conversion law@ (Adds reaction from banks in paragraphs 8-10)

ZAGREB, April 7 (Reuters) – Croatia’s Constitutional Court on Friday rejected local banks’ request to assess whether a law forcing lenders to convert Swiss franc loans into euros is in line with the constitution.

Households and firms across Croatia and eastern Europe who had taken out Swiss franc mortgages to benefit from low interest rates were caught out by the surge in the franc, after Switzerland scrapped its cap on the currency in January 2015.

The previous Social Democrat-led government pushed through a law before an election in 2015 ordering banks to convert loans denominated in Swiss francs into euros at their own expense, imposing about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) of losses on them.

“Such a measure was necessary at the time to achieve a legitimate goal of protecting the borrowers from the firming of the Swiss franc,” Constitutional Court head Miroslav Separovic said.

Eight local banks had asked for a constitutional assessment of the conversion law, saying the action did not fairly share the costs and that the government had acted retroactively.

But Separovic said “a calculation of costs did not take into account positive effects of conversion which improved the banks’ lending portfolio, while the banks also got a tax exemption on the basis of conversion.”

The vast majority of loans and deposits in Croatia are denominated in euros. Croatia’s central bank keeps the national kuna currency in a tightly managed float against the euro.

Local bank association HUB said it was convinced enforced conversion was not in line with European Union legislation and obligations that Croatia accepted through international agreements.

“Such a legal solution does not exist in any other EU state,” HUB said in a statement.

HUB did not say what further action banks could take, but some have indicated they could seek international arbitration. ($1 = 0.9400 euros) (Reporting by Igor Ilic; Editing by)

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NEW YORK, April 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against U.S. Concrete, Inc. (“U.S. Concrete” or the “Company”) 
                                    USCR, +0.88%
                                         and certain of its officers.   The class action, filed in United States District Court, Northern District of Texas, and docketed under 17-cv-00266 is on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired U.S Concrete securities, seeking to recover compensable damages caused by defendants’ violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

If you are a shareholder who purchased U.S. Concrete securities between March 6, 2015 and March 23, 2017, both dates inclusive, you have until May 29, 2017 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class.  A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com.   To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll free, ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and number of shares purchased. 

[Click here to join this class action]
U.S. Concrete, Inc. produces and sells ready-mixed concrete, aggregates, and concrete-related products and services for the construction industry in the United States. It operates through two segments, Ready-Mixed Concrete and Aggregate Products.

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that:  (i) the Company lacked effective internal controls over financial reporting; and (ii) as a result of the foregoing, U.S. Concrete’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.   

On March 24, 2017, U.S. Concrete filed a Current Report on Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission, announcing the resignation of the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, Joseph Tusa, and advising investors that the Company had dismissed its previous auditor, Grant Thornton LLP, and engaged Ernst & Young LLP as its new public accounting firm. 

On this news, U.S. Concrete’s share price fell $5.90, or 8.84%, to close at $60.80 on March 24, 2017.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Florida, and Los Angeles, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com
CONTACT:  
Robert S. Willoughby  
Pomerantz LLP  
rswilloughby@pomlaw.com
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shareholder-alert-pomerantz-law-firm-reminds-shareholders-with-losses-on-their-investment-in-us-concrete-inc-of-class-action-lawsuit-and-upcoming-deadline–uscr-300436789.html
SOURCE  Pomerantz LLP

Copyright (C) 2017 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

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NEW YORK, Apr 07, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE via COMTEX) —

Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against JBS S.A. (“JBS” or the “Company”) (otcqx:JBSAY) and certain of its officers.   The class action, filed in United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, is on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired the publicly traded American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) of JBS securities, seeking to recover compensable damages caused by defendants’ violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

If you are a shareholder who purchased JBS ADRs securities between June 2, 2015 and March 17, 2017, both dates inclusive, you have until May 22, 2017 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class.  A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com.   To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll free, ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and number of shares purchased. 

[Click here to join this class action]

JBS processes and sells beef, lamb, pork, and chicken products in Brazil and internationally. The Company is incorporated in the Federative Republic of Brazil and its principal executive offices are in Sao Paulo- SP, Brazil.

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that:   (1) JBS executives bribed regulators and politicians to subvert food inspections of its plants and overlook unsanitary practices such as processing rotten meat and running plants with traces of salmonella; and (2) as a result, defendants statements about JBS’s business, operations and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable bases at all relevant times.

On March 17, 2017, news outlets reported that Brazilian federal police raided the offices of JBS and dozens of other meatpackers following a two-year investigation into alleged bribery of regulators to subvert inspections of their plants and overlook unsanitary practices. Police arrested two JBS employees, as well as 20 public officials. JBS stated in a securities filing that three of its plants and one of its employees were targeted in the probe.

On this news, shares of JBS fell $0.71 per share, or over 9.2%, to close at $6.96 per share on March 17, 2017, damaging investors.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Florida, and Los Angeles, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com

 CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP rswilloughby@pomlaw.com 

Copyright (C) 2017 GlobeNewswire, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Kuvara Law Firm is offering a unique opportunity to law firms or business enterprises seeking to reach the public.

