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1969-12-31 00:00:00 UTC | Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. (MRH): New Analyst Report from Zacks Equity Research - Zacks Equity Research Report | MRH | http://www.zacks.com/stock/research/MRH/equity-research | Zacks | |||||||
2006-10-20 00:00:00 UTC | Inco's Net Soars on Higher Metal Prices, Breakup Fee | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-20/inco-s-net-soars-on-higher-metal-prices-breakup-fee-update4-.html
| Dale Crofts | Inco Ltd., the Canadian nickel producer
being bought by Brazil 's Cia. Vale do Rio, said third-quarter
profit soared 11-fold, boosted by surging metal prices and fees
paid by Falconbridge Ltd. after a failed takeover.
Net income jumped to $701 million, or $3.08 a share, from $64
million, or 29 cents, a year earlier, Toronto-based Inco said today
in a statement. Results included $109 million in net fees from the
failed deals with Falconbridge and Phelps Dodge Corp. Sales jumped
to $2.32 billion from $1.08 billion.
Inco sold nickel at double the price last year on average, and
output jumped 13 percent. Demand for the metal, used in stainless
steel, surged as global economic growth fueled demand, especially
in China . Mines have failed to keep pace, prompting a buying spree
by producers seeking to bolster ore deposits. Vale outbid Phelps
Dodge and Teck Cominco Ltd. with its $17.3 billion bid.
``Record quarterly earnings reflect the unprecedented
sustained strength we've seen in the nickel market, combined with
strong production,'' Inco Chief Executive Officer Scott Hand said
in the statement.
Shares of Inco gained 27 cents to C$85.85 at 4:10 p.m. on the
Toronto Stock Exchange. They have gained 80 percent in the past
year. Rio de Janeiro-based Vale, the world's largest iron-ore
producer, has offered C$86 a share for Inco.
Breakup Fees
Inco got $450 million from Falconbridge as a fee for their
failed merger, and made payments when deals failed with Phelps
Dodge and LionOre Mining International Ltd. A strike by workers at
Voisey's Bay in September led to a $24 million charge in the third
quarter, Inco said.
Phelps Dodge, the world's third-biggest copper producer, in
September dropped its offer of cash and stock for Inco, whose
shareholders supported an unsolicited cash bid from Vale.
Inco's nickel production climbed to 125 million pounds in the
quarter as prices jumped on average to $29,552 a metric ton. The
company had cut its output forecast from as much as 140 million
pounds because of strikes and equipment failures. Cash costs for
nickel sales fell 30 percent to $2.12 a pound, Inco said.
Inco is the world's second-biggest nickel producer by 2005
output behind Russia 's OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel.
Copper output rose 1.7 percent to 27,669 metric tons and
prices jumped 90 percent on average to $7,465 a ton.
Nickel today reached the highest since at least 1987 as
supplies lag behind demand. Inventories monitored by the London
Metal Exchange plunged 86 percent this year. Mine output fell short
of demand by 70,000 metric tons in the eight months ended August,
the World Bureau of Metal Statistics said.
LME Nickel
Nickel for delivery in three months gained $375, or 1.2
percent, to $32,050 on the LME after reaching $32,625, the highest
in at least 19 years.
Extended repairs at operations in Indonesia and reduced output
at a smelter in Sudbury, Ontario, forced Inco to cut its original
production forecast for the quarter on Sept. 20.
Inco has restored full production at Sudbury and a unit in
Manitoba has returned to ``stable operations'' after a damaged
furnace hurt output, Inco said. The company had said Sept. 21 it
expected to return to full production at Manitoba by early October.
Inco declined to provide a forecast on earnings or production
before the expiration of the CVRD offer on Oct. 23.
Inco said it is ``continuing to review'' the cost and schedule
for the $2.15 billion Goro nickel project in New Caledonia that's
been slowed by a general strike in the country. Inco expects to
announce a ``revised cost estimate'' and schedule by the end of the
year.
``There is a global shortage of skilled workers, which is felt
even more acutely in New Caledonia with its population of 230,000
people,'' said Jeff Zweig, deputy general manager at Goro, in an e-
mail on Oct. 16 ``To execute a project of this size and complexity,
a significant number of skilled workers are required.''
To contact the reporter on this story:
Dale Crofts in Chicago at
dcrofts@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steve Stroth at
sstroth@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-10-21 00:00:00 UTC | Jim Cramer: Diageo, Anheuser-Busch, Monster Worldwide, Google | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-21/jim-cramer-diageo-anheuser-busch-monster-worldwide-google.html
| Steven Bodzin | Jim Cramer recommended that viewers
buy shares of liquor maker Diageo Plc (DGE) because of its dividend
and its growth in China .
Diageo is similar to Guess? Inc. (GES) as a ``company that preys
on natural human weakness,'' said Cramer, a market commentator
and former hedge-fund manager on his ``Mad Money'' television
program on CNBC.
``Think of Diageo as Philip Morris with a great dividend
and no tobacco,'' he said.
In response to a caller, Cramer said to avoid Anheuser-Busch Co. because he expects it to report a weak quarter.
Monster Worldwide Inc. (MWW) stock is cheaper than it should be
because of a stock options backdating investigation and concerns
about a weak job market, Cramer said.
He said Monster may be a takeover target for Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) if
Yahoo tries to grow through acquisitions. Other possible targets
include Bankrate Inc. and Knot Inc., he said. Yahoo needs to
grow to compete with Google Inc. (GOOG) , he said.
In an interview with Chicago Bears player Muhsin Muhammad,
Cramer said he liked Muhammad's portfolio of FedEx Corp. (FDX) , Exxon
Mobil Corp. (XOM) , International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) , Bank of
America Corp. (BAC) and MetLife Inc. (MET) He also said the portfolio was
well diversified.
Oregon Steel Mills
Based on Union Pacific Corp. (UNP) 's statement that shipment of
steel pipe had increased, investors should buy Oregon Steel
Mills Inc. before the company reports earnings, Cramer said.
He said to buy stock in Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK) based on
strong quarters at AMR Corp. (AAMRQ) and Continental Airlines Inc. He
said Corning Inc. (GLW) is likely to rise after it reports earnings,
based on 3M Co. (MMM) saying that liquid-crystal display trends are
positive.
He said to buy shares of Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) before the company
reports earnings and to buy shares of General Motors Corp. if
they decline after Ford Motor Co. reports earnings Oct. 23.
He said to avoid Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY)
Cramer recommended ASV Inc., Bare Escentuals Inc., Oracle
Corp. (ORCL) , Merck & Co., SAIC Inc. (SAI) , DivX Inc., Akamai Technologies
Inc. (AKAM) , Apple Computer Inc., Under Armour Inc. (UA) , Mattel Inc. (MAT) , BB&T
Corp. (BBT) and Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) , in response to questions during the
show's ``Lightning Round'' segment.
He told viewers to avoid Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) , Dow
Chemical Co., Commvault Systems Inc. (CVLT) , Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) and Sony
Corp. (6758)
To contact the reporter on this story:
Steven Bodzin in San Francisco at
sbodzin@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Aimee Sullivan at asullivan@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-10-23 00:00:00 UTC | Ex-Plant Worker Shuster Pleads Guilty in Trading Case | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-23/ex-plant-worker-shuster-pleads-guilty-in-trading-case-update1-.html
| David Glovin | A former worker at a Wisconsin
printing plant pleaded guilty to charges that he leaked the
names of stocks mentioned in Business Week before the magazine
was mailed out.
Nickolaus Shuster, who worked at Quad Graphics Inc. in
Sussex, Wisconsin, told a judge today in Manhattan federal court
that he tipped two other people, whom he didn't name, to the
names of the stocks that were to be favorably mentioned in the
Inside Wall Street column.
``I would steal pre-publication copies of Business Week and
call these two people and relay to them the contents of the
Inside Wall Street columns,'' Shuster, 25, told U.S. Magistrate
Judge Debra Freeman. Shuster, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy
and securities fraud, will be sentenced in January.
The guilty plea is the third in what prosecutors said was a
three-prong conspiracy involving two ex-employees at Goldman
Sachs Group Inc., Eugene Plotkin and David Pajcin.
In Wisconsin, Shuster stole advance copies of Business Week
for Plotkin and Pajcin, prosecutors said. In New York , former
Merrill Lynch & Co. mergers analyst Stanislav Shpigelman, who
pleaded guilty in July, leaked secret information about a
pending deal to the pair, authorities said.
In Newark, New Jersey , Jason Smith , a mailman sitting on a
grand jury, tipped Pajcin and Plotkin to details of a
confidential U.S. probe of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. accounting,
prosecutors said. Smith pleaded guilty in August.
``I knew what I was doing was wrong,'' Shuster said.
Union Square
Shuster told Freeman that, during an October 2004 meeting
in the Union Square section of Manhattan, his two conspirators
asked him to travel to Wisconsin and get a job at the Business
Week plant.
In January 2005, one of Shuster's conspirators bought 3,500
shares of Arbitron Inc., the biggest radio-ratings supplier in
the U.S., after learning of a forthcoming mention in the column,
Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Lawsky said in court.
Shuster agreed to forfeit $20,000 paid to him as part of
the scheme. The judge said Shuster, who previously lived in New
Jersey, has been cooperating with prosecutors. Charges are
pending against a second printing-plant worker, Juan Renteria,
along with Plotkin.
Pajcin has been cooperating with investigators.
New York-based Merrill Lynch is a passive, minority
investor in Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News .
The case is U.S. v. Shuster, 06-cr-389, Southern District
of New York.
To contact the reporter on this story:
David Glovin at the federal courthouse in New York at
dglovin@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Patrick Oster at poster@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-10-23 00:00:00 UTC | EU Energy Chief Backs German Plan for Price Controls | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-23/eu-energy-chief-backs-german-plan-for-price-controls-update1-.html
| Thomas Bauer | European Union Energy Commissioner
Andris Piebalgs backed German government plans to give antitrust
authorities powers to challenge energy price increases.
Germany's Economy Ministry is considering steps to keep
utilities from charging prices that exceed costs ``excessively''
after E.ON AG and RWE AG attracted attention for posting record
earnings while increasing costs for private and business clients.
``There's this problem in Germany that there're suspicions
about too little competition driving electricity prices too
high,'' Piebalgs said in an interview in Berlin. The German
antitrust office ``must be enabled to verify this.''
Utilities in Europe are being scrutinized by the European
Commission and national regulators for shutting out competitors
and driving up prices. The four largest utilities in Germany
generate 80 percent of the country's power and E.ON has more than
50 percent of the natural-gas market.
RWE, Germany's second-largest utility, said on Sept. 28 that
replacing market prices for power with regulated charges would
curb competition in Europe's largest economy. Regulated prices
would discourage investors and utilities from building new power
plants , according to the company.
Piebalgs rejected industry complaints, saying the German
government's plans keep clear of ``fixing prices'' and ``solely
aim to verify'' whether power companies are overcharging their
customers.
``Why do utilities have to complain about it if it's carried
out in a transparent and appropriate way,'' said Piebalgs. ``This
is going in the right direction and I support (Economy) Minister
Michael Glos's steps in that respect.''
Oil Prices
Piebalgs said current oil prices of around $60 per barrel are
still ``fairly high.'' Still, with supply holding ``stable'' and
tensions in the Middle East abating, oil costs may not pose marked
swings in either direction, he said.
``The oil price will probably continue hovering around the
$60 level,'' he said. ``I don't believe there will be a distinct
drop. Supply is stable and conditions aren't particularly tense,
so I don't see a large increase either.''
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed last
week to lower output by 1.2 million barrels a day starting Nov. 1.
The cut is designed to prop up prices which have fallen by about
25 percent from the record high they reached in July.
Turning to Russia, Piebalgs said Europe faces ``a great
opportunity'' to create stable energy ties with the world's
largest fuel exporter once the country opens up its electricity
and gas industries.
`` Russia 's energy sector needs great investments,'' the
commissioner said. ``That's where I believe our investment
opportunities are.''
Europe and Russia must strive to achieve ``an open investment
climate'' that bars monopolistic structures, Piebalgs said at a
press briefing, noting even OAO Gazprom with its monopoly on
Russia's gas network and exports would then find it ``easier'' to
foster its business links inside the 25-nation EU.
``If there's no such situation, there's the danger of a
monopolistic situation which we want to avoid,'' he said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Andreas Cremer in Berlin at
acremer@bloomberg.net ;
Thomas Bauer in Berlin at
tbauer@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Eddie Buckle at ebuckle@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-10-24 00:00:00 UTC | Huaneng Power's Third-Quarter Profit Rises on Demand | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-24/huaneng-power-s-third-quarter-profit-rises-on-demand-update1-.html
| Wing-Gar Cheng | Huaneng Power International Inc. (902) ,
the largest Chinese power producer listed in Hong Kong , said
third-quarter profit rose 2.7 percent as demand grew at a faster
pace than fuel costs.
Net income rose to 1.47 billion yuan ($186 million), or
0.13 yuan a share, from 1.43 billion yuan, or 0.12 yuan, a year
earlier, based on domestic accounting standards, the Beijing-
based company said in a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange
today. Sales rose to 11.6 billion yuan from 10.2 billion yuan
Chinese power producers are increasing capacity to supply
electricity in the world's fastest-growing major economy.
Huaneng Power benefited after the government allowed it to raise
tariffs and as coal failed to sustain the pace of price
increases that caused record costs for generators.
China , the world's largest electricity consumer after the
U.S., increased electricity prices in May last year and again in
June to help power companies pass on the higher cost of coal.
Huaneng Power raised tariffs as much as 7.3 percent this
year. Increases averaged 25 yuan per megawatt-hour, according to
the National Development and Reform Commission, the nation's top
economic planner. China sets power prices to curb their impact
on inflation and shield consumers from rising energy costs.
Huaneng Power generated 5.3 percent more electricity in the
first nine months, because of new capacity and higher demand in
coastal provinces. Power production reached 117 million
megawatt-hours, up from 111 million megawatt-hours a year
earlier, the company said on Oct. 11.
Huaneng Power shares rose 1.52 percent to close at HK$6.00
today. The earnings were announced after the market close. The
shares have risen 17.7 percent this year, compared with the 22
percent gain in the benchmark Hang Seng Index .
The nation's generators produced 13 percent more
electricity in the first nine months, at 2 billion megawatt-
hours, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Wing-Gar Cheng in Beijing at
wgcheng@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reinie Booysen at rbooysen@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-10-24 00:00:00 UTC | Vale Buys Control of Canadian Nickel Miner Inco | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-24/vale-buys-control-of-canadian-nickel-miner-inco-update4-.html
| Heloiza Canassa | Cia. Vale do Rio Doce paid $13.3
billion to acquire control of Inco Ltd., the world's second-largest
nickel maker, putting the Brazilian company on course to become the
top nickel miner by 2009.
