All hugs and kisses: Triple Five to invest in Cyprus?

Triple Five, the Canadian finance, transport and retail group owned by the Ghermezian Iranian Jewish family, wants to invest in Cyprus, initially by buying about 500 mln euros worth of government bonds and later to establish a bank, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based Peoples Trust.
Nader Ghermezian, chairman of the group that owns the two biggest shopping malls in North America, was received by Cyprus President Demetris Christofias in a warm atmosphere, according to media reports Thursday. He had been waiting to meet the Cyprus leadership for 18 months, reports said.
Cyprus has been effectively shut out of international markets amid sovereign rating downgrades due to its exposure to the Greek crisis and has resorted to Russia for its borrowing needs with a 2.5 bln euro loan that will keep the government afloat until the end of 2012.
The government has also resorted to auctioning off the 12 remaining licenses of its offshore economic zone for natural gas exploration, after Texas-based Noble Energy claimed a “significant” discovery last December, very close to a similar Israeli offshore plot which is considered the largest deposit in the eastern Mediterranean.
Triple Five is interested to bid for one of the offshore licenses and is also keen to help increase the flow of tourists to the island, previously a favourite destination for British and German holidaymakers, but now rising in popularity among Russian vacationers.