luxembourg

Royalty
- The Grand Duke of Luxembourg is the monarchical head of state of Luxembourg. Luxembourg has been a grand duchy since 15 March 1815, when it was elevated from a duchy, and was in personal union with the United Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1890 under the House of Orange-Nassau and is the world's only sovereign grand duchy. Since 1815, there have been nine monarchs of Luxembourg, including the incumbent, Henri. The constitution of Luxembourg defines the grand duke's position:

The Grand Duke is the head of state, symbol of its unity, and guarantor of national independence. He exercises executive power in accordance with the constitution and the laws of the country.

After a constitutional change (to article 34) in December 2008 resulting from Henri's refusal to sign a law legalizing euthanasia, laws now take effect without the grand duke's assent. As a result, the grand duke no longer has any formal role in the legislative process, but his task of promulgating the law as chief executive remains.Succession to the throne was governed by Salic law, as dictated by the Nassau Family Pact, first adopted on 30 June 1783.^[1]The right to reign over Luxembourg was until June 2011 passed by agnatic-cognatic primogeniture within the House of Nassau, as stipulated under the 1815 Final Act of the Congress of Vienna and as confirmed by the 1867 Treaty of London.^[1]The Nassau Family Pact itself can be amended by the usual legislative process, having been so on 10 July 1907 to exclude the Count of Merenberg branch of the House, which was descended from a morganatic marriage.

• hkej 23jun17 shum article

- Prince Louis of Luxembourg

• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4136454/Prince-Louis-Princess-Tessy-interview-divorce.html 

association
- luxembourg for finance http://www.luxembourgforfinance.com/
- The Luxembourg Stock Exchange, LuxSE (French: Bourse de Luxembourg) 

• A law establishing a stock exchange in Luxembourg was passed on 30 December 1927.^[3]The company was incorporated as Société Anonyme de la Bourse de Luxembourg on 5 April 1928^[3], with an initial issue of 7,000 shares, each valued at 1000 francs. In March 2014, LuxSE moved to its new headquarters – the Aurora building– erected in line with the green construction concept.
• Se especializa principalmente en la cotización de bonos financieros internacionales, en el que ocupa el primer lugar en Europa, con 32.933 títulos de deuda listados en el mercado bursátil en 2008.^[1]​ La bolsa de Luxemburgo fue la primera bolsa en cotizar Eurobonos, con la emisión de bonos de la italiana Autostrade en 1963,^[4]​ y, hasta día de hoy, Luxemburgo ha mantenido una posición dominante en la cotización de bonos europeos, con aproximadamente el 60% de los bonos internacionales en Europa siendo listados en el mercado luxemburgués.^[4]​ Cincuenta países listan por lo menos parte de su deuda soberanaen Luxemburgo, mientras que Luxemburgo es también un mercado para deuda del BERD, la Comisión Europea, el Banco Europeo de Inversiones, y el Banco Mundial.
• El principal índice de valores de la bolsa de Luxemburgo es el llamado LuxX Index, que es un índice ponderado de los diez títulos de mayor valor por capitalización de mercado de cotización libre.^[5]​ El índice fue fijado en 1000 puntos el 4 de enero de 1999: el primer día de negociación del mercado después de que Luxemburgo adoptara el euro.
• En septembre 2016, la Bourse de Luxembourg est devenue la première bourse mondiale à introduire une plate-forme pour les instruments financiers verts^[1] : le Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX). Kiv its target for bond issuance in 2020.
• Launch of china green bond in june 2017 with shanghai stock exchange.

Company
- Altice

• Altice est un groupe multinational regroupant des câblo-opérateurs, des opérateurs de télécommunications et des entreprises de communications4. Il est présent en Belgique, France - y compris outre-mer aux Antilles, en Guyane et dans l'Océan Indien - Israël,Luxembourg, Maurice, Portugal, République dominicaine et Suisse.

