Canadian Solar to Buy Four Solar Projects..

Canadian Solar to Buy Four Solar Projects for $37 Million

By Tina Davis - Dec 29, 2012 2:42 AM GMT+0530

Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ), a solar-panel maker, agreed to buy four solar-power projects fromMEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (WFR)’s SunEdison subsidiary for C$37 million ($37.2 million). Canadian Solar completed the purchase of two projects, capable of generating about 24 megawatts direct current, and is buying two other Ontario solar power plants with a capacity of about 22.5 megawatts, according to a statement from the Guelph, Ontario based-company today. It also has the option to buy a fifth project at a later date. The company may own more projects in the future, instead of just selling panels and developing facilities, Canadian Solar Chief Financial Officer Michael Potter said in a Dec. 10 interview. It’s developing about 260 megawatts of projects in Ontario that it expects to sell for C$1.3 billion during the next 18 months, he said. “We are very pleased to announce this transaction with SunEdison, which further demonstrates Canadian Solar’s ongoing investment and commitment to the Ontario solar energy market, and continues Canadian Solar’s growth of its global solar project portfolio and higher margin total solutions business,” Shawn Qu, chairman and chief executive officer, said in the statement today. The two projects purchased are expected to be fully operational by the end of next year. They account for about $20 million of the price, according to a Canadian Solar representative who asked not to be identified because of company policy. The other projects may be running by late 2013 or early 2014. The transaction settles litigation filed last year between the two companies. Each of the five projects has a 20-year power purchase contract under Ontario’s Feed-in-Tariff program, Canadian Solar said. Canadian Solar fell 3 percent to $3.27 at the close in New York. To contact the reporter on this story: Tina Davis in New York at tinadavis@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tina Davis at tinadavis@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-28/canadian-solar-completes-38-million-buy-of-ontario-projects.html

FISCAL CLIFF - LEADERS...!!!!

REX NUTTING Archives | Email alerts

Nov. 21, 2012, 12:55 p.m. EST 10 people who led us to the ‘fiscal cliff’ Commentary: From Laffer to Obama, they fed our greed and guilt By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — With our political leaders locked in a fiscal struggle that threatens to throw the economy off a so-called cliff and into recession, you might be wondering how we got to this place.

Remember that this supposed fiscal cliff is the direct result of two contradictory impulses in American life: Greed and guilt. Greed for low taxes, a strong military, a strong safety net and lots of government spending for everyone. And guilt that we weren’t paying our way. Read “Stop calling it a ‘fiscal cliff’”

All of us (or almost all) had a role in this melodrama, either benefiting from the spending or from the lower tax rates. Despite our culpability, it took strong national leaders to foster the heady mix of greed and guilt that brought us to this spot.

Here are the 10 people most responsible for bringing us to the edge of the fiscal cliff:

 

Arthur Laffer. Laffer was the economist who proved the existence of the free lunch. His Laffer Curve showed, in theory, that cutting tax rates would actually increase tax revenue. He gave intellectual cover to those conservatives who wanted to cut taxes, but who didn’t want to be seen as contributing to a big deficit. He gave them a guilt-free way to cut revenue.

There’s only one problem: Laffer’s ideas didn’t pan out in practice: Tax cuts don’t pay for themselves. Tax cuts are a major cause of our $16 trillion national debt.

Pete Peterson. If there’s one person who we can blame for making us feel guilty about the federal deficit, it’s Peterson, a hedge-fund billionaire who was a cabinet secretary in the Reagan administration. Peterson founded, funded or supported most of the institutions in Washington devoted to publicizing the problem of the deficit, including the Concord Coalition, the Peterson Foundation, The Fiscal Times, and the anti-deficit documentary “I.O.U.S.A.”

Without Peterson’s billions and the guilt it bought, the deficit would be a fringe issue.

Bill Clinton. President Clinton made budget surpluses look easy. The budget was in the black the last four years of his administration. What’s worse, he made surpluses look like a sure thing.

Clinton’s surpluses were partly the result of Washington going on a serious budget diet, with higher taxes paired with moderation in spending. But it was the booming economy — and higher taxes on capital income — that turned the modest deficits of the early Clinton years into surpluses.

By the time Clinton left office, politicians were beginning to talk about perpetual surpluses, in exactly the same way that hucksters on Wall Street were talking about a perpetual bull market. And with exactly the same outcome.

Alan Greenspan. Greenspan was a high priest of both guilt and greed. He had always warned Congress about the dangers of the deficits, but his biggest failure as Federal Reserve chairman was the day in 2001 he told Congress that the worst thing it could do was pay down the debt because that would destroy the Treasury market and the Fed’s power to control the economy.

