| Art porn for $12 mn: How Sotheby’s sets auction prices
LONDON: Sotheby's will offer a Gerhard Richter painting of naked prostitutes at more than twice the artist's auction record next month in New York. A Mark Rothko picture owned by David Rockefeller is also being pitched at double the painter's previous peak. The No 2 auction house said the prices reflect what buyers paid for similar works in private transactions. It shows how auctioneers are taking their cue from a few wealthy collectors outside the public salerooms, and increasingly depend on a group of billionaires to keep values escalating and their commissions mounting. Richter, whose collectors include Ronald Lauder and the Guggenheim Museum, used pornographic photographs to create his 1967 black-and-white painting "Zwei Spanische Akte (Osterakte)" now on show at Sotheby's in London.
Local producer bids on Toronto's historic theatres
Rising Toronto impresario Aubrey Dan wants to buy what he calls the "beautiful crown jewels" of the Ontario capital's theatrical venues, the 2,200-seat Canon and the 701-seat Panasonic. Dan confirmed Tuesday that his company, Dancap Productions, "is participating in the bidding process" for the two heritage theatres, both of which are located on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto and both of which were put up for sale by their current owner, Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Live Nation Inc. "You need theatres to produce and to present, for sure," Dan said. "There's no question about that." Live Nation, spun off in 2005 as the theatrical division of media giant Clear Channel, announced earlier this year that it was selling 13 theatres across North America, 11 of them in the United States, to concentrate on what it calls its "core business" of live music.
Japan's Notes Have Weekly Gain on Expectation Rates to Stay Low
April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's five-year notes had a weekly gain on speculation slowing corporate spending will encourage the central bank to keep interest rates unchanged in coming months. The notes halted a three-week decline, the longest slump since January, after a report on April 11 showed a worse-than- expected drop in machinery orders, highlighting concerns export growth may slow. Five-year notes also rose after an auction of the debt two days ago drew the second-highest demand in the past year. ``Investors such as banks are probably favoring the medium- term notes based on the view that the central bank won't raise rates anytime soon,'' said Hiroaki Takai, who helps oversee the equivalent of about $6.7 billion in assets at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co.
Bidding problems cause delay on courthouse construction
The proposed new federal courthouse in Great Falls is delayed because of complications in the bidding process, but federal officials expect a contract to be awarded soon with construction to get under way this summer. "We've experienced some delays, but are still moving forward," said project manager Shelley Smith of the Denver regional office of the General Services Administration. "I'm still negotiating with the development companies that submitted bids. Great Falls folks will see a flurry of building activity after the award is made." .
|
