UPDATE 1-Alitalia picks Ducati head as new CEO

Thu Apr 18, 2013 1:59pm EDT

(Adds appointment of new CEO at Ducati)

MILAN, April 18 (Reuters) - Italian motorcycle maker Ducati's chief executive, Gabriele del Torchio, has been recruited to lead struggling Italian airline Alitalia back to profitability.

Alitalia said on Thursday Del Torchio, seen as a turnaround specialist, has been assigned all operational responsibilities.

He will replace Andrea Ragnetti, who quit after only a year in the job in February after the struggling airline company posted a 2012 net loss of 280 million euros ($365 million) which had deepened from 69 million euros in 2011.

Ducati has replaced Del Torchio with Claudio Domenicali, who has spent 21 years at the motorcycle maker, most recently as its director general.

Ducati was bought by Volkswagen's division Audi last year. Revenues rose 16 percent to 606 million euros in 2012.

Alitalia, which is 25 percent owned by Air France-KLM , was rescued from bankruptcy in 2008, when it was bought by a consortium of Italian companies including Intesa Sanpaolo, road operator Atlantia and IMMSI , which also controls scooter maker Piaggio. ($1 = 0.7668 euros) (Reporting by Francesca Landini; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and William Hardy)

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

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

UPDATE 4-American Air parent results top estimates

Thu Apr 18, 2013 3:17pm EDT

* Adjusted earnings 2 cents a share vs. estimate of loss 9 cents

* CEO confident network outage won't recur

April 18 (Reuters) - American Airlines parent AMR Corp , which plans to merge with US Airways Group Inc to form the world's biggest carrier, reported higher-than-expected adjusted quarterly earnings on Thursday, aided by cost-cutting from its bankruptcy restructuring.

The carrier's net loss narrowed from a year earlier in the first three months of the year. Excluding reorganization and special items, American recorded an $8 million profit, the first time it has had earnings on that basis for the seasonally weak first quarter since 2007.

"If you can be profitable in the worst quarter, you certainly can generate a lot of earnings and cash in the next couple of quarters," said Michael Derchin, an airline analyst with CRT Capital Group.

American, the third-largest U.S. carrier by traffic, has renegotiated plane leases, cut management and support staff and frozen pension plans to lower costs since filing for Chapter 11 protection in November 2011.

For years, American's higher cost base had put it at a disadvantage with peers such as Delta Air Lines and United Continental Holdings that earlier restructured in bankruptcy.

This week, American filed formal plans to exit bankruptcy, a necessary step to completing its proposed $11 billion merger with US Air. Pending approvals, the deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

"It will be one of the more profitable network carriers," Derchin said of the new American.

American said its operations have returned to normal following a computer outage on Tuesday that forced it to ground nearly 1,000 flights. A software issue that affected primary and backup network systems caused the problem, the company said.

Chief Executive Thomas Horton said American understands the cause of the outage, has ruled out external threats and continues to investigate the issue.

The outage "was unrelated to the merger" planned with US Air, Horton said in an interview. "It was a unique event and we do not expect that to recur."

AMR's first-quarter net loss was $341 million, or $1.02 a share, compared with a loss of $1.7 billion, or $4.95 a share, a year earlier.

Adjusted for items, American had a profit of 2 cents a share, compared with a loss of 9 cents a share expected by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company recorded costs of $276 million tied to its reorganization, and charges and merger-related expenses of $28 million. It also took a charge of $45 million tied to a rise in workers' compensation claims in recent months.

Operating revenue rose 1 percent to $6.1 billion, aided by record average fares paid per mile. Passenger revenue per available seat mile, an important measure known as unit revenue, rose 2.6 percent for American and its regional affiliate American Eagle.

Operating expenses fell 1.3 percent, as costs tied to wages and salaries fell about 17 percent.

Shares of most airlines traded lower on Thursday as oil prices rose. AMR was down 3 percent at $3.85.