- JAB holding

• JAB Holding Company (“JAB”) is a privately held group focused on investments in companies with premium brands in the Consumer Goods category. JAB’s portfolio includes a minority stake in the consumer products company Reckitt Benckiser, a majority stake in Coty, Inc., a majority stake inPeet’s Coffee & Tea, a majority stake in Caribou Coffee Company, a majority stake in Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) (resulting from the combination of D.E. Master Blenders and Mondelēz International's coffee portfolio), a majority stake in Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, and a majority stake in Jimmy Choo Ltd. JAB also owns Bally, Belstaff, Zagliani, Espresso House and Baresso Coffee A/S.
• economist 22feb19 on investments in latin america

- Adecoagro S.A., incorporated on June 17, 2010, is a holding company primarily engaged through its operating subsidiaries in agricultural and agro-industrial activities. The Company is involved in a range of businesses, including farming crops and other agricultural products, dairy operations, sugar, ethanol and energy production and land transformation. The Company is organized into three main lines of business: farming; land transformation, and sugar, ethanol and energy. Its agricultural activities consist of harvesting certain agricultural products, including crops (soybeans, corn and wheat), rough rice and sugarcane, for sale to third parties and for internal use as inputs in its various manufacturing processes, and producing raw milk. The Company's manufacturing activities consist of selling manufactured products, including processed rice, sugar, ethanol and energy, among others, and providing services, such as grain warehousing and conditioning and handling and drying services, among others. Its land transformation activities consist of the acquisition of farmlands or businesses with underdeveloped or underutilized agricultural land and implementing production technology and agricultural practices to enhance yields and increase the value of the land.
- ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourg-based multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Boulevard d’Avranches, Luxembourg. It was formed in 2006 from the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Mittal Steel.

• https://www.ft.com/content/714da314-f12d-11e6-8758-6876151821a6 The head of steel group ArcelorMittal has urged Brussels to look at increasing the cost of goods imported to Europe from countries without a carbon price to help protect EU companies from the bloc’s latest efforts to curb global warming.

- Banque Internationale à Luxembourg S.A. (BIL) is a Luxembourgish bank. The bank is owned by Precision Capital and the Luxembourg government. Along with its sister bank KBL European Private Bankers, it was supervised by European Central Bank due to their size.Found in 1856, the bank was a major bank of Luxembourg. It was acquired by Dexia in 1991. In 2012 Dexia sold BIL for €730 million.

• 联想控股（03396）宣布，策略收购卢森堡国际银行（Banque Internationale À Luxembourg，简称“BIL”）近90%股权，作价涉及14.8亿欧元，相当于约116.5亿元人民币。有关交易仍需通过欧洲中央银行、卢森堡金融监管委员会，以及相关监管部门的审枇，还要取得联想控股股东的同意。http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20170902/PDF/a11_screen.pdf

- Bendura Bank AG provides banking and financial services. It operates through three segments: Asset Management and Investment Advice, Transaction Banking, and Security Issuance and Investment Funds. The company was formerly known as Valartis Bank (Liechtenstein) AG and changed its name to Bendura Bank AG in February 2017. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Gamprin, Liechtenstein. As of September 20, 2016, Bendura Bank AG acts as a subsidiary of Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group Limited.https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=13526227

• 冠城鐘錶珠寶（0256）持股84.69%、位於列支敦士登的富地銀行，昨日公佈在本港設立香港代表辦事處，以拓展亞太區市場，截至6月底，富地銀行管理合共近40億美元的資產，該行行政總裁英颯（Andreas Insam）昨日出席記者會表示，在港設立辦事處可望吸納大中華高端客戶，為香港及亞太區富裕家族企業提供財富增值和財富保障服務。

- press

• Luxemburger Wort has been published since 1848.^[1] The paper was founded just three days after press censorship was abolished. The newspaper is mainly written in German, but includes small sections in both Luxembourgish and French.^[1] The paper is part of the Saint-Paul Luxembourg S.A.^[2] The paper is owned by the archbishopric and has a strong Catholic leaning. From its very foundation, the newspaper opposed the Volksfreund, founded by Samuel Hirsch, and the Judenrabbiner, as well as the subsidy for the Jewish congregation. In the period from 1849 to 1880, on average it published two anti-Semitic articles per week. From 1938, the newspaper opposed Nazi Germany. In 1940, after the German invasion of Luxembourg, the Luxemburger Wort was co-opted as part of the occupation. The director Jean Origer and the editors Batty Esch and Pierre Grégoire were arrested by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. Pierre Grégoire was the only one of them to survive imprisonment.^[5] After the liberation of Luxembourg, the paper produced the headline: Lëtzebuerg as fräi! ("Luxembourg is free!"). At the same time this was one of few editions that appeared entirely in Luxembourgish; the publishing house also changed its name from German into French as a symbolic act.

