12-stock index in May 1896 and today is the best-known stock-market barometer in the world.

"As usual when we make any change we review all the stocks," Mr. Brauchli said. "In doing so, we saw that the financials industry was under-represented – notwithstanding the current turbulence – and that the oil and gas industry’s growing importance to the world economy called for another representative to join ExxonMobil Corp," he said.

John A. Prestbo, editor of Dow Jones Indexes, said, "There are no pre-determined criteria for a stock to be added or deleted, though we intend that all components be established U.S. companies that are leaders in their industries." For the sake of continuity, composition changes are intentionally rare, Mr. Prestbo said.

Altria, formerly Philip Morris Cos., has been in the industrial average since Oct. 30, 1985. It adopted its current name in 2003. Last year it spun off Kraft Foods, Inc. It has announced the spin-off next month of Philip Morris International, Inc., which will leave it as a purely domestic tobacco company.

Honeywell is being dropped because it is the smallest of the industrials in terms of revenue and earnings. Additionally, the role of industrial companies relative to the overall stock market has been shrinking in recent years, Mr. Brauchli said. AlliedSignal acquired Honeywell in late 1999 and adopted that name for the new entity. The predecessor of AlliedSignal was Allied Chemical & Dye Corp., formed in 1920 and added to The Dow on Dec. 7, 1925.

Chevron has been in the industrial average twice before. The first time, as Standard Oil Co. of California, was from February 1924 to August 1925. The company re-joined The Dow in 1930, but was replaced on Nov. 1, 1999. The Chevron name was adopted in 1984.
The changes won't cause any disruption in the level of the index. The divisor used to calculate The Dow from its components' prices on their respective home exchanges will be changed prior to the opening on February 19. This procedure prevents any distortion in The Dow's reflection of the U.S. stock market.

For more information, see the web site of Dow Jones Indexes at http://www.djindexes.com. The Dow Jones Transportation Average, Dow Jones Utilities Average and Dow Jones Composite Average also are members of the Dow Jones Averages family.

SEC Charges Ritchie Capital Management, CEO and Other Employees for Illegal Late Trading Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a settled enforcement action against a hedge fund, its investment adviser, its founder and CEO, and two employees for their roles in an illegal late trading scheme.

The SEC charged hedge fund Ritchie Multi-Strategy Global Trading Ltd. and its Chicago-based adviser — Ritchie Capital Management LLC — as well as Ritchie Capital’s founder and CEO A.R. Thane Ritchie and employees Warren DeMaio and Michael Mauriello. They will pay a combined total of approximately $40 million to settle the SEC’s charges. These payments will be distributed to the affected mutual funds.

“This action demonstrates the Commission’s willingness to take strong action against hedge fund advisers and their employees when they violate the federal securities laws. Here, respondents did so by engaging in illegal late trading in mutual funds,” said Linda Chatman Thomsen, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.

Merri Jo Gillette, Director of the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office, said, “Ritchie Capital concealed its late trading by receiving pre-4 p.m. time-stamps on its order tickets. The respondents’ attempt to cover their tracks by using falsified order tickets merely underscores the egregiousness of the fraudulent scheme and commends the thorough and tenacious investigative work that uncovered it.”

The Commission’s Order finds that from January 2001 through September 2003, Ritchie Capital engaged in an illegal late trading scheme. Ritchie Capital placed thousands of late trades in mutual fund shares and used post-4 p.m. ET news and market information to make its mutual fund trading decisions while receiving the same day’s net asset value for the mutual funds traded. Thane Ritchie approved the use of late trading by Ritchie Capital’s mutual fund group and oversaw its performance. DeMaio supervised mutual fund trading at Ritchie Capital and was involved in the development of the late trading strategy. Mauriello was responsible for placing mutual fund late trades with brokers on behalf of Ritchie Capital. Ritchie Capital’s post-4 p.m. trading resulted in a profit of approximately $30 million to the Ritchie Multi-Strategy fund.

