Market Chatter- Corporate finance press digest

Sept 15 Mon Sep 15, 2014 12:05am EDT

Sept 15 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related stories were reported by media:

* South Korean steelmaker POSCO is considering selling part of its stake in construction unit POSCO Engineering & Construction to an unidentified Saudi Arabian fund, a POSCO official told Reuters on condition of anonymity because the matter is confidential.

* An Israeli government panel studying new taxes on mining companies will soften its recommendations in its final report, a source close to the committee said on Sunday.

* RadioShack Corp is evaluating a $585 million financing package led by UBS AG and hedge fund Standard General LP as the U.S. electronics retailer tries to avert bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

* Citigroup Inc is planning on taking its OneMain Financial Inc personal loan business public by September end, Bloomberg said citing people with knowledge of the matter.

* Investor William Ackman, who has waged battle against corporate titans in the United States, is planning to file for an initial public offering of a fund on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, possibly as soon as Monday, the New York Times reported, citing two people briefed on the plans. (nyti.ms/1m7bLTo)

* Hewlett-Packard Co is exploring the sale of its web-based photo sharing service Snapfish, and has held discussions with multiple private equity and industry buyers, a person with knowledge of the situation said.

For the deals of the day click on

For the Morning News Call-EMEA newsletter click on (Compiled by Arnab Sen in Bangalore)

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RPT-Market Chatter- Corporate finance press digest

Mon Sep 15, 2014 1:57am EDT

(Repeats with no changes to text)

Sept 15 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related stories were reported by media:

* South Korean steelmaker POSCO is considering selling part of its stake in construction unit POSCO Engineering & Construction to an unidentified Saudi Arabian fund, a POSCO official told Reuters on condition of anonymity because the matter is confidential.

* An Israeli government panel studying new taxes on mining companies will soften its recommendations in its final report, a source close to the committee said on Sunday.

* RadioShack Corp is evaluating a $585 million financing package led by UBS AG and hedge fund Standard General LP as the U.S. electronics retailer tries to avert bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

* Citigroup Inc is planning on taking its OneMain Financial Inc personal loan business public by September end, Bloomberg said citing people with knowledge of the matter.

* Investor William Ackman, who has waged battle against corporate titans in the United States, is planning to file for an initial public offering of a fund on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, possibly as soon as Monday, the New York Times reported, citing two people briefed on the plans. (nyti.ms/1m7bLTo)

* Hewlett-Packard Co is exploring the sale of its web-based photo sharing service Snapfish, and has held discussions with multiple private equity and industry buyers, a person with knowledge of the situation said.

For the deals of the day click on

For the Morning News Call-EMEA newsletter click on (Compiled by Arnab Sen in Bangalore)

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BRIEF-Phones4u says places group companies under administration

Sept 15 Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:44am EDT

* Having taken appropriate advice boards of companies have carefully considered situation, concluded there is no reasonable prospect of avoiding insolvent liquidation and that they are no longer able to continue to trade

* Companies have resolved to cease trading with immediate effect and place companies into administration Source text for Eikon: For the full story, click on: Further company coverage:

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RadioShack mulls $585 mln financing package from UBS, Standard General - WSJ

Sept 12 Fri Sep 12, 2014 5:57pm EDT

Sept 12 (Reuters) - RadioShack Corp is evaluating a $585 million financing package led by UBS AG and hedge fund Standard General LP as the U.S. electronics retailer tries to avert bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

UBS will coordinate $325 million of commitments and Standard General will arrange $260 million in financing, replacing a $585 million loan and credit facility from GE Capital, a unit of General Electric Co, the financial daily reported. (on.wsj.com/1xV9wrM)

The Fort Worth, Texas-based company said on Thursday that it may file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States if its cash situation worsened.

The new loans, a last-ditch effort that could still fall through, would loosen some restrictions in the terms of GE Capital's loan, giving RadioShack quicker access to cash through the holiday season, WSJ reported.

RadioShack, UBS and Standard General, which has a stake in the electronics retailer, could not be immediately reached for comment.

RadioShack, founded in 1921, was once the go-to place for the electronics, but has done little to protect its turf or transform itself as rivals such Amazon.com Inc and Wal-Mart Stores Inc draw shoppers away.