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

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hong Kong March bankruptcy petitions up 41 pct from Feb

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

California city tells Calpers it will quit pension fund

Wed Apr 17, 2013 6:36pm EDT

* Termination letter sent to biggest U.S. pension fund

* Other cities look for ways to rein in pension debt

By Tim Reid

LOS ANGELES, April 17 (Reuters) - The tiny California city of Canyon Lake has served notice on the state's pension fund that it wants to quit the plan, at a time when cities across the state and the United States are looking at ways to rein in soaring retirement costs.

Canyon Lake in southern California is a city of 11,000 people. But its decision to quit the powerful Calpers - America's largest public pension fund with $256 billion of assets under management - could presage much larger problems for the system as it battles with Wall Street bondholders in the bankruptcy cases of California's San Bernardino and Stockton.

Canyon Lake, which says it is ready to pay a termination fee, sent a letter on April 4 to the California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers) stating that it wants to end its relationship with the pension fund.

A major factor in its decision was a likely move by Calpers to raise its employer contribution rate by 50 percent in coming years - a decision the fund's board approved on Wednesday .

Calpers confirmed that it had received Canyon Lake's "required signed resolution of intention to terminate" adding other cities and counties have ended their contracts with the fund in the past. No other city or county in California is known to be taking the step to currently quit the plan.

"The problem here is the uncertainty for Calpers, and that is how many cities might opt out," said Michael Sweet, a bankruptcy attorney with Fox Rothschild in San Francisco.

"That is the unknown. The issue here for Calpers is if Canyon Lake becomes a trend."

Pacific Grove, a California coastal city of 15,000, informed Calpers earlier this year that it wants to explore ways to renegotiate its obligations to the fund. Other California cities are taking legal and financial advice about their obligations to Calpers.

Canyon Lake said it has looked at Calpers's website, which states that its unfunded liability to the fund is $661,000.

Richard Rowe, Canyon Lake's interim city manager, said the city decided it would be cheaper to borrow money to pay off Calpers rather than continue to pay the fund.

The city only has two full-time employees. Payments to Calpers for the pair will cost the city about $35,000 in the next fiscal year beginning July 1, Rowe said. If the city quit Calpers and turned those jobs into part-time positions with much lower benefit structures, the city would save about $88,000 annually in pension and health costs, Rowe said.

Servicing a 10-year loan to quit Calpers will cost the city about $77,000 annually, Rowe said - but it would be one line item in the city's budget that should not change.

Out of a total city budget of $3.6 million, $2.6 million is spent on police and fire costs. That is contracted out to Riverside County and the city has no control over those Calpers costs.

The city wanted to quit Calpers because it looked like payments to the fund would continue to increase, and Rowe said it was frustrating that the city had no control over that.

In the last 10 years, the amount paid to Calpers by California and the cities rose nearly four times to $7.8 million in fiscal 2012.

According to the city, its employer rates to Calpers have risen from 12.8 percent to 17.9 percent in the last three years. Rowe said they have also asked Calpers for an exact termination fee, amid concerns about a rising unfunded liability figure calculated by the fund.

"Budgeting is extremely difficult," Rowe said. "We have no ability to make long-term forecasts because we don't know how Calpers's long term liabilities are going to be resolved."

Brad Pacheco, a spokesman for Calpers, said the fund had not performed any termination calculations for Canyon Lake.

Pacheco suggested the city's assumption that its termination fee was $661,000 might be premature.

"We suspect that they used the hypothetical number from the recent valuation report in the action with their City Council," he said.

The assets of a city that terminates from Calpers are "are put into a more conservative risk pool."

