Author: Kalantarian Kevo

NO CONSENSUS ON DRAFT DECISION ON SETTING UP MARCH 1 EVENTS COMMITTEE; DISCUSSION POSTPONED

14:01 29/04/2013 ” LAW

The draft decision on setting up an ad hoc committee for the
investigation of the March 1, 2008 events will be discussed at the
next four-day session of parliament. This decision was made at today’s
session of parliament.

Head of Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) parliamentary faction Galust
Sahakyan applied to the draft’s author Armenian National Congress
(ANC) parliamentary faction and in particular Gagik Jhangiryan with
the request to postpone the discussion.

“We had discussions with Mr Jhangiryan, but some issues still have
to be discussed. I ask you to postpone the discussion until the next
four-day session,” Galust Sahakyan said, addressing the parliament’s
leadership and ANC parliamentary faction member Gagik Jhangiryan.

Source: Panorama.am

MADCOW MORNING NEWS: UNCLE TSARNAEV, SON-IN-LAW OF HIGH-RANKING OFFICIAL IN CIA MADE A MISTAKE, POINTING TO “MISHA”

15:34 29/04/2013 ” LAW

The uncle of the two suspected Boston bombers in last week’s attack,
Ruslan Tsarni, was married to the daughter of former top CIA official
Graham Fuller, reads the article by Daniel Hopsicker titled “Boston
bombers’ uncle married daughter of top CIA official” published on
MadCow Morning News.

The Author notes that the discovery that Uncle Ruslan Tsarni had
spy connections that go far deeper than had been previously known is
ironic, especially since the mainstream media’s focus yesterday was
on a feverish search to find who might have recruited the Tsarnaev
brothers.

The chief suspect was a red-haired Armenian exorcist. They were
fingering a suspect who may not, in fact, even exist, the author
writes.

The article reads that Ruslan Tsarni married the daughter of former top
CIA official Graham Fuller, who spent 20 years as operations officer in
Turkey, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong. In
1982 Fuller was appointed the National Intelligence Officer for Near
East and South Asia at the CIA, and in 1986, under Ronald Reagan,
he became the Vice-Chairman of the National Intelligence Council,
with overall responsibility for national level strategic forecasting.

Sometime in the early 1990’s, while she was a graduate student in
North Carolina, and he was in law school at Duke, Ruslan Tsarnaev
met and married Samantha Ankara Fuller, the daughter of Graham and
Prudence Fuller of Rockville Maryland. Her middle name suggests a
reference to one of her father’s CIA postings.

At the time of their marriage, Ruslan Tsarni was known as Ruslan
Tsarnaev, the same last name as his nephews Tamerlan and Dzhokhar
Tsarnaev, the alleged bombers. It is unknown when he changed his last
name to Tsarni.

On a more ominous note, Graham Fuller was listed as one of the
American Deep State rogues on Sibel Edmonds’ State Secrets Privilege
Gallery. Edmonds explained it featured subjects of FBI investigations
she became aware of during her time as an FBI translator. It turned
out that the criminal activities were being protected by claims of
State Secrets.

A story about a Chechenoik uncle pairing up with a top CIA official
who once served as CIA Station Chief in Kabul sounds like a pitch for
a bad movie, but the two men may have been in business together. Thus
in 1995, Tsarnaev incorporated the Congress of Chechen International
Organizations in Maryland.

The author of the article notes that uncle Ruslan’s spy connections
go far deeper than was already known, which was that he spent two
years working in Kazakhstan for USAID.

Under the headline “Did ‘Misha’ influence Tsarnaevs? In Watertown,
doubts,” USA Today reported: “Misha. A new name has emerged in the
Boston Marathon bombing case-one familiar to the family of the two
young men accused of the atrocity and apparently of interest to the
Russian and American security services as well.”

Ruslan Tsarni was the first to bring up the supposed man’s supposed
name. “Or rather, he brought up a first name: Misha. But it was
enough.” According to Uncle Ruslan, Misha was the man who over a
considerable period of time had radicalized Tamerlan. Tsarni described
Misha as being “chubby, a big guy, big mouth presenting himself with
some kind of abilities as exorcist . . .

having some part-time job in one of the stores, not married. “All of
the qualifications of a loser,” the author writes.

It seemed strange, then, that in contrast to his “you are there”
verbal picture of the man, even with all his supposed concerns, and
given his high level of education and abundant resources Ruslan had
somehow never found out just who the bad guy was.