- Cube Infrastructure Managers is an independent Luxembourgian management company focusing on investments in the European infrastructure space. https://www.cubeinfrastructure.com/

• Complaint to recognize and enforce an arbitral award of €33.7 million in losses, plus costs of €1.5 million and $262,500, in Cube Infrastructure Fund SICAV, of Luxembourg; Cube Infrastructure Managers SA, of Luxembourg; Cube Energy SCA, now Cube Energy Sarl, of Luxembourg; Demeter Partners SA, of France, and Demeter 2 FPCI, of France v. The Kingdom of Spain at the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia.https://www.offshorealert.com/cube-infrastructure-fund-sicav-v-kingdom-of-spain-complaint-to-enforce-arbitration-award.aspx

politics
- voting rights

• economist 20oct18 "taxation without representation" half of those living in luxembourg cannot vote

neutrality status
- hkej 23jun17 shum article


tax avoidance
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c8de6734-65d0-11e4-898f-00144feabdc0.html Luxembourg has pledged to overhaul its culture of financial secrecy, and has fought back against accusations that it helped leading multinationals avoid billions of dollars of tax. The claims could prove highly embarrassing to Jean-Claude Juncker, the new president of the European Commission, who was prime minister of Luxembourg when the corporate tax deals were allegedly struck. 
Officials were responding to a report that more than 340 multinationals, including such global names as Pepsi, Procter & Gamble and JPMorgan, made secret deals with the Grand Duchy between 2002 and 2010 that saved them billions of dollars in taxes.

• http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2e194acc-6a88-11e4-a038-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3Iv13izub Berlin has taken a swipe at the new head of the European Commission by questioning the fairness of hundreds of controversial tax deals struck while Jean-Claude Juncker was still Luxembourg’s prime minister.

official language
- Upon the founding of the country, French enjoyed the greatest prestige, and therefore gained preferential use as the official and administrative language. German was used in the political field to comment on the laws and the ordinances in order to make them comprehensible to everyone. At the primary-school level, teaching was limited to German, while French was taught in secondary education. The law of 26 July 1843, reinforced bilingualism by introducing the teaching of French in primary school.Luxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch), a Franconian language of the Moselle region similar to German and Dutch, was introduced in primary school in 1912. It is a Mosel-Frankish dialect like the dialects in Germany bordering Luxembourg. Unlike its German counterparts, it uses many French words and is recognised to be a separate language rather than a German dialect. The formalization of regional German dialects into national languages arose from the desire to impress a distinct national identity, not associated with the German State. In Switzerland, written German was maintained, albeit with some differences in vocabulary, differing strongly from the spoken Swiss-German speech which the average German cannot understand. In Luxembourg, the dialect was phonetically transcribed into a new language, and while Luxembourgish and a mix of other different languages are spoken on the street, French is often the main language spoken next to German and sometimes Luxembourgish in shops or other commercial sites. This could be explained by the fact that the strength of a dialect can be an indicator of inferior social standing. The first printed sentences in Luxembourgish appeared in 1821 in a weekly journal the Luxemburger Wochenblatt. The first book in Luxembourgish was released in 1829 by Antoine Meyer: E' Schrek ob de' Lezeburger Parnassus. Until the 1980s, the language had been used mainly for poetry and drama but has since become increasingly popular for fiction which now represents a significant contribution to Luxembourg literature. Between 2000 and 2002, Luxembourgish linguist Jerome Lulling developed a lexical database of 185,000 word forms for the very first Luxembourgish spellchecker, thus launching the computerisation of the Luxembourgish language.
- Until 1984, the official use of the languages was based on the grand-ducal decrees of 1830, 1832 and 1834, which allowed the free choice between German and French. French was preferred in the administration. Luxembourgish had no official status at all. The constitutional revision of 1984 gave the legislature the power to regulate the language by law. On February 24, 1984, a law, passed by the constitutional chamber, made Luxemburgish the national language. Furthermore, this law recognised the three languages of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish, French and German) as administrative languages. French remains the language of legislation, due to the application of the Napoleonic civil code in Luxembourg.