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

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

CORRECTED-California city tells Calpers it will quit pension fund

Wed Apr 17, 2013 8:22pm EDT

(In paragraph 7 from bottom corrects to $7.8 billion instead of $7.8 million and clarifies next paragraph on wages)

* Termination letter sent to biggest U.S. pension fund

* Other cities look for ways to rein in pension debt

By Tim Reid

LOS ANGELES, April 17 (Reuters) - The tiny California city of Canyon Lake has served notice on the state's pension fund that it wants to quit the plan, at a time when cities across the state and the United States are looking at ways to rein in soaring retirement costs.

Canyon Lake in southern California is a city of 11,000 people. But its decision to quit the powerful Calpers - America's largest public pension fund with $256 billion of assets under management - could presage much larger problems for the system as it battles with Wall Street bondholders in the bankruptcy cases of California's San Bernardino and Stockton.

Canyon Lake, which says it is ready to pay a termination fee, sent a letter on April 4 to the California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers) stating that it wants to end its relationship with the pension fund.

A major factor in its decision was a likely move by Calpers to raise its employer contribution rate by 50 percent in coming years - a decision the fund's board approved on Wednesday .

Calpers confirmed that it had received Canyon Lake's "required signed resolution of intention to terminate" adding other cities and counties have ended their contracts with the fund in the past. No other city or county in California is known to be taking the step to currently quit the plan.

"The problem here is the uncertainty for Calpers, and that is how many cities might opt out," said Michael Sweet, a bankruptcy attorney with Fox Rothschild in San Francisco.

"That is the unknown. The issue here for Calpers is if Canyon Lake becomes a trend."

Pacific Grove, a California coastal city of 15,000, informed Calpers earlier this year that it wants to explore ways to renegotiate its obligations to the fund. Other California cities are taking legal and financial advice about their obligations to Calpers.

Canyon Lake said it has looked at Calpers's website, which states that its unfunded liability to the fund is $661,000.

Richard Rowe, Canyon Lake's interim city manager, said the city decided it would be cheaper to borrow money to pay off Calpers rather than continue to pay the fund.

The city only has two full-time employees. Payments to Calpers for the pair will cost the city about $35,000 in the next fiscal year beginning July 1, Rowe said. If the city quit Calpers and turned those jobs into part-time positions with much lower benefit structures, the city would save about $88,000 annually in pension and health costs, Rowe said.

Servicing a 10-year loan to quit Calpers will cost the city about $77,000 annually, Rowe said - but it would be one line item in the city's budget that should not change.

Out of a total city budget of $3.6 million, $2.6 million is spent on police and fire costs. That is contracted out to Riverside County and the city has no control over those Calpers costs.

The city wanted to quit Calpers because it looked like payments to the fund would continue to increase, and Rowe said it was frustrating that the city had no control over that.

In the last 10 years, the amount paid to Calpers by California and the cities rose nearly four times to $7.8 billion in fiscal 2012.

According to the city, it paid Calpers 17.9 percent of its employees wages, up from 12.8 percent three years ago. Rowe said they have also asked Calpers for an exact termination fee, amid concerns about a rising unfunded liability figure calculated by the fund.

"Budgeting is extremely difficult," Rowe said. "We have no ability to make long-term forecasts because we don't know how Calpers's long term liabilities are going to be resolved."

Brad Pacheco, a spokesman for Calpers, said the fund had not performed any termination calculations for Canyon Lake.

Pacheco suggested the city's assumption that its termination fee was $661,000 might be premature.

"We suspect that they used the hypothetical number from the recent valuation report in the action with their City Council," he said.

The assets of a city that terminates from Calpers are "are put into a more conservative risk pool." (Reporting by Tim Reid; Editing by Tiziana Barghini and Leslie Gevirtz)

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

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

STOCKS NEWS INDONESIA-Exchange halts trading of Surabaya Agung on bankruptcy filing

Thu Apr 18, 2013 12:05am EDT

The Indonesian Stock Exchange suspended trading in PT Surabaya Agung Industri Pulp dan Kertas Tbk as requested by the paper producer's curator team due to its bankruptcy process, the exchange said in a statement on Thursday.