The author writes that then Uncle Ruslan made a clear miss-step,
by claiming that Misha, an Armenian convert to Islam, had a huge
influence on the elder brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Describing him as an
“Armenia exorcist, Tsarni said, “Somehow he just took his brain.”

The author notes that the Armenians are a deeply-rooted Christian
community, which is proud of the fact that their country was the
first in the world to adopt Christianity as state religion in 301 AD.

Moreover this is the week every year when they remember the Armenian
Holocaust, when as many as 1,000,000 Armenians were slaughtered by
Turkish Muslims.

The author writes that in the large and close-knit Boston Armenian
community, a red-bearded Armenian named Misha becoming a radicalized
Muslim would stand out. “I’ve never heard of him, nor has anyone that I
know,” Hilda Avedissian, executive director at the Armenian Cultural &
Educational Centre.

The report reveals that the bomber’s Uncle, made famous for his
outspoken condemnation of his nephew’s which aired repeatedly on
international news networks, is a well-connected oil executive who
at one point worked for a Halliburton shell company used as a front
to obtain oil contracts from the Kazakh State. Ruslon Tsarni was
implicated in an investigation involving the laundering and theft of $6
billion. “But everybody loves Uncle Ruslon. At least most of America’s
mainstream media does,” writes the author and adds that there has,
to date, been no speculation at all about whether an uncle of the
men suspected of the bombing who had been involved in international
intrigue at the hightest levels, and who married the daughter of a
top CIA official, might warrant a closer look.

Source: Panorama.am

ARMENIA’S GEGHARKUNIK PROVINCE GOVERNOR HAILS PEOPLE DEPARTING FOR OUTGOING JOBS (VIDEO)

11:55 ~U 29.04.13

Authorities of Armenia’s Gegharkunik province seem not to worry much
about people departing for outgoing jobs. Governor Rafik Grigoryan,
who is member of the ruling Republican party’s council, says there
is a necessity of outgoing job.

“It is the season for departing for outgoing job, I think such
necessity exists, and in my opinion they are doing a right thing,”
Grigoryan said speaking to a group of reporters.

The governor welcomed the growing number of people leaving abroad
to work which he said means ‘we have working people’. In his opinion
outgoing job does not mean that people are emigrating.

“The most important thing is that people are building apartments
and if they do it, they are tying themselves with their homeland,”
he stressed, claiming that being against it means hindering people’s
rights as each person is free.

The issue is rather sharp in the town of Gavar. In the central square
of the town the reporters witnessed a scene of people getting prepared
to depart. A group of men with packed belongings were preparing to
leave for Russia by mini-bus.

One of the men said everyday about 10 mini-buses are departing from
Armenia. “If jobs open, we will come back, if not, we will not,”
another man said.

Some of them were leaving with the intention to return, while some
with the intention to settle there and later take their families. A
woman who came to see off her husband said he departed for good and
later she will join him.

BAKO SAHAKYAN MET WITH MEMBERS OF COORDINATING COUNCIL OF ARMENIAN ORGANIZATIONS OF FRANCE

09:40, 29 April, 2013

YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS: The President of the Artsakh Republic
Bako Sahakyan met in Paris with the members of the Coordinating Council
of Armenian Organizations of France on April 27. As Armenpress was
reported by the Central Information Department of the Artsakh Republic
President’s Staff, issues related to the widening and deepening the
Motherland-Diaspora ties as well as the Artsakh domestic and foreign
policy were raised during the meeting.

NKR Minister of Foreign Affairs Karen Mirzoyan, Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to France
Vigen Chitechyan, Head of the Central Information Department of the
Artsakh Republic President’s Office David Babayan, NKR permanent
representative to France Hovhannes Gevorgyan and other officials were
present at the meeting.

President Sahakyan highlighted the activity of the Armenian General
Benevolent Union, adding that this oldest and one of the most
established organization has had a great role in the development of
Artsakh too. Bako Sahakyan also answered to the questions raised by
the participants.

KIM KARDASHIAN : N’OUBLIEZ JAMAIS LE GENOCIDE ARMENIEN

Profitant du temps temps printanier, Kim Kardashian et Kanye West se
sont rendus pour une journee a New York mercredi 24 avril.

Bien que le calendrier de Kim est toujours encombre avec beaucoup
d’engagements de travail, la beaute armenienne a toujours pris soin de
ne pas oublier les choses qui comptent le plus pour elle.

