January 30 (SeeNews) - Following is a selection of top stories moved by SeeNews The Corporate Wire this week:
MACEDONIA AGAIN TOPS ECONOMIC FREEDOM CHART IN SEE, MOLDOVA STAYS AT BOTTOM
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Macedonia once again ranked highest among the countries in Southeastern Europe (SEE) in the global economic freedom chart of The Heritage Foundation, although dropping by 10 places, while Moldova stayed at the bottom.
Macedonia fell to the 53rd place from last year's 43rd place in the 2015 Index of Economic Freedom, U.S. think-tank The Heritage Foundation said. The think-tank's index measures economic freedom in 10 specific categories: labour freedom, business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal freedom, government spending, monetary freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom, property rights and freedom from corruption.
Read more at: http://wire.seenews.com/news/macedonia-again-tops-economic-freedom-chart-in-see-moldova-stays-at-bottom-460559
SERBIA'S NIS FAILS TO COMPLETE WELL DRILLING PROGRAMME AGREED WITH FALCON OIL&GAS
Falcon Oil&Gas said on Monday the extension granted to its partner, Novi Sad-based oil and gas company NIS [BEL:NIIS], regarding a three-well drilling and testing programme in Hungary has expired with the Serbian firm failing to fulfil its commitments.
As of December 31, NIS has only drilled and tested two wells and Falcon is currently evaluating, and will pursue, all options available to the company to derive shareholder value as NIS has not fulfilled its commitments under the agreement, Falcon Oil&Gas said in a statement.
In January 2013, Falcon agreed a three-well drilling programme with NIS to target the Algyo play in Hungary with the Serbian firm making a cash payment of $1.5 million (1.34 million euro) to Falcon in February 2013, and agreed to drill three wells by July 2014. In July, Falcon Oil&Gas extended to December 31 the date for completion of the three well programme with NIS so that the Serbian company can complete the testing of the Besa-D-1 well, evaluate the hydrocarbon potential of the entire Mako Trough including the Deep Mako play and fulfill the third well obligation of the drilling programme.
Read more at: http://wire.seenews.com/news/serbias-nis-fails-to-complete-well-drilling-program-agreed-with-falcon-oil-gas-460142
CROATIA'S TANKERSKA PLOVIDBA OPENS BOOKS ON TNG IPO
Croatian shipping company Tankerska Plovidba [ZSE:TNPL-R-A] started on Monday the book-building for the initial public offering (IPO) on the Zagreb bourse of its wholly-owned unit Tankerska Next Generation (TNG), one of the offering's joint bookrunners said.
Read more at: http://wire.seenews.com/news/croatias-tankerska-plovidba-opens-books-on-tng-ipo-460263
M&A ACTIVITY IN ROMANIA ALMOST FLAT AT 1.2 BLN EURO IN 2014 - PwC
The Romanian market registered mergers and acquisition (M&A) transactions worth around 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) in 2014, almost flat on the year, global consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said on Monday.
The overall value of M&A deals in Romania was the third largest in Central and Eastern Europe, after Poland and the Czech Republic, countries that traditionally have larger M&A markets, PwC Romania said in a statement.
Read more at: http://wire.seenews.com/news/m-a-activity-in-romania-almost-flat-at-1-2-bln-euro-in-2014-pwc-460165
BULGARIAN IT CO SCALEFOCUS PLANS FOR 600 STAFF IN FIVE YEARS
Bulgarian IT service provider ScaleFocus said on Tuesday it aims to increase its staff to more than 600 within five years.
The growth is part of the company's strategy to become an international service provider with offices in different parts of the world, ScaleFocus said.
Read more at: http://wire.seenews.com/news/bulgarian-it-co-scalefocus-plans-for-600-staff-in-five-years-460336