luxembourgish (language)

- https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Luxembourg-not-a-part-of-Germany-or-Belgium native speech Lëtzebuergesch (Luxembourgish) is a Germanic dialect of the West Mosel variety, it transformed itself in the 20th century through a combination of history, politics and conscious decision-making from a French-influenced German-speaking state into a German-influenced French-speaking state, presenting a more Gallic face to the outside world than a Germanic one. This was not an accidental occurrence. Luxembourg was twice occupied by Germany in the course of the 20th century, which left a deep resentment in the country (“We’re Germans, but not that kind of German!”).


History
- The Ancient Order of St. George (German:Alter Orden vom St. Georg), also known as the Order of the Four Roman Emperors(German: Orden der Vier Römischen Kaiser) or Order of the Ancient Nobility (German:Orden des Alten Adels), is a historic secularorder of chivalry. The history of the Ancient Order of St. George dates back to the two knightly associations of the House of Luxembourg in the 14th and 15th century, when in 1308 King of Germany (and later Holy Roman Emperor) Henry VII endowed the “Order of the Ancient Nobility” and in 1408 the King of Hungary (and later Holy Roman Emperor) Sigismund instituted the “Order of the Dragon”. Both founders were striving to fortify Christendom and knightly virtues. As a result of his defeat by the Ottomans at the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396, Sigismund placed the so called “Confraternity With the Dragon” (ref. Ouroboros) of Ancient Nobility under the protection of Saint George, from which the Order still today derives its name of two components. Following the extinction of the House of Luxembourg in the middle of the 15th century, the Order remained affiliated to the Holy Roman Emperors of the House of Habsburg. Since the 19th century the Order has upheld a firm loyalty to the archducal House of Austria. Accordingly, Dr. Otto von Habsburg-Lothringen was patron of the Ancient Order of St. George from 1972 until his death in July 2011.
- https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Luxembourg-not-a-part-of-Germany-or-Belgium in the 19th century, when the modern German state was coalescing under Prussian leadership as part of the kleindeutsch (lesser German) solution to German unity (as opposed to the großdeutsch - greater German - solution under Austrian leadership), Luxembourg as an independent grand-duchy (Großherzogtum) decided not to participate. However, it was a member of the German Bund (Deutscher Bund), a (very) loose federation of German-speaking states that existed prior to the unification of Germany on the kleindeutsch model under Prussia in 1871. It was also part of the Prussian-sponsored Zollverein (customs union) of the German states. Luxembourg was one of the few such states to decline participation in the newly-unified German state (in spite of great pressure from land- and prestige-hungry Prussia), and has maintained its independence down to the present day. If anything, Luxembourg together with Liechtenstein are the last survivors of the multitude of German-speaking micro-states that once dotted Central Europe until the last quarter of the 19th century.If I remember correctly, there was a close connection between the ruling families of the (remaining part of the) Netherlands and Luxembourg (they had a common monarch between 1815 and 1890). In those circumstances, the Netherlands would certainly not have been pleased if the newly-independent Belgium had acquired even more territory than it already had (the relationship between the Netherlands and Belgium would remain poor on a political level for about a century, until the 1930’s). France and Prussia (later Germany) were in a state of almost permanent political rivalry throughout the 19th century, and so neither would have been happy if Luxembourg had been absorbed into the other. So, in the complex web of 19th century European politics, the continued survival of Luxembourg as a kind of ‘buffer-state’ turned out to be the most convenient and pragmatic solution for all parties concerned. Basically, Prussia (later, Germany), France, Belgium and the Netherlands were saying to each other, “If I can’t have it, then neither can you”.https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Luxembourg-not-a-part-of-Germany-or-Belgium

usa
- https://www.ft.com/content/0ab10a40-9ee5-11e7-8cd4-932067fbf946 The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has won a hard-fought battle against a landowner in the central region of Bissen, whose refusal to sell a small plot of potato farmland had threatened to scupper its efforts to woo Google for a billion-euro investment. Luxembourg had been vying with countries including Austria to persuade Google to build its next EU data centre in the country — an investment that could prove transformative for the tiny nation of fewer than 600,000 people by creating jobs and attracting other technology businesses. Luxembourg’s gross domestic product last year was $60bn. 

