Market Chatter-Corporate finance press digest

Wed Feb 27, 2013 11:20pm EST

Feb 28 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related stories were reported by media on Thursday:

* France's Vivendi SA could put the sale of its Brazilian phone and broadband Internet company GVT SA on hold as bids are coming short of the asking price of 7 billion euros ($9.18 billion)to 8 billion euros, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.

* Barclays Plc has recouped about 300 million pounds in promised bonuses from its bankers in the biggest ever effort by a global bank to strip staff of previous years' awards.

* New UK banks will be allowed to operate with lower capital requirements than their established peers, as part of a regulatory push to encourage competition in high street banking.

* Nokia Siemens Networks has completed the strategic sell-off of its non-core businesses, signalling the next stage in a restructuring process that has already seen a reduction of more than 17,000 jobs at the telecoms equipment business.

* Fashion house BCBG Max Azria Group Inc, whose clothing has been worn by celebrities such as Beyonce and Angelina Jolie, is exploring a potential sale that could fetch around $1 billion, two people familiar with the matter said.

* A U.S. Air Force contract won by Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA is a "very good development" for a bid by Boeing Co to supply fighter jets for Brazil's armed forces, a senior Brazilian official said on Wednesday.

* LCH.Clearnet will raise 300 million pounds ($454.02 million) through a capital raising in the coming days that is expected to see exchange operator Nasdaq OMX Group Inc raise its minority stake in the trans-Atlantic clearing house, Sky News reported on Wednesday.

* Flowers Foods Inc is set to buy Wonder Bread and some other brands owned by Hostess Brands Inc for $360 million, a source familiar with the matter said, giving the No. 2 U.S. baking company a bigger slice of the fast-consolidating bread business.

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

UPDATE 1-Market Chatter-Corporate finance press digest

Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:06am EST

Feb 28 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related stories were reported by media on Thursday:

* Regulators have escalated an investigation into suspicious trades placed ahead of the $23 billion takeover of H.J. Heinz Co , focusing on a complex derivatives bet routed through London, the New York Times reported, citing two people briefed on the matter.

* France's Vivendi SA could put the sale of its Brazilian phone and broadband Internet company GVT SA on hold as bids are coming short of the asking price of 7 billion euros ($9.18 billion)to 8 billion euros, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.

* New UK banks will be allowed to operate with lower capital requirements than their established peers, as part of a regulatory push to encourage competition in high street banking.

* Britain's Barclays Plc plans to cut or claw back about 450 million pounds ($681.03 million) of pay from its staff over a rate-rigging scandal that last year forced out its chief executive and chairman, a person close to the matter said on Wednesday.

* Nokia Siemens Networks has completed the strategic sell-off of its non-core businesses, signalling the next stage in a restructuring process that has already seen a reduction of more than 17,000 jobs at the telecoms equipment business.

* Fashion house BCBG Max Azria Group Inc, whose clothing has been worn by celebrities such as Beyonce and Angelina Jolie, is exploring a potential sale that could fetch around $1 billion, two people familiar with the matter said.

* A U.S. Air Force contract won by Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA is a "very good development" for a bid by Boeing Co to supply fighter jets for Brazil's armed forces, a senior Brazilian official said on Wednesday.

* LCH.Clearnet will raise 300 million pounds ($454.02 million) through a capital raising in the coming days that is expected to see exchange operator Nasdaq OMX Group Inc raise its minority stake in the trans-Atlantic clearing house, Sky News reported on Wednesday.

* Flowers Foods Inc is set to buy Wonder Bread and some other brands owned by Hostess Brands Inc for $360 million, a source familiar with the matter said, giving the No. 2 U.S. baking company a bigger slice of the fast-consolidating bread business.

* British private equity firm Apax Partners LLP raised $90.2 million after selling a 4.2 percent stake in India's Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd through blocks of shares, a source with knowledge of the sale told Reuters on Thursday.

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

Frankfurter Allgemeine rescues left-leaning rival newspaper

FRANKFURT | Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:01am EST

FRANKFURT Feb 28 (Reuters) - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany's leading conservative newspaper, has rescued left-leaning rival Frankfurter Rundschau.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and media house Frankfurter Societaet said on Thursday they would take over the Rundschau from March 1, adding its editorial independence was assured.

The move would help "preserve the diversity of opinion" in the Frankfurt region, as well as 28 journalist positions out of the Rundschau's previous 450 employees. The Rundschau's former owners declared insolvency in November after years of losses.

The gloom hanging over the country's newspapers, struggling with a post-crisis drop in advertising revenue and subscribers switching to online media, was compounded in December when business daily Financial Times Deutschland ceased publication. (Reporting by Jonathan Gould; Editing by Dan Lalor)

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

UPDATE 3-Tribune hires banks to explore sale of dailies

Tue Feb 26, 2013 5:16pm EST

By Nadia Damouni and Jennifer Saba

Feb 26 (Reuters) - Tribune Co has hired investment banks Evercore Partners and J.P. Morgan to assess interest in its newspaper unit, which includes The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, the company confirmed in a statement on Tuesday.

A sale of its eight major newspapers, which also include The Baltimore Sun, has been widely expected since Tribune emerged from a four-year bankruptcy process late last year.

"There is a lot of interest in our newspapers, which we haven't solicited," Tribune said in a statement. "Hiring outside financial advisers will help us determine whether that interest is credible, allow us to consider all of our options, and fulfill our fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders and employees."

News of a potential sale of Tribune's newspapers follows last week's announcement that the New York Times Co also hired Evercore to auction off The Boston Globe and related properties.

Taken together, that means that three of the top 25 newspapers in the United States could be up for sale.

Tribune's new chief executive, Peter Ligouri, and some of its new directors have broadcasting rather than newspaper experience, suggesting that the company plans to concentrate on its 23 TV stations and its national cable network, WGN America.

The hiring of Evercore and J.P. Morgan means the beginning of the parlor game of guessing potential bidders, especially for the Los Angeles Times. In the past, the daily has attracted interest from entertainment executive David Geffen, billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad and supermarket magnate Ron Burkle.

Other notable names such as Warren Buffett and News Corp's Rupert Murdoch have surfaced as possible buyers for some of Tribune's dailies.

Indeed, Buffett went so far as to tell The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania - one of Tribune's newspapers - that "Allentown is our kind of place" after being asked if Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway was interested in the paper.

News Corp declined to comment. A spokesman for BH Media Group, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that operates its newspapers, was not immediately available for comment.

Aaron Kushner, the owner of the Orange County Register near Los Angeles, said he was "prepared to take a serious look" at Tribune's newspapers in December.

U-T San Diego owners, Doug Manchester and John Lynch, whose names had been in the mix, will not make a bid. Lynch said in an email on Tuesday, the U-T, formerly the Union-Tribune, "will not participate in any auction," declining to comment further.

INCREASED INTEREST

The newspaper sector has heated up in recent months with several properties changing hands or coming up on the block even as readers prefer to access news digitally and advertisers increasingly opt for other media.

The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News were sold for about $55 million last year to a group led by Democratic Party fund raiser George Norcross III and former New Jersey Nets basketball team owner Lewis Katz.

Buffett has been steadily amassing what is shaping up to be an empire of small to medium-sized newspapers, with the most recent deal coming on Monday to buy the Tulsa World in Oklahoma.

Tribune's newspapers are profitable and estimated to be worth $623 million, according to a report by its financial adviser Lazard. Its TV operations are estimated to account for $2.85 billion of the company's $7 billion valuation, which also includes a 30 percent stake in the Food Network and the company's cash balance.

CNBC first reported Tribune's hiring of the banks.

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

Trial on Stockton, California's bankruptcy eligibility next month

SACRAMENTO, Calif. | Tue Feb 26, 2013 5:56pm EST

SACRAMENTO, Calif. Feb 26 (Reuters) - The federal judge overseeing the municipal bankruptcy case of Stockton, California on Tuesday ordered a trial next month over the issue of the city's eligibility to pursue bankruptcy protection from its creditors.

Chief Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein said Stockton and creditors contesting its bankruptcy filing could present evidence and witnesses on the eligibility issue during a four-day trial during the week beginning on March 25.

Stockton, a city of 300,000 in California's Central Valley, last year became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy.

Bond insurers National Public Finance Guarantee Corp and Assured Guaranty have more than $350 million in exposure to Stockton's debt and are contesting the city's plan to restructure its finances through bankruptcy court.