The Commission’s Order requires Ritchie Multi-Strategy Global Trading Ltd. and Ritchie Capital Management LLC to pay disgorgement, jointly and severally, of $30 million, and prejudgment interest thereon of approximately $7.4 million. Ritchie Capital and Ritchie will pay civil penalties, jointly and severally, totaling $2.5 million. DeMaio will pay $250,000 in civil penalties. These payments will be distributed to the affected mutual funds.

In addition to the disgorgement and civil penalties, the Commission’s Order requires that Ritchie Capital, the Ritchie Multi-Strategy fund, Thane Ritchie and Warren DeMaio cease and desist from committing or causing violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, and Rule 22c-1 under the Investment Company Act, and that Ritchie Capital be censured and comply with certain undertakings. The Order also requires that Mauriello cease and desist from committing or causing violations of Rule 22c-1 under the Investment Company Act.

All respondents consented to the Commission’s Order without admitting or denying the findings. The Commission’s action was taken in coordination with the Office of the New York State Attorney General.

SEC Charges Former Dow Jones Board Member, Three Other Hong Kong Residents in $24 Million Insider Trading Settlement

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a $24 million settlement with a former Dow Jones & Company board member and three other Hong Kong residents accused of illegal tipping and insider trading ahead of news of an unsolicited buyout offer from News Corporation that sent Dow Jones shares soaring last spring.

The SEC's complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleges that David Li Kwok Po, a Dow Jones board member at the time who also is Chairman and CEO of the Bank of East Asia and a member of Hong Kong's Legislative Counsel and Executive Committee, learned of the then-secret News Corp. offer and illegally tipped his close friend Michael Leung Kai Hung.

The SEC complaint also alleges that Leung, with the help of his daughter Charlotte Ka On Wong Leung and son-in-law Kan King Wong purchased approximately $15 million worth of Dow Jones securities in their account at Merrill Lynch. They stood to make approximately $8 million in illicit profits had the SEC not won an emergency court order within days of the News Corp. offer, freezing the account and stopping the money from moving half a world away.

"Protecting the integrity of our markets in today's world of global trading and instant communications requires real-time enforcement across national borders," said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. "This case makes clear that the SEC will move fast, and decisively, not only in the United States but around the world to protect investors from insider dealings and threats to fair and open markets. It also illustrates the value of the significant international partnerships we are developing with our regulatory partners in other nations."

"Insider trading on merger and acquisition information continues to be a top enforcement priority," said Linda Chatman Thomsen, Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "We hope this case sends a forceful reminder to corporate insiders that they need to exercise careful discretion when discussing important business matters outside the boardroom and executive suite."

Cheryl J. Scarboro, Associate Director in the Division of Enforcement, added, "Tipping and trading by corporate insiders corrupts our markets, and today's action demonstrates our ability to stop this type of misconduct in its tracks - no matter where it occurs and who is involved."

Without admitting or denying the Commission's allegations, David Li, Michael Leung, K.K. Wong and Charlotte Wong consented to the entry of court orders enjoining them from violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. David Li is ordered to pay an $8.1 million civil penalty. Michael Leung is ordered to pay $8.1 million in disgorgement plus prejudgment interest and an $8.1 million penalty. K.K. Wong is ordered to pay $40,000 in disgorgement plus prejudgment interest and a $40,000 civil penalty.

The SEC previously filed an emergency action against the Wongs on May 8, 2007, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for alleged trading on inside information. The court entered a Temporary Restraining Order freezing assets and imposing other relief (see LR-20106). In its amended complaint filed today, the Commission also alleges that K.K. Wong bought 2,000 Dow Jones shares in his TD-Ameritrade account and made approximately $40,000 in profits.

The Commission acknowledges the assistance of Merrill Lynch & Co. and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in this matter.

MIXIT Connects to NYSE MatchPoint

MIXIT Inc., a leader in advanced trading technology, announced today that it will be ready to connect brokers and their buy- and sell-side clients to NYSE MatchPoint when the new por tfolio-based, point-in-time electronic block trade facility launches on January 22, 2008. NYSE MatchPoint is a facility of the New York Stock Exchange, a subsidiary of NYSE Euronext (NYX).