uk
- http://in.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-luxembourg-idINKBN1581EU Companies aiming to relocate from the United Kingdom to Luxembourg ahead of Britain's exit from the European Union will have to establish a substantial presence in the country, including key decision-makers and functions, the Benelux nation's financial watchdog told Reuters. FT 6FEB17 Luxembourg braced for more business exits

China
- leaders visit

• http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-06/13/content_29721158.htm Airline freight shipping was a major highlight of the cooperative agreements made by China and Luxembourg on Monday as Premier Li Keqiang met with visiting Prime Minister Xavier Bettel. The four pacts signed after their meeting included a deal about joint investment involving airline freight shipping companies from Luxembourg and central China's Henan province. Officials and experts observed that the agreement was made at a time when China is expanding connectivity cooperation with the country well known as a European financial and transportation hub. As early as 2014, a company owned by the Henan provincial government purchased 35 percent of shares in Luxembourg's Cargolux Airlines International. During the meeting, Li proposed the two countries should expand their agreement on aviation rights arrangement and reinforce cooperation in areas such as trade, investment and financing. Li said the two countries should push to upgrade their cooperation on steel and explore cooperation involving both countries and third-party markets. Bettel said Luxembourg is ready to expand cooperation with China in areas such as trade, investment, financing, space technology, steel, aviation and telecommunications. Also on Monday, the two countries signed agreements in areas including internet financing, public security and joint film shooting.

- ties, statistics

• http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2017-09/30/content_32678164.htm 

- schengen visa application

• http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/tech/2015-07/16/content_21294579.htm Anyone planning to apply for a Schengen visa through Sesame Credit Management, a consumer credit agency backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, may have to wait for another two months. On Wednesday, an employee, surnamed Chen, from the Consulate General of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in Shanghai, told China Daily that the credit-based visa application process for Chinese tourists is yet to start. "Sesame Credit is still working on the necessary infrastructure for the online application platform and we expect to roll out the service by the end of August or in early September," Chen said. The credit-based visa application service is an initiative jointly launched by Sesame Credit, a business unit under Ant Financial, owner of the nation's largest mobile payment platform Alipay, and the consulate of Luxembourg in Shanghai. It allows Chinese with a certain credit score to apply for Luxembourg visas through Alitrip, the online travel booking platform under Alibaba. The consulate will accept a Sesame Credit report as proof of financial capability, without requiring employment certificates, household registration certificates and other documents. Earlier, Sesame Credit said the service would be operational by the end of June. The delay in the roll out means a large number of Chinese parents who wanted to take their children to Europe for summer vocations cannot utilize the new visa channel for the time being.

- http://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/1610250/mainland-chinese-banks-eye-luxembourg-euro-zone-hub

- stock connect

• Interested in shenzhen stock connect http://www.hkcd.com.hk/pdf/201509/0923/HA07923COWW.pdf

- aviation

• http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2017-06/15/content_29750142.htm On Monday, Bettel and Premier Li Keqiang witnessed the signing of a joint investment deal involving airline freight shipping companies from Luxembourg and Henan province.

- film

• http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2016-06/30/content_38780221.htm Guy Daleiden, managing director of Film Fund Luxembourg, told China Daily on the sidelines of the 2017 Schengen Chinese Film Prize, a new event jointly held by Luxembourg and China, in Shanghai on June 13.

Hong kong
- financial

• https://www.sfc.hk/edistributionWeb/gateway/EN/news-and-announcements/news/doc?refNo=19PR3 The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Mutual Recognition of Funds (MRF), which will allow eligible Hong Kong public funds and Luxembourg UCITS funds to be distributed in each other’s market through a streamlined process. The MoU also establishes a framework for exchange of information, regular dialogue as well as regulatory cooperation in relation to the cross-border offering of eligible Hong Kong public funds and Luxembourg UCITS funds.

- news supp

• Scmp 23jun16