That was the day he endorsed the Bush tax cuts. The Maestro’s endorsement gave intellectual cover to the conservatives who wanted to cut taxes, but who didn’t want to feel guilty.

Greenspan also catered to our greedy side as a serial bubble-blower. He inflated the housing bubble in the 2000s by keeping interest rates low and by refusing to regulate the shadow banking system.

George W. Bush . No one is more responsible for racking up our debt than Bush. He campaigned in 2000 promising to cut taxes in order to avoid paying down the national debt. And when the recession of 2001 arrived, he said tax cuts would revive the economy. And when the economy didn’t revive, he cut taxes some more. Tax cuts for all occasions. And it was all guilt-free

Dick Cheney. While Bush was busy cutting taxes, Cheney was busy planning the war on terror. For the first time in our history, we sent our military into battle without raising taxes at home to help pay for it. It added trillions to the debt.

David Lereah. Lereah was the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors and was perhaps the most enthusiastic and public cheerleader for the housing bubble. Even after the bubble began to deflate, Lereah still insisted that real-estate investments would never lose money.

Of course, Lereah didn’t cause the bubble all by himself, but he does embody the greed that engulfed the real estate industry, the Wall Street banks that profited from it, and the homeowners who took on more debt than they could ever hope to repay.

Grover Norquist. As the head of a powerful lobbying and campaign-finance organization, Norquist forced almost every Republican officeholder to sign a pledge to never raise taxes under any circumstance. If anyone declined to sign or dared to violate the pledge, Norquist would back a primary challenger. The threat worked.

The Norquist pledge blocked any possibility of a budget deal between Democrats and Republicans over the past two years. Democrats insisted that any plan to balance the budget must include more revenue as well as spending cuts, but Republicans held solid against any tax increase.

There are signs that Norquist could be losing his hold on the party. Several Republicans won elections this year without signing his pledge, and several incumbents have said they don’t feel bound by the pledge any more.

Barack Obama. Obama may be the perfect representative of our age, because he encapsulates our national schizophrenia over the budget. He honors both the greed and the guilt. He presided over the largest deficits in history, including a large fiscal stimulus, bailouts of the auto industry, and an expansion of the safety net.

But Obama also lectures us about the need for the government to tighten its belt, even during a recession. He wants to raise taxes, if only on a few, and he’s expressed willingness to cut into the great middle-class entitlements. It was Obama’s administration that first suggested the bargain in 2011 that created the fiscal cliff.

John Boehner. The House speaker is trapped in Grover Norquist’s world. He’s a pragmatic legislator who accepts that the government needs more revenue, but his caucus in the House doesn’t agree. In the summer of 2011, Boehner nearly forced the nation to default on its debt because he couldn’t deliver the votes necessary to raise taxes.

In the end, Boehner was forced to punt the problem down the road. Today’s fiscal cliff showdown is the result of Boehner’s inability to lead the House Republicans to a deal.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-people-who-led-us-to-the-fiscal-cliff-2012-11-21?pagenumber=5

MASKS--EURO BANKS AT DANGER LEVELS....

Sat, Oct 27, 2012 at 11:30

The immeasurable risk European banks may be hiding

There is growing concern among policymakers and analysts that the true extent of European banks' debt problems is being masked. There is growing concern among policymakers and analysts that the true extent of European banks' debt problems is being masked.

Sir Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, became the most high-profile policymaker to date to warn of the dangers of banks putting off foreclosures in a speech Tuesday night.

His stern warning to UK banks that they need to drop the "pretense" that some of their bad debts will be repaid was coupled with the statement that they have "insufficient capital" to deal with losses which have remained undeclared.

Essentially, what seems to have happened is that banks across the euro zone have put off foreclosures on weak businesses - a process known as forbearance. This has been enabled by low interest rates across the region and rescue packages which have injected unprecedented amounts of liquidity into the banking system and helped keep struggling economies afloat.

The scale of forbearance is hinted at in relatively low rates of company insolvencies.

In the UK, despite the recession, insolvency rates are similar to 2002, when the economy grew by 1.6 percent, according to government figures.

Greece's problems have been well flagged - yet just five Greek companies were declared insolvent in 2011, the year it was forced to seek a bailout from international lenders, fewer than in 2007, when its economy was still growing.

This persists across the euro zone, with the weakest economies sometimes experiencing its lowest insolvency rates.

In 2011, the number of insolvencies per 10,000 companies was lowest in Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal, according to calculations from Creditreform.