Rio de Janeiro-based Vale, the world's largest iron-ore
producer, said in an e-mail statement today that 75.66 percent of
Inco shares were tendered in the offer, for which Vale paid C$15
billion ($13.3 billion). Vale said it's extending the offer until
midnight Nov. 3 to acquire the remaining shares.
``Vale's move has a great strategic impact because the company
will be much better positioned to meet the growing demand for
metals worldwide,'' Demian Fiocca, president of Brazil 's
Development Bank , said in an interview in Rio de Janeiro. The bank
owns 7 percent of Vale's total capital and an 11.5 percent stake in
Valepar, the holding company that controls the miner with a 52.3
percent stake.
The acquisition, part of Chief Executive Officer Roger
Agnelli 's plan to expand the company outside Brazil and into
markets other than iron-ore, allows Vale to add new nickel capacity
in Brazil, Canada and Indonesia , as well as the $2.15 billion Goro
nickel project in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia in
the South Pacific. Valued at C$19.4 billion once complete, the
takeover is the biggest foreign acquisition by a Brazilian company.
Fiocca said the bank has no plans to divest Vale shares
because of its ``great value and potential for gains.''
Vale shares today rose 1.49 real, or 3.35 percent to 45.99
reais while the benchmark Bovespa index rose 272.22 points, or 0.7
percent, to 39,498.98. Inco's shares rose 13 cents, or 0.2
percent, to C$86.00.
S&P Downgrade
Shares held on to gains even after Standard & Poor's Ratings
Services lowered its corporate credit rating on Vale, citing
concern that the company's debt will jump after the all-cash
acquisition.
S&P said in a statement today that it cut Vale's rating to BBB
from BBB+ and put it on CreditWatch with negative implications.
``The CreditWatch negative reflects our uncertainties as to
the definitive structure to refinance the initial bridge loan and
the resulting capital structure projected for CVRD in the next two
years,'' S&P said.
Vale said it will hold a press conference tomorrow in Toronto
at 9:45 a.m. New York time to detail the acquisition.
Nickel Supplies
Agnelli, 47, said acquiring Inco will allow Vale to gain
supplies of nickel to deliver alongside iron ore to steelmaking
customers such as ThyssenKrupp AG. Inco, which employees 10,000
people, has 19 percent of the world's nickel market. Russia's OAO
Norilsk is the No. 1 producer.
Nickel is a key element for the production of stainless steel,
which is used in a variety of products, from surgical instruments
and cutlery to skyscrapers and airplanes. The metal has doubled in
price this year and quadrupled since the 1990s.
Vale on Oct. 13 extended its offer for Inco to Oct. 23 to give
regulators in Canada time to review the bid. The offer of C$86
($75.57) a share for Toronto-based Inco was extended to midnight
Toronto time from an earlier Oct. 16 deadline.
``It wasn't our first choice but that's the way it goes,''
said John Kinsey , who helps manage $800 million at Caldwell
Securities Ltd. in Toronto and tendered Inco shares to Vale. ``CVRD
was the only one standing at the end.''
Inco spent $93 million this year for legal and investment
banking fees related to its failed takeover bid for rival Falcon
bridge Ltd. and competing bids from Phelps Dodge Corp., Teck Co
minco Ltd. and Vale, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Toronto-Based
To demonstrate to Canadian regulators that the acquisition
would benefit the country, Vale pledged to base its global nickel
division, called CVRD Inco, in Toronto. A Canadian chief operating
officer will be appointed to head CVRD Inco, along with a senior
executive team comprised largely of Canadians, Vale said in a
statement on Oct. 19.
The company will have ``a mandate to expand its businesses as
a global leader in the nickel industry,'' Agnelli said in that
statement.
``CVRD will transfer management responsibility for its
interest in existing and future nickel projects to CVRD Inco,
including its interest in the Onca Puma and Vermelho projects in
Brazil,'' Vale said in the statement.
The miner, which employees 10,000 people, said there will be
no layoffs at Canadian operating facilities for at least three
years, ``and in any event total employment at such facilities will
not fall below 85 percent of current levels.''
Asset Battle
With the Inco purchase, Vale gets nickel mines in Canada,
including at Voisey's Bay in Newfoundland and the nickel-rich
Sudbury Basin in Ontario, as well as a majority stake in PT Inco in
Indonesia, which has nickel mines and plants.
In Canada alone, Inco said it had 220 million metric tons of
total proven and probable mineral reserves, according to its annual
report.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Adriana Brasileiro in Rio de Janeiro at
abrasileiro@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Laura Zelenko at
lzelenko@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-10-24 00:00:00 UTC | Russia, Ukraine End Dispute That Cut Gas Supplies | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-24/russia-ukraine-end-dispute-that-cut-gas-supplies-update2-.html
| Daryna Krasnolutska | Russia 's state-run OAO Gazprom, the
world's biggest natural gas exporter, agreed to charge Ukraine
about $2 billion more for the fuel in 2007, ending a dispute
that cut supplies to Europe at the start of this year.
Ukraine will pay $130 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas next
year, compared with $95 now, Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovych said today at a press conference in Kiev after
meeting his Russian counterpart. The accord covers sales of 55
billion cubic meters of gas, which would generate about $7.2
billion of revenue at the agreed price.
Russia cut off gas shipments to its former Soviet Union
partner in the first three days of January after Ukraine
rejected Gazprom's demand to quadruple the price, leading to
shortages to Europe. The Jan. 4 agreement to pay $95 per 1,000
cubic meters for Russian gas in 2006, almost twice the price of
the year before, undermined President Viktor Yushchenko's
support before elections in March where his party lost support.
``The price of $130 won't cause any crisis,'' said Olena
Bilan , an analyst at Kiev-based largest brokerage Dragon Capital
in a phone interview before the announcement. ``Companies that
consume much gas started their modernization and they are ready
for a gas price increase.''
Ukraine depends on imports for about 80 percent of its
energy needs, mostly from Russia, and Russia supplies a quarter
of European gas, 80 percent of which is shipped via Ukrainian
territory.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Daryna Krasnoslutska in Kiev at
dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Chris Kirkham on
ckirkham@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-10-24 00:00:00 UTC | Jim Cramer: Bare Escentuals, Allergan, Medicis, Avon | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-24/jim-cramer-bare-escentuals-allergan-medicis-avon-correct-.html
| Steven Bodzin | Bare Escentuals Inc.'s cosmetics are
a fad, making the stock likely to decline, Jim Cramer said on his
``Mad Money'' television program on CNBC.
Cramer, a market commentator and former hedge-fund manager,
said the stock was reminiscent of Sealy Corp. in that the initial
public offering aimed to make money for a leveraged buyout
company, rather than for small investors. Sealy's stock has
declined since he recommended it.
Allergan Inc. and Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. are better
investments because the medicines they make, which are injected
in order to get rid of wrinkles, are ``more drastic than
cosmetics and face less cutthroat competition,'' Cramer said.
Cramer said to avoid cosmetics makers including Estee Lauder
Cos., Elizabeth Arden Inc. (RDEN) , Revlon Inc. (REV) and Avon Products Inc. (AVP)
International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF) is a lucrative way
to own cosmetics stock because the biggest maker of fragrances
lets other companies do the marketing while it provides the
products, Cramer said.
International Flavors & Fragrances' 2.1 percent dividend,
consistent growth and low ratio of price-to-next-years-earnings
made it a good buy, Cramer said. Its customers include PepsiCo,
Inc., Unilever NV, Procter & Gamble Co ., Estee Lauder and
Colgate-Palmolive Co., Cramer said.
In response to a caller, Cramer said to buy shares of
Palomar Medical Technologies Inc.
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) stock has bottomed out and should be
bought, Cramer said. He said the company's concerns about slower
growth was already priced into the stock before a 10-point drop
Oct. 21. He said Cummins Inc. and other makers of products
similar to Caterpillar's had more upbeat assessment of their
market's future.
Schlumberger
Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) has yet to hit its bottom, he said. He
recommended selling shares of the oil service company. He said
investors would be better served moving their money into
Halliburton Co. (HAL) , which he owns for his charitable trust.
In response to callers, he said to sell shares of Deere &
Co. (DE) and to sell United Technologies Corp. (UTX) , as he did for his
charitable trust.
In a comparison of FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service
Inc., he said that while ``you won't get hurt owning UPS,'' FedEx
as a smaller, faster-growing company would rise faster.
Cramer recommended Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) , Symantec
Corp. (SYMC) , Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) , SAIC Inc. (SAI) , OM Group Inc. (OMG) , Allegheny
Technologies Inc. (ATI) , Brush Engineered Materials Inc., Rockwell
Automation Inc. (ROK) , Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) , Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) ,
Johnson & Johnson, Rare Hospitality International Inc.,
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) , Altria Group Inc. (MO) , Life Time Fitness Inc. (LTM)
and Level 3 Communications Inc. (LVLT) in response to questions during
the show's letters, ``Sudden Death'' and ``Lightning Round''
segments.
Valero Energy
He also told viewers to avoid Secure Computing Corp., Cameco
Corp. (CCO) and Valero Energy Corp. (VLO)
He said to hold onto shares of Crystallex International
Corp.
He said he owns Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Altria Group Inc.
stock for his charitable trust.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Steven Bodzin in San Francisco at
sbodzin@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Aimee Sullivan at asullivan@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-10-25 00:00:00 UTC | Ambac 3rd-Quarter Profit Rises, New Premiums Fall | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-25/ambac-3rd-quarter-profit-rises-new-premiums-fall-update1-.html
| Christine Richard | Ambac Financial Group Inc. (ABKFQ) , the
world's second-largest bond insurer, said third-quarter profit
rose 22 percent even amid a drop in new business as a reduction
in reserves related to Hurricane Katrina bolstered results.
Third-quarter net income rose to $213.5 million, or $1.98 a
share, from $175.1 million, or $1.61 a year earlier, the New
York-based company said in a statement today. Profit excluding
investment gains was $1.92 a share, the company said.
The company said it was releasing $35.6 million of its
reserves that were set aside in the third quarter of 2005 to
cover exposure to credits affected by Hurricane Katrina. ``The
decrease is primarily due to significant state and federal
support recently provided to the region, particularly the
greater New Orleans area,'' Ambac said in the statement.
Ambac's so-called credit enhancement production, a measure
of all new business, fell 16 percent to $216.2 million in the
quarter amid less public finance issuance and more competition,
sending the company's shares down the most in more than a year.
The production decline was due to a 36 percent drop in upfront
premiums from insuring U.S. public finance deals, Ambac said.
Ambac shares fell as much as 3.7 percent earlier today in
New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the biggest one-day
drop since April 20, 2005. The shares were down $1.96 or
2.3 percent, to $82.70 as of 12:25 p.m.
``There is some disappointment with their production'' said
Andrew Wessel, a JPMorgan Securities Inc. analyst in New York.
``The public finance market has been extremely competitive.''
MBIA Inc., the world's biggest bond insurer, is scheduled
to report third-quarter results tomorrow.
Excess Capital
Credit enhancement production, which doesn't adhere to
generally accepted accounting principles, is defined by Ambac as
gross upfront premiums and the present value of estimated
installment premiums on insurance policies and structured credit
derivatives .
A slowdown in new business written means that the company
will build up the amount of capital it has in excess of what's
needed to maintain a triple-A debt rating, Ambac Chief Financial
Officer Sean Leonard said on a conference call with investors.
The company may use excess capital to buy back shares
rather than boost its dividend as that provides it with more
flexibility, Leonard said. Ambac said today that its board
authorized the buy back of as many as 6 million more shares.
Premium Income
Accelerated premiums dropped 50 percent to $24.5 million
amid less demand from issuers to refund outstanding bonds.
Refundings allow bond insurers to accelerate the recognition of
premiums into the quarter in which those deals are refinanced.
Analysts largely discount refundings because the boost in
income is offset by a reduction in future earnings. Taking that
into account, the company reported profit from operations, minus
the refundings and investment gains, of $1.79 a share.
The bond insurance industry is awaiting a draft proposal
from the Financial Accounting Standards Board which will give
guidance on how insurers should recognize premiums and reserve
against potential losses. Practices vary widely, making
comparisons between companies difficult.
At its last meeting on Sept. 13 in Norwalk, Connecticut ,
FASB tentatively agreed with how Ambac sets aside reserves based
on deterioration of individual credits. The methodology differs
from that used by MBIA, which sets aside 12 percent of scheduled
earned premiums each period.
To Early
The accounting board also reached a preliminary decision to
require bond insurers to report premium income at the same pace
as the bonds they insure pay down. Currently, bond insurers
recognize premiums more rapidly.
The new rule, for example, would mean that bond insurers
wouldn't be permitted to recognize any income on a zero coupon
bond until the final maturity date. Currently, bond insurers
recognize income over the life of the bond even though no
payments are made.
Leonard said it's too early to estimate the effect of the
FASB guidelines on future earnings.
``Shrinking supply and an aggressive competitive
environment are causing declines'' in the public finance
segment, Leonard said. He added that the company had closed two
stadium finance transactions in the third quarter.
FASB is still working on a final proposal which is expected
to be released in the fourth quarter.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Christine Richard in New York at
crichard5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Robert Burgess at bburgess@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-10-25 00:00:00 UTC | Wheeling-Pitt, Defying Gendell, Agrees to CSN Merger | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-25/wheeling-pitt-defying-gendell-agrees-to-csn-merger-update3-.html
| Dale Crofts | Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp., a West
Virginia-based steelmaker, said it agreed to merge with Brazil 's
Cia. Siderurgica Nacional SA in defiance of opposition from some
shareholders including hedge fund manager Jeffrey Gendell.
Wheeling-Pittsburgh, based in Wheeling, West Virginia , will
hold 50.5 percent in a new company to be formed with Cia.
Siderurgica Nacional. CSN will invest $225 million and add its
steel processing facility in Terre Haute , Indiana , to the new
business, Wheeling-Pittsburgh said today in a statement.
The announcement comes over the objections of Wheeling-Pittsburgh's third-largest shareholder, the Tontine Management
LLC hedge fund run by Gendell. The deal undervalues Wheeling-Pittsburgh, said Gendell, owner of stakes in at least 10 steel
companies, and U.S. Steel Corp's largest shareholder.