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

UPDATE 1-Stockton, Calif., bankruptcy eligibility trial next month

Tue Feb 26, 2013 7:13pm EST

By Jim Christie

SACRAMENTO, Calif. Feb 26 (Reuters) - The federal judge overseeing the municipal bankruptcy case of Stockton on Tuesday ordered a trial next month over the issue of the city's eligibility to pursue bankruptcy protection from its creditors.

Chief Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein said that the California city and creditors contesting its bankruptcy filing could present evidence and witnesses on the eligibility issue during a four-day trial during the week beginning on March 25.

Klein said he was eager to bring the eligibility issue, a key threshold in the Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy process, to a head.

"This case needs to make progress," he said. "We're getting to the point where it's time for me to do my job."

Klein added that he would decide the eligibility issue "promptly."

Stockton, a city of 300,000 in California's Central Valley, last year became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy with a plan to impair nearly $200 million of its debt. The city fell on hard times when its revenue plunged after its once-torrid housing market went bust.

Two decades of generous employee benefits, poor fiscal management and too much debt also caught up with the city, which is 85 miles east of San Francisco.

Bond insurers National Public Finance Guarantee Corp and Assured Guaranty have more than $350 million in exposure to Stockton's debt and are contesting the city's plan to restructure its finances through bankruptcy court.

The two insurers oppose Stockton continuing payments to the state's pension fund for public employees - the California Public Employees' Retirement System - while halting payments to some bondholders.

Klein said he was unsure the payments to the pension fund are a matter for the trial on eligibility, though they could become an issue if Stockton establishes it has met federal and state requirements to restructure its finances in bankruptcy court.

Earlier on Tuesday, Stockton said it reached a deal on $21.6 million in debt payments with Ambac Assurance Corp, the insurer for certificates of participation the city issued in 2003 to finance housing projects.

The agreement puts "a cap on the amount of money that could be paid each year out of the city's General Fund, provides for use of the reserve fund to pay some of the debt obligation and, if necessary, extends the term of repayment," the city said in a statement.

The agreement allows Stockton to maintain essential public services such as the police station, fire stations and a library, the statement said.

"Rather than responding with an unreasonable and expensive, litigation-intense strategy, as some creditors have done, Ambac diligently worked with the city to achieve a consensual resolution," Stockton City Manager Bob Deis said in the statement.

"This agreement is an example of what can be accomplished during the city's bankruptcy with creditors who are willing to engage in meaningful negotiation," Deis said.

A spokesman for Ambac said, "We are pleased to have reached a mutually agreeable settlement."

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

RBS to follow Barclays with CoCo issue

By Aimee Donnellan

Mon Feb 25, 2013 12:37pm EST

LONDON, Feb 25 (IFR) - Royal Bank of Scotland will announce on Thursday that it is looking to issue contingent convertible (CoCo) notes in the future, a person close to the situation told IFR on Monday.

"RBS is looking to sell a mixture of CoCos and Lower Tier 2 notes to increase its capital buffers in the coming years," said the source.

CoCos convert into equity, or lose value, if the issuer's capital holdings fall below a predetermined level - and thus are much riskier than traditional bonds and bank debt capital.

RBS looks to follow Barclays, whose new chief executive Antony Jenkins said earlier this month that his bank would build contingent capital "over the next few years" and that he expects loss-absorbing capital instruments to cover about 2% of its risk-weighted assets (RWAs).

RBS has refrained from issuing CoCos and has instead focused its funding efforts on raising capital through the subordinated bond markets. The bank declined to comment on the matter.

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

American's Goulet, US Air's Kirby to lead merger integration

Mon Feb 25, 2013 3:25pm EST

Feb 25 (Reuters) - US Airways Group Inc and American Airlines, which announced earlier this month that they would merge to form the world's biggest air carrier, named executives on Monday to lead their integration team.

Scott Kirby, president of US Airways, and Bev Goulet, chief restructuring officer at AMR Corp's American, will develop plans so the airlines can start melding as soon as the $11 billion merger closes, expected in the third quarter, the chief executives of the carriers said in a staff memo.

A merged American-US Airways would have revenue of more than $38 billion based on 2012 figures, ahead of current No. 1 United Continental Holdings Inc, the product of a 2010 merger . US Airways began its pursuit of a merger not long after American filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late November 2011.

Kirby, who has been US Airways president since 2006, had a major role in negotiating with labor and analyzing the revenue and costs benefits expected from the merger, the memo said.

Goulet was named American chief restructuring officer in December 2011 and has served as vice president for corporate development at the carrier since 2002. She had a prime role in negotiating the equity splits of 28 percent for US Airways and 72 percent for American stakeholders in the merger.

Doug Parker and Tom Horton, the CEOs of US Airways and American, respectively, added in the memo that Kirby and Goulet would join them on a transition committee that will set up planning teams that include leaders from both carriers. An outside merger project management firm will also work with the carriers.

The parent of the merged airline will be called American Airlines Group Inc, according to a U.S. filing last week. The merger is subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, US Airways shareholders and regulatory authorities. A federal bankruptcy judge will consider approving the merger on March 27.

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

Aluminum producer Ormet files for bankruptcy, to sell business

Mon Feb 25, 2013 11:09pm EST

Feb 25 (Reuters) - U.S. aluminum producer Ormet Corp has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, hurt by low aluminium prices and high power costs, and agreed to sell its business to investment firm Wayzata Investment Partners, court documents showed.

Ormet has received about $90 million of debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing, $30 million from Wayzata and $60 million from Wells Fargo, the company said late on Monday.

"Ormet has done everything possible during very difficult financial times to pay its debt and legacy obligations. However, with a low metal price and higher power costs, we no longer have the financial liquidity to continue to do this," Ormet Chief Executive Mike Tanchuk said in a statement.

Ormet listed total liabilities of $416 million and assets of $406.8 million, according to a court filing.

The company said the bankruptcy filing will help it restructure its debt and slash costs while continuing its operations.

Ormet will solicit competing bids from other potential purchasers in accordance with a sale process to be approved by the bankruptcy court.

The company said the purchase price is not expected to provide sufficient recovery to the company's shareholders.

Ormet shares last traded at $0.45, giving the company a market capitalisation of about $8.4 million.

The case is Ormet Corp, Case No. 13-10334, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware.

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

Madoff indirect investors lose U.S. court appeal

Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:52pm EST

* Court says indirect investors are not Madoff customers

* Investors had put money in "feeder" funds

By Jonathan Stempel

Feb 22 (Reuters) - People who lost money by investing in funds that funneled their money to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme are not entitled to recover for their losses, in the manner that direct victims of the massive fraud can recover, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.

The decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York is a victory for Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities LLC and seeking money for its former customers.

Picard, a partner at Baker & Hostetler, persuaded the court that "indirect" investors who lost money in the fraud were not Madoff customers who could recover from the bankruptcy estate.

Madoff, 74, is serving a 150-year prison sentence, and Picard had estimated that customers lost $17.3 billion of principal in the fraud.

The appeal was brought by 17 investors who had invested in limited partnerships known as Spectrum Select. These in turn sent their money to two Rye Select hedge funds overseen by Tremont Group Holdings Inc.

Tremont was one of the largest Madoff "feeders," and settled with Picard for $1.025 billion in July 2011.

Prior to the appeal, two lower court judges had found that the 17 indirect investors could not recover from the estate because they had not been Madoff customers, unlike the feeder funds that dealt directly with him.

That distinction matters because it is customers, not indirect investors, who may draw up to $500,000 each from a fund overseen by the Securities Investor Protection Corp, to the extent they cannot recover losses from a bankruptcy estate.

SIPC is a nonprofit created by Congress and funded by the brokerage industry.

CRITICAL REQUIREMENT NOT SATISFIED

Writing for a three-judge 2nd Circuit panel, Circuit Judge Reena Raggi said there were several reasons that the indirect investors did not qualify as Madoff customers.

She said they had no direct relationship or accounts with his firm, were not identified in the firm's books and records, had no property interest in the assets sent there by the feeder funds, and lacked control over the feeder funds' investments.

"We have identified the critical aspect of the 'customer' definition to be the entrustment of cash or securities to the broker-dealer for the purpose of trading securities," Raggi wrote. "Appellants fail to satisfy this critical requirement."

William Chapman, who argued the indirect investors' appeal, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokeswoman for Picard did not immediately respond to a similar request.

The decision does not affect the ability of indirect investors to sue the feeder funds, or share in any recovery by those funds from the SIPC fund.

Friday's decision is the second this week by the 2nd Circuit in a Madoff-related appeal.