MIXIT’s clients may enter one portfolio of buy and sell/short orders, a single block order or multiple portfolios of buy and sell/short orders. NYSE MatchPoint will trade securities listed on all major and regional U.S. stock exchanges.

“Our customers, who include both buy- and sell-side traders, will find enormous value through this new connection we have established with NYSE MatchPoint,” said Walter Fitzgerald, CEO of MIXIT. “MatchPoint will provide an incredible environment for finding natural opaque block liquidity.”

James G. Ross, NYSE MatchPoint vice president, said: “MIXIT will perform a very important role in linking NYSE members and their clients to our new centralized, broker-neutral matching environment, where complete control of order information and execution remains in the hands of users.”

MIXIT is a leading provider of advanced trading technology and FIX connectivity services to the financial industry. The company's integrated suite of products allows firms to trade and communicate with clients in the most anonymous manner. MIXIT's expertise, advanced technology, neutrality and commitment to the highest levels of service provides the foundation for its customers business to prosper.

Schlumberger Declares Quarterly Dividend

Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) today announced that its Board of Directors approved a 20% increase of the quarterly dividend. The increased dividend of 21 cents per share on outstanding stock is payable on April 4, 2008 to stockholders of record on February 20, 2008.

About Schlumberger
Schlumberger is the world's leading oilfield services company supplying technology, information solutions and integrated project management that optimize reservoir performance for customers working in the oil and gas industry. The company employs more than 76,000 people of over 140 nationalities working in approximately 80 countries. Schlumberger supplies a wide range of products and services from seismic acquisition and processing; formation evaluation; well testing and directional drilling to well cementing and stimulation; artificial lift and well completions; and consulting, software, and information management. In 2006, Schlumberger operating revenue was $19.23 billion. For more information, visit www.SLB.com.

GE Corporate Lending Provides $115 Million Credit Facility To Support the Acquisition of Winner Steel, Inc.

GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending today announced it provided a $115 million asset-based credit facility to support the acquisition of Winner Steel, Inc., by a joint venture between Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) and Duferco Group. Winner is now operating as Sharon Coating LLC. GE Capital Markets arranged the financing.

Based in Sharon, Pennsylvania, Sharon Coating LLC is one of the largest galvanized steel producers in the United States.

“GE’s extensive knowledge of the steel industry allowed them to quickly understand our needs and move swiftly to fund the loan,” said Bob Miller, CFO of the joint venture’s US operations. “The financing provides our company with the financial flexibility and liquidity required to support our evolving business strategy.”

“Providing smart financing through an understanding of our clients and the industries in which they operate is our specialty,” said Greg Eck, metals and mining industry leader for GE Corporate Lending. “Whether the borrowing need is for acquisition finance, turnarounds or working capital, we are dedicated to finding the right solution to help companies execute their business plans.”

Industry Specialization

To better meet the unique financing needs of customers, GE Corporate Lending has a team of Industry Leaders supported by dedicated research analysts. These industry experts work closely with GE Corporate Lending’s regional teams to build smarter financing solutions for companies across key industries: Aerospace & Defense; Automotive & Automotive Parts; Chemicals & Plastics; Construction; Food, Beverage & Agribusiness; Financial & Business Services; Forest Products; General Manufacturing; Metals and Mining; Retail; Technology & Electronics; and Transportation.

About GE Corporate Lending

With $14 billion in assets, GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending is one of North America’s largest providers of asset-based, cash flow, structured finance and other financial solutions for mid-size and large companies. From over 30 offices throughout the U.S. and Canada, GE Corporate Lending specializes in serving the unique needs of borrowers seeking $20 million to $2 billion and more for working capital, growth, acquisitions, project finance and turnarounds. Visit www.gelending.com/clnews for more information.

About GE Commercial Finance

GE Commercial Finance, which offers businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services, has assets of over $250 billion and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut. GE (NYSE: GE) is Imagination at Work – a diversified technology, media and financial services company focused on solving some of the world’s toughest problems. GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit www.ge.com.

