US investment bank takes 5% stake in Basque steel tube producer
US investment bank State Street Bank and Trust has acquired a 5 per cent stake in Tubacex, the world's second leading manufacturer of seamless steel tubes after Swedish group Sandvik. Five per cent accounts for 6,658,483 shares in the Basque group and is worth nearly 31 million euros on the stock exchange.
This operation makes State Street one of Tubacex's most important shareholders, consolidating a stable core of investors the firm began to profile back in 2003 and which now controls almost 22 per cent of company capital. Other major Tubacex shareholders include Fidelity and Chase Nominees, which joined in early 2005, with 6 per cent and 5 per cent holdings respectively.
Productions of two Basque companies, members of Eiken Basque Audiovisual Cluster, have been selected to take part at the prestigious forum on European TV animation series that will be held in Pau (France) between September 20th and 23rd.
Sicco & Sicco by Pausoka Productions S.L. and Farmtastic by Dibulitoon Sudio S.L. will be, together with Friends & Chip by Rec-estudio, the only productions representing the Spanish State. The European Association of Animation Film, organiser of the Cartoon Forum, has selected these projects among several hundreds of candidates.
"It is a co-production forum for animation series. In fact, it is the most important of its kind to search financing," General Manager of Eiken Basque Audiovisual Itziar Mena explained, who added that the selection of those animation productions is a sample of "the excellent quality of Basque animation products, despite being a difficult industry due to the high costs to produce a project and the difficulties to get financing."
Basque runner Garate wins 19th stage of Giro d'Italia
Basque runner Juan Manuel Garate won the 19th stage of the Giro d'Italia from Pordenone to the top of the Passo di San Pellegrino on Friday with an assist from German rider Jens Voigt.
The Quick Step rider finished four seconds ahead of Germany's Jens Voigt after the two broke clear on the climb to the finish. Spain's Francisco Vila was third at 1:21. Italy's Ivan Basso finished eighth at 2:15 but retained the overall race lead with only one more tough mountain stage before the race concludes Sunday in Milan.
Garate was part of a long breakaway and rode the final few kilometers with Basso's CSC teammate Voigt. Garate, a better climber than Voigt, worked harder on the steep road and Voigt returned the favor by tapping Garate on the back a few hundred meters (yards) from the finish, indicating Garate could have the victory.
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