Sur sa page Twitter plus tôt dans la journee, Kim Kardashian a ecrit :
” Avril 24 1915, 1,5 million d’Armeniens ont ete massacres ! Veillons
tous a souligner cette journee dans l’histoire ! N’oubliez jamais ! #
RecognizeArmenianGenocide “.

Kim a ensuite ajoute : ” S’il vous plaît, aidez-moi a cette tendance
aujourd’hui ! Cela signifie beaucoup pour moi ! #
RecognizeArmenianGenocide Chacun RT[cela signifie chacun doit renvoyer
ce message] “.

lundi 29 avril 2013,
Stephane ©armenews.com

NOUVELLES D’ARMENIE, ENTRE DANS LA GRANDE FAMILLE DE LA PRESSE PAR LA PORTE DE LA LIBERTE

Face a une actualite de plus en plus complexe, rapide et confuse, le
rôle d’un journal est d’apporter l’eclairage, le recul necessaire et
de veiller a la hierarchie de l’information. Les Nouvelles d’Armenie
s’attachent a ce triple objectif avec professionnalisme et courage.

Collecter les donnees, decrypter les strategies, faire le tri entre
les actions de propagande ou de pure communication et les realites
politiques est une tâche indispensable et ardue. La redaction de ce
magazine en a fait sa charte, alors meme que la region caucasienne
est parcourue de tensions très anciennes, constamment renouvelees,
qui rendent l’accès a l’information difficile. Au-dela de l’horizon
regional, ce sont tous les modes d’expression d’une culture dispersee
qui se retrouvent au fil des pages et sur le site Internet du magazine.

Loin d’etre un vecteur seulement communautaire, les Nouvelles d’Armenie
apportent un regard critique tous azimuts, une connaissance approfondie
des enjeux et entre dans la grande famille de la presse par la porte
de la liberte.

lundi 29 avril 2013, Spidermian ©armenews.com Ara ©armenews.com

LES RENCONTRES DU PRESIDENT SAHAKIAN A PARIS – PHOTOS

Ara Toranian – Bako Sahakian – Mourad Papazian

A l’issue de sa visite de trois jours a Paris, le president de
la Republique du Haut-Karabakh, Bako Sahakian a repondu, samedi
27 avril, a l’invitation du CCAF de rencontrer les associations
franco-armeniennes.

Le president a expose la situation economique et agricole du pays et
repondu a quelques questions, avant un cocktail offert en son honneur
par l’UGAB.

La veille, Bako Sahakian a rencontre les membres du groupe ” Soutient
au Karabakh “, dirige par Tamara Kotcharian-Petrossian, avec lequel
un certain nombre de projets ont ete evoques. Il a aussi rencontre
les membres du Conseil d’administration de l’Office francais du
Fonds Armenien ” Hayastan ” dirige par Bedros Terzian. Une attention
particulière a ete accordee au developpement des infrastructures et
des regions de la Republique. Le chef de l’Etat, a en outre, exprime
sa gratitude a l’Office pour l’aide constante prodiguee a l’Artsakh.

Bako Sahakian – Berge Setrakian – Alexis Govciyan

lundi 29 avril 2013, Jean Eckian ©armenews.com

NAM : 20 ANS DE COMBAT POUR LA LIBERTE

De Charles Aznavour a Franz-Olivier Giesbert, de Bernard-Henri Levy a
Atom Egoyan, vingt personnalites figurant parmi les abonnes les plus
connus de Nouvelles d’Armenie ont pris leur plus belle plume dans ce
numero de mai consacre au vingt ans du journal, pour lui souhaiter
longue vie. Elles rappellent le rôle essentiel, sans doute, de ce
media pour les Armeniens. Elles soulignent aussi la valeur ajoutee
qu’il apporte dans le paysage de la presse francaise où il a trouve
une vraie place.

Ces encouragements, a ce moment precis de l’existence de NAM,
revetent d’autant plus d’importance que notre titre, comme l’ensemble
de ses confrères, subit les effets d’une double crise mondiale :
celle generale de l’economie qui se repercute sur son budget de
fonctionnement. Mais egalement une crise structurelle propre aux
medias papier, confrontes a la mutation technologique d’Internet et
a son modèle economique aleatoire, en particulier pour les sites
drainant moins de cent mille visiteurs uniques par jour (soit dix
fois plus qu’armenews, qui, bien qu’en langue francaise, est l’un
des sites armeniens les plus lus au monde).