SEC, SEBI Announce Increased Cooperation and Collaboration of Capacity Building Events in India

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today announced terms for increased cooperation and collaboration.

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and SEBI Chairman M. Damodaran elaborated the terms establishing the structure of, and agenda for, an SEC-SEBI dialogue. This new dialogue has three main objectives:

• Identify and discuss regulatory issues of common concern


• Continue and expand upon the existing program of capacity-building and technical cooperation between the SEC and the SEBI


• Improve cooperation and the exchange of information in cross-border securities enforcement matters

"As financial services and investment continue to grow and expand between the United States and India, the SEC and SEBI are increasingly working together to facilitate our aims of investor protection and healthy markets," said Chairman Cox. "The SEC has worked with SEBI over the past few years on extensive capacity-building programs as well as enforcement matters. I look forward to continuing and strengthening our regulatory and enforcement cooperation with SEBI through this high-level dialogue."

Chairman Damodaran said, "Given the role that emerging and recently emerged markets play in an increasingly globalised financial world, it is only befitting that the SEBI and SEC work closely for the protection of investors and for ensuring fair, efficient and transparent markets. The high level discussions between the two regulators, while promoting capacity building, would also enable both the SEBI and SEC to take suitable joint and collective action where needed."

Ethiopis Tafara, Director of the SEC Office of International Affairs, said, "This framework for discussion will benefit and shape the SEC staff's continued interaction with officials from the SEBI. The SEC staff has engaged in over two dozen projects related to the Indian markets and met with over 1,000 Indian officials. The new dialogue will build upon these efforts and provide the SEC and SEBI with further opportunities to enhance securities regulation."

The dialogue will be composed of regular meetings and ad hoc information exchange at the staff level and between high-level representatives of the SEC and SEBI.

Given recent developments in both the U.S. and Indian markets, the following topics have been identified for discussion for the dialogue over the coming year:

• Oversight of dually regulated entities


• Regulatory and compliance issues relating to outsourcing


• Accounting and auditing standards


• Corporate governance standards and internal controls


• Areas for continued capacity-building and technical cooperation


• Cross-border cooperation and information sharing in securities enforcement matters

The SEC and SEBI agree that this is not an exclusive list of issues to be discussed in the dialogue and that the list may be revised as new regulatory issues affecting the India and U.S. markets emerge in the course of the year.

The SEC-SEBI dialogue was announced after completion of an extensive two-week, SEC-SEBI capacity-building and technical cooperation session on a variety of topics held in India at the end of December 2007. Highlights of the capacity-building effort were two training programs and a CCOutreach program for chief compliance officers of U.S. registered investment advisers located in Asia. In the CCOutreach program, topics included compliance risk assessment, establishing and testing compliance controls and common deficiencies found in SEC examinations.

The capacity-building programs conducted by the SEC involved a four-day training program in Mumbai on Securities Market Oversight and Enforcement which 55 Indian regulators attended. Topics included broker-dealer compliance, hedge fund regulatory concerns, broker-dealer and investment adviser inspections, insider trading, and market manipulation. The SEC also conducted a two-day training program in New Delhi on corporate finance and corporate disclosure which 25 officials for SEBI regional offices attended. Topics included the offering process, financial fraud, asset-backed securities and corporate governance.

NYSE MatchPoint Rules Approved by SEC

NYSE Euronext (NYSE Euronext: NYX) today announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the rules for NYSE MatchPoint, a new, portfolio-based, point-in-time electronic facility of the New York Stock Exchange that matches aggregated orders at predetermined sessions throughout regular hours and after hours of the Exchange. MatchPoint will trade securities listed on all major and regional U.S. stock exchanges. It is expected to begin operation on January 22, 2008.

“NYSE MatchPoint is a major step forward in our broad initiative to provide investors with a choice of how to transact trades at the New York Stock Exchange,” said Lawrence Leibowitz, Head of U.S. Products, NYSE Euronext. “It’s unique in the exchange environment due to its portfolio-based approach. By offering MatchPoint and our recently-announced joint venture with BIDS, w e’re providing investors two new, complementary ways to trade block orders.”