However, as Nigel Myer, director of credit strategy at Lloyds, pointed out, the extent of this is "effectively invisible" and "almost impossible to quantify." Decisions are made by individual banks and they do not have to declare them under accountancy rules.

Putting off foreclosure could be dangerous not only because it masks the true state of businesses, but because it could mean a faster rate of insolvencies if banks decide to change their policies in response to a worsening economy, with potential damage to employment figures and the broader economy - and to the banks themselves.

"To the extent that forbearance has taken place, a worsening economic environment in these countries could lead to a faster rate of deterioration in asset quality than might be inferred from reported numbers," Myer warned.

Of course, delaying the repayment of non-performing loans can be positive for the economy, particularly in the short-term.

"It has allowed companies to survive and people to be employed," as Myer pointed out. "It also very likely supports tax receipts and reduces the need for social security support."

Sir Mervyn's warning does not chime with other influential figures in the UK.

Andrew Bailey, a member of the Bank's Financial Policy Committee and head of prudential regulation at UK regulator the Financial Services Authority, thanked the banks for their actions earlier in October.

The European countries least likely to be affected by forbearance following worse-than-expected economic data are Switzerland, Austria and Denmark, according to Myer, who suggested spreads in Swiss banks and the recent rally in Danish spreads should be supported by worries about forbearance.

Written by Catherine Boyle, CNBC. Twitter: @cboylecnbc.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world-news/the-immeasurable-risk-european-banks-may-be-hiding_773101.html

Focus on RELCAPITAL 24, 2012 7:11 PM

“ZERO COST- NEVER LOSS” MODEL

Not even a single day I could make Rs 1000/- for the last 20trading sessions. The reasons could be many. I call it like STORIES.

In my earlier trading days I never lost money on any given day for two months in a row.

Now there is lot of confusion, mis-reading the screen and wrong calculations…what not many things are generating tabulating for confusion. The turbulence in the mind is heavy and forcing me to take un-necessary positions causing me to PAY for IT.

I lost heavly during Jan-12 boom. I asked every body to buy in the market from last week of Dec-11 but unfortunately I kept a short position in TATASTEEL. I converted the day position in to a night position, paid heavy penality. The next day unfortunate position was taken, instead of covering the old one, we took another short position. The market zoomed like any thing. The beauty part is we lost our TWO internet connections. Calling the broker to square off the positions lead to Rs 15000 loss. So kept for one more day..loss is mounting…brick batting…blame game…Sleepless nights…everything crystallized to a loss of Rs55000 LOSS. I still remember the trauma. The suffering is heavy but I didn’t lost my smile on my face. Because I have not opted the position but failed to manage.

I have very good experience in managing my positions….MY TALL CLAIM…

Now I am not getting the confidence due to my On & Off screen management and readings…

At one time when my energies are high…I thought of building an empire for the deserving people ...needs to be supported…all is DREAM…the reality is …I am in requesting position….

The FACT is I have tremendous and stupendous STOCK MARKET knowledge…but behaving like a Stupid…loosing all opportunities for want of some thing…I have No eligibility to do any sacrifice…Only to take on the Challenges…

The WINNER is the one who accepts Challenges and convert them into success stories…where as the loser will succumbs to pressure an seek sympathy  from the …

The CAPACITIES are built on CONFIDENCE to ACHIVE and the Bench Marks of Success CYCLES goes…on..

I HAVE A DREAM OF CONVERTING MY SHARES INTO “ZERO COST- NEVER LOSS” MODEL. I STARTED WITH ONE AND WILL ADD….

Transgene Biotek Ltd.

Business Standard news coverage on Transgene Biotek Ltd. Transgene in pact with Dr Reddy's for obesity drug

Press Trust of India / Mumbai Jan 07, 2010, 20:42 IST

Biotechnology firm Transgene Biotek today said it has signed a pact with Dr Reddy's Lab to manufacture a drug named, Orlistat used in treating obesity.

The company has entered into a licensing and technology transfer agreement with Dr Reddy's Laboratories for the out-licensing of a technology to manufacture Orlistat, Transgene Biotek said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Under the terms of the compact, effective in due course of time, Dr Reddy's would gain worldwide rights to a unique technology to produce and commercialise Orlistat active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) which is developed exclusively by Transgene Biotek.

"The new alliance combines Transgene Biotek's technology with Dr Reddy's manufacturing skills, and extensive global sales and marketing capabilities" the company said.

Transgene Biotek would receive an upfront payments for certain commercial milestone, and royalties on the sale of Orlistat API in all countries worldwide.