Cette situation se traduit souvent par une perte de qualite, due a
la fois a une baisse des moyens et a des velleites de ratisser plus
larges. Une tentation qui entraîne meme parfois les news magazine
les plus prestigieux de la presse internationale a verser dans le
racolage, pour mieux vendre. Les appreciations de nos confrères et
de personnalites a l’occasion de ces 20 ans, nous rassurent quant
au fait que NAM, qui a ete très attentif a combattre cette tendance,
en a ete jusqu’a aujourd’hui epargne. Notre titre a toujours vise le
haut de gamme editorial, sans jamais ceder a rien de ce qui pouvait
alterer son independance. Et ceux qui ont suivi certains episodes plus
ou moins rocambolesques de la vie du magazine durant ces dernières
annees savent ce qui lui en a parfois coûte.

Seule la fidelite de nos abonnes, de nos annonceurs et de nos
partenaires a rendu possible cette autonomie financière qui a protege
notre independance editoriale. Ce sont eux qui nous ont offert
l’opportunite d’exister, puis de continuer et meme de nous developper
en donnant notamment naissance a Armenews, en attendant peut-etre de
nouvelles aventures. Grâce a eux, NAM et son site internet occupent
aujourd’hui une place preponderante dans la diffusion de l’information
armenienne, l’un dans la prise de distance et la profondeur, l’autre
dans l’instantaneite de l’evenement. Outre que ces medias ont ouvert
des espaces d’oxygène et de liberte dans une collectivite qui en a
ete singulièrement très longtemps privee, ils sont parallèlement des
lieux de savoir et de memoire, des scènes publiques où nos communautes
se parlent a elles-memes tout en s’adressant aux autres. Avec leur
fonction ” vitrine et porte-voix ” et leur usage ” miroir “, ils
constituent aujourd’hui des outils aussi precieux qu’indispensables
pour la vie armenienne de France et bien au-dela. Il fallait le
rappeler a cette occasion, et peut-etre que d’autres le disent,
pour que chacun en prenne clairement conscience.

Car rien n’est acquis, et cette situation de NAM comme d’Armenews,
reste fragile. Elle ne depend que du bon vouloir et du sens des
responsabilites de leurs lecteurs. La multiplicite des gratuits,
promus par des forces plus ou moins transparentes, represente en
l’occurrence un danger. Le marche armenien est un micro marche. Et
la conception d’une information libre et independante que nous
defendons a un coût. Chaque peuple, chaque collectivite a la presse
qu’il merite. Les nôtres sont-ils prets a en payer le prix, fût-il
des plus modiques ? C’est aussi dans ce type d’effort que se situe
le combat et que se jauge l’engagement.

Les anniversaires ne valent que s’ils constituent des ponts jetes vers
l’avenir. Que les 20 ans de NAM, qui concernent au premier chef aussi
armenews, leur fournissent les moyens d’affronter le futur dans les
meilleures conditions. NAM n’est pas ne du hasard. Fruit des luttes
successives du peuple armenien pour ses droits et sa souverainete,
son existence resulte d’une exigence politique, au sens large et
noble du terme. Pour relever les defis de l’avenir, et jouer le rôle
qui lui revient dans cette immense tâche de reconstruction a laquelle
est confrontee l’entite armenienne, NAM a plus que jamais besoin de
l’appui et de la mobilisation de ses lecteurs et de ses usagers. Tout
comme eux ont un fort besoin de son existence. Pour la communaute
armenienne, et les defenseurs de ses droits, l’aider, c’est s’aider.

Le soutenir, c’est se soutenir.

Ara Toranian

ABONNEZ-VOUS

ABONNEZ-VOUS

lundi 29 avril 2013, Ara ©armenews.com

I Would Have Stopped Him, ‘Misha’ Says Of Bombing Suspect

NPR.org
April 29, 2013

by Mark Memmott

The man known as Misha who relatives of the Boston Marathon bombing
suspects have alleged may have turned the elder Tsarnaev brother
toward a radical form of Islam says he did no such thing and would
have tried to stop the attack if he had known about it.

“I wasn’t his teacher,” Mikhail Allakhverdov (Misha) said Sunday of
Tamerlan Tsarnaev. “If I had been his teacher, I would have made sure
he never did anything like this.”