“NYSE MatchPoint will leverage the neutrality of the New York Stock Exchange with open connectivity and comprehensive regulatory infrastructure to provide a nondisplayed trading environment unlike any other,” said James G. Ross, Vice President, NYSE MatchPoint. “Both portfolio-based and single block trade investors will each find immense added value in this new, centralized facility of the Exchange.”

The first NYSE MatchPoint matching session will be an after hours match at 4:45 p.m. that uses the official closing price of the primary market. Soon, matching sessions will be established during regular hours of the Exchange. The first will take place at 9:45 a.m. , followed by matching sessions at 10 a.m. , 11 a.m. , 12 noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m. T he price of the intraday match will be the mid-point of the NBBO that is randomly selected during a one-minute pricing period. An investor may enter one portfolio of buy and sell/short orders, a single block order or multiple portfolios of buy and sell /short orders.

Investors that rely on index-based or model-driven trading and investment strategies will find NYSE MatchPoint’s portfolio-based capabilities to be a very effective trading tool. In addition, NYSE MatchPoint’s non-displayed, point-in-time approach aggregates individual block orders and increases the depth of the liquidity pool and enhances the opportunity of a natural match.

Participation in crossing services has grown significantly in the past couple of years, so the NYSE MatchPoint initiative presents a sizeable opportunity. The new NYSE crossing service is uniquely positioned over existing offerings given the combination of sophisticated portfolio-based trading technology (including cash constraints), competitive pricing, and exchange neutrality. NYSE MatchPoint is expected to attract broad participation from broker/dealers, as well as institutions and hedge funds through broker sponsorship.

For more information about NYSE MatchPoint see: nyse.com/matchpoint.

About NYSE Euronext

NYSE Euronext, a holding company created by the combination of NYSE Group, Inc. and Euronext N.V., commenced trading on April 4, 2007. NYSE Euronext (NYSE Euronext: NYX) operates the world’s largest and most liquid exchange group and offers the most diverse array of financial products and services. NYSE Euronext, which brings together six cash equities exchanges in five countries and six derivatives exchanges in six countries, is a world leader for listings, trading in cash equities, equity and interest rate derivatives, bonds and the distribution of market data. Representing a combined $30.3 trillion/€21.3 trillion total market capitalization of listed companies and average daily trading value of approximately $139 billion/€103 billion (as of September 30, 2007), NYSE Euronext seeks to provide the highest standards of market quality and integrity, innovative products and services to investors, issuers, and all users of its markets. NYSE Euronext is part of the S&P 500 and S&P 100 indexes.

NASDAQ Announces 2007 New Listings Statistics

The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (NASDAQ(r)) (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today announced its 2007 listings statistics. NASDAQ attracted more initial public offerings (IPOs) last year than any other U.S. exchange. Of the 237 IPOs that were eligible to list on NASDAQ or the NYSE Group last year, NASDAQ listed 154, or 65 percent.

Many of the largest U.S. IPOs, as measured by proceeds raised, listed on NASDAQ. They were led by Interactive Broker Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:IBKR) and TFS Financial Corporation, (Nasdaq:TFSL), which raised more than $1.2 billion and $871.3 million, respectively.

Led by DirectTV (Nasdaq:DTV), more market capitalization switched to NASDAQ from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2007, a total of $28.3 billion. DirectTV was the first NYSE-listed company to switch to NASDAQ and retain its three character ticker symbol.

NASDAQ continued to win more new listings than any other U.S. exchange, as measured by the total number of issues. During 2007, NASDAQ captured 290 new listings, comprised of the following categories:

                                            4th Qtr
                                              2007     2007    2006
                                            -------    ----    ----
 Total New Listings                            90       290     285
 Initial Public Offerings (IPOs)               44       154     156
 Amex & NYSE Switches/Dual Listings            14        34      37
 Upgrades from OTCBB & Pink Sheets             20        75      59
 ETFs, Structured Products & Other Listings    12        27      33

Notable listings in 2007 included the IPOs of National CineMedia, Inc. (Nasdaq:NCMI),
Los Angeles-based REIT MerueloMaddux Properties (Nasdaq:MMPI) and Clearwire Corporation (Nasdaq:CLWR) and the switches from the American Stock Exchange (Amex) of Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:HALO), National Beverage Corp. (Nasdaq:FIZZ), and PowerSecure International (Nasdaq:POWR). NASDAQ also saw several notable industrial listings, including the IPOs of Orion Energy Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:OESX) and Greek shipping company Paragon Shipping Inc. (Nasdaq:PRGN) and the Amex switches of Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (Nasdaq:OMEX) and PowerSecure International, Inc.