Orlistat is used in the treatment of obesity, including weight loss and weight maintenance.

Transgene Biotek comes up with novel drug for colon cancer

BS Reporter / Mumbai Apr 26, 2010, 15:47 IST

Transgene Biotek has expanded its cancer drug pipeline by coming out with a novel drug for colon cancer. The drug is based on Transgene's proprietary technology platform using a humanised monoclonal antibody. Transgene has developed monoclonal antibodies, which efficiently kill colon cancer cells without harming normal cells.

According to a report from Economic Intelligence Unit, by 2020, 9.7 per cent of new cases of cancer in the world will be from colorectal cancer making it the third highest incidence cancer after lung and breast. Cancer accounted for 7.9 million deaths in 2007, about 70 per cent in low and middle income countries

http://www.businessstandard.com/india/news/transgene-biotek-comes-upnovel-drug-for-colon-cancer/92428/on

Transgene Biotek to raise up to Rs 500 cr via markets Press Trust of India / New Delhi Oct 01, 2010, 14:06 IST

Biotechnology firm Transgene Biotek today said it will raise up to Rs 500 crore through various domestic and international fund raising instruments.

The company's board, at its meeting held on September 30, has decided to raise Rs 500 crore through various domestic and international fund raising instruments, including foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs), global depository receipts (GDRs) and American depository receipts (ADRs), Transgene Biotek said in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The fund raising would be subject to the approval of shareholders, it added.
     
The board also decided to increase the authorised capital of the company to Rs 75 crore from the present Rs 20 crore.
     
Shares of Transgene Biotek were today trading at Rs 59 on the BSE in late afternoon trade, up 3.69 per cent from its previous close.

Transgene in the red

BS Reporter / Hyderabad May 18, 2011, 00:00 IST

Transgene Biotek Ltd reported a net loss of Rs 2.85 lakh for the three months ended March 31, 2011, mainly due to Rs 51 lakh additional expenditure on account of currency fluctuation. Sales revenues were Rs 7.23 crore, while expenditure was Rs 6.58 crore. The profit and revenues in the same quarter of 2009-10 were Rs 15.55 lakh and Rs 1.1 crore respectively.

For the full year of 2010-11, the company registered a net profit of Rs 14.84 lakh, a decline of 61 per cent from Rs 38.16 lakh in the previous fiscal. Revenues during the year grew nearly three-fold to Rs 10 crore (Rs 3.98 crore). The bulk drug division accounted for 70 per cent of its annual revenues, with the rest coming from diagnostic services.

Transgene sells tech to TSS Export

BS Reporter / Chennai/ Hyderabad Nov 24, 2011, 00:00 IST

City-based Transgene Biotek Limited, a biotechnology company, has announced the sale of technology for recombinant human erythropoietin (rh-EPO) to TSS Export GmbH FZE, one of the group companies of Germany-based TSS group, for $5 million (Rs 26 crore).

The technology transfer and the sale of this technology is expected to be completed within 5-6 months. KK Rao, managing director of Transgene Biotek, said, “This transaction fulfils the pledge we made earlier this year to focus on revenue generation whilst monetising the sale of under utilised bio-generic drug assets, those developed by the company during the last 7-8 years, but which we now feel do not fit into our new agenda for sustained growth.”

Transgene Biotek recently commenced commercial manufacturing of DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid), an omega-3 fatty acid, which has seen explosive growth in the nutraceuticals and health supplements market.

The company is in the process of expanding its in-house infrastructure to augment production capacities for DHA and other APIs, and hopes to start commercial manufacturing of its second API (active pharmaceutical ingredient), called Tacrolimus. It is in discussion with a number of manufacturers in Europe and North America for strategic partnerships to manufacture and distribute these products, the release said.

Transgene Biotek joins hands with FII, to delist shares

The company is in the process of sending the postal ballot to all its shareholders seeking their approval

Press Trust of India / Mumbai Oct 07, 2012, 12:03 IST

Pharmaceutical company Transgene Biotek has announced that Mauritius-based Stream Value Fund has agreed to join hands on a long-term basis to support its drug discovery activity, in return for equity participation and certain rewards on drug licensing or sale.

Last week the Hyderabad-based company said it is offloading undisclosed quantum of stake to a foreign institutional investor as a result of which the company's shares will be delisted from domestic stock exchanges.

The company is in the process of sending the postal ballot to all its shareholders seeking their approval.

If delisting is successful, the management of Transgene said, it will enjoy enhanced flexibility without requirement to comply with a long list of regulators' rules and regulations which often hinder efforts to speed up the drug development process.