Gendell, who holds about 9.5 percent of Wheeling-Pittsburgh's shares, said in an Oct. 13 letter to the company's
board that the steelmaker should remain independent ``absent
dramatic enhancements'' to ``change-of-control proposals'' from
CSN and from Esmark Inc. He also urged the board to begin
searching for a new management team ``immediately.''
Esmark's Proposal
Esmark, a Chicago-based steel distributor, is proposing to
elect an alternative slate of directors at Wheeling-Pittsburgh's
annual shareholder meeting on Nov. 17 and aims to strike down
the proposed combination with CSN in favor of its own offer to
merge.
Shares of Wheeling-Pittsburgh fell 12 cents to $19.82 at
4:22 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. They have gained 53
percent from a year ago. CSN dropped 60 centavos, or 0.9
percent, to 67 reais in Sao Paolo .
``The board of directors and executive management has once
again revealed their lack of business judgment and disregard for
shareholders, employees and retirees by entering into a shotgun
marriage,'' Esmark said today in a release.
Esmark wants to be acquired by Wheeling-Pittsburgh in a deal
that includes getting $200 million from Esmark investors,
including funds controlled by Franklin Mutual Advisers LLC.
The United Steelworkers union also opposes the merger with
CSN, preferring a deal with Esmark. It's already had labor
contract negotiations with Esmark and says a special clause in
its contract with Wheeling-Pittsburgh gives it the power to
block the CSN agreement. Wheeling-Pitt says the union isn't able
to block the deal.
Tontine Financing Offer
Tontine has offered as much as $100 million in financing
to Wheeling-Pitt through a share sale. ``Significant and
immediate change is necessary to enable the company to address
the operating challenges it still faces and embrace the
opportunities emerging in the global marketplace,'' Tontine said
in the Oct. 13 letter.
Tontine is the biggest shareholder of AK Steel Corp., the
third-largest U.S. steelmaker by 2005 revenue, with a 10 percent
stake as of June 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Gendell has about 6.3 percent of U.S. Steel, and a 4.8 percent
stake in steel distributor Ryerson Inc.
``Together, we will create an integrated, value-added
production chain that will result in a more flexible cost
structure, broader value-added product offerings and significant
incremental earnings potential,'' said Marcos Lutz, CSN managing
director for infrastructure and energy, in the statement.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Dale Crofts in Chicago at
dcrofts@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steve Stroth at
sstroth@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-10-27 00:00:00 UTC | Singapore Airlines 2nd-Quarter Net Falls 15% on Fuel | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-27/singapore-airlines-2nd-quarter-net-falls-15-on-fuel-update1-.html
| Chan Sue Ling | Singapore Airlines Ltd. (SIA) , the world's
second-largest carrier by market value, said profit fell for a
sixth quarter in seven, as higher fuel costs eroded gains from
increased travel demand .
Net income dropped 15 percent to S$293 million ($187
million), or 23.9 cents a share, in its fiscal second quarter
ended Sept. 30, the company said today. That compared with the
S$300 million median estimate of five analysts surveyed by
Bloomberg News. Sales increased 7.7 percent to S$3.6 billion.
Chief Executive Officer Chew Choon Seng has been raising
surcharges and hedging fuel to cope with higher fuel costs, the
airline's single-biggest expense. As travel demand in the region
rises, the airline has been ordering new planes, including the
delay-plagued Airbus SAS A380.
``The fuel prices are off around about 17 to 18 percent of
their highs in August but they are still by historical standards
very high and are a major challenge for the airlines,'' said
Derek Sadubin, the Sydney-based general manager of the Centre for
Asia Pacific Aviation. ``What the carriers can face for the next
twelve months is just relentless focus on cost reduction and
competition.''
Jet fuel traded in Singapore at an average of $85.84 a
barrel in the three months to September, almost 15 percent higher
than a year earlier, according to Bloomberg data. The price of
jet kerosene surged to a record $93 a barrel on Aug. 8.
Shares of the carrier rose 1.3 percent, to S$15.60 today
ahead of the earnings announcement. The stock climbed 15 percent
in the quarter, compared with the 8.1 percent advance in the
nine-member Bloomberg Asia Pacific Airlines index.
Fuel Surcharges
The carrier cut fuel surcharges on Oct. 13 by as much as 10
percent, citing lower oil prices . The price of jet kerosene
closed at $73.35 today in Singapore, 21 percent lower than its
$93 peak in August. It fell 12 percent to $76.75 at the end of
September from $87.15 at the end of June.
Losses at airlines worldwide this year may be less than
expected as carriers sell more tickets and fuel prices drop,
according to the International Air Transport Association . The
group, which represents about 260 network carriers, said the
industry may perform better than its $1.7 billion loss estimate.
Singapore Airlines said fiscal first-half profit rose 50
percent to S$868 million, spurred by an increase in travel demand
and one-time items including the sale of a building. That
compared with the S$875 million median estimate of seven analysts
surveyed by Bloomberg News . Sales increased 10 percent to S$7.03
billion.
The airline booked a one-time gain of S$223 million from the
sale of a building in downtown Singapore in the first quarter.
The carrier, 57 percent owned by the Singapore government's
investment company Temasek Holdings Pte., said it's paying
shareholders a dividend of 15 cents compared with 10 cents a year
earlier.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Chan Sue Ling in Singapore
slchan@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tony Jordan at tjordan3@bloomberg.net ;
Bret Okeson at
bokeson@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-10-27 00:00:00 UTC | Balda Says Investor Asks to Open Books for Buyers | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-27/balda-says-investor-asks-to-open-books-for-buyers-update1-.html
| Stefanie Haxel | Balda AG (BAF) , which cut its profit
forecast last month, said its largest shareholder asked to give
investors interested in buying the company access to its books.
Cycladic Capital LLP wrote a letter to the supervisory
board, claiming only access to the books would allow investors to
assess Balda's restructuring plans, the Bad Oeynhausen, Germany-based company said in a statement to OTS newswire today.
Audley Capital Advisors LLP is among the potential buyers of
the world's second-largest maker of plastic handset parts. The
London-based investment company run by Julian Treger may offer to
pay as much as 8 euros ($10.14) per share. The bid would include
a premium of 40 percent to 60 percent on the current stock price,
Balda said.
The company cut its 2006 pretax profit forecast to a loss of
as much as 50 million euros, from an earlier prediction of 20
million euros in profit. Balda said on Oct. 24 it to plans to
sell three German factories and cut its workforce in the country
by 63 percent after sales slumped.
Shares of Balda rose 0.2 percent to 5.06 euros in Frankfurt ,
after gaining as much as 5 percent earlier.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Stefanie Haxel in Frankfurt at
shaxel@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Malcolm Fried at mfried@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-10-27 00:00:00 UTC | MPC Third-Quarter Net Doubles on U.K. Property Sale | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-27/mpc-third-quarter-net-doubles-on-u-k-property-sale-update3-.html
| Aaron Kirchfeld | MPC Capital AG, a German financial-
services company, said third-quarter profit more than doubled as
it booked a gain from the sale of a London office building.
Net income climbed to 15.8 million euros ($20.7 million), or
1.49 euros a share, from 7.15 million euros, or 0.67 euros a
share, a year earlier, the Hamburg-based company said today on
its Web site. Sales more than doubled to 68.6 million euros.
MPC is investing in new products such as private-equity
funds to add to its real estate and ship-related funds. The
company is also selling real estate and last month raised its
full-year profit forecast 11 percent to 50 million euros because
of the sale of the U.K. property. MPC is ``on track'' to reach
these goals, Chief Executive Officer Axel Schroeder said today.
``The earnings were positively influenced by the property
sale,'' said Werner Eisenmann, an analyst at DZ Bank AG in
Frankfurt , who has a ``buy'' rating on the stock. ``Still, even
without it, the figures were in line with our expectations.''
MPC booked a 7 million-euro gain after its U.K. real-estate
fund sold the London building. The company also plans to sell 99
properties in the Netherlands worth about 1 billion euros to
institutional investors. MPC expects to receive the first
payments from the sales of the properties by the end of the year.
The company's shares rose 42 cents, or 0.6 percent, to 69.42
euros in Frankfurt. The stock has gained 5.5 percent this year,
trailing the 18 percent rise in the SDAX Index, which tracks the
50 biggest companies in the so-called small-cap sector. MPC was
knocked out of the MDAX Index of medium-size companies by Wacker-
Chemie AG in June.
Approaching Target
MPC created Assentus Bank in July to handle its management-
based capital investments such as opportunity and private-equity
funds, as well as structured products such as notes and
certificates. Its main business consists of buying assets such as
ships, property and life-insurance policies, which it places in
closed-end investment funds for private investors.
The company placed 228 million euros in equity in the third
quarter, bringing it to within 278 million euros from reaching
its full-year target of at least 1 billion euros.
``We're in a great position to reach our goal of 1 billion
euros,'' said Schroeder. ``We'll let the market know right away
if we see there's a chance to exceed the 2006 profit targets.''
MPC reiterated plans to pay a dividend of at least 4 euros
per share for 2006.
The sale of the Dutch property is under way and will have a
positive effect on full-year profit, Schroeder said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Aaron Kirchfeld in Frankfurt at
akirchfeld@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Frank Connelly at
fconnelly@bloomberg.net
Katherine Snyder at
ksnyder@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-10-27 00:00:00 UTC | Baoshan's 3rd-Quarter Profit Gains on Steel Demand | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-27/baoshan-s-3rd-quarter-profit-gains-on-steel-demand-update4-.html
| Janet Ong | Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., China's
biggest steelmaker, said its third-quarter net income rose 42
percent and reversed three straight quarters of declines as
demand recovered.
Net income rose to 4.7 billion yuan ($595.7 million) in the
quarter ended Sept. 30, or 0.27 yuan a share, from last year's
3.31 billion yuan, or 0.19 yuan a share, the company said in a
statement today. Sales rose 22 percent to 42.1 billion yuan.
Steel prices have stopped falling since August because of a
recovery in demand and as a government push to shut obsolete
plants slowed output growth. China is encouraging steelmakers to
form bigger companies overseas amid an industry drive to combine.
India 's Tata Steel Ltd. agreed to buy U.K.'s Corus Plc last week,
and Mittal Steel Co. acquired Arcelor SA for $38 billion to form
the world's biggest steelmaker earlier this year.
``Baoshan will be the major consolidator in China 's steel
industry,'' said Wu Pengfei, a Beijing-based steel analyst with
Guotai Junan Securities Co. ``It will benefit from industry
mergers with the government shutting small mills.''
Baoshan Steel shares rose for the fifth day today, gaining
almost 3 percent to 4.51 yuan in Shanghai before earnings were
announced. The stock has risen 9.5 percent this year, lagging
behind a 55 percent gain in the Shanghai Composite Index.
Auto-Steel
Baoshan's nine-month profit fell 13 percent to 9.1 billion
yuan, according to the company's statement. Sales climbed 35.4
percent to September from January to 113.2 billion yuan.
The company sold 1.9 million tons of steel sheets in the
first nine months to make autos, a rise of 22 percent from a
year ago, the statement said. In the fourth quarter, production
will fall by 200,000 tons because the company's No. 2 furnace is
closed for maintenance, Baoshan said.
Baosteel Group Corp., the parent, plans to more than double
output to 50 million tons by 2012 as Chairwoman Xie Qihua wants
the company to rank in the world's top three producers. Baoshan
Steel contains most of the parent's steel assets.
Expansion will boost the company's bargaining power with
suppliers of raw materials, and help it spend more on higher-
grade production. Baosteel allied with Chinese steelmakers
including Magang (Group) Holding Co. and Xinjiang Ba Yi Iron &
Steel Group, and intends to merge with them ``when conditions
mature,'' the company's president Xu Lejiang said in April.
Raising Prices
Baoshan Steel, which supplies half the alloy used by the
country in cars and appliances, raised prices from the third-
quarter by as much as 13 percent for local units of General
Motors Corp., Volkswagen AG and Electrolux AB as demand recovers.
Still, prices for hot-rolled coil were 16 percent lower than a
year earlier; while cold-rolled sheets were 14 percent lower.
The company cut prices of carbon steel products, it said.
China's crude steel output rose 21 percent to 272 million
metric tons in the first eight months of this year after rising
27 percent in 2005.
The nation's mills, which supply one third of the world's
steel, gained 5.7 percent in aggregate profit in the first nine
months after falling 2.5 percent through August, the National
Bureau of Statistics said on October 24.
`Best Time'
``This is the best time to increase holdings of steel
shares since 2006 is the worst for the industry.'' said Wu.
Brokerages including Credit Suisse Group and JPMorgan Chase
& Co. have raised ratings on steel stocks including Maanshan
Iron & Steel Co. on an improved outlook for prices.
Still, Baoshan and other Chinese mills may fail to prevent
a further increase in prices of iron ore , the main steelmaking
ingredient, next year, analysts have said.
Soaring demand and limited mine expansion have driven ore
prices to rise for four consecutive years, with a 19 percent
gain this year. Prices may climb a further 10 percent next year
on stronger-than-expected demand from China, Credit Suisse Group
said in a report yesterday.
Baosteel will start negotiations for next year's prices
with global suppliers including Australia 's BHP Billiton and Rio
Tinto Group and Brazil 's Cia. Vale do Rio Doce late next month,
Baosteel's chief negotiator Liu Yongshun said Oct. 15. The price
agreed upon will be effective from April 1, 2007.
To contact the reporter for this story:
Helen Yuan in Shanghai at
hyuan@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Keith Gosman at
kgosman@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-10-30 00:00:00 UTC | U.S. Newspapers Losing Readers at Accelerating Rate | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-30/u-s-newspapers-losing-readers-at-accelerating-rate-update4-.html
| Cecile Daurat | U.S. daily newspapers are losing
readers at an accelerating rate, led by big-city publications
such as the Miami Herald and Los Angeles Times.
Circulation at 770 daily newspapers declined 2.8 percent in
the six months ended Sept. 30, the Newspaper Association of
America said today in a statement, citing data from the Audit
Bureau of Circulations . In the year-ago period, circulation fell
by 2.6 percent.
The drop in readership adds to concerns about a decline in
advertising sales as readers migrate to the Internet. At Tribune
Co., which is evaluating takeover proposals, average paid
circulation at the Los Angeles Times fell 8 percent in the six-
month period while the Chicago Tribune declined by 1.7 percent.
``The financial performance of newspaper companies will
continue to be pressured by an accelerating shift of advertising
dollars,'' Michael Simonton, an analyst with Fitch Ratings, said
today in a research note.
While few big-city newspapers produced gains, New York's
warring tabloids both advanced with the New York Post surpassing
the Daily News. Circulation at the Boston Globe, owned by New
York Times Co. (NYT) , fell by 6.7 percent.