RadioShack tried to close 1,100 stores this year, but lenders did not agree with the plans, forcing it to curb the closings to 200 stores a year.

The plan from Standard General and UBS would not require widespread store closures and, instead, would push for an acceleration of the renovations sought by the company, WSJ reported.

RadioShack reported its tenth straight quarterly loss on Thursday. It runs over 4,400 company-operated stores in the United States and Mexico and over 1,200 dealer stores in 25 countries, employing a total of about 27,000 people.

RadioShack's shares, which closed down 10.8 percent on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, were up 4.4 percent at 95 cents after market. (Reporting by Shailaja Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

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Bosses at successor to Portugal's BES bank set to leave-report

LISBON, Sept 13 Sat Sep 13, 2014 5:25am EDT

LISBON, Sept 13 (Reuters) - The executives charged with rebuilding Portugal's Novo Banco - the successor to Banco Espirito Santo after a state rescue last month - are likely to leave the bank soon following a clash over strategy with the central bank, a newspaper said on Saturday.

Weekly newspaper Expresso said, without naming its sources, that the Bank of Portugal was looking for replacements for Novo Banco chief executive Vitor Bento, financial director Joao Moreira Rato and deputy chief executive Jose Honorio.

Novo Banco and Bank of Portugal officials were not immediately available for comment.

According to the newspaper, the executives object to the central bank's plan to sell Novo Banco as soon as possible and are reluctant "to run a project that is not theirs".

The team, which took over Banco Espirito Santo (BES) in July, shortly before the Aug. 3 rescue, was also against the central bank-ordered split of BES into a good bank that is now Novo Banco, and a bad bank that inherited the exposure to the collapsed business empire of its Espirito Santo founding family.

Bento, a respected economist and business manager, was handpicked by Bank of Portugal Governor Carlos Costa to replace Ricardo Salgado, the patriarch of the Espirito Santo clan that founded the bank some 150 years ago.

The bank's new management and the Bank of Portugal have said they suspect illegal activity took place at BES, involving the financing of the troubled family businesses using money borrowed from BES clients.

The Bank of Portugal and the government arranged a 4.9 billion euro ($6.4 billion) rescue of BES last month, using mostly public funds from the country's international bailout, as well as other lenders' funds via Portugal's bank resolution fund. They want to sell Novo Banco quickly to recover the loans.

(1 US dollar = 0.7716 euro) (Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Mark Potter)

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UPDATE 1-Brazil prosecutor seeks to freeze $641 mln in Batista's assets

Sat Sep 13, 2014 3:11pm EDT

(Recast lead and adds context about Batista's fortune)

BRASILIA, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Brazil federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges against Eike Batista, accusing the fallen tycoon of market manipulation and seeking to freeze up to $1.5 billion reais ($641 million) worth of his financial assets and properties.

The Rio de Janeiro prosecutor's office said on Saturday it is charging Batista for deceiving investors with a "simulated" promise two years ago to invest $1 billion in oil company OGX, now known as Oleo e Gas Participacoes SA, if shares fell to a certain level. Batista failed to fulfill his promise, known as a put option, when the shares touched that level.

Batista is also accused of using privileged information on several occasions last year to make a profit of 236 million reais with the sale of company stock, the statement said. The charges against Batista could carry up to 13 years in prison.

A representative of Batista's EBX Group said the industrial group will not comment on the charges. Batista has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in previous public statements on the case.

OGX filed Latin America's largest-ever bankruptcy-protection petition in Rio last October after its first oil wells produced less than expected and investors lost confidence in the company's ability to keep up with debt payments and finance new oil-field development.

The bankruptcy marked the nadir of Batista's EBX energy, mining, shipbuilding and port-operation group. OGX, the group's flagship company, has lost more than 99 percent of its value since 2010.

The prosecutor's office said Batista knew in advance that those wells were not worth the price of the stock.

Changes to Batista's put option were part of an updated restructuring plan of Oleo e Gas, as OGX is now called, released in May. A final decision on the put option will be based on reports from independent legal advisers, according to the document released by Oleo e Gas.