Surabaya Agung was sued by Singapore-based Asiabase Resources Pte Ltd for payable worth up to $415,036, company had said in an exchange filing dated March 5.

The pulp maker's shares hit their lowest since May 2011 at 160 rupiah per share on Monday, before closing at 200 rupiah. They have lost almost half of their value since last year.

The broader Jakarta's Composite Index is trading down 0.19 percent.

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

U.S. court OKs Lehman settlements to free up $15 billion for customers

Tue Apr 16, 2013 2:21pm EDT

* Resolves Lehman brokerage's disputes with parent, European arm

* Frees up funds to repay institutional customers of brokerage

By Nick Brown

NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday approved a set of settlements among Lehman Brothers entities that will allow the company's defunct brokerage to pay back about $15 billion in customer claims.

The intercompany claims had been the final obstacles keeping James Giddens, the trustee recovering money for the broker's customers, from making full payouts to brokerage customers.

While individual retail customers were made whole shortly after Lehman's collapse in 2008, hundreds of affiliate, institutional and hedge fund customers of the brokerage have been waiting for their money.

The settlements, reached last year, were greenlighted by Judge James Peck at a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. This was a "milestone" moment in a "complex" bankruptcy, Giddens said in a statement.

The deals resolve a pair of disputes, one between Lehman's brokerage and its parent entity, the other between the brokerage and the company's European arm. The parent will receive a $2.3 billion customer claim, down from the $19.9 billion it had originally sought, and a $14 billion lower-priority unsecured claims against the brokerage.

The European unit will receive a $9 billion customer claim, down from the $24 billion it initially asserted, and a $4 billion unsecured claim.

The deals free up about $15 billion for Giddens to pay back to customers. He said he expected payouts to begin as soon as the court's orders are final. The settlement with Lehman's European arm still needs approval from a British court, where a hearing is slated for May 1.

Holders of unsecured claims will be partially repaid from whatever is left after customer claims are paid out.

Lehman filed the largest-ever U.S. bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008, with $639 billion in assets. It is in the midst of repaying about $65 billion to creditors under a liquidation plan approved in late 2011.

Its brokerage was liquidated separately under the Securities Investor Protection Act, or SIPA, which governs the wind-down of failed securities brokers. Most of its assets were sold to Barclays PLC.

"In the face of enormous complexity and unique legal challenges, the SIPA framework to protect customer's property worked as designed," Giddens said in the statement.

Spokeswomen for the Lehman parent and the European unit had no immediate comment on the ruling.

In a statement released earlier this week, Lehman's European unit credited the settlement as a main reason it is forecasting substantial or full repayment for its unsecured creditors.

"To be able to advise ordinary unsecured creditors that we now have a reasonable chance of eventually repaying their claims in full, marks a significant milestone," Tony Lomas, one of the administrators liquidating the European arm, said in the statement.

The brokerage liquidation is In re Lehman Brothers Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 08-1420.

The Lehman bankruptcy is In re Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, in the same court, No. 08-13555.

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

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

Detroit takes step to restructure debt despite protests

DETROIT, April 16 | Tue Apr 16, 2013 3:42pm EDT

DETROIT, April 16 (Reuters) - The Detroit City Council on Tuesday approved a controversial contract to restructure the city's debt, despite a protest that temporarily shut down the meeting.

About 2 dozen protesters opposed to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's appointment last month of an emergency manager to run Detroit linked arms and sang protest songs, forcing Council President Charles Pugh to call for a recess that lasted 90 minutes.

The council reconvened after about a dozen police officers moved into the chamber and threatened to arrest anyone who became unruly.

In a 5 to 2 vote, the council approved a six-month, $3.4 million contract to hire the Jones Day law firm, the former employer of Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, to help negotiate agreements with creditors.

Under Michigan law, Orr has the final say on contracts for the cash-strapped city.

Jones Day's selection as the city's restructuring counsel was announced by Mayor Dave Bing on March 11, just days before the governor tapped Orr to run Detroit.