On Wednesday, the court refused to let former investors pursue claims against Madoff's brother Peter, as well as Madoff's son Andrew and the estate of his late son Mark, over the family members' roles in the fraud.

The court said allowing such claims would impede Picard's effort to maximize payouts from the estate.

Among the investors who had challenged the trustee was a charitable foundation for New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg.

Separately, Picard on Feb. 13 asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in Manhattan for permission to distribute another $505 million to customers, boosting the total to $5.44 billion.

The case is Kruse et al v. Securities Investor Protection Corp et al, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Nos. 12-410, 12-437, 12-483 and 12-529.

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

Lithuania's Siauliu Bankas to take over troubled Ukio

STOCKHOLM | Sun Feb 24, 2013 6:45am EST

STOCKHOLM Feb 24 (Reuters) - Lithuania's Siauliu Bankas has agreed to acquire the assets and liabilities of Ukio Bankas, which was placed in administration last week.

The country's central bank restricted operations at Ukio and appointed an administrator after Lithuania's No.4 bank ran into financial trouble. Ukio's main shareholder - with a 65 percent stake - is Vladimir Romanov, owner of cash-strapped Scottish soccer club Hearts.

"The most important task now is to resume the provision of services to the former customers of Ukio Bankas," Audrius Ziugzda, CEO of Siauliu Bankas, said in a statement.

"This will require considerable effort and time, which we are prepared to give."

Siauliu Bankas is 20 percent owned by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which will provide 20 million euros ($26.32 million) in subordinated debt to strengthen Siauliu's capital base, facilitate the takeover process and help to stabilise Lithuania's financial sector.

Vitas Vasiliauskas, chairman of the board of the Bank of Lithuania, said that almost all account holders would be covered under the transfer of Ukio's activities to Siauliu.

"This means that the most important short-term goal has been reached - the absolute majority of people and companies will be able to again, without any disturbances, dispose of their funds, which are held at Ukio Bankas," he said in a statement on the central bank's website.

The central bank has said that Ukio had deposits of 3.4 billion Lithuanian litas ($1.3 billion), making it the fourth-biggest deposit taker behind the local subsidiaries of Scandinavian groups SEB, Swedbank and DNB . By assets, Ukio is the country's sixth-largest bank.

Siauliu Bankas will acquire assets and liabilities amounting to 2.7 billion litas.

Edinburgh-based Hearts, one of Scotland's top soccer clubs, has debt of about 24 million pounds ($38 million) and in December agreed to pay 1.5 million pounds to settle a tax dispute. The club also cleared a separate tax bill of 450,000 pounds which lifted the immediate threat of liquidation.

Fans have set up a foundation to try to save the club and have asked Romanov to allow them to take it over.

The club has distanced itself from the troubles at Ukio, saying that Romanov's shareholding in the soccer club was via a completely separate investment company. But it also said that Ukio provided the club with banking services and loans. ($1 = 2.6233 Lithuanian litas) ($1 = 0.7598 euros)

(Reporting by Mia Shanley; Editing by David Goodman)

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

PRESS DIGEST - British Business - Feb 25

Sun Feb 24, 2013 8:22pm EST

Feb 25 (Reuters) - The Telegraph

CHANCELLOR MUST 'EASE PACE' OF AUSTERITY IN WAKE OF UK CREDIT RATING DOWNGRADE

One of the biggest global fund managers, Fidelity Worldwide Investment, has called for the Government to "ease the pace" of austerity in the wake of the UK's credit rating downgrade.

FRANCE MORE OPEN FOR BUSINESS THAN US AND GERMANY

France is more open to foreign investment than the United States or Germany, the country's industry minister has claimed, as he singled out Britain as being in "even bigger difficulty than France over its budget deficit".

ABERTIS MAY SELL ITS BRITISH REGIONAL AIRPORTS AFTER REVIEW

Some of Britain's leading regional airports could be about to change hands after the world's largest toll road operator ordered a review of its transport division.

LONDON HIGH STREETS ENJOY INCREASING DEMAND FROM RETAILERS

A group of high streets in London outside of the core tourist destinations are growing in popularity and stature as retailers struggle to find affordable sites on Oxford Street and Bond Street.

The Guardian

UK ECONOMY IS VULNERABLE AFTER CREDIT RATING FALL

Two former Conservative chancellors have issued grave warnings about the British economy as the government braced itself for the pound to slide following the loss of the UK's coveted AAA credit rating.

ICIS CONSULTS ENERGY INDUSTRY OVER HOW TO IMPROVE OPERATIONS

ICIS, the price reporting agency at the centre of the wholesale gas market rigging allegations, has opened a formal consultation with the energy industry about how to improve its operations.

The Sunday Times

CHANCELLOR: NO PLAN B DESPITE DEBT DOWNGRADE

George Osborne yesterday vowed that there would be no Plan B to kickstart the economy as he fought to shore up market confidence following the loss of Britain's AAA credit rating.

CARLYLE POISED TO PILE INTO AXMINSTER

A giant American private equity firm is preparing to sweep up the historic Axminster Carpets business, which will plunge into administration this week.

The Independent

RBS TO OFFLOAD U.S. BANKING BUSINESS

The Royal Bank of Scotland is planning to cave in to the demands of its regulator and outline plans to put its American retail arm, Citizens, on the market next week.

MARKS & SPENCER SUFFERS FASHION SALES SLUMP

Marks & Spencer failed to pull in new year sales shoppers, with reports suggesting it lost ground to rivals Primark and Zara.

VINCE CABLE PLAYS DOWN LOSS OF PRIZED AAA RATING

Vince Cable dismissed the loss of Britain's prized AAA credit rating as "background noise."

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

A

Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

Eyeing EU membership, Serbia splits state power company

Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:24pm EST

* Company plans to split generation and distribution

* Seen as vital step for liberalisation, EU accession

* EPS says uncollected bills amount to $1.46 bln

* Board decides to reschedule debt, write off interest

BELGRADE, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Loss-making Serbian state power utility EPS hived off its generation activities on Friday as the Balkan country moves towards liberalising its energy market with a view to joining the European Union.

EPS needs fresh funds urgently to upgrade infrastructure that was damaged and mismanaged during the Balkan wars of the 1990s to meet growing demand and cut reliance on imports.

Serbia's Socialist-led government has pledged to maintain control over EPS but said it needs to be restructured into a shareholder-owned company with separate production and distribution operations or face bankruptcy.

Successive governments have used energy bill pricing as a welfare policy tool, capping them to defend living standards.

The country suffered a recession last year and the utility lost 33 billion dinars, mainly because it was forced to absorb the cost of subsidised tariffs.

According to a business plan for 2013 that was approved by the government, EPS is 50 billion dinars ($602 million) short of funds for loan repayments, wages, investment and grid maintenance.

The executive board of EPS also decided on Friday to reschedule debts and write off non-payment charges on overdue bills from residential and industrial consumers who owe the company some 120 billion dinars.

Customers will now be able to pay off their bills in as many as 24 monthly instalments without paying those charges.

Acting general manager Aleksandar Obradovic had urged the EPS board to make a decision on borrowing plans for this year, but it did not address the issue on Friday.

The government appointed Obradovic in September and tasked him with restructuring EPS, which employs about 30,000 people. (Reporting By Maja Zuvela; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

Madoff indirect investors lose U.S. court appeal

Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:52pm EST

* Court says indirect investors are not Madoff customers

* Investors had put money in "feeder" funds

By Jonathan Stempel

Feb 22 (Reuters) - People who lost money by investing in funds that funneled their money to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme are not entitled to recover for their losses, in the manner that direct victims of the massive fraud can recover, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.

The decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York is a victory for Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities LLC and seeking money for its former customers.

Picard, a partner at Baker & Hostetler, persuaded the court that "indirect" investors who lost money in the fraud were not Madoff customers who could recover from the bankruptcy estate.

Madoff, 74, is serving a 150-year prison sentence, and Picard had estimated that customers lost $17.3 billion of principal in the fraud.

The appeal was brought by 17 investors who had invested in limited partnerships known as Spectrum Select. These in turn sent their money to two Rye Select hedge funds overseen by Tremont Group Holdings Inc.

Tremont was one of the largest Madoff "feeders," and settled with Picard for $1.025 billion in July 2011.

Prior to the appeal, two lower court judges had found that the 17 indirect investors could not recover from the estate because they had not been Madoff customers, unlike the feeder funds that dealt directly with him.

That distinction matters because it is customers, not indirect investors, who may draw up to $500,000 each from a fund overseen by the Securities Investor Protection Corp, to the extent they cannot recover losses from a bankruptcy estate.

