"Nationalized" at last

TRANSREDES SA

Comunica que en fecha 2 de junio de 2008, la totalidad del paquete accionario de TR Holding Ltda. fue registrada a nombre del Estado Boliviano bajo la Titularidad de Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos - YPFB. En este sentido informa su nueva composición accionaria:

PS: I've been experiencing some delays with blogger, new posts seem to take forever to upload. Anyone else having this problem? (It's not a cache, reload or related issue).

News Brief on San Cristobal / SIL

Today's release on Apex Silver's (AMEX: SIL) deferred payment agreement with Sumitomo (TYO: 8053) moved the stock a few points, enough to merit a column at ALPHA, here's an excerpt:

"... Apex has as its flagship asset the San Cristobal silver-zinc-lead project... A super asset no doubt about it, but it is in Bolivia.

As we see it, the shadow of geopolitical uncertainty hangs over this project despite the positive efforts by the Apex management team to re-assure investors that all will be well. Should they not be nationalized then we would anticipate a hefty tax burden, which would impact the bottom line and returns to shareholders. However it would then be a known and quantifiable element of the investment process. The situation as it stands today is one of uncertainty and that is something that really gives investors the jitters.

When we put our hard earned cash into a silver producer we are looking for exposure to silver prices hopefully with a degree of leverage in terms of performance. Earlier this year silver took off like a bullet to top the twenty-dollar level with the quality silver stocks following in hot pursuit. Apex didn’t just respond to the rally in silver prices but the other companies did move higher with silver, whereas Apex is heading south. This is gut wrenching stuff for the stockholders..." MORE

On a political-risk basis only, this is a good play for the shorts.

D.: none