Both Orr and Snyder have said talks with creditors were needed to help solve Detroit's fiscal mess, which mushroomed as the city's population dropped along with its revenue.

Bill Nowling, Orr's spokesman, said no meetings with the city's bondholders have been scheduled.

"We will have more to say about concessions sought when we enter into negotiations," Nowling said. "Right now, it would be premature to comment."

Detroit has about $2.4 billion of outstanding general obligation debt, $6 billion of water and sewer revenue bonds and unfunded liabilities of $6 billion for retiree healthcare and $650 million for pensions, according to a March report from the mayor's office.

The city also faces paying as much as $440 million, or about 22 percent of its annual operating budget, after a credit rating downgrade last year and more recently the appointment of an emergency manager triggered the termination of interest rate swap agreements.

Nowling said Michigan-based law firm Miller Canfield will continue to negotiate with swap providers.

In the wake of the council meeting, protesters pledged to heighten the intensity of the demonstrations. Since the emergency manager was named, protest threats have mostly not borne out and there has been no violence.

"This is just the beginning. They haven't see the worst of it," said Rev. Charles Williams II, the head of the Michigan chapter of the New York-based Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network of community activist. "We are serious about this."

Among the concerns raised about the contract was perceived conflicts of interest. Protesters said Jones Day's clients include big banks that are Detroit creditors and stand to lose a lot of money under bankruptcy or a settlement.

Tensions flared late on Tuesday morning when Morris Mays, a 51-year-old Detroiter clad in a black leather jacket, black leather gloves, a black shirt, black sunglasses and gold chains threatened the council.

"I resent you. I hate you for what you did," Mays told the council for agreeing to work with the emergency manager. "I watch you attack us and attack us and attacks us. And I urge the people of Detroit to attack you!"

Police escorted Mays from the room. Others were forcibly removed after refusing to stay quiet.

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

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

UPDATE 2-Accounting scandal deepens at Spain's Pescanova

Tue Apr 16, 2013 3:55pm EDT

* Chairman lent the firm 9.3 billion euros after stake sale

* Big shareholders angry over chairman's missteps

* Future of chairman still uncertain

By Tracy Rucinski and Carlos Ruano

MADRID, April 16 (Reuters) - Spanish fishing firm Pescanova sank deeper into scandal on Tuesday as shareholder anger mounted over accounting failings and the chairman's undeclared sale of shares in the period leading up to insolvency proceedings.

Pescanova, a household name in Spain and one of the world's largest fishing groups, filed for insolvency on April 15 on at least 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion) of debt run up to fuel expansion before economic crisis hit its earnings.

Spain's stock market regulator said in a statement Tuesday evening that 2012 financial results documents it has received from the fish-finger maker did not comply with required accounting standards, possibly opening the door to sanctions.

The documents, submitted on Monday, had not been signed off by Pescanova board members or auditors, and the firm was already more than a month beyond an official deadline to present audited accounts.

Earlier this month the company suspended its auditors BDO and has hired KPMG to carry out a forensic analysis of its accounts.

On Monday the firm revealed that Chairman Manuel Fernandez de Sousa had sold half of his 14.4 percent stake in the firm between December and February, shortly before starting work on the insolvency process last month.

Sousa said he sold the stake in order to lend cash back to the financially strained company, but he failed to notify his own board, or regulators, contrary to Spanish law. One of the company's largest shareholders complained that he had continued to exercise board influence based on the shares he sold.

Sousa on Tuesday met with the head of Spain's stock market regulator, Elvira Rodriguez, a source with knowledge of the meeting said, though it is unclear what was discussed. The regulator, which like Pescanova declined to comment on the meeting, is investigating the firm over possible market abuse.

Pescanova shares traded between 13.45 and 17.99 euros during the relevant period, and by selling a 7 percent stake Sousa could have raised at least 27 million euros, according to Reuters calculations.