SIPC is a nonprofit created by Congress and funded by the brokerage industry.

CRITICAL REQUIREMENT NOT SATISFIED

Writing for a three-judge 2nd Circuit panel, Circuit Judge Reena Raggi said there were several reasons that the indirect investors did not qualify as Madoff customers.

She said they had no direct relationship or accounts with his firm, were not identified in the firm's books and records, had no property interest in the assets sent there by the feeder funds, and lacked control over the feeder funds' investments.

"We have identified the critical aspect of the 'customer' definition to be the entrustment of cash or securities to the broker-dealer for the purpose of trading securities," Raggi wrote. "Appellants fail to satisfy this critical requirement."

William Chapman, who argued the indirect investors' appeal, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokeswoman for Picard did not immediately respond to a similar request.

The decision does not affect the ability of indirect investors to sue the feeder funds, or share in any recovery by those funds from the SIPC fund.

Friday's decision is the second this week by the 2nd Circuit in a Madoff-related appeal.

On Wednesday, the court refused to let former investors pursue claims against Madoff's brother Peter, as well as Madoff's son Andrew and the estate of his late son Mark, over the family members' roles in the fraud.

The court said allowing such claims would impede Picard's effort to maximize payouts from the estate.

Among the investors who had challenged the trustee was a charitable foundation for New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg.

Separately, Picard on Feb. 13 asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in Manhattan for permission to distribute another $505 million to customers, boosting the total to $5.44 billion.

The case is Kruse et al v. Securities Investor Protection Corp et al, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Nos. 12-410, 12-437, 12-483 and 12-529.

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

A

Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

Eyeing EU membership, Serbia splits state power company

Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:24pm EST

* Company plans to split generation and distribution

* Seen as vital step for liberalisation, EU accession

* EPS says uncollected bills amount to $1.46 bln

* Board decides to reschedule debt, write off interest

BELGRADE, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Loss-making Serbian state power utility EPS hived off its generation activities on Friday as the Balkan country moves towards liberalising its energy market with a view to joining the European Union.

EPS needs fresh funds urgently to upgrade infrastructure that was damaged and mismanaged during the Balkan wars of the 1990s to meet growing demand and cut reliance on imports.

Serbia's Socialist-led government has pledged to maintain control over EPS but said it needs to be restructured into a shareholder-owned company with separate production and distribution operations or face bankruptcy.

Successive governments have used energy bill pricing as a welfare policy tool, capping them to defend living standards.

The country suffered a recession last year and the utility lost 33 billion dinars, mainly because it was forced to absorb the cost of subsidised tariffs.

According to a business plan for 2013 that was approved by the government, EPS is 50 billion dinars ($602 million) short of funds for loan repayments, wages, investment and grid maintenance.

The executive board of EPS also decided on Friday to reschedule debts and write off non-payment charges on overdue bills from residential and industrial consumers who owe the company some 120 billion dinars.

Customers will now be able to pay off their bills in as many as 24 monthly instalments without paying those charges.

Acting general manager Aleksandar Obradovic had urged the EPS board to make a decision on borrowing plans for this year, but it did not address the issue on Friday.

The government appointed Obradovic in September and tasked him with restructuring EPS, which employs about 30,000 people. (Reporting By Maja Zuvela; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

Madoff indirect investors lose U.S. court appeal

Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:52pm EST

* Court says indirect investors are not Madoff customers

* Investors had put money in "feeder" funds

By Jonathan Stempel

Feb 22 (Reuters) - People who lost money by investing in funds that funneled their money to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme are not entitled to recover for their losses, in the manner that direct victims of the massive fraud can recover, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.

The decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York is a victory for Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities LLC and seeking money for its former customers.

Picard, a partner at Baker & Hostetler, persuaded the court that "indirect" investors who lost money in the fraud were not Madoff customers who could recover from the bankruptcy estate.

Madoff, 74, is serving a 150-year prison sentence, and Picard had estimated that customers lost $17.3 billion of principal in the fraud.

The appeal was brought by 17 investors who had invested in limited partnerships known as Spectrum Select. These in turn sent their money to two Rye Select hedge funds overseen by Tremont Group Holdings Inc.

Tremont was one of the largest Madoff "feeders," and settled with Picard for $1.025 billion in July 2011.

Prior to the appeal, two lower court judges had found that the 17 indirect investors could not recover from the estate because they had not been Madoff customers, unlike the feeder funds that dealt directly with him.

That distinction matters because it is customers, not indirect investors, who may draw up to $500,000 each from a fund overseen by the Securities Investor Protection Corp, to the extent they cannot recover losses from a bankruptcy estate.

SIPC is a nonprofit created by Congress and funded by the brokerage industry.

CRITICAL REQUIREMENT NOT SATISFIED

Writing for a three-judge 2nd Circuit panel, Circuit Judge Reena Raggi said there were several reasons that the indirect investors did not qualify as Madoff customers.

She said they had no direct relationship or accounts with his firm, were not identified in the firm's books and records, had no property interest in the assets sent there by the feeder funds, and lacked control over the feeder funds' investments.

"We have identified the critical aspect of the 'customer' definition to be the entrustment of cash or securities to the broker-dealer for the purpose of trading securities," Raggi wrote. "Appellants fail to satisfy this critical requirement."

William Chapman, who argued the indirect investors' appeal, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokeswoman for Picard did not immediately respond to a similar request.

The decision does not affect the ability of indirect investors to sue the feeder funds, or share in any recovery by those funds from the SIPC fund.

Friday's decision is the second this week by the 2nd Circuit in a Madoff-related appeal.

On Wednesday, the court refused to let former investors pursue claims against Madoff's brother Peter, as well as Madoff's son Andrew and the estate of his late son Mark, over the family members' roles in the fraud.

The court said allowing such claims would impede Picard's effort to maximize payouts from the estate.

Among the investors who had challenged the trustee was a charitable foundation for New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg.

Separately, Picard on Feb. 13 asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in Manhattan for permission to distribute another $505 million to customers, boosting the total to $5.44 billion.

The case is Kruse et al v. Securities Investor Protection Corp et al, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Nos. 12-410, 12-437, 12-483 and 12-529.

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

CORRECTED-MF Global payout plan approved for creditor vote

Thu Feb 21, 2013 5:16pm EST

(Changes eighth paragraph to add creditors' claims against MF finance unit)

* Judge approves outline of plan to pay back creditors

* Plan would pay former customers in full

* JPMorgan argues other creditors should get more

By Nick Brown

NEW YORK, Feb 19 (Reuters) - A bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved the outline of a plan by liquidators and creditors of failed brokerage MF Global to repay the company's creditors, a key step toward ending its $40 billion Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

At a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Judge Martin Glenn green-lighted the outline, which was amended to address minor concerns Glenn had raised in refusing to approve an earlier version of the outline last week.

MF Global, which had been led by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, is liquidating after declaring bankruptcy in October 2011. Investors ran for the hills after the company revealed exposure to risky European sovereign debt.

The case became a political firestorm when regulators discovered an estimated $1.6 billion hole in the trading accounts of the broker's trading customers, later determined to be caused by the improper use of customer money to plug liquidity gaps.

Corzine resigned shortly after the bankruptcy, and has denied any wrongdoing.

Under the payout plan, the company's trader customers would be repaid in full. Louis Freeh, the trustee liquidating the MF Global parent, has agreed if necessary to support an effort by customers' trustee James Giddens to allocate some of the broker's general estate assets to customer accounts to ensure their full recovery.

Unsecured creditors of the MF Global parent are projected to recover between 13.4 cents and 39 cents on the dollar, while creditors of its finance unit will receive between 14.7 cents and 34 cents on the dollar.

Creditors under a $1.2 billion loan, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, have claims against both the MF parent and its finance unit. They could recover as much as 39 cents on the dollar from the parent, and up to another 34 cents on the dollar from the finance unit, according to the plan's projections.

The latest version of the plan includes arguments, raised by JPMorgan earlier this month, that creditors may be getting undercut. A portion of the loan facility was transferred from MF's parent to its finance unit prior to bankruptcy, resulting in the finance unit owing money to both the holding company and the lenders. Eliminating that duplication could mean more recovery for the lenders, JPMorgan has argued.

Tuesday's approval paves the way for creditors to vote on the plan itself. Assuming they support it, the plan would go before Judge Glenn for final confirmation in April.

