AFP

A US envoy on Monday expressed optimism that Lebanon and Israel could move towards a maritime border deal to settle competing claims over offshore gas fields.

The dispute escalated in early June after Israel moved a production vessel near the Karish offshore field, which is partly claimed by neighbour Lebanon.

This prompted Beirut to call for the resumption of US-mediated negotiations on the demarcation dispute.

“I remain optimistic that we can make continuous progress as we have over the last several weeks and I look forward to coming back to the region and being able to make the final arrangements,” envoy Amos Hochstein told reporters after meeting Lebanon’s top leaders.

Hochstein, on his second visit in less than two months, is carrying an Israeli proposal in response to a demarcation offer made by Lebanon, where officials also expressed optimism over a potential deal. 

On Monday, he met with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and parliament speaker Nabih Berri at the presidential palace. 

He also met separately with caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib who called the progress in talks “potentially exceptional”.

“Negotiations are still ongoing, and they have almost reached their conclusion,” Bou Habib told a local broadcaster after the meeting.

Parliament’s deputy speaker Elias Bou Saab who attended Monday’s meeting called the talks “positive”.

“The gap… has narrowed, and the time period separating us from the return of the American mediator to Beirut will be short,” he said, quoted in a statement issued by the presidency.

“God willing, we will see results in the next few weeks,” added Bou Saab, tasked by the president with following up on negotiations. 

– Qana field –

Lebanon and Israel, whose border is UN-patrolled, have no diplomatic relations. 

They had resumed maritime border negotiations in 2020 but the process was stalled by Beirut’s claim that the map used by the United Nations in the talks needed modifying.

Lebanon initially demanded 860 square kilometres (330 square miles) in the disputed maritime area but then asked for an additional 1,430 square kilometres, including part of the Karish field.

Israel claims the field lies in its waters and is not part of the disputed area subject to ongoing negotiations.

A Lebanese official in mid-June said Beirut had made a new offer to Hochstein, holding back on demands for territory where Israel planned to imminently extract gas.

Beirut was pushing for the country’s maritime border to exclude Karish and include the whole of a nearby field instead, the official told AFP at the time.

An Israeli official on Sunday said Israel’s offer on the original disputed zones was a “compromise to both sides” and would allow Lebanon to develop “the Sidon reservoir”, known as the Qana field, while safeguarding Israel’s interests.

After meeting Hochstein, Lebanon’s foreign minister said his country was demanding the right to develop “all of Qana”, without concessions.

– ‘Pay dearly’ –

On July 2, Israel said it had downed three drones launched by Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah that were headed towards the Karish gas field.

The Iran-backed Shiite Muslim movement on Sunday released a short video it said showed surveillance of several Israeli-chartered energy infrastructure ships.

Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah had threatened attacks if Israel proceeds with gas exploration in the disputed area.

On Sunday, Nasrallah said Hezbollah will determine its next step based on the outcomes of the latest talks.

“We’re paying no attention to Nasrallah’s threats,” Ram Ben Barak, head of the Israeli foreign and defence committee told public broadcaster Kan radio on Monday.

“But if Nasrallah dares to do anything to Israel’s gas rigs, Lebanon –- and Hezbollah -– will pay dearly.”

Israel and Hezbollah last fought a devastating war in 2006.

Stock markets wobbled on Monday as investors track a raft of corporate earnings reports while oil prices sank over concerns about Chinese demand.

London’s FTSE 100, the Paris CAC 40 and Frankfurt DAX were flat in afternoon trading after drifting higher earlier in the day.

Wall Street opened lower on the first day of August following a strong month in July.

Asian stock markets finished higher despite another disappointing reading on the health of the Chinese economy.

The closely watched Purchasing Managers’ Index of manufacturing activity shrank in July on the back of weak demand and the strict zero-Covid measures imposed in parts of the country.

While sweeping curbs have eased in major hubs such as Shanghai and Beijing, sporadic lockdowns in other cities and towns have kept businesses and consumers worried with few signs of the policy easing.

The China data sent oil prices sharply lower, with the international benchmark, Brent, slipping just under $100 per barrel while the main US contract, WTI, fell by five percent to around $94.

“Oil prices were under pressure after weak Chinese manufacturing figures which really show the continuing impact of lockdowns on the country’s economy,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“China remains one of the biggest consumers of oil and other commodities.” Mould said.

Traders are also waiting for another output decision by the OPEC+ group of major crude-producing nations on Wednesday.

– ‘Bullish’ HSBC –

In corporate news, Asia-focused lender HSBC provided another boost with a “bullish” outlook, alongside its intention to revert to quarterly shareholder dividends next year.

HSBC shares jumped by seven percent percent in the British capital. 

Other major corporate earnings reports this week include those from oil giant BP, US ride-hailing firm Uber, Japanese automaker Toyota and Chinese tech giant Alibaba.

Last week, strong earnings from US titans Amazon and Apple sparked healthy Wall Street gains and eased concerns about the economic impact of surging inflation and rising rates.

That came after investors took Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell’s comments Wednesday to indicate the US central bank could start slowing down its monetary tightening, providing a much-needed boost to stocks.

The Bank of England is expected to deliver a bumper 0.5-percentage-point interest rate hike this Thursday to combat rocketing inflation.

“Sharp hikes by the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank in July make it all the more likely that it will pull the trigger on an outsize rate hike,” Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson told AFP.