``The losses were greater at the metropolitan-size
newspapers,'' Newspaper Association Chief Executive Officer John
Sturm said on a conference call.
20-Year Slump
Newspapers had average daily circulation of 43.7 million in
the six months ended Sept. 30, down from 45 million in the year-
earlier period, when circulation tracked by the Audit Bureau
declined by 2.6 percent.
The most recent slide extends a 20-year slump, from an
average of 62.3 million papers sold each weekday in 1985.
Circulation suffered consecutive declines over the last five
years, Sturm said today.
Sunday circulation fell 3.4 percent to 47.6 million, the
Vienna, Virginia-based newspaper association said, citing an
analysis of Audit Bureau figures.
Shares of Tribune, the second-largest U.S. newspaper
publisher, fell 2 cents to $33.45 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock
Exchange composite trading. McLean, Virginia-based Gannett Co.,
the largest newspaper chain, dropped 29 cents to $60. New York-
based New York Times declined 4 cents to $24.06.
Web Site Growth
Newspaper owners have bolstered their Web sites to attract
online readers and advertisers, helping to make up for the loss
of readers, the association said. It said newspaper Web sites
serving the 100 largest markets reported an average 8 percent
growth in their online audiences.
Almost 57 million Web users visited a newspaper site in the
third quarter, up 24 percent from the year-ago period, the
association said.
Tribune last week received competing initial takeover
proposals from buyout firms Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee
Partners LP, people familiar with the matter have said.
Average paid circulation Mondays through Fridays fell to
775,766 at the Los Angeles Times, according to Audit Bureau
data. At the Chicago Tribune , the average weekday paid
circulation declined to 576,132.
Long Island , New York-based Newsday, also owned by based
Tribune, saw circulation drop 5 percent to 410,579.
Other Declines
At the New York Times, the average weekday circulation
declined 3.5 percent to 1.09 million, while the Boston Globe's
circulation fell to 386,415, the Audit Bureau said. Paid
subscribers fell 3.3 percent to 656,297 at the Washington Post,
owned by Washington Post Co. (WPO)
New York's tabloids both showed gains, with News Corp. (NWSA) 's
Post rising 5.1 percent to beat rival Daily News, owned by
Boston Properties Inc. (BXP) Chairman Mortimer Zuckerman. Daily News
weekday circulation rose 1 percent to 693,382 from 686,274.
The Rupert Murdoch-controlled Post, rising to 704,011 from
669,663 in the year-ago period, advanced to the fifth-largest
U.S. daily, based on circulation, after USA Today , the Wall
Street Journal, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Cecile Daurat in New York at
cdaurat@@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Emma Moody at
emoody@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-10-30 00:00:00 UTC | Amerigroup Defrauded U.S., Must Pay $144 Million | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-30/amerigroup-defrauded-u-s-must-pay-144-million-update3-.html
| Andrew Harris | Amerigroup Corp. (AGP) , which manages
government health plans for the poor, must pay at least $144
million in damages for wrongfully denying coverage to pregnant
women eligible for Medicaid, a jury found.
The jury today awarded the plaintiffs, which included the
U.S. and Illinois governments and a whistleblower former
employee, $48 million. That amount will be tripled under federal
law. The company may also be liable for a total of as much as
$199 million in penalties for more than 18,000 instances of fraud
found by the federal jury in Chicago .
``They were getting paid for serving people they weren't in
fact serving,'' private attorney Fred Cohen of Chicago said after
the verdict.
Amerigroup contracted with Illinois to provide services to
Medicaid patients. Cohen's client, Cleveland Tyson who was in
charge of government relations for the company in Illinois filed the suit four years ago, after he was fired. Tyson accused
the company, which has operations in nine states and the District
of Columbia , of maximizing its profit by keeping pregnant women
and others with expensive medical conditions off its rolls.
The case was filed under the federal False Claims Act and a
parallel state law. The panel of four men and three women
deliberated for less than six hours before returning its verdict,
ending a three-week trial.
``We respectfully, but strongly, disagree with the jury's
finding, and we will appeal,'' Amerigroup spokesman Kent Jenkins
said outside the courtroom.
Eighth-Largest Verdict
The verdict is the eighth-largest jury award in any trial in
2006, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The largest, for
$699.5 million, came in August in a contract dispute over the
building of natural-gas processing plants in Louisiana .
``This is not a case that the company should have taken to
trial,'' said Patrick Burns , spokesman for Taxpayers Against
Fraud, a Washington non-profit group that tracks such cases.
Under federal law, the company could be barred from future
government contracting, Burns said.
``Today's verdict sends a strong message that companies who
contract with the State of Illinois to provide healthcare to its
neediest residents cannot discriminate against those residents
who need care the most,'' Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan
said in a statement today.
The company stopped doing business with the state in August
for reasons unrelated to the lawsuit, Jenkins said.
The company estimates its 2006 revenue will be $3 billion,
Jenkins said. Amerigroup took in $2.3 billion in 2005, he said.
Amerigroup's shares rose 67 cents to $35.41 at the close of
New York Stock Exchange composite trading today.
The lawsuit is U.S. ex rel. Tyson v. Amerigroup Illinois
Inc., No. 02-C-6074, in the Northern District of Illinois,
Eastern Division (Chicago).
To contact the reporter on this story:
Margaret Cronin Fisk in Southfield, Michigan , at
2947 or mcfisk@bloomberg.net .
Andrew Harris at the federal court in Chicago, at
5474 or aharris16@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Patrick Oster at poster@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-10-30 00:00:00 UTC | Porter to Begin Flying to Montreal in December | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-10-30/porter-to-begin-flying-to-montreal-in-december-update1-.html
| Doug Alexander | Porter Airlines Inc., the commuter
carrier that began flying between Toronto and Ottawa a week ago,
will add Montreal as its second destination starting on Dec. 11.
The airline will offer four weekday flights as well as
weekend service to Montreal and will at least double that
frequency after getting a fourth aircraft in January, Chief
Executive Officer Robert Deluce said today at an Economic Club
of Toronto speech.
Porter launched daily flights on Oct. 23 from Toronto's
island airport, offering people in the financial district an
alternative to the 45-minute commute to Pearson International
airport. Deluce said he plans to fly to 17 cities within a 575-
mile (925 kilometer) radius of Toronto using 70-seat Q400
turboprop planes made by Bombardier Inc. (BBD/B) New York may be the
next destination, starting in 2007, he said.
Porter may fly to more than one airport serving New York,
which could include Newark and LaGuardia, Deluce said in an
interview after his speech.
Jazz Air, the Halifax-based regional carrier operated by
ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. (ACE/H) , stopped flying to Montreal from the
city airport about four years ago. Jazz, which seeks to return
to the airport after an eight-month absence, said July 6 it will
resume flights to Montreal and Ottawa.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Doug Alexander in Toronto at
dalexander3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Scanlan at dscanlan@Bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-01 00:00:00 UTC | ACE Must Lift Pay for Air Canada Pilots, Jazz Workers | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-01/ace-must-lift-pay-for-air-canada-pilots-jazz-workers-update1-.html
| Doug Alexander | ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. (ACE/H) must give
raises to pilots at Air Canada, the country's largest airline,
and flight attendants at the company's regional carrier, two
arbitrators ruled.
The 3,100 pilots represented by the Air Canada Pilots
Association will get a 2 percent wage increase effective July
2006, 1.75 percent in July 2007 and 1.75 percent in July 2008 in
a settlement handed down by arbitrator Douglas Stanley,
Montreal-based ACE said today in a statement.
The pilot award is the third arbitrated settlement for Air
Canada, which had scheduled wage talks with all its major labor
groups this year. Mechanics received 5 percent over three years
in an August settlement, and sales and service employees got a
4.5 percent wage increase over the same period in a July award.
Jazz, the regional airline 80 percent owned by ACE, must
pay the 740 flight attendants represented by Teamsters Canada 1
percent more effective July 2006, 1.75 percent on July 2007 and
1.75 percent on July 2008, Halifax-based Jazz said today in a
statement. The raises were ordered by arbitrator Michel Picher,
matching those he issued to 1,660 other Jazz employees in July.
ACE is awaiting an arbitrated settlement with the Canadian
Union of Public Employees, which represents 6,000 Air Canada
flight attendants.
Shares of ACE fell C$2.51, or 6.5 percent, to C$36.24 at
4:10 p.m. on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Units of Jazz Air Income Fund, which owns 20 percent of
ACE's regional carrier, fell C$1.78, or 19 percent, to C$7.50
after the Canadian government said yesterday it planned to tax
income trusts. Income trusts avoid paying most corporate taxes
by distributing most of their cash flow to investors.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Doug Alexander in Toronto at
dalexander3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dave Versical at
dversical@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-01 00:00:00 UTC | Comstar to Spend $300 Million on Regional Purchases | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-01/comstar-to-spend-300-million-on-regional-purchases-update1-.html
| Lyubov Pronina | OAO Comstar United Telesystems plans
to spend $300 million of the proceeds from its initial public
offering on acquisitions this year and in 2007, Chief Executive
Officer Eric Franke said.
Comstar UTS, Russia 's largest alternative phone operator,
will spend $150 million to complete six acquisitions this year,
he said in Moscow today. The company will spend another $150
million next year.
``My priority is Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent
States and Eastern Europe,'' Franke said. The company also plans
to buy shares in OAO Moscow City Telephone, the dominant fixed-
line phone company in the Russian capital, on the market.
Moscow-based Comstar UTS, controlled by Russian billionaire
Vladimir Yevtushenkov , raised more than $1 billion in an IPO in
February this year and has tried to find assets to buy with the
proceeds. Comstar UTS said Oct. 30 it will team up with Intracom
Holdings SA to acquire Greek phone company Hellas Online.
The company said yesterday it paid $4.7 million for two
telecommunications operators in Ukraine, DG Tel and Technologic
Systems. Comstar UTS said on Oct. 28 that it bought 75 percent
plus one share of CallNet, an alternative operator in Armenia ,
for an undisclosed sum.
Comstar UTS will further expand in Ukraine to include
cities with a population of one million people such as
Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Lviv and Donetsk, Franke said today.
The country is the company's most important market after Moscow
in terms of company development, he said.
Plan B
Comstar UTS also plans to buy shares in Moscow City
Telephone on the market, Franke said. Comstar said last week it
raised its stake in Moscow City Telephone to 66.9 percent.
Franke said Comstar UTS will continue buying shares on the
market as it awaits for the government to decide on the sale of
its stake in Moscow City Telephone now held by Syvazinvest.
Comstar UTS planned to use most of its proceeds from the
IPO to take part in the sale of the government's controlling
stake in OAO Svyazinvest, the country's national fixed-line
operator, which has been delayed repeatedly.
``We have changed the course: if Svyazinvest was plan A, it
is now plan B,'' Franke said. Comstar UTS has a list of 20
regions where it is looking at companies to pursue acquisitions,
he said.
Separately, Comstar UTS plans to cut 300 jobs in Moscow by
the end of 2006, reducing its Moscow staff to 1,200, Franke
said. That includes reducing the number of managers from 340 to
200, he said. The company will also cut the chain of management
to four from eight levels.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Lyubov Pronina in Moscow at
lpronina@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Lars Klemming at lklemming@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-01 00:00:00 UTC | Russian Stocks Gain the Most in Three Weeks; Led by Gazprom | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-01/russian-stocks-gain-the-most-in-three-weeks-led-by-gazprom.html
| Maria Ermakova | Russian stocks rose, with the RTS
Index gaining the most in more than three weeks, led by OAO
Gazprom and OAO Unified Energy System.
Kommersant reported President Vladimir Putin may discuss gas
and electricity price increases with the heads of the two energy
companies.
OAO Mobile TeleSystems, eastern Europe 's biggest mobile-
phone company, climbed after a report that parent company AFK
Sistema wants a stake in Deutsche Telekom AG.
Rambler Media Ltd., which runs Russia's second-biggest
Internet search engine, gained after billionaire Vladimir
Potanin's company bought 49 percent of the company.
The dollar-denominated RTS Index advanced 1.9 percent to
1644.86 at the close of trading in Moscow, rising for a second
day and posting the biggest one-day gain since Oct. 9. The ruble-
based Micex Index increased 2 percent to 1456.
Shares of Gazprom, the biggest natural-gas producer, soared
4.8 percent to $11. Unified Energy, the national power utility,
gained 3.6 percent to 78 cents.
Alexei Miller , Gazprom's Chief Executive, and Anatoly
Chubais , CEO of Unified Energy, will meet with Putin in the
Kremlin on Nov. 3, Kommersant reported, citing an unidentified
person with knowledge of the meeting. The companies have
requested increases in gas and electricity prices.
Gazprom loses money on domestic gas sales and says the 15
percent price rise the government approved for 2007 isn't enough
to ensure production can keep pace with demand.
Shares of OAO Novatek, Russia's second-largest gas producer,
gained 2.4 percent to $59.60 in London, rising for a sixth
session and reaching an all-time high.
Mobile TeleSystems advanced 4 percent to $7.85.
Financial Times Deutschland reported in its print edition
today that Sistema may seek between 10 percent and 20 percent of
Deutsche Telekom. Sistema denied the report, Financial Times
Deutschland said on its Web site, citing an unidentified
spokesman.
Deutsche Telekom Stake
Rambler Media shares gained 4 percent to $32.50 in London,
rising for a sixth session. Billionaire Vladimir Potanin 's PM
Invest Company Ltd. acquired about 48.8 percent of Rambler,
Rambler said yesterday. PM Invest also applied to the Russian
Federal Anti-Monopoly Service to buy a further 6 percent of the
media company.
``The transaction is a significant milestone in the
development of Rambler and opens up new opportunities for
broadening its reach and advertising base,'' Natasha Zagvozdina
and Alexei Yazykov, analysts at Renaissance Capital in Moscow,
wrote in a report.
OAO Rosneft, the state oil producer, added 1.1 percent to
$8.69 in London. Deutsche Bank AG's Russian brokerage raised is
recommendation on the stock to ``buy'' from ``hold'' and
increased its price estimate by 16 percent to $9.4.
Rosneft
Rosneft will benefit ``from participating in the sale of OAO
Yukos Oil Co.'s assets,'' analysts led by Stephen O'Sullivan at
Deutsche UFG in Moscow wrote in a report released yesterday after
the market closed.
The acquisition of Yukos's biggest oil unit in 2004 allowed
Rosneft to become the third-largest producer in Russia . Rosneft
is the second-largest creditor of bankrupt Yukos, with about $9.6
billion worth of court-approved claims.