The prosecutor's office asked for the freeze of Batista's planes, boats, cars and other financial assets in Brazil to later compensate investors hurt by his alleged market manipulations. It also said it will freeze assets Batista transferred to his sons Thor and Olin and his wife Flavia Sampaio.

The dramatic fall of one of Brazil's richest man could have also helped weigh down on confidence in Brazil's capital markets at a time of sluggish growth, business executives have said.

Back in May, a Brazilian court ordered up to 122 million reais in assets held by Eike Batista be frozen as part of an investigation into unfair market practices.

Brazil's market regulator, CVM, is also investigating alleged market manipulation by Batista. (1 US dollar = 2.3390 Brazilian real) (Reporting by Alonso Soto; Editing by Rosalind Russell, Bernard Orr)

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RadioShack mulls $585 mln financing package from UBS, Standard General - WSJ

Sept 12 Fri Sep 12, 2014 5:57pm EDT

Sept 12 (Reuters) - RadioShack Corp is evaluating a $585 million financing package led by UBS AG and hedge fund Standard General LP as the U.S. electronics retailer tries to avert bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

UBS will coordinate $325 million of commitments and Standard General will arrange $260 million in financing, replacing a $585 million loan and credit facility from GE Capital, a unit of General Electric Co, the financial daily reported. (on.wsj.com/1xV9wrM)

The Fort Worth, Texas-based company said on Thursday that it may file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States if its cash situation worsened.

The new loans, a last-ditch effort that could still fall through, would loosen some restrictions in the terms of GE Capital's loan, giving RadioShack quicker access to cash through the holiday season, WSJ reported.

RadioShack, UBS and Standard General, which has a stake in the electronics retailer, could not be immediately reached for comment.

RadioShack, founded in 1921, was once the go-to place for the electronics, but has done little to protect its turf or transform itself as rivals such Amazon.com Inc and Wal-Mart Stores Inc draw shoppers away.

RadioShack tried to close 1,100 stores this year, but lenders did not agree with the plans, forcing it to curb the closings to 200 stores a year.

The plan from Standard General and UBS would not require widespread store closures and, instead, would push for an acceleration of the renovations sought by the company, WSJ reported.

RadioShack reported its tenth straight quarterly loss on Thursday. It runs over 4,400 company-operated stores in the United States and Mexico and over 1,200 dealer stores in 25 countries, employing a total of about 27,000 people.

RadioShack's shares, which closed down 10.8 percent on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, were up 4.4 percent at 95 cents after market. (Reporting by Shailaja Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

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BRIEF-Centrosolar Group says insolvency plan withdrawn

Sept 12 Fri Sep 12, 2014 11:46am EDT

Sept 12 (Reuters) - Centrosolar Group AG : * Says insolvency plan withdrawn * Says expects non-subordinated creditors will get a cash payment from the

liquidation of all assets and no shares * Says shares of Centrosolar Group will be withdrawn from the market as soon as

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Bosses at successor to Portugal's BES bank set to leave-report

LISBON, Sept 13 Sat Sep 13, 2014 5:25am EDT

LISBON, Sept 13 (Reuters) - The executives charged with rebuilding Portugal's Novo Banco - the successor to Banco Espirito Santo after a state rescue last month - are likely to leave the bank soon following a clash over strategy with the central bank, a newspaper said on Saturday.

Weekly newspaper Expresso said, without naming its sources, that the Bank of Portugal was looking for replacements for Novo Banco chief executive Vitor Bento, financial director Joao Moreira Rato and deputy chief executive Jose Honorio.

Novo Banco and Bank of Portugal officials were not immediately available for comment.

According to the newspaper, the executives object to the central bank's plan to sell Novo Banco as soon as possible and are reluctant "to run a project that is not theirs".

The team, which took over Banco Espirito Santo (BES) in July, shortly before the Aug. 3 rescue, was also against the central bank-ordered split of BES into a good bank that is now Novo Banco, and a bad bank that inherited the exposure to the collapsed business empire of its Espirito Santo founding family.

Bento, a respected economist and business manager, was handpicked by Bank of Portugal Governor Carlos Costa to replace Ricardo Salgado, the patriarch of the Espirito Santo clan that founded the bank some 150 years ago.

