VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Craig Uden, who fattens cattle for beef on his Nebraska feedlot, expects to cut his energy costs by as much as a quarter this year because of falling oil prices - a silver lining in an otherwise tough rural economy.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ.AX) on Monday said Mark Whelan will replace Phillip Chronican as the head of its Australian business.

Sterling scaled a six-week peak early on Monday following recent hawkish-sounding comments from the Bank of England, while the other major currencies were subdued in a holiday-riddled week.

The coming week will go a long way to dictating whether Greece remains in the euro zone. A meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday is tasked with producing a deal that will keep Greece solvent and which is acceptable to both sides.

Asian stocks and the euro fell on Thursday as markets erred on the side of caution over the ongoing Greek debt negotiations amid conflicting headlines on progress in the talks.

Australia faces a A$17 billion ($13.3 billion) exodus of investment from its windfarm industry because of a political deadlock, threatening to deal the country a major economic blow and kill hopes of meeting a self-imposed clean energy target.

The British government plans to introduce a law before May forcing tobacco firms to sell cigarettes in plain packets without branding in England, ending years of debate and lobbying.

Asian shares held near eight-week highs on Thursday as investors bet on the likely size and scope of a bond-buying program the European Central Bank is poised to unveil later in the day in an attempt to revive the flagging euro zone economy.

Asian stocks mostly edged up on Thursday after a significant rebound in oil and copper prices brought a semblance of calm, while the dollar regained ground lost on disappointing U.S. retail sales.

The euro hit a nine-year trough on Wednesday as collapsing oil prices and worries about the world economy drove skittish investors into the arms of safe-haven sovereign debt.

Australia's Hoyts Group said on Tuesday it has been sold by its private equity owner Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) to an investment vehicle set up by Chinese entrepreneur Sun Xishuang.

Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial plans to raise its full takeover offer for Australia's Transfield Services Ltd, daily financial newspaper Expansion reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources.

Standard Chartered (STAN.L) has agreed to sell its Hong Kong-based consumer finance business to a consortium that includes Pepper Australia Pty Ltd and a Chinese group, in a deal estimated between $600 million to $700 million, two people with knowledge of the deal said.

Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are amassing vast copper holdings in a push to capture a greater chunk of the $140 billion world market, apparently aiming to squeeze out high-cost producers just as they did in the global iron ore business.

Australia is experiencing a record-shattering boom in technology listings as start-ups starved of venture capital funding pursue backdoor listings, a trend that has regulators concerned companies are trying to take short cuts to get to market.