Uralsib bank shares advanced 5.1 percent to 1.85 cents on
the RTS. The bank's parent Uralsib Financial Corp. is in talks
with OAO Trading House Kopeyka, a Russian grocer that's 50
percent-owned by the bank, to buy the rest of the company,
Vedomosti said, citing Kopeika spokeswoman Anastasiya Schukina.
Schukina declined to elaborate before the purchase closes,
according to the Russian newspaper. Uralsib may pay as much as
$600 million for the stake, Vedomosti said, citing an
unidentified official at the company.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Maria Ermakova in Moscow at
mermakova@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Balduin Hesse in London at
bhesse2@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-11-02 00:00:00 UTC | Coles Myer Raises Performance Targets for Bonuses | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-02/coles-myer-raises-performance-targets-for-bonuses-update3-.html
| Robert Fenner | Coles Myer Ltd., Australia 's second-largest retailer, raised the targets management must reach to be
paid bonuses, after pressure from its biggest shareholder to use
forecasts cited to reject a A$18.2 billion ($14 billion) buyout.
Chief Executive Officer John Fletcher must now boost earnings
35 percent over the next two years to earn his full long-term
bonus, Coles Myer said in a statement today. Fletcher stood to get
the bonus even if he missed targets used to justify knocking back
the buyout from a group led by Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts & Co.
Solomon Lew, biggest shareholder and former executive
chairman, said the original performance targets suggested the
forecast was ``unachievable.'' The change is a victory for Lew,
who has warred with Coles Myer Chairman Rick Allert since being
ousted from the retailer's board in 2002.
``It gives a great deal more credibility to the forecasts and
to management,'' said Atul Lele, who helps manage the equivalent
of $307 million at White Funds Management in Sydney, including
Coles Myer shares. ``There is now much greater alignment of
management to shareholder interests in terms of those earnings
forecasts.''
Fletcher was paid A$4.6 million last year, which included
salary of A$2.3 million and long-term incentives worth A$651,326.
Coles Myer shares rose 6 cents to A$13.87 at the 4:10 p.m.
market close in Sydney, lifting this year's gain to 36 percent.
KKR offered A$15.25 a share for the company. The stock has risen
18 percent since first revealing the KKR approach Aug. 17.
Incentives
While Coles Myer adjusted short-term bonus hurdles for
Fletcher, 55, and other management when it issued the new
forecasts on Sept. 21, it didn't change those for the long-term
incentives.
``These amendments correct that oversight,'' Allert said in
the statement.
Under the new plan, Fletcher and his management team will get
half their long-term bonus for growth between 12.5 percent and 15
percent. Below 12.5 percent, they get nothing.
Lew, Coles Myer's biggest shareholder with about 5.8 percent
of its stock, said the performance targets showed a ``disconnect''
between targets for management and forecasts.
``The decrease in performance hurdles for senior management
is a disappointing indictment of the board's lack of protection of
shareholders interests,'' Lew said in an Oct. 24 statement.
``Alternatively, the earnings guidance provided to the market is
unachievable. Or both.''
`Totally Destabilize'
Fletcher's two-year A$910 million spending program, which
will drop brands such as Bi-Lo and Kmart in favor of the Coles
name and improve inventory handling, failed to convince investors
when it was first announced in July, sending the stock sliding 10
percent in three days.
Trying to reach the 2008 profit forecast may ``totally
destabilize'' the retailer, David Errington, Merrill Lynch's
Melbourne-based retail analyst, said in an Oct. 20 report.
With A$34 billion in sales from almost 3,000 supermarkets,
liquor outlets and Kmart stores, Coles Myer has about 35 percent
of Australia's A$70 billion grocery and liquor market, compared
with 40 percent for larger rival Woolworths Ltd.
New York-based KKR and a group of buyout firms scrapped their
bid Oct. 19 after Allert twice rejected approaches. The takeover
to would have been Australia's biggest.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Robert Fenner in Sydney
rfenner@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Peter Vercoe
pvercoe@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-02 00:00:00 UTC | Korea Electric Net Rises on Rate Gain, Nuclear Power | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-02/korea-electric-net-rises-on-rate-gain-nuclear-power-update5-.html
| Meeyoung Song | Korea Electric Power Corp. (015760) , the
country's largest utility, said third-quarter profit rose 19
percent because of higher electricity prices and increased
generation of lower-cost nuclear power.
Net income climbed to 1.21 trillion won ($1.3 billion) from
1.02 trillion won a year earlier, the Seoul-based company, which
supplies almost all the power in Asia 's third-biggest economy,
said in a statement today. The median estimate of seven analysts
surveyed by Thomson Financial was 1.17 trillion won.
South Korea 's government in December approved the company's
first power price increase in five years to cope with higher oil
and natural gas costs. Liquefied natural gas prices are linked to
oil, which surged to a record in July.
``The results were satisfying especially when you consider
the pressure of fuel costs,'' said Lee Young Ah, who helps manage
about $1.8 billion in equities at SH Asset Management Co. in
Seoul . ``LNG should drop more in the fourth quarter due to lower
crude prices.''
The company ran its nuclear reactors at full capacity in the
third quarter after shutting them down for maintenance earlier
this year, said Ji Chang Young, a manager at the utility's
investor relations team.
LNG burned at its plants accounted for 49 percent of Korea
Electric's fuel costs in the third quarter and coal made up 29
percent, Ji said. Fuel oil accounted for 13 percent and nuclear
fuel 9 percent.
Shares Gain
Crude oil prices in New York have fallen 25 percent from an
all-time high of $78.40 a barrel on July 14.
The company's shares rose 200 won, or 0.6 percent, to 36,200
won at the market's 3 p.m. close in Seoul. The stock has gained 7
percent in the past year, less than the 16 percent increase in
the benchmark Kospi index.
Korea Electric's fuel costs increased 10 percent from a year
earlier to 2.2 trillion won, Ji said. Operating profit, including
its six power generating units, gained 7 percent to 1.86 trillion
won, he said.
Nuclear plants generated 40 percent of Korea Electric's
power in the first half of this year, coal-fired plants produced
38 percent, gas-fired plants generated 17 percent and fuel-oil
generators produced 4 percent of electricity, Yoo Young Kuk, an
analyst at Meritz Securities Co. said.
Operating profit for the third quarter increased 28 percent
to 1.44 trillion won and sales gained 7.4 percent to 7.56
trillion won, the company said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Meeyoung Song in Seoul at
msong2@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Poole in Singapore at
jpoole4@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-03 00:00:00 UTC | N. Korea Cargo-Screening May Miss Nuclear Contraband | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-03/n-korea-cargo-screening-may-miss-nuclear-contraband-update3-.html
| Jeff Bliss | The radiation detectors at the heart
of U.S.-backed cargo inspections aimed at stopping the spread of
North Korea 's nuclear technology may miss some contraband while
mistaking harmless materials for dangerous ones.
The detectors used at border crossings and in major ports
serving North Korea may be triggered by items as innocent as
kitty litter, ceramics or bananas, said Parney Albright, who
created the science and technology unit at the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security . At the same time, they won't pick up
sensitive non-radioactive technology that North Korea might try
to sell.
North Korea has in the past threatened to sell its nuclear
knowledge, with the U.S. and other nations expressing the fear
that its know-how might wind up in the hands of other rogue
states or terrorists. After North Korea's Oct. 9 nuclear test,
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shuttled among the
capitals of Asian nations and Russia , urging the use of
radiation and imaging detectors to check cargo crossing land
borders and coming into ports.
Such detectors ``can't be the system,'' said Albright,
managing director of Civitas Group LLC, a Washington-based
homeland-security consultant. While detectors may be
``goaltenders that are there when all else fails,'' he said,
``at the end of the day, none of these systems is leak-proof.''
UN Resolution
North Korea's agreement earlier this week to return to
talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program won't affect
the cargo inspections or financial sanctions the Oct. 14 United
Nations Security Council resolution calls for. President George
W. Bush said the system would remain in place until North Korea
verifiably abandons its program.
UN members have until Nov. 13 to report on how they are
implementing the sanctions under the resolution.
The cargo-inspection effort aims to make use of an existing
U.S.-funded program to install state-of-the-art detectors in
allies' ports and border posts. Weapons experts say the nuclear-detection net surrounding North Korea is full of gaps; for
instance, while Russia has U.S.-supplied radiation monitors
along its 12-mile (19-kilometer) border with North Korea, China
doesn't have any along the 880-mile border it shares with the
country.
Plastic Scintillation
Most of the detectors deployed overseas are based on a
technology known as plastic scintillation. While the detectors
are ``better than nothing,'' they can't distinguish between
radiation from a natural source and material used in a nuclear
weapon, said Gene Aloise, director of natural resources and
environment at the Government Accountability Office, Congress's
non-partisan investigative arm.
The detectors which are made by San Diego-based SAIC
Inc. (SAI) , Longmont, Colorado-based TSA Systems Ltd., Sweetwater,
Texas-based Ludlum Measurements Inc. and the Aspekt Scientific
Production Center in Dubna, Russia contain a piece of
specially molded plastic whose atoms emit glimmers of light when
struck by gamma rays emitted by a radioactive source. The light
glimmers are then amplified by the machine.
The detectors may produce false positives because certain
harmless materials contain low levels of naturally occurring
radiation. The potassium in bananas is radioactive, and any
products created from dirt or clay including kitty litter and
ceramics include small amounts of radioactive minerals; some
pottery glazes contain minute amounts of thorium and uranium.
Hiding Contraband
While such shipments might trigger false readings, they
might also help smugglers hide contraband by inserting
nuclear material the size of a baseball into a shipment of
ceramics, for example.
The detectors can also be fooled if uranium, which the
North Koreans have been mining for some time, is wrapped in
lead, said David Albright , president of the Washington-based
Institute of Science and International Security, a Washington-based nuclear-nonproliferation group.
TSA President Allan Frymire said plastic scintillators have
limits yet their relatively low cost means large numbers can be
used. He compared them to metal detectors in airports which
``cannot distinguish between your car keys and a gun but in both
cases sound the alarm.'' When used with other screening methods,
they are a ``very cost-effective means'' of detecting nuclear
and radioactive materials, he said in an e-mailed statement.
Bill Huckabee, a distribution sales manager for Ludlum,
declined to comment, as did SAIC spokesman Thomas D. Hampton.
`Layered Defense'
Edgar Vasquez, a State Department spokesman, said the
detectors are just one element in a strategy that includes
training and sharing intelligence with regional allies. ``We are
building a layered defense against North Korean proliferation,''
Vazquez said in a statement responding to a request for comment.
Since 1994, the U.S. has spent $178 million to provide
radiation detectors to 36 countries to stop the spread of
nuclear material, according to a March 2006 GAO report.
Earlier this year, the Homeland Security Department awarded
$1.2 billion in contracts to Waltham, Massachusetts-based
Raytheon Co. (RTN) and Thermo Electron Corp. and Paris-based Areva
SA (AREVA) 's Canberra Industries Inc. to develop detectors capable of
distinguishing the sources of radiation.
Flawed Data
Deployment overseas of such next-generation detectors
aren't scheduled to begin until the end of next year, maybe
later. The GAO last month said the department's Domestic Nuclear
Detection Office used flawed data in awarding the contracts, and
that it isn't clear the machines will work. Congress has limited
funding for the project until that question is answered.
Thomas Loewald, president of Thermo Electron's
environmental instruments division, said in an e-mailed
statement that the new technology ``represents a significant
improvement,'' and the GAO report ``does not provide a complete
picture.'' Stephen Mettler, senior product manager for Canberra,
said the nuclear detection office has plans for testing ``to
prove'' the detectors will work. ``I certainly think our
technology will be effective,'' he said.
Raytheon spokesman Jon Kasle declined to comment, referring
questions to the nuclear detection office.
Jenny Burke, a spokeswoman for the nuclear detection
office, said efforts to improve the detectors will continue so
lawmakers will realize the machines are worth buying. The office
``plans to subject systems to additional high fidelity testing
prior to full-scale production,'' she said.
Gamma Rays
The U.S. also has helped place in foreign ports machines
such as SAIC Inc.'s VACIS systems, which use gamma rays to
create images of shipping containers and what's inside them.
The Homeland Security Department in September awarded $1.35
billion in contracts to SAIC, New York-based L-3 Communications
Corp. and Billerica, Massachusetts-based American Science and
Engineering Inc. to provide 300 imaging machines that would be
able to detect nuclear or ``dirty'' bombs shielded by lead or
other materials. They're scheduled to be deployed over the next
six years. ``Dirty'' bombs use conventional explosives to
disperse radiological material.
Port-security experts such as Stephen Flynn, a senior
fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York , say the
imaging machines are most effective when used in combination
with the radiation detectors. That's only being done in Hong
Kong , where a pilot project scans all cargo in two out of the 40
lanes of traffic coming into the port.
Selling Technology
Another concern for experts is that North Korea might
export technology rather than nuclear material itself, said Jon
Wolfsthal, a fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic
& International Studies.
The North Koreans initially won't part with the little
plutonium they have, although they may be prepared to sell
uranium, weapons experts say. Instead, they might market
aluminum tubes, pumps and special chemicals such as tributyl
phosphate, which is used to extract radioactive material from
spent nuclear fuel rods, said David Albright.
Some of those products have other, more peaceful purposes:
The pumps, for example, could be used in oil fields , and
tributyl phosphate can be used as a solvent or an ingredient in
aircraft hydraulic fluid.
Chinese border guards have been getting U.S. help in
spotting so-called dual-use products for a year, and more
training is planned. The training ``is helpful, but by no means
is it enough,'' said Albright. ``It's doubtful the Chinese
border guards are up to the task.''
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jeff Bliss in Washington at
jbliss@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Ken Fireman at
kfireman@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-03 00:00:00 UTC | Nielsen Postpones Offering Ratings for TV Commercials | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-03/nielsen-postpones-offering-ratings-for-tv-commercials-update2-.html
| Michael White | Nielsen Media Research , which
provides television ratings used to set advertising prices,
postponed for a second time a service that measure viewership of
commercials after cable networks questioned its accuracy.
Clients also had concerns about how to count replays on
digital recorders, Nielsen spokesman Gary Holmes said today in
an interview. The service was delayed indefinitely, after an
original start date of Nov. 18 was moved to Dec. 11.
Cable networks aren't convinced Nielsen's system can
properly distinguish between local and national advertisements,
said Chris Jones , a spokesman for the New York-based
Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau. The bureau has advised its
members, cable networks that depend on advertising revenue, not
to participate.