Global central banks are ramping up borrowing costs in an attempt to get a handle on runaway consumer price inflation.

– Key figures at around 1340 GMT –

London – FTSE 100: FLAT at 7,422.33 points

Frankfurt – DAX: FLAT at 13,491.18

Paris – CAC 40: FLAT at 6,446.18

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,703.75

New York – Dow: DOWN 0.4 percent at 32,723.31

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.7 percent at 27,993.35 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.1 percent at 20,165.84 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,259.96 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0255 from $1.0228 Friday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2260 from $1.2189 

Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.64 pence from 83.89 pence

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 131.93 yen from 133.25 yen

Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 3.9 percent at $99.94 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 5.0 percent at $93.64 per barrel

burs/lth/raz

Barcelona have sold 25 percent of Barca Studios, which manages the club’s digital business and audiovisual productions, to Socios.com for 100 million euros (102.5m dollars), club president Joan Laporta said on Monday. 

Club members had voted to allow the sale of 49 percent of the shares.

“For the moment, we have sold 25 percent to Socios.com,” Laporta said at the press conference to present Jules Kounde, bought for a reported 50m euros from Sevilla, as a Barcelona player. 

Earlier this summer, the deeply indebted club sold 15 percent of its La Liga TV revenue to the American investment fund Sixth Street in two tranches or a total of 400m euros before going on a transfer spree.

In addition to Kounde, Barcelona have bought Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich and Raphinha from Leeds and signed AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie and Chelsea’s Danish central defender Andreas Christensen on free transfers.

While the deals with Sixth Street are for 25 years, the sale to the Socios.com platform is permanent. 

“It’s a sale for ever,” Laporta said. “There would be a way to recover this 25 per cent but for the moment this operation means the entry of a new partner, Socios.com, which has injected 100 million euros,” he said.

Socios.com is a platform that allows clubs to increase their interaction with fans and try to make more money from it, including the use of Fan Tokens, a kind of digital asset based on blockchain and cryptocurrencies. 

In its drive to raise money quickly, Barcelona has taken a 595m euro loan from investment bank Goldman Sachs and signed a sponsorship deal worth an estimated 435m euros with streaming service Spotify. 

In August 2021, Laporta announced that an audit of the club’s finances showed Barca faced an estimated debt of 1.35 billion euros.  

They allowed Lionel Messi to leave for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021 because they could not afford to keep the Argentine star, even on a reduced salary. 

Ulrich Koerner took over as Credit Suisse’s chief executive on Monday with the mammoth task of revitalising Switzerland’s second-biggest bank following a series of scandals.

Reputed to be more of a technocrat than a captain of the ship, his first mission as CEO will be to carry out a strategic review to try to put the bank back in good working order.

His predecessor Thomas Gottstein, who resigned on Wednesday, led Credit Suisse through two and a half years of turmoil but failed to see the group emerge from the storm.

New chairman Axel Lehmann, who rose through the ranks of the bank’s chief domestic rival UBS, highlighted Koerner’s in-depth knowledge of the sector at a pivotal moment when Credit Suisse must speed up its changes.

Koerner “is an experienced, transformational leader with an excellent judgement and has demonstrated to the board of directors that he understands the urgency of the task and the need to rebuild trust”, Lehmann told a press conference.

– Catalogue of woes –

In March 2021, the bank was rocked by the collapse of the British financial firm Greensill, in which some $10 billion had been committed through four funds, and then by the implosion of the US fund Archegos, which cost it more than $5 billion.

In October, it was also fined $475 million by the US and British authorities for its loans to state-owned companies in Mozambique.

In January, Antonio Horta-Osorio resigned as chairman after revelations that he broke Switzerland’s Covid-19 quarantine rules.

And in June, the bank was hit with a $2 million fine in a money laundering case linked to a Bulgarian cocaine network.

Given the scale of the task, the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger wondered if Koerner was the right man for the job.

Andreas Venditti, an analyst at Swiss investment managers Vontobel, told AFP: “He is probably not a CEO in the traditional sense. But in the current situation at Credit Suisse, what’s needed is probably not a visionary but someone hands-on who can restructure.

“Also he is almost 60, so it’s probably his last high-profile executive job. So he can execute without having to worry for what comes after.”

– ‘Like a machine’ –

A doctor in economics, Koerner began his career with the consulting firm McKinsey.

Koerner worked at Credit Suisse in various roles between 1998 and 2009, notably directing activities for the Swiss market, after which he switched to UBS until 2020.

The German and Swiss national returned to Credit Suisse in 2021 to turn around asset management after the Greensill affair.

He distinguished himself by his ability to carry out restructuring programmes. As head of operations at UBS, he notably transformed core functions at the headquarters “like a machine”, noted the Tages-Anzeiger.

But doubts remain over his people skills, the newspaper said.

“Koerner is a technocrat, not someone who motivates people,” one inside source told the daily.

And the Neue Zuercher Zeitung (NZZ) newspaper reported that he was “considered as someone of great intelligence”, who can come across as brusque or arrogant on first impressions, according to his colleagues.

However, this can “quickly dissipate” in favour of a more “engaging” personality, the NZZ added.

The Ethos foundation, which represents pension funds, said it hoped that Koerner, alongside Lehmann, “will finally manage to put the bank back on the right track” and “restore the confidence” of employees and investors.