SBP justifies HBL sale proceeds in its books

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan has justified keeping the Habib Bank’s (HBL) sale proceeds on SBP’s balance sheet.

Explaining a news item published in Dawn on July 26 under the headline ‘HBL’s stake sale proceeds shown as profit of State Bank’, the central bank said: “Under this policy, the SBP had 595.567 million shares of HBL, at a cost of Rs8.193 billion, in its books as of April 2015.

“After the divestment of these shares, the SBP received sale proceeds of Rs98.878bn and a capital gain of Rs90.685bn was booked after adjusting the cost. This capital gain became part of the overall SBP profits for FY15 and transferred to the government under the normal course.”

The SBP has followed the same accounting policy and practice for the sale proceeds of ABL shares in FY15 and UBL shares in FY14, said the statement.

Adcom becomes affiliate of Leo Burnett

KARACHI: Advertising agency Adcom has announced its affiliation with Leo Burnett, “one of the world’s largest agency networks”, a press release said on Saturday.

“With 85 offices and more than 8,000 employees worldwide, Leo Burnett is part of the Publicis Groupe, the world’s third largest communications group,” it added.

Microsoft ‘mulls investing $50bn in Uber’

SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp. is considering an investment in Uber Technologies Inc. at a valuation of about $50 billion, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

The software maker is still in discussions and hasn’t make a final decision on whether to make the investment, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing a private deal.

Uber, which was previously valued at $40bn when it raised financing earlier this year, is benefiting from investors who view its car-booking technology as the future of transport. The San Francisco-based company, led by Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick, is using the cash to expand operations to cities across the globe.

“We filed to authorize this new funding more than two months ago,” said Kristin Carvell, a spokeswoman for Uber. “The filing is available to the public. We aren’t commenting on additional speculation.”—Washington Post/Bloomberg

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2015

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