``We think that's probably a good idea'' to delay the
start, Jones said in an interview. ``It allows the industry to
debate the issue, to fix the current issues with the data.''
Nielsen plans to meet with clients later this month to try
to reach consensus on the use of devices including recorders
made by TiVo Inc. Nielsen, which had planned to measure viewing
on the day of broadcast and replays within seven days, may
consider a shorter period for replays, Holmes said.
``There is some tension over what data stream to use,''
Holmes said. ``This is an issue we really need to discuss
further with clients.''
To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael White in Los Angeles at mwhite8@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Emma Moody at
emoody@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-11-03 00:00:00 UTC | Schneider Shares Rise on Speculation of LBO Interest | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-03/schneider-shares-rise-on-speculation-of-lbo-interest-update2-.html
| Nicolas Johnson | Shares of Schneider Electric SA (SU) ,
the world's biggest maker of circuit breakers, rose the most
in four months on speculation that the French company may be
a takeover target for private-equity companies.
The stock climbed 3.05 euros, or 3.7 percent, to 86.4
euros, the sharpest gain since June 30, for a market value of
19.6 billion euros ($24.9 billion). That was the sharpest gain
on France 's benchmark CAC 40 Index and the sixth-biggest on the
Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index of Europe 's top companies.
Buyout firms have announced an unprecedented $493 billion
in takeovers this year, up from $265.5 billion in all of 2005,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg. They've also raised a
record $170 billion for new takeover funds, according to
London-based researcher Private Equity Intelligence Ltd.
Schneider Chief Executive Officer Jean-Pascal Tricoire said on
Oct. 12 that he was aware of interest in his company.
``The scale of any such transaction would be highly
unusual and groundbreaking in the European industrial space,''
said Ben Uglow , an analyst in London at Morgan Stanley.
``Sooner or later in industrials, we are going to have a knock-out bid. We are in an advanced stage of the stock market cycle,
and that's usually when unusual things happen.''
Schneider's shares fell 7.2 percent on Oct. 30 after the
French company agreed to buy American Power Conversion Corp.
for $6.1 billion to become the largest maker of equipment that
protects computers and factories from power outages.
The purchase might have been a defensive move and may
act as a ``poison pill'' to deter suitors, said Uglow, who
has an ``equal-weight'' rating on the shares.
A bid for Schneider at the current price would be one of
the biggest private-equity offers.
``In theory, might private-equity companies be looking at
a company like Schneider? The answer is yes,'' Uglow said.
``Investors are also coming back to the market to take
advantage of the recent pullback in the stock.''
To contact the reporter on this story:
Nicolas Johnson in Paris
nicojohnson@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Jasper in London at
cjasper@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-11-07 00:00:00 UTC | Ceridian Wins Tennessee Trial Over Gift-Card Patent | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-07/ceridian-wins-tennessee-trial-over-gift-card-patent-update1-.html
| Susan Decker | A Ceridian Corp. unit didn't infringe
a Tennessee company's patent on gift cards sold at store
checkout stands, a federal jury said.
The jury in Memphis also found on Nov. 3 that Barry Fiala
Inc.'s patent was invalid, because it covered an obvious
variation of an earlier invention, and unenforceable because an
inventor was omitted. Barry Fiala, named after its founder, will
ask U.S. District Judge Samuel H. Mays Jr. to overturn the
verdict, company lawyer Barry Bretschneider said today.
``Before he put the activated gift cards in Sam's Clubs and
Wal-Marts in late 1995 and 1996, there was no market,''
Bretschneider said in a telephone interview. ``Barry Fiala
created this market.''
Barry Fiala Inc. had sought at least $10 million in damages
from Stored Value Systems, part of Ceridian's Comdata unit.
Stored Value makes gift cards for companies including Target
Corp., J.C. Penney Co., Lowe's Cos. and Toys `R' Us Inc., said
the unit's lawyer, Alan Fisch of Kaye Scholer in Washington .
``Comdata is delighted with this victory,'' the unit's
president, Gary Krow, said in a statement. Minneapolis-based
Ceridian provides U.S. companies with payroll services and
reported sales of $1.46 billion last year.
Barry Fiala was part of Memphis packaging company Milton
Sternberger and patented a means of activating gift cards in the
1990s, said Bretschneider, of Morrison & Foerster in McLean,
Virginia. More than a dozen companies have licensed the patent,
he said.
Shares of Ceridian rose 19 cents to $25.14 in New York
Stock Exchange composite trading at 4:01 p.m., valuing the
company at about $3.5 billion.
The case is Barry Fiala Inc. v. Stored Value Systems Inc.,
02cv2248, U.S. District Court for the Western District of
Tennessee, Western Division.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Susan Decker in Washington at
sdecker1@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Patrick Oster at poster@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-11-07 00:00:00 UTC | Shimao Hires Goldman, Morgan Stanley for Bond Sale | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-07/shimao-hires-goldman-morgan-stanley-for-bond-sale-update1-.html
| Patricia Kuo | Shimao Property Holdings Ltd. (813) ,
controlled by China 's fifth-richest man Xu Rongmao, hired Goldman
Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) to sell $500 million of bonds,
the company said in a statement.
Shimao plans to meet investors on Nov. 9 in Singapore,
before moving to Hong Kong and the U.S. next week, said a person
with knowledge of the deal, who declined to be named. The Hong
Kong-listed company will use as much as $160 million from the
sale to repay existing debt and the remainder to buy land and
build new projects, according to the statement.
The Shanghai-based developer joins rivals such as Greentown
China Holdings Ltd. and Agile Property Holdings Ltd. in selling
dollar bonds.
Property prices in China have more than doubled since 2000.
Real-estate investment grew 24.3 percent in the first nine months
of the year to 1.29 trillion yuan ($164 billion), according to
the National Development and Reform Commission.
The bond sale ``represents a timely opportunity for the
company to raise additional funds for the operation, and further
expansion, of the group's property development business'' in
China, Shimao said in the statement.
The company currently has 18 projects in Beijing, Shanghai,
Harbin, Fuzhou, Wuhan and Yantai, it said.
The developer plans to sell at least $200 million of 10-year
fixed-rate notes and at least $200 million of five-year fixed-
rate or floating-rate securities, said the person. Shimao
Chairman Xu wasn't immediately available to comment.
The company's first-half profit more than doubled to 703.6
million yuan from 305.8 million yuan a year earlier, after sales
surged to 2.2 billion yuan from 181.5 million yuan. At the end of
September, it had 1 billion yuan of short-term debt and 2.6
billion yuan of long-term borrowings, according to the statement.
Its stock has gained 68 percent since an initial share sale
in Hong Kong that raised HK$3.72 billion ($478 million) in July.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 16 percent during the period.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Patricia Kuo in Hong Kong at
pkuo2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Beth Thomas at
bthomas1@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-07 00:00:00 UTC | Stillwater Posts Profit on Processing Recycled Metals | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-07/stillwater-posts-profit-on-processing-recycled-metals-update1-.html
| Choy Leng Yeong | Stillwater Mining Co. (SWC) , the only U.S.
producer of palladium and platinum, had its most profitable
quarter in two years as prices of recycled metals rose and
processing increased.
Profit was $6.86 million, or 7 cents a share, Billings,
Montana-based Stillwater said today in a statement. A year earlier,
it had a loss of $9.11 million, or 10 cents a share.
Revenue rose 51 percent to $180.8 million as proceeds from
processing recycled metals jumped fourfold to $104.2 million.
Platinum and palladium are used in catalytic converters to control
air pollution. The metals also are used in jewelry.
Stillwater ``has been recycling increasing volumes of spent
platinum-group metal from automotive catalytic converters and
petroleum refiners,'' Chief Executive Officer Francis R. McAllister
said in the statement. ``The impressive growth in demand for
palladium jewelry, beginning about 30 months ago primarily in
China ,'' has become broader based, he said.
Shares of Stillwater rose 7 cents to $11.44 in New York Stock
Exchange composite trading. They had climbed 22 percent in the past
year.
Stillwater processed 90,000 ounces of recycled metals through
its smelter and refinery, more than double from a year ago. It said
it expects the volume for this year to exceed 325,000 ounces,
compared with about 203,000 ounces last year.
Higher Selling Prices
Stillwater sold palladium 4.2 percent higher at an average
$370 an ounce, and platinum at $877 an ounce, up 7 percent. The
average palladium price in New York rose 74 percent to $327.37
during the quarter while platinum averaged $1,224.91, up 36
percent. Stillwater had locked in palladium and platinum prices in
forward contracts to automakers.
Production rose 18 percent to 151,300 ounces during the third
quarter. The company has two mines that stretch over 28 miles (45
kilometers) in Montana 's Beartooth Mountains.
Wildfires in September led the company to close both mines
briefly as a precaution. Stillwater estimates the total lost
production for 2006 due to the closures at between 7,000 and 10,000
ounces.
``Because mine production generally has been strong this year,
this lost output has not resulted in any change to the company's
production guidance for 2006,'' McAllister said. ``But the loss is
expected to reduce fourth-quarter earnings modestly.''
Cash costs fell 26 percent to $245 an ounce.
``The company does not expect the third-quarter level of total
cash costs to be sustainable at current production rates, although
total cash costs may likely come in lower than the company's
earlier guidance of $300 to $315 per ounce for the full year
2006,'' McAllister said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Choy Leng Yeong in Seattle at
clyeong@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-07 00:00:00 UTC | Russia May Cancel Licenses Held by Unit of BP Venture | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-07/russia-may-cancel-licenses-held-by-unit-of-bp-venture-update1-.html
| Todd Prince | Russian Prosecutor General Yuri
Chaika's office is seeking to cancel extraction licenses held by
a unit of BP Plc (BP/) 's local venture, the latest setback for foreign
companies in the nation's oil industry.
The country's top law enforcement body asked the Federal
Subsoil Agency to cancel two licenses held by ZAO Rospan
International for ``systematic violations,'' the Prosecutor
General's Office said on its Web site today. Nobody at the
Subsoil Agency could be reached for comment immediately.
Rospan, a subsidiary of OAO TNK-BP Holding (TNBP) , currently
produces 2.5 billion cubic meters of the fuel a year and output
could rise to 15 billion cubic meters if TNK-BP can reach an
accord with the other license holders in the region, including
OAO Gazprom, TNK-BP Chief Operating Officer Viktor Vekselberg
said in March.
Russia has been urging investors in projects led by Royal
Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp.,
as well as TNK-BP, to cede some of the control given to them in
the 1990s, when oil prices and government revenue were low.
Russia in September threatened to annul a key permit for the
Shell-led $22 billion Sakhalin-2 project, citing environmental
and safety concerns.
The Prosecutor General's Office said today its request to
annul the Rospan licenses was filed ``in connection with
systematic violations of the law on resources, license
conditions, and ecological safety, including the carrying out of
works without licenses.''
Rospan, once controlled by OAO Yukos Oil Co., is TNK-BP's
second biggest gas project, after Kovykta in eastern Siberia.
OAO Yukos Oil Co. sold its 56 percent stake in Rospan to TNK-BP
in 2004 to help pay off $30 billion in back taxes and fines
levied by the government.
TNK-BP spokesman Alexander Shadrin said he couldn't comment
on the matter immediately.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Garfield Reynolds in Moscow at
greynolds1@bloomberg.net
Todd Prince at
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-08 00:00:00 UTC | Qatar Petroleum Offers 980,000 Tons of '07 Condensate | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-08/qatar-petroleum-offers-980-000-tons-of-07-condensate-update1-.html
| Trisha Huang | Qatar Petroleum , the country's state-
run oil and gas company, offered to sell three different types of
condensate, totaling 980,000 metric tons, for loading in the year
from January, according to offer documents.
The refiner offered to load a total of 148,000 metric tons
of Al-Khaleej Gas plant condensate liquids in shipments of 18,000
tons in the twelve months from January.
The oil is produced at the Al-Khaleej Gas plant operated by
Ras Laffen Liquefied Natural Gas Co., or RasGas, a Qatar
Petroleum venture with Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM)
Separately, Qatar Petroleum offered to sell 247,000 tons of
Qatar Return condensate natural gas liquids in lots of 19,000
tons. The gas liquids are from the natural gas plant operated by
Qatar Liquefied Gas Co., or Qatargas, the offer document said.
Additionally, Qatar Petroleum invited bids for 585,000 tons
of RasGas plant condensate. The refiner asked potential buyers to
load the fuel in lots of about 19,000 tons.
All the cargoes will load at Ras Laffan port between Jan. 1
and Dec. 31, 2007.
Potential buyers were to submit bids against Persian Gulf
quotes for naphtha by oil-pricing service Platts, and to keep
their bids valid until Nov. 13, according to the documents
received by Bloomberg News .
Condensate, a type of light oil produced in association with
natural gas production, can yield as much as 60 percent of
naphtha and gasoline.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Trisha Huang in Singapore at
Thuang14@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reinie Booysen at rbooysen@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-11-08 00:00:00 UTC | Russian Stocks Drop; Severstal Slides as Share Sale Falls Short | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-08/russian-stocks-drop-severstal-slides-as-share-sale-falls-short.html
| Michael Heath | Russian stocks fell from a five-month
high, pushed lower by OAO Severstal, after the country's biggest
steelmaker by sales raised a less-than-expected $1.06 billion in
a public share offering.
The dollar-denominated RTS Index lost 0.7 percent to 1663.19
in Moscow, sliding from its highest since May 12. The ruble-based
Micex Index fell 0.2 percent to 1477.37.
Severstal slid 7.3 percent, or 95 cents, to $12.05.
Billionaire owner Alexei Mordashov sold 85 million shares, or 9.1
percent of the company, at $12.50 each. Mordashov had sought to
raise as much as $1.89 billion.
Russian companies, prompted by a six-year stock market
rally, have raised $16.5 billion in share sales this year, one-
and-a-half times the amount raised in the previous five years.
Mordashov wants to raise Severstal's profile with foreign
investors after the company lost out to Mittal Steel Co. in a
contest to combine with Arcelor SA earlier this year.
OAO Pharmstandard, a drugmaker co-owned by Russia 's richest
man Roman Abramovich , said today it's postponing an initial
public offering until the first half of next year as it reviews
the structure of the sale.
OAO Surgutneftegaz, Russia's fourth-largest oil producer,
fell 1.7 percent to $1.30, reversing yesterday's 2.7 percent
gain. OAO Gazprom, the country's biggest natural-gas producer,
declined 1.4 percent to $10.88.