In a stock market filing on Tuesday, Pescanova said Sousa lent 9.3 million euros to the company following the stake sale, at a 5 percent annual coupon.

His stake sale has further stoked the fury of shareholders, who have been trapped in the stock since trading was suspended on March 1 when the company failed to meet the deadline to present its 2012 results.

The stock, much of it held by retail investors, lost 58 percent of its value between Jan. 1 and the March 1 suspension following a 41 percent decline in 2012.

Aside from Sousa, the company's other main shareholders are Spanish brewery SA Damm with 6.18 percent, Luxembourg financial holding company Luxempart with 5.8 percent and UK-based Silicon Metals Holding with 5 percent.

"The chairman owns little more than we do and yet has had four board seats. Hiding his real stake has allowed him to take decisions that in our opinion were negative for the company," a Damm spokeswoman said.

At least three of the main shareholders have hired attorneys for advice over the matter, sources with direct knowledge of the situation said.

UNCERTAIN FUTURE

The Vigo-based company in Spain's northwestern Galicia region employs about 1,000 people locally and 10,000 across the world who catch, process and package fish on factory ships.

In 2005-2007, just before Spain's economy crashed, the company expanded, acquiring salmon farming and shrimp businesses from Chile to Florida.

One Spaniard punned on Twitter that the company had been doomed from the day it chose its name: "Pesca no va", or in English, "Fishing isn't working out."

Once a company files for voluntary insolvency in Spain, a judge must decide whether to accept the filing and appoint an independent administrator, a process that can take weeks or even months.

Pescanova first reported discrepancies in the books on March 12, a day after the market regulator said it would investigate the firm over possible market abuse.

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

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More

AMR files bankruptcy exit plan in step towards merger with US Airways

Mon Apr 15, 2013 10:18pm EDT

* Reorganization plan is necessary step to emerge from bankruptcy

* Plan requires creditor and court approval

* Merger would create world's largest airline

NEW YORK, April 15 (Reuters) - AMR Corp, the parent company of American Airlines, filed formal plans to exit bankruptcy on Monday, bringing its proposed $11 billion merger with US Airways Group closer to reality.

The reorganization plan, which details some executive compensation and outlines measures for creditors and shareholders, is a necessary step before the two companies can come together to create the world's largest airline. The plan requires both court and creditor approval.

Under the plan, AMR's outgoing chief executive, Tom Horton, would receive a $19.9 million severance package.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane declined to approve the same severance proposal earlier this month, ruling that it was not permitted under federal bankruptcy law, but suggested it be included in AMR's reorganization plan, making it subject to creditor approval.

Secured creditors would be paid in full, while unsecured creditors would receive shares of preferred stock.

As expected, AMR shareholders would receive a 3.5 percent equity stake in the new company, which would make it one of the few major bankruptcies in which equity holders earn some recovery. An attorney for AMR's creditors committee has said the stake could be valued at between $350 million and $400 million.

US Airways Chief Executive Doug Parker would serve as CEO of the new airline. He would receive $19.5 million if he loses the job during the merger, the companies said in a separate filing on Monday.

Parker was paid about $5.5 million last year, up from $3.8 million in 2011. While his base salary stayed the same at $550,000, his incentive compensation rose nearly fivefold as US Airways met financial goals.

AMR is the last major U.S. carrier to go through bankruptcy, after its competitors all underwent restructurings in the last decade.

The company's initial opposition to a merger faded under pressure from its creditors' committee, and Parker aggressively wooed AMR by appealing to its unions, striking a tentative deal with the airline's workers before formal talks between the two companies had begun in earnest.

The merger was approved by a bankruptcy judge last month but still requires regulatory approval.

The combined carrier would keep the American name and would be based in AMR's hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. The merger is expected to close in the third quarter.

The case is In re: AMR Corp et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-15463.

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

16.47 | 0 komentar | Read More