The Pope has inaugurated a new holy year of mercy by opening the splendid doors of a Vatican chapel. He intoned (but not in Hebrew) the words of Psalm 118: Open for me the Gates of Righteousness. In Hebrew the same text is part of the Yom Kippur liturgy.
Because of the way the Hebrew imperative works, it require that God be male. The ch is pronounced like the Scottish gutteral in “loch”: Pitchu li shaaray tsedek.
Shaare tsedek is the oldest hospital in Jerusalem, founded before World War I by a German-Jewish nurse, which my family have been donating to for three generations. It is the one which did not depend on Bernie Madoff, unlike the Hadassah Hospital.
In preparation for the Fed’s rate rise next week, China on Wednesday lowered the number of dollars in a renminbi to 6.414, effectively devaluing it. Still a major exporter, China wants to protect against losing business as the greenback rises with US interest rates. Separately, Chinese state-sector banks may need to sell $222 bn in bonds and $379 bn in common or preferred shares to meet the Tier Fund requirements of Basel II and the Financial Stability Board, according to Fitch Ratings.
However as part of the new internationalization of the renminbi, South Korea is issuing 3 bn yuan of sovereign “panda” bonds in China. Koreans often have RMB deposits for business reasons or to gain on interest rates.
And Russia plans an RMB bond in Moscow early next year to raise abut $1 bn.
Ten European Union member countries are proceeding with a Tobin tax plan, with Estonia, part of the original cabal, opting out. Britain will fight this one in the European Court of Justice, UK Chancellor of the Exchequeur George Osbornd told The Guardian newspaper. The Euro is up sharply against the pound sterling, perhaps as a result.
Benitec Biopharma etc
*The sacking of Peter French MD was presented as a decision over the nationality of the CEO of Benitec Biopharma (BNTC), but it was in fact over his mishandling of the alleged Nasdaq listing of the Australian small cap developer of DNA-directed RNA interference technology, initially to cure hepatitis C. It is in slow-moving US phase II trials and BNTC will eventually also move to human testing of its hepatitis B ddRNAi candidate as well.
Early this year, Benitec, then listed only in Australia, began the process of getting a Nasdaq listing and much-needed capital. Dr French, who like many doctors, is a bit of a know-it-all, undertook to rally US investors and beef up the Hep C trials in the USA. He apparently connected with a Canadian financial analyst at a respectable brokerage belonging to Royal Bank of Canada to write up the stock enthusiastically and help prepare the Q prospectus.
But things took longer than expected, like the trials themselves which have tested investor patience. And early in the summer, the Canadian analyst changed jobs (for reasons unknown) and RBC decided to drop the underwriting mandate. In any event it would have had to have a US partner to list in this country (although that is about to change.)
Dr. French then desperately tried to find a replacement underwriter. But the financial analyst community was by then in summer vacation mode, particularly during the hours when Australia is awake. Dr. French failed to use possible connections through investment banks in Australia or researchers working on BNTC’s trials in the US, perhaps out of pride, perhaps out of fear of the US regulatory thicket. He also apparently kept his board in the dark about the problems.
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