Transgene has a pipeline of more than six molecules in development - both novel bio-technology and bio-generic drugs, the release said.

The two recent animal studies on its oral insulin project have yielded exceptional results that give rise to confidence that Transgene will soon be in strategic partnership with a large pharma company, the company said.

Transgene Biotek to delist from Indian stock exchanges

Apart from Bombay Stock Exchange, the company is also listed on Luxembourg Stock Exchange

Press Trust of India / New Delhi Sep 04, 2012, 14:38 IST

Biotechnology firm Transgene Biotek today said that its board of directors has decided to delist its shares from Indian stock exchanges.

"The board of directors of the company at its meeting held on September 3, 2012, inter alia, has decided to delist the equity shares of the company from the all the recognised Indian Stock Exchanges," Transgene Biotek said in a filing to BSE.

Apart from Bombay Stock Exchange, the company is also listed on Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Transgene Biotek said its proposal to delist is subject to approval of shareholders of the company and statutory approvals.

The company, however, did not assign any reason for the delisting.

Shares of Transgene Biotek were today trading at Rs 11.25 per scrip in the afternoon trade on BSE, up 4.85% from its previous close.

 Founded in 1991 by Koteswara Rao, the Hyderabad-based company is among the first biotechnology companies in India.

It has products in the therapeutic areas of cancer, auto immunity and other bio-generics apart from drug delivery devices for ailments such as diabetes and HIV infection.

FII to pick stake in Transgene Biotek

As a result of which the company's shares will be delisted from domestic stock exchanges

Press Trust of India / New Delhi Sep 10, 2012, 17:52 IST

Transgene Biotek today said it is offloading undisclosed quantum of stake in the company to a foreign institutional investor as a result of which the company's shares will be delisted from domestic stock exchanges.

Last week the company had announced that its board has decided to delist its equity shares from all the recognised Indian Stock Exchanges.

"Our announcement in the recent days has been triggered by an approach by a SEBI-registered FII to join hands with Transgene's promoters on a long term basis. This is to support company's drug discovery activity in exchange for equity participation and certain rewards on drug licensing or sale," Transgene Biotek said in a filing to BSE.

Without disclosing details such as the name of the FII or the quantum of stake to be offloaded, the company said one of the preconditions set by the investor that has approached it to support drug discovery activity was delisting.

"The investor shall join the promoter group and shall have a seat on the board, both events only, after the completion of delisting process," Transgene Biotek Managing Director KK Rao told PTI in an emailed response.

He further said the investor is backing the promoters in the delisting process for acquisition of the listed shares.

Transgene Biotek 's board has approved an exit price not lower than the floor price of Rs 25 per share.

In the event of the delisting being successful, the new management of Transgene will enjoy enhanced flexibility. It may at some point choose to increase exposure to western markets (besides Luxembourg), the company said.

As per latest data available on BSE, till the quarter ended June 2012, the promoters held 36.83% stake in the company. Out of a total public shareholding of 63.17%, FIIs held 6.99% stake.

The company further said that the lower market value of the company's stock despite progress of its product pipeline was also one of the reasons behind the proposed delisting.

The two recent animal studies on the company's oral insulin project for diabetes have yielded exceptional results that gives rise to the confidence that soon it would be in strategic partnership with a large pharma firm, it said.

"Yet we continue to see erosion in company value accompanied by perceived investor pessimism, and this has led to the approval by the board for de listing," Transgene Biotek said.

Shares of Transgene Biotek today closed at Rs 11.41 a scrip on the BSE, up a steep 4.97% from its previous close.

october Series Nifty Support September 27, 2012 8:02 PM

Most Influential 50 in 2012 Shows Turmoil: Bloomberg Markets

By Robert S. Dieterich - Sep 5, 2012 9:32 PM GMT+0530

Bloomberg Markets Magazine

The ability to move markets or shape ideas and policies. The clout to affect the price of a security or the structure of a deal. These are the attributes that define the people who hold sway in the world of finance -- those who make up the second annual 50 Most Influential list in the October issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine. 

To find this year’s 50, we drew on the reporting and expertise of Bloomberg News journalists in 150 bureaus around the globe. The chances of making the list go up if someone finishes at the top of the rankings of hedge-fund managers, economists or investment bankers that Bloomberg Markets publishes during the year.

Recent accomplishments count more than lifetime achievement, and we favor people whose influence is growing. Two-thirds of the people in this year’s list are new, reflecting political turmoil, the deepening euro-zone debt woes and the string of difficulties at big financial firms.