OAO Polyus Gold, Russia's biggest producer of the precious
metal, fell 1.1 percent to $47, extending yesterday's 1 percent
loss. The company said today it completed a $1 billion share
buyback at a 35 percent premium.
Jenington International Inc., a Polyus unit, bought 17.2
million Polyus shares for $58 each. The price was 35 percent
higher that the stock's closing price in Moscow yesterday.
Shares of OAO VSMPO-Avisma, the world's biggest titanium
producer, advanced 6.9 percent to $249, after adding 5 percent in
the previous session. Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport
completed its purchase of 66 percent of VSMPO-Avisma yesterday.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael Heath in Moscow at
mheath1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Edward Buckle at
ebuckle@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-08 00:00:00 UTC | Dynegy Reports Third-Quarter Net Loss of $69 Million | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-08/dynegy-reports-third-quarter-net-loss-of-69-million-update6-.html
| Edward Klump | Dynegy Inc., owner of power plants in
10 U.S. states, reported a third-quarter loss of $69 million
after writing down the value of a Kentucky power plant and
recording costs for a debt exchange.
The net loss was equivalent to 14 cents a share and compared
with net income of $29 million, or 6 cents a share after payment
of dividends on preferred stock, a year earlier, Houston-based
Dynegy said today in a statement. The per-share profit of 6 cents
excluding one-time items fell short of analysts' estimates.
``It's a little bit less than we anticipated,'' said Daniele
Seitz , an analyst at Dahlman Rose & Co. in New York who expected
Dynegy to earn 8 cents a share. The average estimate from seven
analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial was 9 cents.
Shares of Dynegy fell 20 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $6.02 in
New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock, which has
three buy ratings from analysts and seven holds, still is up 24
percent for the year. Seitz rates the stock a buy and owns none.
The third-quarter results included a $61 million impairment
for the reduced value of the 576-megawatt Bluegrass peaking plant
in Kentucky because of changes in the market, the company said.
Peaking plants are used during periods of strongest power demand.
Dynegy also recorded costs of $23 million for the exchange
of subordinated debt held by Sithe Energies Inc., which it
acquired in November 2004, and $14 million in litigation costs.
LS Power
Chief Executive Officer Bruce Williamson, 47, sold assets
and unwound a failed energy trading business to avoid bankruptcy
after the collapse of Enron Corp. in 2001. In September, he
agreed to buy plants from LS Power Group for $2.3 billion to
expand Dynegy's generating capacity by 69 percent and make the it
the third-largest U.S. power producer that doesn't own utilities.
Overall sales fell 25 percent to $581 million, the company
said. At Dynegy's power-generation business, third-quarter
earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization,
or EBITDA, fell to $92 million from $177 million a year earlier
because of the plant writedown. The division also was hurt by
lower prices, the company said.
Midwest
Excluding the asset impairment, EBIDTA from power generation
in the U.S. Midwest rose 25 percent as the business benefited
from financial transactions used to lock in prices, the company
said.
Dynegy said it will issue its forecast for 2007 earnings on
Dec. 13.
The acquisition of the LS Power plants will extend Dynegy's
operations to 15 states and give it more than 20,000 megawatts of
generation, enough to supply 16 million U.S. homes. The
transaction is expected to close early next year.
Closely held LS Power, based in East Brunswick, New Jersey,
will get 40 percent of Dynegy's stock and $375 million in cash
and notes for the plants. The companies will create a joint
venture to build new plants and expand existing ones.
Calpine Corp., which is reorganizing in bankruptcy, is the
largest so called independent power producer and NRG Energy Inc.
is second largest.
(Dynegy held an earnings conference call for investors and
analysts at 9 a.m. New York time. A replay is available on the
company's Web site at http://www.dynegy.com .)
To contact the reporter on this story:
Edward Klump in Houston at
eklump@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Robert Dieterich at
rdieterich@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-11-08 00:00:00 UTC | Namibian Investors Buy Absa's 34% Stake in Capricorn | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-08/namibian-investors-buy-absa-s-34-stake-in-capricorn-update1-.html
| Vernon Wessels | Namibian investors have bought Absa
Group Ltd. (ASA) 's 34.4 percent stake in Capricorn Investment Holdings
Ltd., a Windhoek-based financial services company, for an
undisclosed amount.
Johannesburg-based Absa agreed to sell its stake in
Capricorn, which owns banks in Botswana and Zambia, after it
sold a controlling stake to Barclays Plc (BARC) , making Absa and
Capricorn rivals, Johan Swanepoel, the managing director of
Capricorn, said in an e-mailed statement today. The investors
weren't identified.
Absa, South Africa 's biggest consumer bank, plans to buy
nine Barclays units in sub-Saharan Africa, including its
operations in Botswana and Zambia, by the end of next year.
Capricorn, which owns a controlling stake in Bank Windhoek, the
fourth-biggest Namibian bank, opened a bank in Botswana in
September and owns a stake in Zambia 's Cavmont Capital Bank.
Absa's ``investment in CIH no longer falls in line with its
wider African strategy owing to CIH's planned regional expansion
program,'' Absa said in a statement to South Africa's stock
exchange. Cooperation between CIH, Absa and Bank Windhoek will
continue in ``structured finance, syndication of large and
complex corporate finance transactions and settlement
accounts.''
Absa will have first rights to buy CIH's stake in Bank
Windhoek should the company decide to sell it, the company
added.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Vernon Wessels in Johannesburg at
vwessels@bloomberg.net
Chamwe Kaira in Windhoek via the Johannesburg bureau on
pmrichardson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-09 00:00:00 UTC | FirstRand Says Law May Pare Fees by 788 Million Rand | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-09/firstrand-says-law-may-pare-fees-by-788-million-rand-update4-.html
| Vernon Wessels | First National Bank , the consumer
banking unit of FirstRand Ltd. (FSR) , said it may lose as much as 788
million rand ($107.5 million) in fees after South Africa
introduces a new credit law to protect consumers next year.
The National Credit Act, scheduled to come into effect
next June, will limit transaction fees, penalty charges and
interest rates that can be charged on loans and credit
agreements. The new law is aimed at preventing consumers from
being over-indebted and protecting them from reckless lending.
``About 788 million rand in fees will actually be wiped
off'' on an annualized basis, Michael Jordaan, chief executive
of FNB, said in an interview after an antitrust hearing on bank
charges in Pretoria today.
FNB, the nation's No. 3 consumer bank, plans to spend
between 140 million and 230 million rand in the fiscal year
through June, 2007, implementing requirements for the National
Credit Act, adding to regulatory compliance costs that amounted
to almost a 1 billion rand last year, he said.
FirstRand will compensate for the loss in fees by cutting
costs, selling new products and providing small loans not
backed by assets of less than 10,000 rand, Jordaan said. The
company will compete against African Bank Investments Holding
Ltd., the No. 1 small-loans provider, Capitec Bank Holdings
Ltd. (CPI) , and 9,700 other micro-loans companies, Jordaan said.
Shares Fall
Shares of FirstRand, South Africa's second-biggest
financial services company by market value, fell 22 cents, or
1.1 percent, to 19.58 rand. The six-member FTSE/JSE Africa
Banks Index also dropped 1.1 percent.
The National Credit Act for the first regulates loans
under 10,000 rand, making FirstRand ``more comfortable selling
products and services into that market,'' Sizwe Nxasana, the
chief executive of FirstRand's banking unit, said. ``It's
created an opportunity for us.''
FirstRand will rather keep building its own small loans
business through FNB than buy an existing company, he said.
``If there is an opportunity to acquire a book from a
micro-lender, and we assessed it, and it's of the kind of
quality that we happy with, then we'd certainly do that,''
Nxasana said.
Public Hearings
South Africa 's competition regulator is holding public
hearings into bank charges after a study raised concerns about
fees and the lack of competition among the nation's biggest
lenders including Johannesburg-based Absa Group Ltd. (ASA) ,
controlled by Barclays Plc.
``The credit act is introducing enormous amounts of extra
administration work and costs into the system at a time when
banks are under pressure to cut banking fees,'' said Neville
Chester, who helps manage the equivalent of $13 billion at
Coronation Fund Managers, including FirstRand, in Cape Town .
``It's limiting their revenue opportunities.''
Banks plan to spend between 150 million rand and 200
million rand each on information technology systems, loans will
take longer to be approved and the scrapping of credit history
records will limit the ability of banks to provide customers
with competitive interest rates , he said.
Fees and penalties charged by the nation's banks are
hitting the poor the hardest and deterring them from saving in
a nation where less than half the adult population, or about 13
million people, don't have bank accounts, Gabriel Davel, the
national credit regulator, told the inquiry on Nov. 3.
Scrap Fee
FNB is proposing that all South African banks scrap a fee
that customers are charged for using another lender's automatic
teller machine, Jordaan said.
A customer who uses another bank's automated teller
machine is typically charged a transaction fee and the so-called SASWITCH fee to their bank, which then pays a portion to
the bank that owns the machine. A change may cost FNB as much
as 140 million rand a year, and save customers of South African
banks more than 500 million rand a year.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Vernon Wessels in Johannesburg at
vwessels@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Frank Connelly at
fconnelly@bloomberg.net
Katherine Snyder at
ksnyder@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-09 00:00:00 UTC | China Stocks Will Rise 30% in 2007, ABN Amro Predicts | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-09/china-stocks-will-rise-30-in-2007-abn-amro-predicts-update1-.html
| Zhang Shidong | China's stock market will rally as
much as 30 percent next year as surging exports boost profits
and a strengthening yuan encourages overseas speculative capital
to buy properties, according to ABN Amro Teda Fund Management Co.
Machinery makers, banks and property developers are likely
to lead gains, Liu Qingshan, chief investment officer at the
Beijing-based firm, said yesterday at a conference in Shanghai.
He didn't name specific stocks.
``The market gain may range between 20 percent and 30
percent next year,'' said Liu. ``The themes of rising exports
and the yuan revaluation will continue to prop up the market.''
Both the Shanghai Composite Index and the Shenzhen
Composite Index have jumped 63 percent this year, making them
the best-performing benchmarks in the Asia-Pacific region. The
measures are at the highest they've been in more than five years.
The Shanghai Composite, which tracks yuan-denominated A
shares and foreign-currency B shares, rose 29.67, or 1.6 percent,
to 1896.48 at the 3 p.m. close today. The Shenzhen Composite,
which tracks the smaller of China's two stock exchanges, gained
5.39, or 1.2 percent, to 455.04.
Beijing-based ABN Amro Teda is a venture between ABN Amro
Holding NV, the largest Dutch bank, and Tianjin Teda Investment
Holding Co., an investment arm of the Tianjin government. The
company manages six funds with about 9 billion yuan ($1.1
billion) of assets.
Machinery Play
Machinery manufacturers will sustain their earnings growth
next year as overseas sales increase and economic expansion at
home spurs local demand, Liu said.
``The valuation of machinery stocks isn't high and they
will face a revaluation,'' he said. ``China's machinery makers
have the edge over technology and costs'' against foreign rivals.
Exports are expected to account for as much as 50 percent
of total sales of China's machinery industry over the next five
years, up from 20 percent, according to Orient Securities Co.,
the country's eighth-largest brokerage in terms of assets.
China 's trade surplus surged to a record $23.8 billion last
month, according to the customs bureau.
Some machinery manufacturers have already jumped this year
on improved earnings. Yuan-denominated shares of Shanghai
Zhenhua Port Machinery Co., the world's biggest maker of
container cranes, have more than doubled this year. Net income
for the three months through Sept. 30 rose 34 percent from a
year ago. Sales will jump 50 percent this year, said President
Guan Tongxian at a conference last month.
Faster Growth
Shares of Changsha Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science &
Technology Development Co., a manufacturer of construction
machinery, have advanced 107 percent this year. Third-quarter
profit climbed 66 percent, the company said last month.
China's economy , which overtook the U.K. as the world's
fourth largest last year, expanded by 10.4 percent in the third
quarter after growing 11.3 percent in the previous three months.
Expectations of a stronger Chinese yuan will continue to
lure speculative money and push up domestic property prices,
benefiting listed real-estate developers, Liu said. Government
measures to rein in property prices that have more than doubled
since 2000 don't seem to be working, he said.
``No matter how the government cracks down on the property
market , the upside trend cannot be reversed amid the backdrop of
the yuan's revaluation,'' said Liu.
Banking Stocks
China Vanke Co., the nation's biggest property developer,
last month said profit in the three months to September more
than doubled on a 20 percent rise in property prices in the
southern city of Shenzhen during the quarter. Shares of Vanke
have doubled this year. Poly Real Estate Group Co., China's
largest state-owned developer, said last month third-quarter
profit rose more than fivefold as housing sales increased. The
stock has surged 128 percent since its debut in July.
Banking stocks are also among Liu's investment options as
lenders are expected to run more diversified financial
businesses, such as setting up asset management units. ``That
will act as a catalyst for lenders,'' he said.
Liu said he will also allocate some of his funds to
consumer, steelmaking and power stocks next year.
ABN Amro Teda is marketing an equity fund that will
allocate as much as 95 percent of its assets to stocks. The
company plans to raise as much as 5 billion yuan from the new
fund, Chief Executive Walter Lin said in an interview on Nov. 2.
The mainland fund industry was worth 511.4 billion yuan on
June 30, an increase of 9 percent from the end of last year,
according to China Galaxy Securities Co., the country's second-
largest brokerage by assets.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Zhang Shidong in Shanghai at
szhang5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Regan at
jregan8@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-09 00:00:00 UTC | Vale Third-Quarter Net Profit Rises 47% on Ore Price | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-09/vale-third-quarter-net-profit-rises-47-on-ore-price-update1-.html
| Jeb Blount | Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, the world's
largest iron-ore producer, said third-quarter profit rose 47
percent to a record after it raised iron-ore prices 19 percent
from a year ago and beefed up output from its mines.
`Consolidated net income at the Rio de Janeiro-based
company rose to 3.97 billion reais ($1.85 billion), or 1.64 real
a share, from 2.71 billion reais, or 1.18 real, a year earlier.
Net sales rose 27 percent to 11.23 billion reais in the quarter
from 8.82 billion reais in the third quarter of 2005.
Chief Executive Officer Roger Agnelli , 47, is preparing for
talks with customers, led by Chinese steelmakers, that are
expected to begin this month. On Oct. 5 he said world ore demand
outstrips supply and that without increased revenue for mine
expansion, steelmakers face shortages. Rising costs for energy
and mine equipment are also making growth more expensive.