The bank's new management and the Bank of Portugal have said they suspect illegal activity took place at BES, involving the financing of the troubled family businesses using money borrowed from BES clients.

The Bank of Portugal and the government arranged a 4.9 billion euro ($6.4 billion) rescue of BES last month, using mostly public funds from the country's international bailout, as well as other lenders' funds via Portugal's bank resolution fund. They want to sell Novo Banco quickly to recover the loans.

(1 US dollar = 0.7716 euro) (Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Mark Potter)

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Asian bond sales smash 2013 record

By Lianting Tu

Thu Sep 11, 2014 10:32pm EDT

SINGAPORE, Sept 12 (IFR) - With more than a quarter of 2014 remaining, Asian issuers have already sold more bonds in dollars, euros and yen this year than ever before, taking advantage of easy monetary policies to lock in financing at low fixed rates.

Asian issuers, excluding Japan and Australasia, have raised US$143.6bn, with US$1bn of new issues on Thursday night taking the total comfortably past last year's US$142.8bn record, according to Thomson Reuters data.

International bond sales from Asia have now hit a record for three years running, and have doubled since 2009. Volumes for the following years are likely to remain high as earlier deals mature and are refinanced with new bonds, market participants said.

"The growth of Asia's credit markets continues apace, helping underpin the region's economic expansion", Alexi Chan, head of debt capital markets for Asia Pacific at HSBC, said by email. "We are seeing unprecedented levels of global investor liquidity focused on Asia."

Investors with cash to invest are seeking out Asia as geopolitical tensions in Europe and the Middle East have made them wary of investing in those regions. Investors who fled risky assets in the US earlier this year also are looking for more generous returns elsewhere.

"Asia has been attracting steady inflow as a relatively stable destination and Asian credits still offer a yield pick-up [compared to similar credits in the US]," said a portfolio manager from a major US hedge fund.

MORE TO COME

Bankers say bond sales are heating up again after a quiet summer, so the final total for 2014 could far exceed last year's. Deutsche Bank, for example, expects Asian companies will sell another US$25bn of bonds in the major G3 currencies this year.

"[Financial institutions] will be the largest contributor for the rest of the year, and we are going to see a healthy clip of high-yield corporate issuances from Indonesia, India and China. Also there is a well-defined pipeline from South Korea IG," said Herman van den Wall Bake, head of fixed income capital markets for Asia at Deutsche Bank.

The action started right away in September with US$4.74bn sold in the first week alone. Expectations are new issue volume will remain brisk this month as some market participants predict the monthly total alone will exceed US$20bn.

BASEL BONDS

Bank capital, especially Basel III-qualifying offerings from China, is likely to account for the bulk of the new issues for the rest of the year.

Bank of China and ICBC are preparing to sell a combined US$12.2bn in Basel III-compliant Additional Tier 1 securities in the offshore market. Fitch Ratings expects US$20bn in AT1 and Tier 2 capital to be issued by the big five Chinese banks by the end of the year, both onshore and offshore.

Indian banks are also expected to tap the offshore market, but for senior bonds instead of Basel III-eligible capital. Indian Bank and Allahabad Bank are planning to raise about US$500m each while UCO Bank has also hired banks for a Reg S-only deal.

CORPORATE PIPELINE

In Korea, many of the frequent issuers are likely to tap the market again before the end of the year, a Singapore-based DCM banker said. The growing pipeline includes Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Hana Bank, Korea Expressway and Korea Western Power.

High-yield borrowers, which have been relatively quiet this year, are also likely to fill their funding requirements in the following months while interest rates remain conducive.

Investment-grade issuers, meanwhile, may take a breather after a hectic financing schedule earlier this year.

Excluding financial institutions, Asian corporations have already raised US$28.8bn more in G3 bonds this year than last year at this time (US$114.8bn).

"We don't see imminent refinancing needs from IG corporates," Deutsche's Bake said. "Many of them are likely to kick the ball forward to the first quarter of next year in order to defer negative carry closer to their actual refinancing needs. We believe most of the IG corporate funding this year is behind us." (Reporting By Lianting Tu. Editing By Abby Schultz.)

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