We’ve grouped our list into five spheres of influence -- Corporate Power Brokers, Money Managers, Policy Makers, Thinkers and Bankers. We excluded heads of government from our Policy Makers group in favor of the ministers, lawmakers and central bankers who make policy reality.

CORPORATE POWER BROKERS

Warren Buffett CEO Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) Count on Buffett, 82, to frame new financial controversies with old-line value-investing rules. As Facebook shares slid after the IPO, he said: “You shouldn’t buy a farm because you think you’re going to sell it the next day for more money.”

Chung Mong Koo CHAIRMAN Hyundai Motor Co. (005380) The 74-year-old son of the industrial group’s founder has made Hyundai Motor the world’s No. 5 car company and is making inroads in the luxury segment. Hyundai Motor was the most profitable of the world’s large automakers in 2011.

Tim Cook CEO Apple Inc. (AAPL) While Apple’s market value soared during his first year in the top job, Cook, 51, may need many years to show he’s a worthy successor to Steve Jobs. He also has to live up to his $378 million compensation package for 2011.

John Fredriksen CHAIRMAN Seadrill Ltd. (SDRL) He’s undeterred by the worst shipping market since the 1970s. Fredriksen, 68, the world’s biggest oil tanker owner, is betting $11 billion to extend his dominance over the transportation of energy.

Koch Brothers CO-FOUNDERS Koch Industries Inc. David Koch, 72, and brother Charles, 76, have a combined fortune that’s about $11 billion bigger than Bill Gates’s. The siblings set the standard for American titans who seek influence in politics.

Yuri Milner CO-FOUNDER Mail.ru Group Ltd. The largest Russian-language Internet company was a springboard. Milner, 50, emerged as a global tech heavyweight in 2009 by acquiring the largest stake in Facebook. A $100 million house in Silicon Valley reinforces his stature there.

Ginni Rometty CEO International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) Rometty, 55, rose through the ranks to claim the top job in January at the fourth-largest U.S. company by market value. She aims to get operating earnings to $20 a share in 2015, up from $13.44 last year.

Carlos Slim CHAIRMAN EMERITUS America Movil SAB The fortune of the richest man in the world grew by $12 billion this year as of mid-August, helped by share gains for large holdings. Slim, 72, has been a buyer, with America Movil building the largest stake in Dutch mobile-service provider Royal KPN.

Tadashi Yanai FOUNDER Fast Retailing Co. The parent of the Uniqlo clothing chain is the biggest component of the Nikkei 225 after its shares rose 158 percent in the five years ended in mid-August. Yanai, 63, is betting big on China, where his plans call for hundreds of stores.

Mark Zuckerberg FOUNDER Facebook Inc. (FB) The initial public offering in May and the hype that preceded it and the hand-wringing that followed put Zuckerberg, 28, front and center on Wall Street. Now, he needs to show he can generate ad dollars with his network of a billion or so friends.

MONEY MANAGERS

Cliff Asness CO-FOUNDER AQR Capital Management LLC Asness, 45, grew assets under management at AQR by about two- thirds in 18 months, to $54.5 billion as of June 30. The tally includes $7 billion in mutual funds, which range from an arbitrage product to a fund designed to capture stock momentum.

Hamed bin Zayed al Nahyan MANAGING DIRECTOR Abu Dhabi Investment Authority After the death of his older brother in 2010, Sheikh Hamed assumed the top job at Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the world’s three largest sovereign-wealth funds, according to research firm Preqin Ltd.

Chase Coleman FOUNDER Tiger Global Management LLC A 37-year-old protege of Julian Robertson, Coleman claimed the top spot in Bloomberg Markets’ February ranking of the best- performing large hedge funds, on the strength of a 45 percent return over 10 months. “I would always bet on Chase,” Robertson says.

Leon Cooperman FOUNDER Omega Advisors Inc. Average annual returns of more than 13 percent over two decades distinguish Cooperman, 69, as a stock picker with staying power. The question he asks to find value: “What’s ridiculously priced now?”

Ray Dalio FOUNDER Bridgewater Associates LP At the helm of the largest hedge-fund firm, Dalio, 63, mostly has kept the scale of the operation from damping returns. While his flagship Pure Alpha fund lost 3.9 percent in the first half of this year, it had still returned 91.5 percent over three years.

Mary Callahan Erdoes ASSET MANAGEMENT CEO JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) As the top executive in the bank’s global asset management division, Erdoes, 45, runs an organization that managed a cool $1.4 trillion as of March. That includes a hedge-fund group that, on its own, would be the world’s third biggest.