The proposal already has the support of a majority of unsecured creditors. It was put forth by Freeh in conjunction with a group of hedge fund creditors, led by Silver Point Capital, Knighthead Capital and Cyrus Capital Partners, who hold more than 65 percent of the company's $2.2 billion in unsecured claims.

The case is In re MF Global Holdings Ltd, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-15059. (Reporting by Nick Brown; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

New Zealander Jennings exits Africa-focused Renaissance - report

MOSCOW | Thu Feb 21, 2013 11:15am EST

MOSCOW Feb 21 (Reuters) - Stephen Jennings, a pioneer on Russia's turbulent financial markets in the 1990s, has left his African business three months after losing the Moscow investment bank he founded, a Russian newspaper reported on Thursday.

The Vedomosti daily, citing a letter to staff, said New Zealander Jennings resigned on Jan. 1 as chief executive of Renaissance Group, the business he retained after he exited his loss-making investment bank, Renaissance Capital, in November.

"Stephen is in the same situation as many of you - a shareholder who has left the group," Deputy CEO Hans Jochum Horn said, according to a Russian translation of the letter.

Jennings' departure comes after the sale in November of his one-half stake in Moscow investment bank Renaissance Capital, and other assets, to tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim group.

Renaissance Group - which includes African land development projects, an African consumer finance business and Russian real estate funds - is now preparing to sell its assets, the paper said.

Horn was quoted in the letter as saying he had carried out a preliminary analysis of the group which showed it had assets of $221 million but that these were opaque and illiquid.

The daily added that Horn asked the holders of three issues of Eurobonds in total worth $250 million to agree to restructure those notes.

One source who received a letter sent by Horn told Reuters it instructed shareholders to contact Horn rather than Jennings, indicating he was no longer so operationally involved.

Jennings founded Renaissance in 1995, making his name and fortune as a risk taker and dealmaker who rebuilt the business twice after market crashes.

The September 2008 crash forced him to sell a one-half stake in the investment bank to Prokhorov for $500 million to keep it afloat, but he still faced tough competition from state banks and declining demand for services.

After a downgrade in November by ratings agency Moody's, a deal was announced to split the African-focused Renaissance Group from the Russian-focused investment banking business Renaissance Capital, which has since reduced its head count.

An email sent to Jennings and an email sent to Horn's secretary were not returned. (Reporting By Megan Davies; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Mark Potter)

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

CORRECTED-MF Global payout plan approved for creditor vote

Thu Feb 21, 2013 5:08pm EST

(Changes eighth paragraph to add creditors' claims against MF finance unit)

* Judge approves outline of plan to pay back creditors

* Plan would pay former customers in full

* JPMorgan argues other creditors should get more

By Nick Brown

NEW YORK, Feb 19 (Reuters) - A bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved the outline of a plan by liquidators and creditors of failed brokerage MF Global to repay the company's creditors, a key step toward ending its $40 billion Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

At a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Judge Martin Glenn green-lighted the outline, which was amended to address minor concerns Glenn had raised in refusing to approve an earlier version of the outline last week.

MF Global, which had been led by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, is liquidating after declaring bankruptcy in October 2011. Investors ran for the hills after the company revealed exposure to risky European sovereign debt.

The case became a political firestorm when regulators discovered an estimated $1.6 billion hole in the trading accounts of the broker's trading customers, later determined to be caused by the improper use of customer money to plug liquidity gaps.

Corzine resigned shortly after the bankruptcy, and has denied any wrongdoing.

Under the payout plan, the company's trader customers would be repaid in full. Louis Freeh, the trustee liquidating the MF Global parent, has agreed if necessary to support an effort by customers' trustee James Giddens to allocate some of the broker's general estate assets to customer accounts to ensure their full recovery.

Unsecured creditors of the MF Global parent are projected to recover between 13.4 cents and 39 cents on the dollar, while creditors of its finance unit will receive between 14.7 cents and 34 cents on the dollar.

Creditors under a $1.2 billion loan, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, have claims against both the MF parent and its finance unit. They could recover as much as 39 cents on the dollar from the parent, and up to another 34 cents on the dollar from the finance unit, according to the plan's projections.

The latest version of the plan includes arguments, raised by JPMorgan earlier this month, that creditors may be getting undercut. A portion of the loan facility was transferred from MF's parent to its finance unit prior to bankruptcy, resulting in the finance unit owing money to both the holding company and the lenders. Eliminating that duplication could mean more recovery for the lenders, JPMorgan has argued.

Tuesday's approval paves the way for creditors to vote on the plan itself. Assuming they support it, the plan would go before Judge Glenn for final confirmation in April.

The proposal already has the support of a majority of unsecured creditors. It was put forth by Freeh in conjunction with a group of hedge fund creditors, led by Silver Point Capital, Knighthead Capital and Cyrus Capital Partners, who hold more than 65 percent of the company's $2.2 billion in unsecured claims.

The case is In re MF Global Holdings Ltd, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-15059. (Reporting by Nick Brown; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

Lautenberg charity, others lose bid to revive Madoff claims

Wed Feb 20, 2013 11:00am EST

* Foundation, others claimed right to sue Madoff brother, sons

* 2nd Circuit says injunction helps preserve debtor estate

By Jonathan Stempel

Feb 20 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court rejected a bid by former Bernard Madoff investors, including a charitable foundation for New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, to pursue claims against family members of the imprisoned swindler.

The Lautenberg Foundation, the town of Fairfield, Connecticut, and other investors had sought to pursue claims against Madoff's brother Peter, as well as Madoff's son Andrew and the estate of his late son, Mark.

But a panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a February 2011 injunction issued by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in Manhattan in favor of Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC and recovering money for its former customers.

"The preliminary injunction serves the legitimate purpose of preserving the debtor's estate for the creditors and funneling claims to one proceeding in the bankruptcy court," the three-judge panel said in an unsigned order.

"Were it not for the preliminary injunction, there would ensue a chaotic rush to the courthouse - or rather, multiple courthouses -- of those seeking assets that the trustee claims are properly part of the BLMIS estate," it added.

Jennifer Hradil, a lawyer for the Lautenberg foundation, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Amanda Remus, a spokeswoman for Picard, declined to comment.

In opposing the claims, Picard's lawyer David Sheehan told the 2nd Circuit that Madoff family members "are the people that ran the fraud ... They never made an honest nickel. And that is the money that we're trying to bring back into the estate."

Picard has largely been successful in stopping lawsuits that he believes impair his ability to recover money for Madoff victims.

Last week, he asked Lifland for permission to distribute another $505 million to customers, which would boost the amount of money advanced or distributed to customers to $5.44 billion.

Peter Madoff had been chief compliance officer at his brother's firm, and was sentenced in December to 10 years in prison over his role in the fraud.

Andrew and Mark Madoff were co-directors of trading at the firm. Mark Madoff committed suicide in December 2010.

Bernard Madoff, 74, is serving a 150-year prison sentence.

The Lautenberg case is The Lautenberg Foundation et al v. Picard, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 11-5421.

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

Corzine ban faces uphill battle at futures regulator

Wed Feb 20, 2013 6:29pm EST

* National Futures Association board to discuss ban

* Newly elected board members seek aggressive action

* Potential impact on CFTC probe worries others

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO, Feb 20 (Reuters) - A plan to ban Jon Corzine, the former chief executive of MF Global, from the futures industry for life for failing to protect the failed brokerage's customers faces an uphill battle at a key industry regulator.

Two newly elected members of the National Futures Association (NFA) board have proposed barring Corzine, the former New Jersey governor who led the broker when it failed in October 2011. The board is set to discuss the plan at a quarterly meeting in Chicago on Thursday.

Other NFA officials are hesitating to back the motion out of fear it may interfere with a probe by another regulator, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

"The last thing you want to do is ... jeopardize somebody else's ongoing investigation," said Scott Cordes, an NFA board member.

Even without a lifetime ban, the NFA probably would try to prevent Corzine from doing business in the industry "in light of everything that is still to be sorted out," Cordes said.

Cordes, president of Country Hedging, said he wanted to discuss the proposed ban with the board before taking a position.

No one has been charged in MF Global's collapse, although U.S. congressional investigators have determined that Corzine failed to maintain the systems and controls necessary to protect customer funds.

The futures broker failed after dipping into customer accounts in violation of industry rules.

The CFTC, which oversees both swaps and futures markets, has yet to finish an investigation into MF Global's downfall, which left a $1.6 billion hole in its customers' accounts and shook confidence in the futures industry.

A CFTC spokesman declined to comment.