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died April 19 of injuries received during a gun
battle with police in Watertown, Mass. His 19-year-old brother,
Dzhokhar, the other suspect, was captured later that day in
Watertown. He is being held at a prison medical facility outside
Boston. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been charged with using a weapon of mass
destruction. Three people were killed and more than 250 were wounded
April 15 by two blasts near the marathon’s finish line. The brothers
also allegedly killed a MIT police officer later that week.

It was writer Christian Caryl who tracked down Allakhverdov. Caryl
writes about their conversation in The New York Review of Books’ NYR
blog. According to Caryl:

– “Having been referred by a family in Boston that was close to the
Tsarnaevs, I found Allakhverdov at his home in Rhode Island, in a
lower middle class neighborhood, where he lives in modest, tidy
apartment with his elderly parents.”

– “Allakhverdov said he had known Tamerlan in Boston, where he lived
until about three years ago, and has not had any contact with him
since.”

– Allakhverdov said he has “been cooperating entirely with the FBI. I
gave them my computer and my phone and everything I wanted to show I
haven’t done anything. And they said they are about to return them to
me. And the agents who talked told me they are about to close my
case.”

Update at 1:35 p.m. ET. Lawyer Says Misha Is Cooperating With
Authorities:

“A lawyer representing the family of Mikhail ‘Misha’ Allakhverdov, who
has been linked to one of the men suspected in the Boston Marathon
bombings, said Monday that Allakhverdov had been cooperating with
authorities and had answered all the questions asked of him,” The
Providence Journal writes. “Atty. Richard Nicholson spoke briefly
about 12:30 p.m. Monday to a group of reporters who had gathered
outside Allakhverdov’s River Street apartment.”

Billionaire Plots to Beat Chevron to Largest Latin Shale: Energy

Bloomberg.com
Apr 29, 2013

By Pablo Gonzalez

Argentina’s Eurnekian family, after becoming billionaires from media
and airports, is planning to become the government’s first shale oil
and gas partner.

Eduardo Eurnekian, tapping a fortune of at least $1.3 billion, has
pledged $700 million in two deals to hasten a definitive partnership
with Argentine government-owned YPF SA to develop its Vaca Muerta
fields. After his $500 million preliminary accord with YPF in October,
the 70-year-old last week paid about $200 million for 81 percent of
Cia. General de Combustibles SA, an oil producer and shareholder in
pipelines to YPF’s first operating shale-gas well.

`This acquisition is strategic and a clear sign our shale deal with
YPF will be accelerated and signed soon,’ Hugo Eurnekian, nephew of
Eduardo, said in an April 24 telephone interview from Buenos
Aires. `We’ll come up with a signed deal before the end of the year
for sure.’

Energy investors from around the world have lined up partnerships to
tap Vaca Muerta, holder of Latin America’s largest shale reserves,
with an estimated 23 billion barrels of oil equivalent. None has
signed a binding agreement in the year since YPF was expropriated from
Repsol SA. (REP) Madrid-based Repsol has followed through on threats
to sue anyone that attempts to develop the deposits until it’s paid
back $10.5 billion.

Shares in YPF, which tumbled 45 percent in the second quarter last
year when it was expropriated, have gained 52 percent since then on
prospects that government backing and joint ventures with major oil
companies will push up output.

First Step

`Finally signing a definitive agreement with a new investor would
boost YPF shares,’ Carlos Aszpis, an analyst at Schweber &
Cia. Sociedad de Bolsa, said by telephone from Buenos Aires.

Through Corporacion America, the Eurnekians operate 49 airports in
Latin America and Europe; produce wine, grains and oilseeds on 250,000
acres of land; and are working on a $3 billion tunnel through the
Andes connecting Argentina and Chile. In December it acquired Banco
Interfinanzas. The group’s energy holdings were limited to Unitec,
whose oil output accounted for less than a 1 percent share of the
Argentine market.

Cia. General de Combustibles, known as CGC, and the Vaca Muerta accord
represent the Eurnekians’ first step toward becoming a major Latin
American oil and gas producer, Hugo Eurnekian said. Should Argentina’s
second-richest family behind the Bulgheronis turn the December
memorandum of understanding with YPF into a binding deal it would see
the group overtake Chevron Corp. (CVX) and Bridas Corp., whose YPF
partnerships are delayed by lawsuits.

`Dead Cow’

YPF Chief Executive Officer Miguel Galuccio, appointed after President
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner seized control of the company a year
ago, is seeking partners with deep pockets to help finance a $37
billion plan to develop the shale formation. Repsol said at the time
YPF was expropriated in April 2012 it had 15 non-binding agreements
with potential partners.

