Crocs CEO leaving ahead of investment

THE company that makes Crocs shoes is getting a $US200 million ($A226.3 million) bailout from a private equity fund, and its CEO is retiring.

Crocs shares peaked in 2007 as buyers snapped up the clogs known for being comfortable but ugly. But it hasn't been able to add new products with the same popularity.

Its shares rose 10 per cent in premarket trading on Monday.

Crocs says it will use the money from Blackstone for a $US350 million share buyback.

As part of the deal, Blackstone gets two seats on the Crocs board. And CEO John McCarvel is retiring and giving up his board seat around the end of April.

Crocs says fourth-quarter revenue will be at the low end of what it had expected, and its quarterly loss will match its worst prediction.

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Sydney NYE to be 'absolutely spectacular'

SYDNEYSIDERS are in for "absolutely spectacular" fireworks this New Year's Eve as the harbour city gears up to ring in 2014.

Tuesday night's fireworks will include 11,000 aerial shells and 25,000 shooting comets that will explode from seven barges spread across 6km of Sydney Harbour.

For the first time in a decade, 1000 fireworks will also be shot from the top of the Opera House, as well as from the Harbour Bridge and jet skis stationed in the harbour.

Fireworks displays will explode across the harbour at 9pm, 10.30pm and midnight.

Sydney New Year's Eve producer Aneurin Coffey said there was "something for everybody" in the pyrotechnic extravaganza.

"Plan your night ahead so work out where you want to go and work out a backup location in case that area is full," Mr Coffey said.

"It'll be absolutely spectacular, there's some really new stuff this year."

For those heading to the foreshore, organisers say the Sydney Opera House and Dawes Point usually see the first trickle of spectators from about 5am (AEDT), with Bradfield Park, Blues Point Reserve and Observatory Hill Park also popular early.

With 1.5 million people expected to flock to Sydney for the celebrations, organisers are also urging people to seek vantage points outside the CBD.

Emergency services will be out in high numbers, with 2500 police on the beat in Sydney and 3000 across NSW.

This year's top-secret bridge effect,a highlight of the midnight display, is said to be as big as a 12-storey building and 72 metres wide.

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Shots fired at German ambassador's home

GERMAN Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has condemned an attack on the residence of the German ambassador in Athens, saying the act would not affect German-Greek relations.

"This is an act that we are taking very seriously. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, can justify such an attack on a representative of our country," Steinmeier said in Berlin.

The foreign minister said the assailants would not succeed in "damaging the good relations between Germany and Greece and between Germans and Greeks".

Greek police said shots were fired from a Kalashnikov assault rifle at the residence of Wolfgang Doldt in the Athens district of Chalandri at 3am on Monday.

No one was injured in the attack.

At least 20 shots were fired, according to a report by the radio station Skai. Four bullets reportedly lodged in the garden gate.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras had telephoned Chancellor Angela Merkel about the attack.

He said Merkel wished Greeks a good EU presidency over the next six months, saying that Greece could count on German support.

A spokesman for Steinmeier stated that the reaction by Greek authorities to the shooting was "quick and circumspect".

The Greek government also assured Germany that security measures would be strengthened at the site and that everything would be done to apprehend and prosecute the culprits.

According to press reports, anti-terrorism police have arrested three people.

The German ambassador's residence was the target of a terrorist attack in 1999 when an anti-tank weapon was fired at it.

Many in Greece blame Germany's stance on austerity measures for their economic troubles.

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