NASDAQ saw 45 non-U.S. new listings in 2007, including the switch of Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (Nasdaq:SBLK) from the Amex and the IPOs of Argentinean Internet commerce company MercadoLibre, Inc. (Nasdaq:MELI), Canadian yoga-inspired athletic apparel company lululemon athletica (Nasdaq:LULU), Chinese media company VisionChina Media Inc. (Nasdaq:VISN), and Bermuda-based insurer Castlepoint Holdings Ltd. (Nasdaq:CPHL).

Of the 31 companies that switched from the Amex, 12 elected to retain their three character symbols. This was made possible by the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) approval of a NASDAQ proposal in July 2007 to allow NASDAQ to accept three character ticker symbols -- in addition to the four character symbols NASDAQ has historically used.

Below is a partial list of the Amex companies that switched to NASDAQ in 2007:

 Company                                 Ticker Symbol
 -------                                 -------------
 Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc.              Nasdaq:HALO
 Star Bulk Carriers Corp.                 Nasdaq:SBLK
 Akorn, Inc.                              Nasdaq:AKRX
 Medivation, Inc.                         Nasdaq:MDVN

Other notable developments in 2007 are highlighted below:


- Watson Wyatt and Company Holdings (SYMBOL: WW) and Allied Capital
Corporation (SYMBOL: ALD) dual listed their common stock on the
NASDAQ Global Select Market. These listings increased to 12 the
number of NYSE-listed securities that have dual listed on NASDAQ.

- The NASDAQ Global Select Market -- which has the highest initial
listing standards in the world -- became the largest of NASDAQ's
three listing tiers. As of December 31, 2007, there were 1,156
companies listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

To view all new NASDAQ listings in 2007, visit http://www.nasdaq.com/newsroom/documents/NASDAQ_New_Listings_2007.pdf

Statistics are sourced from internal NASDAQ information. IPOs include offerings done on a "best efforts" basis. For more information about these and other NASDAQ market performance statistics, visit www.nasdaqfacts.com/newlistings.

NASDAQ is the largest U.S. equities exchange. With approximately 3,100 companies, it lists more companies and, on average, trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market. It is home to companies that are leaders across all areas of business including technology, retail, communications, financial services, transportation, media and biotechnology. NASDAQ is the primary market for trading NASDAQ-listed stocks as well as a leading liquidity pool for trading NYSE-listed stocks. For more information about NASDAQ, visit the NASDAQ Web site at http://www.nasdaq.com/ or the NASDAQ Newsroom at www.nasdaq.com/newsroom/.

IBM Acquires XIV

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has acquired XIV, a privately held storage technology company based in Tel Aviv, Israel. XIV, its technologies and employees, will become part of the IBM System Storage business unit of the IBM Systems and Technology Group. Financial terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed.

"The acquisition of XIV will further strengthen the IBM infrastructure portfolio long term and put IBM in the best position to address emerging storage opportunities like Web 2.0 applications, digital archives and digital media," said Andy Monshaw, general manager, IBM System Storage. "The ability for almost anyone to create digital content at any time has accelerated the need for a whole new way of applying infrastructure solutions to the new world of digital information. IBM's goal is to provide the leading technologies and solutions at every layer of the data center -- storage, servers, software and services -- to address these new realities IT customers face."

