GE AES announces carbon trading standard
July 26th, 2007
NEW YORK, July 26 (UPI) — GE AES Greenhouse Gas Services has created a standard for selling greenhouse gas credits in the United States, it announced in New York.
The gas services is a joint venture between GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of General Electric, and the AES Corp., created in February.
The GHG standard scientifically verifies and measures the environmental benefit, the company said. The standard will also back the first U.S. credit card dedicated to helping reduce cardholders’ greenhouse gas emissions.
GE AES Greenhouse Gas Services said it expects to generate about 10 million tons of greenhouse gas credits by 2010. The credits will be marketed to companies that want to reduce their environmental impact.
“The combination of GE Energy Financial Services — a leading energy investor with more than $14 billion in assets — and AES — one of the world’s largest global power companies — will bring a new level of experience, reach, and trust to the greenhouse gas reduction market,” said Kevin Walsh, managing director and leader of renewable energy at GE Energy Financial Services.
The standards include mandatory third-party verification, strict prohibition of “double counting” of credits, permanent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions where possible, voluntary credit-producing projects and all projects must meet environmental laws and standards.
Staff shortages threaten care of mums at ERI
July 26th, 2007
NEW mothers at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary could miss out on vital post-natal care because staff levels are repeatedly falling below the minimum required level, campaigners warned today.
Wards at the Simpson Centre were left short on 30 occasions in the first three months of the year, according to new figures.
The news has prompted calls for more midwives to be employed and for more expectant mothers from the Lothians to give birth at St John’s Hospital in Livingston to ease pressure on staff at Little France.
The worst affected departments at the Simpson Centre were post-natal wards, where new mothers receive key support in the hours and days after giving birth, such as learning about breastfeeding.
Edinburgh-based Cynthia Clarkson, maternity services convener with the National Childbirth Trust, said: “It is very difficult to work out exactly how many women are going to be present at the Simpson’s because of the unit’s size. It is the biggest in Scotland and dealing with 6000 births a year is the root of the problem.
“If wards are under-staffed it is sad for the women who need the support of a good midwife to ensure the best outcome for their birth.
“They need to be encouraged through the process, taught how to cope with the pain, and receive proper post-natal care.
“In the Lothians, I would like to see things evened up, with more women going to St John’s, although I appreciate some women may not choose this option.
“NHS Lothian could probably also do with a small increase in the number of midwives.”
At the ERI, ante-natal and post-natal care is provided in ward 119, where there are 25 beds. National guidelines dictate there should be a daytime minimum of six trained workers, such as midwives or nurses, and two untrained workers, such as auxiliaries.
Between January and March, there were five occasions when staffing dropped below the required levels, including times when the ward was nearly full.
Ward 211, which handles post-natal care and has 20 beds, requires five trained staff and three untrained staff during the day. There were 13 occasions when levels fell below operational requirements, including times when the ward was at capacity.
In the ERI’s labour suite, where women give birth, the minimum level is 14 midwives or nurses and three untrained workers.
During a dozen night shifts - when it is harder to find staff from the “nurse bank” of staff who work flexible hours - there were just 12 or 13 trained workers. However, in each instance the labour suite was less than half-full.
An NHS Lothian spokeswoman said it tries to bring in workers from elsewhere to ensure new mothers and babies at the ERI are not affected by staff absences.
Heather Tierney-Moore, nurse director with NHS Lothian, said: “Where staffing levels have dropped below operational requirements, personnel are deployed from neighbouring wards, the nurse bank or, in exceptional circumstances, nursing agencies. In many cases, a change in skill mix can also achieve the appropriate level of cover.
“This ensures that the mothers and babies in the Simpson’s are not affected by staff absences.
“NHS Lothian has one of the lowest rates of absence for health boards in Scotland and our promoting attendance policy is supporting this position.
“We have seen substantial improvements in staff sickness rates in recent years, with the average monthly rate dropping to five per cent compared to 5.4 per cent in the previous year.”
Related topic
- «news.scotsman.com»
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=836
Hedge fund based in London is expected to go public in U.S
July 26th, 2007
NEW YORK: GLG Partners, one of largest hedge funds in Europe, will go public in the United States through a $3.4 billion merger with an investment company, Freedom Acquisition Holdings, according to people briefed on the transaction.
The deal, that was expected to be announced Monday, would give GLG, based in London, a footprint in the United States and access to public markets at a time when investors still seem eager for the enormous returns that hedge funds have generated in recent years.
GLG, which was founded in 1995 as a division of Lehman Brothers and became independent in 2000, is not as well-known in the United States as it is in Europe
Freedom is a so-called special-purpose acquisition company - a publicly held company that has no operations of its own but is designed to take over other companies. It was founded last year by Nicolas Berggruen and Martin Franklin.
Freedom will pay GLG $1 billion in cash and 240 million shares, according to people briefed on the transaction. The hedge funds management company - as opposed to one of its multibillion-dollar funds - will then be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker GLG, in place of Freedom, which is listed as FRH on the American Stock Exchange.
GLGs principals will hold about a 45 percent stake in the new company, while other top-level executives of the hedge fund will own about 11 percent.
Shares in Freedom closed at $10.45 on Friday, giving the company a market value of $677 million.
GLGs deal makes it the latest alternative investment company that has sought to go public in the United States through unusual means.
Fortress Investment Group undertook a conventional initial public offering in February, but Oaktree Capital Management sold $700 million in shares through a private market run by Goldman Sachs. Blackstone Group made its debut Friday as a master limited partnership, a structure devised to require minimal disclosure and to give public investors limited say in the companys governance.
GLG will go public as a corporation, rather than as a partnership like Fortress and Blackstone, and will pay taxes at the corporate rate, people with knowledge of the transaction said. Furthermore, it will describe its earnings as fee income, rather than as capital gains, as many hedge funds and private equity firms do.
Istithmar, an investment company run by the Dubai government, and Sal. Oppenheim, a German private bank, announced Sunday that they would each take 3 percent stakes in GLG and would invest in several of the companys funds.
Noam Gottesman, a founder and co-chief executive of GLG, will become chairman and co-chief of the newly public company. Emmanuel Roman, the other GLG co-chief executive, will retain that position in the new company.
As part of the deal, Berggruen and Franklin of Freedom will join GLGs board. Also joining the board will be Paul Myners, chairman of Guardian Media Group of London, and Peter Weinberg, co-founder of Perella Weinberg Partners, the investment bank that advised GLG on the deal.