In July 2010, Egypt’s three mobile operators — Etisalat
Egypt , Mobinil and Vodafone’s unit
in Egypt — had 60.273 million subscriptions.Egypt is the Arab world’s most populous country, with more
than 80 million people.
— The Prudential Financial group announced that three
companies under its umbrella—AIG Edison, AIG Star, and
Gibraltar—have signed a merger agreement. (Gibraltar will be
the surviving entity.)Standard & Poor’s raised the financial strength and
long-term counterparty credit ratings on AIG Edison to ‘AA-’
from ‘A’. We upgraded AIG Edison because we revised upward its
group status to “core,” based on our group methodology criteria,
considering high certainty surrounding the merger and the
progress it has made in integrating into the group.— The outlook on the ratings is negative, reflecting the
outlooks on the Prudential Financial group’s Japanese core
insurance companies, which have been assigned ratings and
outlooks that are constrained by the sovereign ratings on Japan
(AA-/Negative/A-1+).Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services today raised its
financial strength and long-term counterparty ratings on AIG
Edison Life Insurance Co. to ‘AA-’ from ‘A’. The outlook on the
ratings is negative. The rating action follows the Prudential
Financial group’s announcement that AIG Edison, AIG Star Life
(NR), and Gibraltar Life (Gibraltar; AA-/Negative/—), signed a
merger agreement on Oct. 11, 2011, following the resolutions
made at each company’s board-of-director meeting. The three
companies currently operate under the group.AIG Edison is due to merge on Jan. 1, 2012, into Gibraltar,
which is one of the group’s core insurance companies in Japan.
The merger is subject to regulatory approval in Japan. We hold
the view that AIG Edison has made smooth progress in integrating
into the U.S.-based Prudential Financial group, since it was
acquired by the group in February 2011. Considering the high
certainty surrounding the merger and the progress that AIG
Edison has made in integrating into the group, we revised AIG
Edison’s group status to “core” from “strategically important,”
based on our group methodology criteria. As a result, we
upgraded the company to ‘AA-‘, which is the same rating as those
assigned to the Prudential Financial group’s core subsidiaries
in Japan. We will withdraw the ratings on AIG Edison when the
merger is completed.The outlook on the long-term rating on AIG Edison is
negative. This primarily reflects our view that the ratings on
the Prudential Financial group’s core subsidiaries in Japan are
constrained by the sovereign ratings on Japan. This is because
they hold a high percentage of domestic assets in their
portfolios and their businesses are concentrated in the domestic
market. We may lower the ratings on AIG Edison if we lower the
sovereign ratings on Japan or the ratings on the Prudential
Financial group’s core subsidiaries. We may also downgrade AIG
Edison if the planned merger is canceled, although we consider
this to be unlikely. Conversely, if the outlook on Japan is
revised to stable, the outlook on the company and the group’s
core subsidiaries in Japan may also see upward movement.
Under the original proposal, salty, fatty or very sweet foods or foods with trans fats would no longer be advertised to children, defined as age 17 or under.But David Vladeck, head of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, is expected to testify to a congressional committee on Wednesday that the working group made major changes in its proposals.First, it lowered the age of the affected children to 11 or under.”FTC staff has determined that, with the exception of certain in-school marketing activities, it is not necessary to encompass adolescents ages 12 to 17 within the scope of the covered marketing,” according to Vladeck’s written testimony.The testimony was posted on the House Energy and Commerce Committee website.In the testimony, the FTC excluded advertising aimed at a general audience and advertising that was part of charitable or community events.It also said it would not recommend banning clowns and cartoon characters — think Ronald McDonald and SpongeBob SquarePants — used to advertise unhealthy foods.Advertisers, who had been lobbying hard on the issue, were pleased with the changes, but said the fight was not over.”I think the best thing that they can do is to withdraw the proposal and endorse the (industry-supported) Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative,” said Dan Jaffe, vice president of the Association of National Advertisers.The effort sets voluntary standards such as barring added sugars in juices and limiting flavored milk to 24 grams of sugar. It includes companies such as McDonalds Inc’s, General Mills Inc and PepsiCo Inc.”We believe that the food, beverage, restaurant and advertising community has done far more, unfortunately, than any other segment of society in regard to obesity problems,” he said. “We don’t see why the government really needs to step into this area.”Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said she was concerned Congress, which has oversight over the agencies, would press for the advertising principles to be scrapped.”The thing that worries me the most is that the congress is not asking for little tweaks to the standards … they’re asking the agencies to kill the whole thing,” she said. “The overwhelming majority of advertising to kids is for unhealthy food, about 80 percent.”A background memo prepared for the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee indicated some hostility to the proposed limits. Lawmakers sent a letter to the agencies in September asking questions such as what evidence is there that junk food advertisements are linked obesity and what would the proposal cost, in terms of ad revenues and jobs?The Obama administration, with its goal of containing healthcare costs, has emphasized children’s health. First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign has pushed children to eat better and exercise more.Concern about obesity rates prompted the campaign. About 17 percent of U.S. children aged 2-19 are obese, according to data on the CDC website. Nearly one in three U.S. children are overweight.
