Madagascar Development

Madagascar Oil Limited has closed on a 24-month Equity-Linked Development Capital Facility in the amount of $85 million with Credit Suisse, who acted as lead manager on the financing. Proceeds from the facility will be used for the company's ongoing exploration and appraisal operations in Madagascar. Jefferies International served as the company's financial advisor on the transaction. The company also announced that it will be opening a new corporate head office in Houston, Texas, where it will have access to the talent, operational and commercial expertise and favorable business climate of the world's oil and gas capital. Securing this development capital facility and opening the Houston office are important milestones for Madagascar Oil,'' said CEO Alex Archila. "The additional funding will ensure that the company can move forward and on schedule with development plans for its massive Bemolanga and Tsimiroro fields. As we move ahead with this work, Houston, w

The Group of 33, an alliance of over 40 developing countries coordinating on a common stand in trade and economic issues, has relaxed its criteria in the classification of "special products" to be exempted from tariff cuts under the World Trade Organization (WTO) deal, the top Philippine trade negotiator said. Ambassador Manuel J. Teehankee, the Philippines’ representative to the WTO in Geneva, told The STAR that the G-33 ministers have approved in Jakarta the streamlining from 24 down to 12 the list of indicators in designating such special products or SPs. "This represented movement for the G-33 in making their selection of SPs more transparent and was accompanied by the call that all the major players should now translate their political movements to concrete and meaningful proposals on the numbers if we are to take advantage of the limited window of opportunity to conclude the Doha Round and deliver on the development mandate," he said. In classifying SPs, the G