People & places: Metals suffer Depression-era price plunge
Metal prices have fallen as far in the last six months as they did during the Great Depression of the 1930s, according to Barclays Capital’s commodities researcher Kevin Norrish.

People & places: Simonson named CFO and senior vice president of US Exim
John Simonson has been named chief financial officer and senior vice president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (US Exim), the official export-credit agency of the US.

TFR Deals of the Year
The deadline is less than three weeks away…
Please send your entries to TFR editor Graeme Burton on gburton@ark-group.com

News analysis: BHP drops bid for Rio Tinto
Mining giant BHP Billiton has been forced to ditch its hostile takeover bid for rival Rio Tinto as a result of the plunge in commodity prices and the worsening world economy.

Deal news: EBRD lends $30m for Ukraine’s Desnagrain
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has extended a five-year $30m working-capital loan to Ukrainian agribusiness Desnagrain.

News: Alfa-Bank Ukraine scoops dual tranche loan
Alfa-Bank Ukraine has secured a $23.5m and €26.935m dual-tranche term facility, paying a margin of 200 basis points over Libor.

Deal news: Huomei Hongjun secures $250m debut PXF
Inner Mongolia Huomei Hongjun Aluminium & Electricity, the Chinese aluminium producer, has finally drawn down its $250m three-year pre-export loan facility, which concluded over the summer.

Sponsored statement: Financial Tech buys UK’s ACE Group
The acquisition marks Financial Technologies Group’s foray into African and European markets.

People & places: SMBC beefs up London trade finance expertise
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe has beefed up its London-based Global Trade Finance Department with the recruitment of Pepi Bedi and Shirley Mutter.

People & places: Trading places at the top for Santander
Jorge Tapia has taken over from Federico Papa as Global Head of Trade, Export and Commodity Finance at Santander Global Banking and Markets, stepping up from Global Head of Trade Finance following Papa’s promotion to Global Transaction Banking (GTB) Head of Europe.

People & places: IFC to double trade finance support programme
International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank, is doubling its Global Trade Finance Program from $1.5bn to $3bn to help banks in in 66 countries to continue supporting international trade.

People & places: Eskom secures $500m from AfDB
Eskom, the under-fire South African electricity monopoly, has secured a $500m 20-year loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB), the biggest ever private-sector loan granted by the Bank.

Russia’s Bank Petrocommerce secures $106m syndicated loan
Bank Petrocommerce, the Russian bank founded by LUKoil and now controlled by IFD Capital, has secured a $106m syndicated term-loan facility.

Deal news: US Exim provides $400m loan guarantee to Reliance
The Export-Import Bank of the United States (US Exim) has approved a $400m long-term loan guarantee to support US exports of equipment and services to India’s Reliance Industries.

People & places: Deutsche appoints Jon Richman North American trade head
Deutsche Bank has appointed Jon Richman managing director and Head of North America Sales for Trade Finance and Cash Management Corporates in Deutsche’s Global Transaction Banking unit.

People & places: Norbert Fritsch announces retirement
Forfaiting legend Norbert Fritsch is set to retire from Hypovereinsbank (HVB) in December after more than 30 years in banking. It follows his retirement from the board of the International Forfaiting Association (IFA) after completing a tenure of two terms.

People & places: IFA to work with ICC to make global forfaiting rules
The International Forfaiting Association (IFA) has voted at its annual conference in Prague 83% in favour of working with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to transform the IFA’s Market Practice Guidelines for forfaiting into a new international standard.

People & places: Icelandic banks’ trade finance operations threatened by crisis
The future of the trade and commodity finance operations of Icelandic banks Landsbanki and Kaupthing are hanging in the balance following the forced nationalisation of both banks amid a crippling currency crisis in Iceland.

People & places: Gary Gurry joins Falcon Trade
Falcon Trade Corporation is continuing its hiring spree with the appointment of Gary Gurry as a product-development specialist at its London office. Gurry joins from BP Oil International, where he was Trade Finance Manager.

People & places: CNPC concludes oil deal with Iraqi government
The China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) has concluded a $3bn, 20-year oil services contract with the Iraqi government to pump oil from the Ahdab oilfield.

People & places: Kamback appointed head of BoNYM’s Treasure Services group
The Bank of New York Mellon (BoNYM) has appointed Eric Kamback as CEO of its Treasury Services group.

People & places: BHP bid for Rio Tinto in question over funding
The credit crunch and the recent increase in the cost of funding following the collapse of several major banking groups has raised questions over BHP Billiton’s bid for rival miner Rio Tinto.

People & places: Mozambique seeks $2.5bn for power line
Mozambique’s publicly owned electricity company, EDM, is to invest $2.5bn in a new 2,000km electricity transmission line from the province of Tete in the west of the country.

Correction: BBVA, Best Trade Bank in Latin America
In the July/August 2008 issue of Trade & Forfaiting Review, we inadvertently included a quote from Santander’s Federico Papa under our award article for BBVA.

People & places: Deripaska credit crunched in $1bn margin call
Oleg Deripaska, founder, sole owner and chairman of Basic Element, the holding company that controls Russian aluminium giant Rusal, has been forced to divest his 20% stake in Magna International.

Deal news: Sberbank scoops $1.2bn syndicated loan
Russian state-owned bank Sberbank – Savings Bank of the Russian Federation – has secured a $1.2bn loan agreement from a syndicate of 12 international banks.

Deal news: PT Smelting secures $250m refinancing
PT Smelting, operator of Indonesia’s first and only copper smelter and refinery, has concluded a $250m refinancing of its working-capital facility in a deal led by the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ and Mizuho Corporate Bank.

Deal news: Pemex secures $600m for offshore exploration
Mexican oil major Pemex has signed a $600m 12-year loan backed by a guarantee from Japan’s Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI).

Deal news: IADB agrees $400m loan for Panama Canal
The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) has approved a loan of up to $400m to support the expansion and development of the Panama Canal.

Deal news: Equinox secures additional $80m for Lumwana
Copper miner Equinox Minerals has secured an extension to a December 2006 facility enabling it to invest an additional $80m in its Lumwana copper project in Zambia.