San Rafael, CA (PRWEB) April 07, 2017

Personal injury attorney Neal Kuvara, founder of Kuvara Law Firm & Personal Injury Network, Inc., recently made available the rights to 1-800-4-INJURY and/or 1-888-4-INJURY (entire USA). The 1-800-4-INJURY Legal Network enables attorneys and/or business enterprises to better establish a public identity through branding, build a strong public profile, and increase their client base.

“Since 1981, Kuvara Law Firm has utilized these marketing tools to reach our target audience (injury/accident victims) through this easy-to-remember phone number, which identifies our specialty,” said Kuvara. “The law firm experienced a meteoric rise in business after employing the number to become one of the premiere marketing firms in California. We would like to share these two unique opportunities with law firms or business enterprises seeking to create a lasting and memorable impression on the public.”

The offering by state, 1-800-4-INJURY Legal Network, gives lawyers the rights to market the number within their purchased territory in order to heighten the public’s awareness of their firm and increase caseload and earnings. The offering for the entire USA (not available by state) is the sole right to the phone number 1-888-4-INJURY and includes the unique web domain Personalinjurynetwork.com.

About Neal Kuvara, Kuvara Law Firm

Neal Kuvara, CEO and owner of Kuvara Law Firm and 1-800-4-INJURY Legal Network, has over 40 years of legal experience representing injured clients. Legal services of the Kuvara Law Firm include personal injury, pedestrian injury, car accidents, wrongful death, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, premises liability, medical malpractice and more. For more information, please call 1-800-4-INJURY (1-800-446-5879), or visit http://www.18004injury.com. The law office is located at 550 Las Gallinas Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94903.

About the NALA™

The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALA’s mission is to promote a business’ relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/KuvaraLawFirm/attorneyNealKuvara/prweb14215031.htm

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Friday, April 07, 2017

United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) yesterday said its DRAM technology program in collaboration with Chinas Fujian Jin Hua Integrated Circuit Co has not been affected by Micron Technology Incs lawsuits over Chinese rivals poaching its employees.

The company was commissioned by Fujian Jin Hua to develop process technologies to produce DRAM chips. This project, approved by the Investment Commission, is progressing, UMC spokesman Liu Chitung (???) said.

UMC was given the go-ahead in May last year to proceed with the project.

The project is in its initial stages. We are still building the team. No substantial research and development [R&D] results have been produced, Liu said.

UMC has recruited several hundred engineers for the R&D team based at its Tainan fab, Liu said by telephone.

Lius remarks came after the Chinese-language Economic Daily News yesterday reported that UMCs DRAM production line had begun initial production before being suspended because of the ripples emanating from investigations linked to Microns lawsuits against former employees who were hired by Chinese rivals.

Micron cooperated with investigators who last month questioned about 100 former employees of its subsidiaries Inotera Memories Inc and Rexchip Electronics Corp (??), the newspaper said.

Some of the former employees are suspected of theft of trade secrets and aiding Chinese firms, such as Fujian Jin Hua, to develop key DRAM technologies, the paper said.

The US memory chipmakers legal battles are aimed at preventing its trade secrets and technology know-how from being stolen, the newspaper said.

A majority of the people questioned were former Inotera employees who left for Hefei Chang Xin, Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd (????) or Fujian Jin Hua at the end of last year, the newspaper said.

Some of those questioned have been barred from leaving Taiwan, it said.

Former Inotera chairman Charles Kau jumped ship for Tsinghua Unigroup in 2015, while former Inotera vice president David Liu (???) now works for Hefei Chang Xin, according to market researcher TrendForce Corp.

“We are aware that law enforcement in Taiwan is investigating potential misappropriation of information. Micron is cooperating with the authorities, and cannot provide any further information on the ongoing investigation at this point, Micron said in a statement yesterday.

Chinese chipmakers offered double, or even triple wages and other benefits to recruit semiconductor professionals to help them overcome technological barriers and reach the goal of playing a key role in the semiconductor world by 2020, the Economic Daily News said.

Stephen Chen (???), a former vice president of UMC in charge of its DRAM research team, now works for Fujian Jin Hua, while former UMC chief executive Sun Shih-wei accepted a high-ranking position at Tsinghua Unigroup in January.

We cannot comment on former employees individual behavior, Liu sad.

The competition for human resources is becoming fiercer and will reach a critical point this year as numerous new fabs in China are scheduled to start production in the second half of 2018, TrendForce said in a report.

As Chinese semiconductor enterprises, including Yangtze River Storage Technology, Fujian Jin Hua Integrated Circuit, Hefei Chang Xin and Tsinghua Unigroups Nanjing fab, are to produce DRAM and 3D NAND Flash memory chips, the headhunting focus will be on memory specialists, the researcher said.

By: DocMemory
Copyright 2017 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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Croatia passed an emergency law yesterday (6 April) aimed at protecting the economy from big company failures as Agrokor, the country’s largest private firm, seeks to resolve its debt crisis.

The centre-right majority in parliament approved the law, which will be implemented if Agrokor fails to reach a deal with banks and suppliers on a cash injection and restructuring.