NFA Chairman Chris Hehmeyer also declined to comment, saying he had not seen the motion.

The NFA, based in Chicago and funded by industry fees, has traditionally operated in relative obscurity, overshadowed by better-known market regulators like the CFTC and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Marc Nagel, who sits on an NFA nominating committee but not on the board of directors, said he could not immediately support a ban.

"Everybody, no matter how much you might dislike them, is entitled to his day in court," said Nagel, chief operating officer of Dorman Trading.

A spokesman for Corzine, who is not currently registered with the NFA, declined to comment.

The two new NFA board members, James Koutoulas and John Roe, want NFA's business conduct committee to hold a hearing for Corzine and ban him for life if he is found guilty of not properly protecting funds of MF Global clients.

"We want a hearing to consider the publicly available information," Koutoulas said. "Thus the CFTC can't complain that we're compromising any investigation."

Koutoulas and Roe co-founded the Commodity Customer Coalition in late 2011 to help MF Global's former customers get their money back; they now want the NFA to take the lead as an advocate for customers.

"The NFA has a responsibility to its membership to say our rules were violated," Roe said. "We need to do something to reassure the market that the wheels of justice here are turning."

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

PRESS DIGEST - British Business - Feb 21

Wed Feb 20, 2013 9:39pm EST

Feb 21 (Reuters) - The Telegraph

BANK OF ENGLAND SPLIT ON MORE QE AS GOVERNOR KING OVER-RULED

The Bank of England's fears for the health of the UK economy have been laid bare by a split among policymakers that saw the Governor over-ruled for only the fourth time after he voted for more quantitative easing.

HMV JOB LOSSES HIT 1,600 AS 37 MORE STORES CLOSE

The administrators to HMV are to close another 37 shops as they battle to secure a future for the entertainment retailer, taking the total number of job losses since it collapsed to more than 1,600.

BUDGET 2013: TRAVIS PERKINS BOSS CALLS FOR "RADICAL MEASURES"

The chief executive of builders' merchant Travis Perkins has called for the Chancellor to introduce "radical measures" to kickstart the British economy.

RECORD EMPLOYMENT 'NOT YET A SIGN OF RECOVERY'

Leading economists and industry experts refused to hail record employment figures on Wednesday as a sign of recovery, instead warning that the upturn in hiring is at odds with a weak economy and signals serious problems within the labour market.

4G AUCTION: OSBORNE LOSES OUT AS SALE RAISES JUST 2.3 BLN STG

Chancellor George Osborne was dealt a blow on Wednesday after Ofcom said its 4G auction of airwaves raised a smaller-than-expected 2.3 billion pounds for the government.

AXMINSTER CARPETS FILES FOR ADMINISTRATION

Axminster, the British carpet maker and supplier to the Queen, has filed for administration with the loss of up to 400 jobs.

BUDGET: OSBORNE CHALLENGED TO RESCUE THE HIGH STREET

The retail industry has charged the Chancellor to use the Budget to save the beleaguered high street by calling for business rates to be frozen and bureaucracy to be cut.

EX-JP MORGAN BANKER TO TAKE HELM AT MANCHESTER UNITED

Manchester United's executive vice chairman Ed Woodward will become the new chief executive in July after David Gill said he was stepping down, sending shares in the club down 1 percent in early trading in New York.

The Guardian

SKY MOVIES DISNEY: NEW CHANNEL TO SHOW UK TV FILM PREMIERES

Movies including Brave and Wreck-It Ralph will have their UK TV premiere on new channel Sky Movies Disney, as part of a new multi-year film output deal between BSkyB and the Hollywood studio.

IRISH FINANCE MINISTER SAYS EUROZONE RISK FACTORS RECEDING

The Irish finance minister has claimed that outside investors are prepared to return to the eurozone, in a sign that a year of turmoil in the economic bloc may be coming to an end.

RWE BOSS WARNS OVER NUCLEAR PLANT SUBSIDIES

RWE npower, one of the big six power suppliers, has warned ministers not to seal a long-term subsidy deal with the nuclear industry behind the backs of consumers and saddle them with "unnecessarily high bills" for the next 40 years.

BOEING 787 DREAMLINER'S FAILED BATTERY WAS WIRED INCORRECTLY, JAPAN SAYS

The lithium-ion battery in an All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner was improperly wired, Japan's transport ministry said on Wednesday.

The Times

COUNTRYWIDE IN LINE FOR PUBLIC OFFERING

Countrywide has joined the queue for a flotation, saying it will return to the stock market after nearly six years in private hands.

FORMER BBC CHIEF PUTS BOSTON GLOBE UP FOR SALE

In his first significant act since joining the New York Times Co from the BBC, Mark Thompson announced his intention last night to sell the Boston Globe.

US TYRE BOSS SPARKS OUTRAGE AFTER COMPLAINING 'FRENCH WORK ONLY THREE HOURS A DAY'

The head of US tyre firm Titan has sparked uproar by mocking French workers for putting in only "three hours" a day and saying it would be "stupid" to invest in the country.

The Independent

EDF LAUNCHES 5 MILLION POUND CIVIL CLAIM AGAINST GROUP OF ACTIVISTS WHO SHUT DOWN POWER STATION

Energy company EDF has launched a civil claim for 5 million pounds in damages against a group of activists who shut down one of its gas-fired power stations in a week-long protest last year.

FSA TO PUBLISH REPORT ON LIBOR-FIXING

Britain's financial regulator is expected to publish its report into the Libor-fixing scandal early next month.

DIGITAL-FIRST CENTAUR MEDIA IS BACK ON LOOKOUT FOR BUYS

The publisher of The Lawyer and Marketing Week is ready to go on the acquisition trail again as Centaur Media chief executive Geoff Wilmot says a lengthy reshaping of the business to make it "digital-first" is now over.

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

UPDATE 1-Former NBA player Bing misses shot at fixing Detroit

Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:45pm EST

By Steve Neavling

DETROIT Feb 19 (Reuters) - Dave Bing, a former professional basketball star, may forever be known as the Detroit mayor who missed the last shot at saving the city from a state takeover.

A state-ordered review team said on Tuesday that the city faces a financial emergency and needs help to fix the problem. If Michigan Governor Rick Snyder decides to appoint an emergency manager who would take over the city's finances, Bing could see his power drain away in the last year of his term.

"Bing faced a Herculean task. But as well-intentioned as he might be, he couldn't move the mountain," said Michael LaFaive, director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Institute, a free-market, conservative public-policy group focused on Michigan.

And if an emergency manager were to decide that a bankruptcy filing was the only course of action for Detroit's survival -- and not be blocked by a state panel -- Bing would go down in history as the mayor behind the largest U.S. municipal bankruptcy ever.

A Democrat, Bing became mayor of Detroit in 2009 with lofty promises of fixing the city's finances, reversing urban blight, reducing crime and restoring trust in a government rocked by corruption scandals.

A mild-mannered businessman, Bing seemed the perfect antidote to predecessor Kwame Kilpatrick, a flashy, smooth-talking politician who had resigned under a cloud, and whose corruption trial is reaching a climax just as Detroit's financial woes are in the national spotlight this week.

Everything in Bing's career suggested he was a winner. A basketball Hall of Fame guard for the Detroit Pistons from 1966-75, he founded Bing Steel and developed a multi-million-dollar steel conglomerate in Detroit.

"It's a hard thing when you're not a career politician to step into that ring," said Raymond Pierce, a law partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, who worked on deals with Bing in the steel business. "Who wants to deal with the slings and arrows involved? It's almost all downside. It takes a brave, special soul to do that."

The arrows started arriving almost as soon as Bing took office. He inherited a financial mess after past administrations over nearly a decade added $100 million or more every year to the city's deficit.

A defiant and dysfunctional city council often blocked Bing's money-savings plans. The relationship became so strained that the mayor and council members stopped meeting. Detroit, with a shrinking population, faced the burden of union contracts reflecting the infrastructure of a much larger city.

"I am blessed with a very talented and committed team of executives, but challenged by the City Charter, labor contracts, and an indecisive City Council with ineffective leadership," Bing told Reuters in an email.

Bing's credentials initially earned him the support of the business community, but the relationship fizzled as the local economy continued to nosedive.

Despite resistance, the mayor laid off thousands of employees, slashed wages, closed fire stations and privatized numerous services. It was not enough to fix the city's finances.

The murder rate jumped 20 percent, and Bing was unable to make progress on a massive neighborhood revitalization plan to encourage residents to leave hardscrabble, decaying neighborhoods for more densely populated areas.