To address the new requirements associated with next generation digital content, IBM chose XIV and its NEXTRA™ architecture for its ability to scale dynamically, heal itself in the event of failure, and self-tune for optimum performance, all while eliminating the significant management burden typically associated with rapid growth environments. The architecture also is designed to automatically optimize resource utilization of all the components within the system, which can allow for easier management and configuration and improved performance and data availability.

"We are pleased to become a significant part of the IBM family, allowing for our unique storage architecture, our engineers and our storage industry experience to be part of IBM's overall storage business," said Moshe Yanai, chairman, XIV. "We believe the level of technological innovation achieved by our development team is unparalleled in the storage industry. Combining our storage architectural advancements with IBM's world-wide research, sales, service, manufacturing, and distribution capabilities will provide us with the ability to have these technologies tackle the emerging Web 2.0 technology needs and reach every corner of the world."

The NEXTRA architecture has been in production for more than two years, with more than four petabytes of capacity being used by customers today.

IBM's acquisition of XIV supports the IBM growth strategy and capital allocation model, as part of the company's overall objective for earnings-per-share growth through 2010.

Through its deep industry expertise, patent leadership, research and innovation, IBM has long been the leader in providing customers with technology solutions that help them deliver and utilize information effectively. With industry recognized leadership in storage and server hardware and software, and through the recent strategic acquisitions of Softek, FileNet and NovusCG, IBM has grown its storage services offerings and presents customers with strategic solutions to deliver integrated software, hardware, services and research in standardized offerings that can be used by customers of all sizes to help them transform their businesses.

About XIV

For more information about XIV, please visit http://www.xivstorage.com.

About IBM

For more information about IBM System Storage, please visit http://www.ibm.com/storage.

Siemens to Acquire Morgan Construction Company

The Siemens Division Industrial Solutions (IS) strengthens its position in metals technologies with the acquisition of Morgan Construction Co., Worcester, MA, U.S.A., a designer and producer of high-quality rolling-mill products and services for the metals industry worldwide. In 2006, Morgan reported sales of 180 Mio USD and employed around 1,100 people in the U.S.A., China, India, the United Kingdom, and in Brazil. Siemens intends to take over 100% of the Morgan Construction shares. All parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The transaction is conditional upon the approval of the relevant authorities.

Morgan Construction Company is acknowledged as a leader in rolling mill technology. Founded in 1888, Morgan Construction Company is worldwide supplier of wire rod rolling-mill equipment for the long-products industry today. Morgan has designed and installed more than 450 rod, bar, and billet mills in over 40 countries worldwide, setting benchmarks as a designer, manufacturer and service provider of high-speed rod, bar, combination mills and handling equipment for the steel and non-ferrous industries. The technology includes the patented Reducing/Sizing Mill, which enables products to be rolled faster, with closer tolerances and at lower costs.

“With the acquisition of Morgan Construction we combine its competence in the sector of rolling mill equipment with our know-how in industrial automation,” said Dr. Richard Pfeiffer, CEO Siemens VAI Metal Technologies. “This step underscores our position as a trendsetter in rolling and processing solutions. We will improve our capabilities to offer integrated solutions by increasing the degree of standardization.”

Philip R. Morgan, President and CEO of Morgan, said: “The fit between our two companies is remarkably good. Morgan Construction is the acknowledged leader in the design and manufacture of wire rod mills and Siemens Metals Technologies has a very strong bar mill group. There are true synergies between the two companies, which strengthen the position of both in the flat product rolling mill area.” With Siemens, Morgan has access to the Siemens´ resources worldwide, which improves Morgan´s global market presence. “This will assure long-term stability for our manufacturing facilities and employees,” Morgan said.

Morgan Construction will be a group company of Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services under the responsibility of the IS Business Unit VAI Metals Technologies, headquartered in Linz/Austria.



Siemens VAI Metals Technologies (MT) is one of the world's leading engineering and plant-building companies for the iron and steel industry as well as for the flat-rolling sector of the aluminum industry and for open-cast mining. MT, which was created from the integration of Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau, Linz/Austria, plus the electrical engineering product business and automation solutions of Siemens, provides a comprehensive range of supplies and services for all related technological processes and integrated automation solutions for the entire life-cycle of metallurgical plants.