Dubai debt debacle

The Dubai crisis will affect financial, property and steel counters the most. Whether or not these counters are doing business with the affected Dubai entities will matter little as there will probably be a knee jerk reaction and it gives the market a good excuse to take profit. I am hazarding a guess that my exposure to HG Metal will probably be hit. I have already divested >50% of my stake in the company during the recent run up in price. I might just divest the balance on Monday as I can still make a small gain at 13c. I\'ve had a nagging feeling that I entered HG Metal too early from a fundamentals perspective for a while now. Good luck to fellow shareholders!

It seems that a couple of major shareholders are asking for an EGM to remove 3 incumbent directors including the CEO. They want to install 2 people of their own choosing to be directors. One is a former MP, Chng Hee Kok. Ooh, maybe this would present me an opportunity to offload my remaining HG Metal shares tomorrow. The Company refers to the announcement made earlier today in respect of the receipt of a special notice (Special Notice) from Lingco Marine Pte. Ltd. and Lingco Holdings Pte Ltd (collectively, Lingco). Under the Special Notice, it is stated, inter alia, that it is Lingco\'s intention to call for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the Company to pass resolutions for the removal of Mr Tan Chan Too, Mr Wee Piew and Mr Lee Leng Loke from each of their offices as directors of the Company with effect from the date of the EGM. The Company wishes to announce that under Clause 24.10 of the facility agreement dated 23 October 2009 (the Facility Agreement) entered into with, inter alia, each of: (a) Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (“OCBC”) and United Overseas Bank Limited as lenders; and (b) OCBC as the agent of the Finance Parties (as defined in the Facility Agreement) (other than itself), it is an event of default under the Facility Agreement if either Mr Tan Chan Too or Mr Wee Piew ceases to hold the appointment of executive director of the Company. BY ORDER OF THE BOARD Wee Piew Chief Executive Officer 1 December 2009

The trouble is, Dubai is far from alone. Look at the ballooning of public debt. Greece, for example, said it may run a 2009 budget deficit of more than 12% of GDP. The country\'s credit rating was cut one step to A- by Fitch Ratings last month. So far, it shows no serious intention of bringing that deficit under control. Many others are in a very similar position, including big economies such as the U.K. (excerpt of commentary by Bloomberg columnist Matthew Lynn)