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Profiting from privatization
(MONEY Magazine) – European companies being denationalized by conservative British and French governments also offer investors a way to benefit from the dollar's slide. Says Thierry de la Villehuchet, an analyst in New York City who covers the French market for Interfinance-Moseley International Securities: ''These rightist governments want to create a new class of happy shareholders who will support capitalism. As a result, they are offering state-owned companies at below-market prices.'' Villehuchet likes the prospects for two forthcoming new issues that will trade on the Paris Bourse: CCF (Credit Commercial de France), a bank with assets of $5 billion, and Agence Havas, a $1.6 billion advertising, publishing and television production firm. He also recommends a recent new issue -- Saint Gobain ($62), a $12.6 billion company that is one of the world's leading producers of glass and construction materials. In the British market, David Lewinson, an analyst for Smith New Court in New York City, recommends the shares of British Gas, an $11 billion utility that went public in December at $7.25 and now trades on the New York Stock Exchange at $10. It has a monopoly on the distribution of heating and cooking gas throughout Britain. Lewinson also likes two forthcoming offerings that will trade on the London Stock Exchange: Rolls-Royce Motors, the $2.7 billion aircraft engine maker, and British Airports Authority, a $750 million firm that owns seven major international airports in the U.K. |
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