Larry Fink CEO BlackRock Inc. (BLK) Fink, 59, runs the world’s largest asset management company, with $3.56 trillion as of June 30. He’s been telling governments and companies how to handle their investments; now he wants BlackRock to give advice to individuals too.

Bill Gross CO-CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER Pacific Investment Management Co. After trailing peers in 2011, Gross, 68, got the world’s largest mutual fund back on track. As of July 31, the Pimco Total Return Fund was beating 98 percent of similar funds both year to date and over five years.

Jeffrey Gundlach FOUNDER DoubleLine Capital LP With an average annual return of 13.9 percent for his flagship bond fund, from its inception in 2010 through July, Gundlach, 52, is beating his largest rivals. His firm is up to about $40 billion under management.

Michael Platt FOUNDER BlueCrest Capital Management LLP His $32 billion firm is among those that profited from the London Whale’s failed trade. Platt, 44, was up 3.9 percent year to date through July in his international macro fund and 2.6 percent in his BlueTrend fund.

POLICY MAKERS

Mamata Banerjee CHIEF MINISTER West Bengal Her Trinamool Congress party, part of the ruling coalition, has stalled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s economic reform agenda by opposing foreign retailers. Banerjee, 57, won a landslide in West Bengal in 2011 to end 34 years of communist rule.

Ben S. Bernanke CHAIRMAN U.S. Federal Reserve Bernanke, 58, is either dooming millions to joblessness because he’s politically timid or debasing the currency, depending on which columnist or candidate is speaking. Either way, he’s established himself as one of the most powerful central bankers in history.

Preet Bharara PROSECUTOR U.S. Department of Justice With 66 insider-trading convictions so far during his tenure as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Bharara, 43, has established himself as the watchdog with bite. He’s in the post that launched Rudy Giuliani’s political career.

Mario Draghi PRESIDENT European Central Bank When he cut interest rates at his first meeting as president, Draghi, 65, defied his staff and showed he would plot a different course than predecessor Jean-Claude Trichet. Markets are testing his vow to do whatever it takes to save the euro.

Timothy F. Geithner SECRETARY U.S. Treasury Regardless of who wins the presidential race, Geithner, 51, plans to step down. Yet he still has the power to be a thorn in the side of leaders in Europe, pushing them to act more decisively to strengthen the currency union.

Paul Ryan CHAIRMAN House Budget Committee A member of the Young Guns, who rose quickly to challenge older Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives, Ryan, 42, is no compromiser. Now the Republicans’ vice presidential candidate, he was on the Bowles-Simpson commission and voted against the final plan.

Aung San Suu Kyi CHAIRPERSON National League for Democracy Suu Kyi, 67, now in Myanmar’s legislature instead of under house arrest, says she’s wary of a rush by businesses to enter the country. Nonetheless, her freedom is a symbol of the change that has investors weighing Myanmar as a frontier market.

Adair Turner CHAIRMAN U.K. Financial Services Authority Turner, 56, together with Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, helped push Robert Diamond out of Barclays after the Libor scandal broke. Turner is a potential candidate to replace King in June 2013.

Janet Yellen VICE CHAIRMAN U.S. Federal Reserve Yellen, 66, has led Ben S. Bernanke’s drive to make the central bank more transparent. Her success at pulling inflation hawks and doves together might make her a candidate to succeed her boss.

Zhou Xiaochuan GOVERNOR People’s Bank of China As investors worldwide contemplated China’s slowing growth, Zhou, 64, cut interest rates in June for the first time in three years. He’s been atop the central bank for almost 10 years, since shortly after Wen Jiabao and Hu Jintao rose to power.

THINKERS

Maury Harris CHIEF ECONOMIST UBS Securities LLC The team led by Harris, 65, had the most-accurate predictions of U.S. growth in Bloomberg Markets’ January ranking of economic forecasters. Harris sees the U.S. expanding 2.1 percent this year and says politicians will somehow avoid their fiscal cliff.

Glenn Hubbard DEAN Columbia Business School Hubbard, 54, a Mitt Romney adviser, says short-term stimulus won’t do much for the economy, while tax reform that cuts marginal rates will. Hubbard was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers when the Bush tax cuts were born.

Daniel Kahneman PROFESSOR EMERITUS Princeton University The Israeli-born psychologist, a Nobel laureate for his work in behavioral economics, won new fans in the past year with his book about biases in human thinking. Kahneman, 78, has lucid explanations of the mistakes that bankers and investors make.