Under the law, devised to deal with problems at companies with at least 5,000 employees and debts of €1 billion, the state will be able to appoint an executive to steer a restructuring at the request of a debtor or at creditors’ request with the company’s agreement.

The law envisages a company reaching a restructuring deal within 15 months.

Agrokor is the biggest food producer and retailer in the Balkans with 60,000 employees. It accumulated debts of about 45 billion kuna (€5.8 billion), or six times its equity, as it expanded rapidly, notably in Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Bosnia.

Agrokor, whose annual income equals 15% of Croatia’s gross domestic product, struck a deal on Sunday with six lenders led by Russia’s Sberbank and VTB to freeze debt repayments and get an unspecified cash injection.

In line with that, a restructuring expert was appointed to rescue the business. Antonio Alvarez III, of consultants Alvarez&Marsal, said on Tuesday (4 April) there was no guarantee that the company could be saved.

Alvarez said yesterday that his team had met representatives of six banks, including Austria’s Erste Bank and Raiffeisenbank and Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit, to discuss providing Agrokor with more financial backing.

“A decision depends on approval by boards in each of those institutions and procedures are now on a fast track… The company is considering all available options,” Agrokor said in a statement.

Local food firms that supply Agrokor’s retail chain Konzum, which controls 30% of the local market, are owed 16 billion kuna and they fear demands for payment could be affected by the restructuring.

One of the main problems between the banks and suppliers is factoring of promissory notes which suppliers received from Agrokor for delivered goods and then exchanged for cash, which the banks are seeking to get back from suppliers as they cannot be repaid by Agrokor.

“If there is no deal with banks today, we would support any other solution that leads towards helping suppliers to survive in all this,” said Alen Fontana, chief executive of local dairy Dukat. Suppliers could be forced to stop delivering goods to Agrokor within the next 24 hours, he said.

Opposition lawmakers in parliament criticised the new law, saying it would favour creditors at the expense of small suppliers and could threaten the state budget if the government is forced to guarantee liquidity injections to avert a corporate failure.

The Zagreb police force said in a statement on Thursday that it had launched an enquiry into Agrokor, but declined to provide any details.

Local media reported that the police action came after parliament’s speaker Bozo Petrov said last Friday that he had asked the Zagreb state attorney’s office to investigate Agrokor’s owner, local businessman Ivica Todoric, about alleged irregularities in Agrokor’s financial reports. Agrokor declined to comment.

Croatia’s central bank governor said on Thursday that the Agrokor crisis will hurt the country’s economy this year, but could not yet determine by how much.

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(Adds reaction from banks in paragraphs 8-10)

By Igor Ilic

Croatia’s Constitutional Court
on Friday rejected local banks’ request to assess whether a law
forcing lenders to convert Swiss franc loans into euros is in
line with the constitution.

Households and firms across Croatia and eastern Europe who
had taken out Swiss franc mortgages to benefit from low interest
rates were caught out by the surge in the franc, after
Switzerland scrapped its cap on the currency in January 2015.

The previous Social Democrat-led government pushed through a
law before an election in 2015 ordering banks to convert loans
denominated in Swiss francs into euros at their own expense,
imposing about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) of losses on them.

“Such a measure was necessary at the time to achieve a
legitimate goal of protecting the borrowers from the firming of
the Swiss franc,” Constitutional Court head Miroslav Separovic
said.

Eight local banks had asked for a constitutional assessment
of the conversion law, saying the action did not fairly share
the costs and that the government had acted retroactively.

But Separovic said “a calculation of costs did not take into
account positive effects of conversion which improved the banks’
lending portfolio, while the banks also got a tax exemption on
the basis of conversion”.

The vast majority of loans and deposits in Croatia are
denominated in euros. Croatia’s central bank keeps the national
kuna currency in a tightly managed float against the euro.

Local bank association HUB said it was convinced enforced
conversion was not in line with European Union legislation and
obligations that Croatia accepted through international
agreements.

“Such a legal solution does not exist in any other EU
state,” HUB said in a statement.

HUB did not say what further action banks could take, but
some have indicated they could seek international arbitration.
($1 = 0.9400 euros)
(Reporting by Igor Ilic; Editing by)

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Croatia’s Constitutional Court
on Friday rejected a request from local banks to consider
whether a law on the conversion of Swiss franc loans into euros,
aimed at protecting borrowers and implemented in late 2015, was
against the constitution.

“Such a measure was necessary at the time to achieve a
legitimate goal,” head of the court Miroslav Separovic said.

Households and firms across Croatia and eastern Europe took
out Swiss franc mortgages to benefit from low interest rates,
but were then caught out by a surge in the franc, particularly
after Switzerland scrapped its cap on the currency in January
2015.

Eight local banks asked for a constitutional assessment of
the conversion law, passed by the centre-left government at the
time, saying it did not share fairly the costs and acted
retroactively.

The ylaw forced the banks to convert the loans denominated
in Swiss francs into those denominated in euros and thus protect
borrowers from rising payments due to exchange rate movements.
The vast majority of loans in Croatia are denominated in euros.
(Reporting by Igor Ilic; Editing by Andrew Bolton)

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