Bing, who moved from the suburbs into Detroit when he ran for office, was accused of being out of touch with poor black residents. African Americans constitute 83 percent of the city's population.

"He doesn't know what it's like to live and struggle in Detroit," said Rev. Charles Williams II, a community activist. "You have people who can't afford to feed their children or fix their leaking roof, but the mayor is talking about what he can do for businesses and downtown. There's just no connection."

Bing, who is black, and Republican Governor Rick Snyder forged a close relationship early on. Bing served as the master of ceremonies at Snyder's inauguration Jan. 1, 2011, and Snyder cheered on the mayor from the balcony of Bing's state-of-the-city address a few weeks later. The pair even attended a University of Michigan basketball game together.

The relationship soured as Snyder moved toward a state takeover of Detroit, and Bing last week blamed the state for some of the city's financial problems, saying Michigan revenue-sharing funds had been slashed over the years.

Bing, who is 69, has not yet announced whether he will run for a second full term, and local media have all but dismissed him as a serious candidate in the August nonpartisan primary election.

"I'll make that decision when I'm ready," Bing said last week.

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

TAKE-A-LOOK-State review team finds Detroit's finances are dire

• Tweet
• Share this
• Email
• Print

Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:48pm EST

  Feb 19 (Reuters) - A review team named by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to  scrutinize Detroit's finances concluded that the city faces a financial  emergency and needs help to make difficult decisions. It is now up to Snyder to  decide whether to declare a state takeover over the city's finances. Detroit,  the state's biggest city, has been grappling with a gaping deficit amid a  cratering population and declining jobs base.      For stories on the review team's findings and other stories on the state of  affairs in Detroit, double-click on the number in the square brackets.        LATEST STORIES  2/19 Panel finds Detroit's finances dire, up to governor to act    2/19 Michigan treasurer doesn't see bankruptcy for Detroit         2/19 Nerdy CEO-turned-governor faces the Detroit challenge         2/19 Former NBA player Bing misses shot at fixing Detroit          2/18 Detroit focuses on what can be saved                          2/18 Ex-Detroit mayor's corruption case in hands of jury           2/15 Detroit emergency manager, a job for a 'poor devil'             FACTBOXES  2/19 A brief history of Detroit's fiscal problems                  2/19 What happens to Detroit if financial emergency is declared      ANALYSIS  1/28 Stuck in reverse, Detroit edges closer to bankruptcy        [ID:nL1N0AUAY9}  

• Tweet this
• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

Comments (0)

Be the first to comment on reuters.com.

Add yours using the box above.

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

UPDATE 5-Panel finds Detroit in dire shape; up to governor to act

Tue Feb 19, 2013 8:02pm EST

By Steve Neavling

DETROIT Feb 19 (Reuters) - An expert panel concluded on Tuesday that Detroit faces a fiscal emergency in a city plagued by "operational dysfunction," leaving Governor Rick Snyder with a controversial decision of whether to declare a financial takeover by the state.

If Snyder does decide to appoint an emergency financial manager for Detroit, that person could decide that the city's only course for survival would be a bankruptcy filing, the most feared and radical action that could be taken.

Michigan's treasurer, Andy Dillon, who was part of the six-member review team, said he did not expect the city, General Motors' home town, to be forced into bankruptcy.

The review team appointed by Snyder said Detroit, which has been hemorrhaging cash amid a declining population and a decimated economy, has not made the financial decisions that will put the city on a path to recovery.

"The team collectively believes the city needs assistance in making the difficult decisions necessary to achieve the significant reforms that are so crucial to the city's long-term viability," Dillon said in a statement.

The report did not officially recommend the appointment of an outside manager, although Dillon said the review team believes one is needed. The team felt the decision should be left up to Snyder, he said.

Snyder, a Republican, plans to review the report "carefully and closely," according to spokeswoman Sara Wurfel.

"He won't make a determination immediately, but sooner rather than later," she added. Snyder has 30 days to act on the report.

Detroit has faced the steepest population decline of any American city in recent decades. Once the fifth largest U.S. city that shined as the birthplace of the U.S. automotive industry and Motown music, it now ranks 18th with about 700,000 people -- after suffering a 25 percent decline in population between 2000 and 2010.

With the exodus of residents and jobs as the auto industry contracted, the city has suffered from declining tax revenue and rising crime while saddled with the infrastructure and labor costs of a bygone era.

The report described a chaotic administration of the city. For example, it said Police Department and city officials gave differing figures on police staffing, and the review team could not resolve the discrepancies.

"Operational dysfunction contributes to the city's serious financial problem," the report said."

Ronald Goldsberry, an independent consultant and member of the review team, cited Detroit's burden of "chronic deficits and its long-term liabilities" in the report's statement.

SPLIT VIEW ON BANKRUPTCY

Dillon said at a press conference that he did not anticipate a bankruptcy filing by Detroit, which if it were to occur would be the biggest municipal filing in U.S. history.

"I do think we can navigate around this," Dillon said.

Others were less sanguine on the subject. State Senator Jack Brandenburg, one of the Republicans who constitute the majority in the state legislature, said Snyder will have no choice but to appoint an emergency manager for Detroit.

"And the (manager) is going to have to take the city into bankruptcy," he said.

Even if an emergency financial manager did recommend a bankruptcy filing, a panel of state officials could block such a move.

The review team's recommendation is just the latest step in Detroit's long battle to get its financial house in order. The city has been under state scrutiny for more than a year, struggling to avoid a state takeover amid its mounting debt problems.

Detroit residents on Tuesday said that if the state does take over city affairs, for them the worst may be yet to come, as they fear more cuts and hardship.

"The state wants to tear up our city," said Kelsey Adams, a lifelong resident of Detroit. "We can't let that happen."

DEFICITS AND DEBT

Snyder has said that he has compiled a "short list" of candidates qualified for a position of emergency manager should he decide one is needed. Any appointment would be controversial because the manager could sell assets, lay off workers and renegotiate labor contracts. Every step of the process could be challenged in court.

Detroit Mayor David Bing and the city council would stand to lose much of their power if an emergency manager is appointed.

"If the governor decides to appoint an emergency financial manager, he or she, like my administration, is going to need resources -- particularly in the form of cash and additional staff," Bing said in a statement after the report was released.

The report said Detroit continues to deplete its cash reserves and faces a cash deficit of $100 million by June 30 without significant spending cuts. The city has long-term liabilities including pensions exceeding $14 billion, it said.

Snyder assembled the review team in December after slow progress on restructuring Detroit's sagging finances and operations under an April 2012 consent agreement between the city and Michigan.

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

Spain's Reyal Urbis to continue to operate

MADRID | Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:50am EST

MADRID Feb 19 (Reuters) - Spanish property developer Reyal Urbis said on Tuesday it would continue to operate after announcing it would file for insolvency.

In a statement the company said its chairman and controlling shareholder Rafael Santamaria would remain at the helm of the group and was confident an agreement could be reached with the its creditors.

The company said it was filing for insolvency after failing to renegotiate with lenders including Banco Santander, BBVA, Bankia, and Banco Popular. (Reporting By Paul Day; Editing by Clare Kane)

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

PRESS DIGEST-New York Times business news - Feb 19

Tue Feb 19, 2013 3:44am EST

Feb 19 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* Criticized for letting Wall Street off the hook after the financial crisis, the U.S. Justice Department is building a new model for prosecuting big banks. In a recent round of actions that shook the financial industry, the government pushed for guilty pleas, rather than just the usual fines and reforms. Prosecutors now aim to apply the approach broadly to financial fraud cases, according to officials involved in the investigations.

* Office Depot Inc and OfficeMax Inc are in talks to combine in an all-stock deal that may be announced as soon as this week, a person briefed on the matter said. While talks are at an advanced stage, they may still fall apart, this person cautioned.

* Citing a Europe-wide recession, France's Socialist government is moving away from its promise to bring its budget deficit down to 3 percent of gross domestic product this year, arguing that the recession creates an exceptional circumstance requiring less austerity.

* Reader's Digest filed for bankruptcy in another effort to cut down the debt that has plagued the pocket-size publication for years. The company is hoping to convert about $465 million of its debt into equity held by its creditors.

* Drug maker Novartis AG plans to pay departing chairman Daniel Vasella $78 million to prevent him from sharing knowledge with competitors, adding fuel to an already heated debate about executive pay.

* Striking ground workers and flight attendants for Iberia, the money-losing Spanish airline, clashed with riot police officers at Madrid-Barajas Airport to protest a plan to eliminate more than 3,800 jobs.