Paul Krugman PROFESSOR Princeton University The Nobel laureate is pounding the table to argue that governments should be supporting the global economy. Krugman, 59, bemoans the austerity he sees everywhere, not just in the euro zone but also as U.S. state and local governments shrink.

Carmen Reinhart PROFESSOR Harvard University Her research connects the dots between debt, financial crises and very slow recoveries. Reinhart, 56, in a paper published with co-authors in April, warns that debt above 90 percent of a country’s GDP can restrain growth for more than 20 years.

Alan Simpson FORMER SENATOR U.S. Congress The debt-reduction blueprint created by the commission Simpson co-chaired, known as Bowles-Simpson, has a following among businesspeople, bankers and former lawmakers, if not incumbent politicians. Simpson, 81, keeps lobbying for it.

Hans-Werner Sinn PRESIDENT Ifo Institute The most popular economist in Germany, Sinn, 64, has the power to stop Angela Merkel from taking measures that might alleviate the euro crisis.

Joseph Stiglitz PROFESSOR Columbia University Stiglitz, 69, sharpened his critique of the growing income inequality gap in the U.S. in a best-selling book in June. The Nobel laureate’s views permeate the left side of the debate over the economy and taxes in the presidential race.

John Taylor PROFESSOR Stanford University He’s known in monetary policy circles for the Taylor rule, a formula to prescribe moves in interest rates based on changes in inflation and output. Paul Ryan calls Taylor, 65, “the leading voice” on Fed matters.

Nicolas Veron SENIOR FELLOW Bruegel Veron, 40, was an early advocate of a banking union as a way to tamp down the euro-zone debt crisis. He splits his time between his Brussels think tank and the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

BANKERS

Lloyd Blankfein CEO Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) Amid cost cuts and job reductions, Goldman’s shares were up 18 percent year to date through yesterday, while Morgan Stanley (MS) shares had gained just 2.5 percent. Blankfein, 57, has won back some influence in part by simply keeping the firm out of the headlines.

Emilio Botin CHAIRMAN Banco Santander SA Although running a Spanish lender might seem a tenuous position, Botin, 77, has seen his efforts to expand and diversify pay off. Santander, which gets a majority of its profit outside Spain, has a market valuation more than double that of Deutsche Bank.

Jamie Dimon CEO JPMorgan Chase & Co. The trade that sank the London Whale cost the bank more than $5.8 billion and undermined its CEO’s message on excessive regulation. Still, Dimon, 56, showed he can be contrite, and the company still made $10 billion in the first half of this year.

Isabelle Ealet CO-HEAD OF SECURITIES Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Ealet, 49, was promoted this year when two of four people running sales and trading left. A native of France, she and co- heads Pablo Salame and Harvey Schwartz oversee businesses that generated 60 percent of Goldman’s revenue in 2011.

Andre Esteves CEO Grupo BTG Pactual The Brazilian investment banker is building BTG Pactual into a Latin powerhouse. Esteves, 44, has set his sights on what he calls the wounded U.S. and European Mastodons of global banking.

Anshu Jain CO-CEO Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) Jain, 49, became co-CEO on June 1 and is scheduled to lay out his strategy in more detail this fall. For now, he is cutting about 1,900 jobs by year-end -- 1,500 of them in the investment bank, which he used to run. He’s also reducing compensation.

Jiang Jianqing CHAIRMAN Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (601398) Ltd. The head of China’s largest bank, Jiang, 59, has been looking overseas. He has made acquisitions from Asia to South Africa to America, where the company is buying 80 percent of the U.S. unit of Bank of East Asia.

Gerald McCaughey CEO Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Canada’s banks have dominated Bloomberg Markets’ ranking of the world’s strongest banks, and CIBC, with its cash hoard, scored best among its compatriots this year. McCaughey, 56, is pushing to make his company even less risky.

Ruth Porat CFO Morgan Stanley With the market treating the firm’s debt as riskier than that of rivals, Porat, 54, has been leading an effort to revamp Morgan Stanley’s funding. She’s taken steps to get more deposits, eliminate commercial paper and improve liquidity.

John Stumpf CEO Wells Fargo & Co. Stumpf, 58, has moved into investment banking and set a goal of doubling investment management. Not the best-known name in global finance, Wells Fargo has nonetheless become the biggest U.S. bank by market capitalization.

(Click here for a slide show of Bloomberg Markets magazine’s 50 Most Influential.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert S. Dieterich in New York atrdieterich@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-04/most-influential-50-in-2012-shows-turmoil-bloomberg-markets.html