The Connecticut-size area in southern Argentina’s Patagonia, whose
name translates to Dead Cow, is estimated to hold at least 23 billion
barrels, according to a Ryder Scott survey. Fernandez seized YPF on
the grounds that Madrid-based Repsol under-invested since buying the
company in the 1990s.

The CGC acquisition was Argentina’s biggest this year, according to
data compiled by Bloomberg. The Buenos Aires-based company produced 5
million barrels of oil equivalent last year from five conventional
fields in Argentina and two in Venezuela, and has 37.7 million barrels
of proven reserves, according to the company’s website. It has a 15
percent stake in Transportadora de Gas del Norte, which operates
pipelines including from YPF’s Orejano X-2 shale-gas field in Vaca
Muerta.

Asset Freeze

TGN shares have surged 49 percent this year to 88 centavos after last
year’s 27 percent slump. Argentina’s Merval stock index is up 34
percent this year and gained 16 percent in 2012.

Chevron, which signed a $1 billion tentative deal Dec. 21 with YPF,
said March 12 that the shale venture depends on lifting an embargo
ordered by Buenos Aires Civil Judge Adrian Elcuj Miranda on
Nov. 7. The San Ramon, California-based company is fighting the
Argentine asset freeze related to a $19 billion award over pollution
in Ecuador.

Chevron spokesman Jim Craig declined to comment on the status of the
MOU with YPF in an e- mailed response to questions.

YPF’s $1.5 billion shale accord with Bridas, controlled by Argentina’s
Bulgheroni brothers, was delayed after Repsol filed a lawsuit against
the venture in Madrid and Bridas countered by filing a case in New
York.

New Acquisitions

Mario Calafell, a spokesman for the Bulgheroni brothers, didn’t return
a phone call or an e-mail seeking comment. YPF spokesman Alejandro Di
Lazzaro declined to comment.

Repsol, based in Madrid, hasn’t sued the Eurnekians.

`We will closely examine the terms of any agreement to protect our
illegally confiscated assets from third-party profiteering,’ Kristian
Rix, spokesman for Repsol in Madrid, said in an interview.

CGC’s stake in pipelines connecting Vaca Muerta and other gas fields
with other markets in the region was another reason for the
acquisition, Eurnekian said. Also last week, Argentine holding company
Soc. Comercial del Plata SA bought an 11 percent stake in CGC at the
same share price paid by Eurnekian. SCP is reentering CGC after
selling an 81 percent stake in 2004 for $24 million as it battled to
remain a going concern.

`It’s a great time to grow in the oil sector and we will increase
investments in upstream like the agreement to be sealed with YPF and
also with new acquisitions we are currently analyzing,’ Eurnekian
said. `When we get into a sector, we always work hard to become the
top players.’

Diversification

Eduardo Eurnekian, the son of an Armenian immigrant, founded the
group. With no children, he is handing over operations to his nieces
and nephews. Hugo, the son of Eduardo’s deceased brother Alberto, is
leading the diversification into oil and gas as well as the Andes
tunnel, part of initiative to connect the Coquimbo port on the Pacific
with Brazil’s Porto Alegre port on the Atlantic.

Eurnekian is worth at least $1.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg
Billionaires Index, based on his ownership of Aeropuertos Argentina
2000 SA. Last year, the Buenos Aires-based airport operator generated
738 million pesos ($142 million) in earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortization, 250 million pesos in profit and had 1.3
billion pesos in net debt, according to financial statements on the
website of Argentina’s securities regulator.

Self-Funded

The operation is valued at $1.3 billion, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg, when comparing the results to the average enterprise
value-to-Ebitda and price-to-earnings multiples of four emerging
market peers: Mexico’s Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico SAB and Grupo
Aeroportuario del Centro Norte, China’s Shanghai International Airport
Co. and Bangkok-based Airports of Thailand Public Co. Enterprise value
is defined as market capitalization plus total debt minus cash.

`We bought this company with our own cash flow, we don’t need to
borrow money to grow,’ said Eurnekian. =80=9CI don’t know how much
money we have — it’s certainly well over $1 billion. Our main goal,
though, is not to be billionaires, but become top players to change
the region.’

To contact the reporter on this story: Pablo Gonzalez in Buenos Aires
at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Attwood at
[email protected]