* Pharmaceutical companies Roche Holding AG and GlaxoSmithKline are helping to develop tests for illicit use in order to keep their offerings from being abused by athletes.

* A growing body of digital evidence leaves little doubt that an overwhelming percentage of the attacks on American companies and government agencies start in a 12-story office building on the edge of Shanghai, China.

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

UPDATE 2-Spanish property firm Reyal Urbis files for insolvency

Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:05am EST

* Firm at risk of becoming Spain's second-largest bankruptcy

* Had 3.6 billion euros of debt at end-September

* Failed to renegotiate debt with creditors

* Shares suspended, down 99 pct since June 2007 (Adds company statement, detail, background)

By Clare Kane and Tomás Cobos

MADRID, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Spain's property market crash claimed another victim on Tuesday, as real estate company Reyal Urbis filed for insolvency after failing to renegotiate debt with its creditors.

The move takes the property developer, which had 3.6 billion euros ($4.8 billion) of debt at the end of September, closer to becoming Spain's second-largest bankruptcy after Martinsa Fadesa, which defaulted on 7 billion euros of debt in 2008.

Dozens of property companies have collapsed in Spain, where house prices have fallen around 40 percent since their 2007 peak. With the country locked in a deep recession, analysts expect prices to fall further still.

Spain's banks were crippled by the property market bust, eventually requiring the state to agree a European bailout for its lenders of almost 40 billion euros last year. Indebted property firms have asked banks for debt relief but patience is wearing thin among lenders saddled with soured property assets.

Reyal Urbis is 70 percent owned by construction magnate Rafael Santamaria and its creditors include Santander, BBVA, Bankia and Banco Popular.

The company, which valued its property portfolio at 4.2 billion euros in June 2012, said it would continue to operate as permitted by Spanish insolvency laws.

Its insolvency petition now goes to court and its fate will be in the hands of a judge.

Reyal Urbis said Santamaria would remain at the helm of the company and he still hoped Reyal Urbis could reach a deal with its creditors, given "the good will of all negotiating parties".

The company had until Feb. 23 to reach a debt restructuring deal with the banks or file for insolvency. Sources close to the matter told Reuters on Friday that creditors had rejected the company's 3.6-billion-euro proposal.

Trading in the company's shares was suspended on Tuesday, Spain's stock market regulator said. The stock had plunged 99 percent since June 2007 to close at 0.124 euros on Monday.

At the end of 2011, Reyal Urbis owned some 888 finished homes in a country where over a million homes lie empty. The company also had 8 million square metres of land for development and 237,000 square metres of commercial property, including offices, shopping centres, industrial property and hotels.

Shareholders in Reyal Urbis include EBN Banco de Negocios, with a 4.76 percent stake and lenders Unicaja and Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Zaragoza, Aragon y Rioja, with 4.30 percent each, according to Thomson Reuters data.

($1 = 0.7490 euros) (Additional reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters and Mark Potter)

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

UPDATE 1-Spain's Reyal Urbis nears bankruptcy after talks fail-sources

Fri Feb 15, 2013 1:32pm EST

(Adds details of assets, shareholders)

By Tomás Cobos and Carlos Ruano

MADRID Feb 15 (Reuters) - Creditors of Spanish property developer Reyal Urbis rejected the company's 3.6 billion euro ($4.8 billion) debt restructuring proposal, two sources familiar with the talks said, pushing it a step closer bankruptcy.

Reyal Urbis, battered by the sharp downturn in Spain's property sector, had until Feb. 23 to reach an accord with its lenders or begin bankruptcy proceedings, a deadline set by the courts.

Although last-minute talks are still possible, the sources said on Friday the company's lenders and Spain's so-called bad bank, where some of the loans are parked, were not eager to refinance Reyal, making bankruptcy the most likely option.

Reyal Urbis, 70 percent owned by real estate and construction magnate Rafael Santamaria Trigo, said in October if it could not reach an agreement with its creditor banks it might need to seek creditor protection.

Several attempts to reach the company for comment were unsuccessful.

The company's creditors include Santander, BBVA , Bankia and Banco Popular. Bankia and Banco Popular declined to comment, while no-one at the other banks was immediately available.

"The proposal included a request to free up a series of mortgaged assets which the company could sell for short-term liquidity, but there was no agreement," one of the sources with direct knowledge of negotiations said.

"A majority of the banks and (Spain's bad bank) SAREB have already set aside provisions for the loans, so they have little interest in kicking the can down the road," the source added.

The fallout from a burst property bubble, after a decade-long housing boom, has left Spain with more than half a million unsold new homes and scores of property groups going to the wall as house prices languish 40 percent below their 2007 peak.

Reyal Urbis's assets were worth 4.2 billion euros at end-June, compared with debt of 4.3 billion, the company said.

At the end of 2011, Reyal Urbis owned some 888 finished homes, 8 million square metres of land for development and 237,000 square metres of commercial property, including offices, shopping centres, industrial property and hotels.

In the third quarter of 2011, the last quarterly statement on the company's website, it reported rental income of 20.4 million euros, mostly from its commercial properties.

According to Reuters data, the developer held land worth 3.3 billion euros at the end of 2011, of which it had provisioned for losses of some 633 million euros.

Spanish banks have been forced to write down the value of undeveloped land by as much as 80 percent since the property crash, as the government forced a restructuring on the financial sector.

Shareholders in Reyal Urbis include corporate financial bank EBN Banco de Negocios, with 4.76 percent, and two Spanish savings banks, each with 4.3 percent stakes. ($1 = 0.7495 euros) (Additional reporting by Fiona Ortiz; Writing by Paul Day; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and David Holmes)

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

REFILE-CEO in fraud case needs more than 7 days prison -court

Fri Feb 15, 2013 1:52pm EST

By Jonathan Stempel

Feb 15 (Reuters) - A former chief executive who pleaded guilty to wrongdoing in a scheme that ultimately helped drive his company into bankruptcy could have been sent to prison for 10 years. The trial judge thought seven days was fair.

Not long enough, a federal appeals court said on Friday.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Michael Peppel, the former chief executive of the audio-visual technology company MCSi Inc, must be resentenced for his 2010 guilty plea to charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, false certification of a financial report, and money laundering.

U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith in Cincinnati abused her discretion in sentencing Peppel to an "unreasonably low" week behind bars based almost solely on her belief that the defendant was "a remarkably good man," the appeals court said.

Prosecutors had charged Peppel in December 2006 over an alleged fraud they said had begun six years earlier, amid financial difficulties at his publicly traded, Dayton, Ohio-based company.

Peppel was accused of working with his chief financial officer to inflate results through sham transactions with a firm called Mercatum Ltd, and companies such as FedEx Corp that were not implicated in wrongdoing. Prosecutors said he also sold $6.8 million of MCSi stock during this time.

By the end of 2003, MCSi was bankrupt, and a reported 1,300 people had lost their jobs.

Citing the need to punish Peppel and deter others, the government asked Beckwith at his October 2011 sentencing to impose a 97- to 121-month prison term. This was the length recommended, but not required, under federal guidelines.

But the judge said the five years since the indictment had been "punishing, literally and figuratively" for Peppel, who had begun working for an online pharmacy to support his five children. He also had a brother with multiple sclerosis.

"Michael's mistakes do not define him," Beckwith said. "I see it to be wasteful for the government to spend taxpayers' money to incarcerate someone that has the ability to create so much for this country and economy."

She also imposed a $5 million fine and the maximum three years of supervised release.

Circuit Judge Karen Nelson Moore, however, wrote for a unanimous three-judge appeals court panel that Beckwith was wrong to rely on "unremarkable aspects" of Peppel's life in imposing a "99.9975% reduction" to the recommended prison term.

"There is nothing to indicate that the support provided by Peppel to his family, friends, business associates, and community is in any way unique or more substantial than any other defendant who faces a custodial sentence," Moore wrote.

Beckwith was not immediately available for comment.

Ralph Kohnen, a lawyer for Peppel, on Friday said: "We expect that the judge will exercise the same common sense and fairness in imposing a similar sentence on remand."

U.S. Attorney Carter Stewart in a statement said he will seek a longer sentence, and that seven days "did not reflect the seriousness of the crime or create any measure of deterrence."

In November 2011, Beckwith sentenced MCSi's former CFO to one day in prison, plus three years supervised release and a $12,500 fine, court records show.

The case is U.S. v. Peppel, 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 11-4327.

• Link this
• Share this
• Digg this
• Email
• Reprints

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More