``We believe the company will show strong profit in the
third quarter,'' said Cristiane Viana, steel and mining analyst
with Agora CTVM, Brazil 's largest stock brokerage, in Rio de
Janeiro . ``We believe that the company's results will
principally reflect the increase in the volume of sales of iron
ore and the impact of higher mineral prices.''
Viana said she expected profit of 3.57 billion reais in the
quarter and net sales of 10.35 billion reais.
Vale preferred shares were little changed, rising 1 centavo
to 48.49 reais in Sao Paulo trading. Vale has gained 16 percent
while the Bovespa index of the 55 most-traded stocks on the Sao
Paulo stock exchange, of which Vale is part, rose 24 percent.
Other Metals
Vale's profit also benefited from expansion and higher
prices for its other metals and minerals such as bauxite and
alumina, two of the main ingredients in aluminum, said Elaine
Rabelo, steel and mining analyst at Coinvalores CCVM, a Sao
Paulo stock brokerage.
``We expect firm results from the strong prices the company
has been able to charge for iron-ore and alumina,'' Rabelo, who
expects a third quarter profit of 3.9 billion reais. ``With
aluminum-related businesses bringing in about 10 percent of
revenue and high world prices for nickel, the importance of
products other than iron-ore should increase.''
Vale purchased Canada 's Inco Ltd., the world's second-
largest nickel producer on Oct. 24. When it finishes buying all
the outstanding stock of the company, the purchase is expected
to cost about $17 billion.
Inco results were not included in the third-quarter
results.
Profit growth was restrained by the stronger real, which
rose more than 7 percent gain against the dollar from a year a
year earlier, said Rabelo. The currency gain has sliced an
average of 16 million reais of revenue from each $100 million of
company exports in the last year.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jeb Blount in Rio de Janeiro at
jblount@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Laura Zelenko in New York at
lzelenko@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-10 00:00:00 UTC | Evraz's Raspadskaya Raises $317 Million in Share Sale | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-10/evraz-s-raspadskaya-raises-317-million-in-share-sale-update2-.html
| Samantha Shields | OAO Raspadskaya, among the world's
10 biggest coking-coal producers, raised $317 million in a share
sale as Russian stock offerings this year climb to a record.
Raspadskaya sold 140.8 million shares, or 18 percent of its
stock, at $2.25 apiece, valuing the company at $1.76 billion,
according to an e-mailed statement received today. Credit Suisse
Group, Deutsche UFG and Morgan Stanley managed the transaction.
Appetite for Russian share offerings may be waning after
more than $16.5 billion of sales this year, 50 percent more than
in the previous five years combined. Raspadskaya, 50 percent
owned by Russia's biggest steelmaker, Evraz Group, in which
billionaire Roman Abramovich has a 40 percent stake, was valued
by the sale arrangers at between $1.6 and $2.2 billion.
``It was expensive because it's not diversified and we
expect coking coal prices to fall,'' Kyrill Chuiko, a metals
analyst at UralSib in Moscow, said in a telephone interview.
``They obviously convinced investors their profits will rise
because it was a successful sale.''
Prices for Russian coking coal, which rose to an all-time
high of $80 a metric ton in 2005, may drop as much as 19 percent
to an average $60 a ton this year and another 10 percent in 2007,
according to Chuiko.
Shares of Raspadskaya began trading on Moscow's Russian
Trading System at noon local time and had fallen 5.3 percent to
$2.13 by 4:32 p.m. local time. They are listed solely on the
Russian exchange, the first time a major company from the country
has chosen not to list shares abroad.
Offerings Soar
Russian share offerings have soared after a six-year stock
market rally. OAO Severstal, the nation's biggest steelmaker,
sold $1.06 billion of stock two days ago. OAO Rosneft, Russia 's
state oil company, raised $10.4 billion on July 14 in Europe 's
biggest initial public offering in seven years. Raspadskaya's is
the first by a Russian coal miner.
Raspadskaya, based in the west Siberian region of Kemerovo,
plans to mine 10.4 million tons of coking coal next year, rising
to 17 million tons by 2010, according to Credit Suisse. The
coalminer's audited reserves are enough to last 72 years at
current output levels, the bank said, citing the Australasian
Joint Ore Reserves Commission, or JORC.
Net income rose 30 percent to $166 million last year on
sales of $541 million. More than 95 percent of Raspadskaya is
owned by Corber Enterprises Ltd., in which Evraz and Raspadskaya
management each own 50 percent.
Extracting coal costs Raspadskaya about $19 a ton, according
to Deutsche Bank AG, about a third cheaper than the Russian
industry average.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Samantha Shields in Moscow at
sshields2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Justin Carrigan at jcarrigan@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-10 00:00:00 UTC | Mills Sets Shareholder Meeting After Gazit-Globe Sues | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-10/mills-sets-shareholder-meeting-after-gazit-globe-sues-update2-.html
| Sharon L. Crenson | Mills Corp., a U.S. mall developer
struggling to build a $2 billion shopping and entertainment
complex in New Jersey, set its annual shareholder meeting for
next month after an investor sued the company on the matter.
The meeting is planned for Dec. 21, Chevy Chase, Maryland-
based Mills said today in a statement. It may be moved to the
last week of December if Mills isn't able to complete the proxy
solicitation process by Dec. 21.
Gazit-Globe Ltd. (GLOB) , which owns a 9.7 percent stake in Mills,
sued in Delaware on Nov. 8 and warned Mills not to pursue a sale.
Gazit said it wants the meeting to air its own proposal to invest
as much as $1.2 billion in Mills and to propose a new slate of
directors. In its statement today, Mills said its board planned
the meeting before Gazit's suit.
In August, Mills said it was out of money for the 104-acre
project known as the Meadowlands Xanadu. The company invested
$380 million so far in a complex that is supposed to include a
luxury hotel, office buildings, runway fashion shows, fine dining
and the U.S.'s first snow dome for indoor skiing. It's designed
to be 600,000 square feet bigger than Mall of America in
Bloomington, Minnesota , the largest U.S. mall.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are
advising Mills on a possible sale and the company has attracted
interest from ``very substantial players in the industry,'' Mills
Chief Executive Officer Mark Ordan said in an interview Nov. 8.
Gazit's actions show it's seeking an ``inside track'' on
buying Mills, Ordan said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Sharon L. Crenson in New York at
screnson@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Rob Urban at robprag@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-11-10 00:00:00 UTC | Wheeling-Pittsburgh Union Files to Block CSN Deal | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-10/wheeling-pittsburgh-union-files-to-block-csn-deal-update2-.html
| Christopher Donville | A union representing workers at
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp. filed a grievance to block the
steelmaker's merger with Brazil 's Cia. Siderurgica Nacional SA
and said it favors a hostile offer made by Esmark Inc.
Under a collective bargaining agreement, Wheeling-Pittsburgh may not enter into a transaction that changes control
of the company without the union's consent, Dave McCall,
district director for the United Steelworkers, said in a Nov. 9
letter to James Bradley, the company's chief executive officer.
``While we did not want to take this step, the company has
left us no choice,'' McCall wrote.
Wheeling-Pittsburgh, which posted a net loss of $33.8
million last year, is seeking a cash infusion to help cut $398
million of debt that the company has failed to reduce since
emerging from bankruptcy in 2003. Steel producers are merging to
reduce operating costs and increase bargaining power with buyers
at a time of rising demand and prices.
Jim Kosowski, a spokesman for Wheeling, West Virginia-based
Wheeling-Pittsburgh, did not immediately return a call seeking
comment.
Wheeling-Pittsburgh said Oct. 25 it signed a final deal to
hold 50.5 percent in a new company to be formed with Cia.
Siderurgica Nacional. Under the agreement, CSN would invest $225
million and add its steel processing facility in Terre Haute,
Indiana , to the new business.
Reverse Takeover
Esmark, a Chicago-based steel distributor, has proposed a
reverse takeover that would raise as much as $200 million by
selling shares of Wheeling-Pittsburgh to existing shareholders,
including Tontine Management LLC, a hedge fund run by Jeffrey
Gendell. Tontine owns 9.5 percent of the shares and has said it
favors a deal with Esmark.
Wheeling-Pittsburgh and Esmark have proposed rival slates
of directors that will be voted on by shareholders at the annual
meeting Nov. 17.
Esmark Chief Executive Officer Jim Bouchard said in an
interview that the letter shows how concerned the union is about
the proposed deal with CSN.
``The current board has taken the company in the direction
of a transaction it cannot consummate,'' Bouchard said.
Shares of Wheeling-Pittsburgh rose 3 cents to $18 at 4 p.m.
in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock has gained 98 percent
in the past year. Rio De Janeiro-based CSN fell 1.6 percent to
67.16 reais in Sao Paulo. CSN has gained about 55 percent in the
past year.
Esmark, which is privately held, wants to be bought by
Wheeling-Pitt for about $273 million and then merge the two
companies. It also has a loan agreement for $350 million from
banks led by J.P. Morgan Chase.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Christopher Donville in Vancouver at
pmckiernan@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steve Stroth at
sstroth@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-13 00:00:00 UTC | Sacyr Shares Post Record Gain as Roads Boost Earnings | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-13/sacyr-shares-post-record-gain-as-roads-boost-earnings-update3-.html
| Joao Lima | Shares of Sacyr Vallehermoso SA (SYV) ,
Spain 's fifth-biggest construction company, had their sharpest-ever gain after the company reported a 38 percent jump in third-quarter operating profit on increased orders for homes and roads.
The stock closed up 7.13 euros, or 15 percent, at 54 euros,
the highest since the company was formed in 2003. Shares of
Sacyr have almost tripled in price this year for a market value
of 15.4 billion euros ($20 billion).
Sacyr gained building work as home sales rose by almost a
third in the nine months through September and Spain introduced
a 249 billion-euro plan to upgrade roads and railways. The
company also expanded in France via a stake in builder Eiffage
SA (FGR) and invested in toll roads and waste management to tap
industries with steadier returns than construction.
``Earnings were quite good and domestic construction
remains strong,'' said Marta Olba, an analyst at Banesto Bolsa
in Madrid with an ``underweight'' rating on Sacyr shares.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization,
or operating profit, rose to 254.1 million euros in the period.
Revenue increased 31 percent to 1.11 billion euros.
``All business areas are having a very good year,'' Ana de
Pro, Sacyr's managing director for corporate development, said
on a conference call. ``The outlook for 2007 is good.''
Net Income Declines
Net income fell 8.6 percent to 102.2 million euros after
the company didn't repeat a year-earlier gain of 83.8 million
euros from selling wind-energy assets in Portugal .
Third-quarter figures were derived by subtracting first-half numbers from nine-month results published today on the
Web site of Spain's market regulator.
Banesto Bolsa's Olba said the stock price's rise ``is
because of a very low free float and the level of shares
borrowed is very high.''
Shares of Sacyr have advanced for nine straight trading
sessions, boosting the company's value by 35 percent.
Banesto Bolsa's Olba said gains have been aided by the
company's low free float, with 75 percent of the stock
controlled by board members, and by the settlement of ``short''
positions. People who sell short hope to profit by repurchasing
securities later at a lower price and returning them to the
holder, from whom they were borrowed.
A Sacyr spokesman said he didn't know of any further
reason for the stock's gain today and that the company isn't
in talks about being taken over.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Joao Lima in Madrid at
jlima1@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Chris Jasper at cjasper@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-11-13 00:00:00 UTC | Baltika Nine-Month Profit Gains 35%; Shares Advance | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-13/baltika-nine-month-profit-gains-35-shares-advance-update3-.html
| Maria Ermakova | OAO Baltika Breweries, Russia 's
largest beer company, said nine-month profit rose 35 percent
after acquisitions of three local competitors, sending the
shares to their biggest gain in eight months.
Net income climbed to 260.6 million euros ($335 million) as
revenue reached 1.34 billion euros, the St. Petersburg-based
company said today in an e-mailed statement that didn't give
year-earlier figures for revenue. Operating profit increased 46
percent to 354.4 million euros.
Baltika, which is jointly controlled by Carlsberg A/S and
Scottish & Newcastle Plc, in July completed takeovers of brewers
Pikra, Vena and Yarpivo, giving it respective 92 percent, 97.5
percent and 91.4 percent stakes. The company, which controls 36
percent of Russia's beer market, will own 10 plants in nine
regions of the country after the merger closes this year.
``The so-called cross-brewing allowed it to use the plants'
full capacity and widen its distribution network,'' Ivan
Nikolayev, an analyst at Renaissance Capital in Moscow with a
``buy'' recommendation on Baltika, said of the company.
The shares rose 45.60 rubles, or 4.3 percent, to 1,110.25
rubles on the Micex Stock Exchange at the close of trading in
Moscow, reaching the highest since April 21 and posting the
biggest one-day gain since March 16.
Excise Stamps
The company increased the amount of beer it sold by 8.8
percent to 28.2 million hectoliters (23.6 million barrels) in
2006's first nine months, in line with the market's 9 percent
expansion. One hectoliter equals 100 liters.
Third-quarter sales surged as excise stamps were introduced
for imported spirits and wine in Russia, slowing sales of those
products, Baltika said. The disruption allowed the company to
raise sales 15 percent in the period, while total beer sales in
Russia climbed 14 percent.
Baltika also said it has raised its share of Russia's
licensed beer segment by 2.2 percent to 22 percent. Sales of
beer more than doubled under each of the Tuborg, Foster's and
Kronenbourg 1664 brands. Baltika's share of the Russian market
for premium beers rose to 44 percent.
The company raised the amount of beer it exported by 12
percent to 1.3 million hectoliters in the year's first nine
months. Sales in Ukraine gained 17 percent, lifted by the
beginning of licensed production of Baltika beer by Ukrainian
company Slavutich at the beginning of the year.
Planned Expansion
``To keep their market share, they need to rise faster than
the market,'' Nikolayev said. ``They are building new facilities
and widening geographical coverage, and that is positive.''
Baltika has said it plans to spend $125 million to triple
capacity at its Samara plant in central Russia to add 4.5
million hectoliters to overall annual capacity of 40 million.
This year it has doubled capacity at a plant in Chelyabinsk in
the Urals to 4.5 million hectoliters, spokesman Alexei Kedrin
said today in a telephone interview from St. Petersburg.
The company is considering constructing a brewery in
Novosibirsk and will make a decision within two months, Kedrin
said, citing Baltika President Anton Artemiev. The plant, to be
completed by spring 2008, will have annual capacity of at least
2 million hectoliters and will cost at least 70 million euros.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Hannah Gardner in Moscow at
hgardner3@bloomberg.net ;
Maria Ermakova in Moscow at
mermakova@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Keith Campbell at
k.campbell@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-11-13 00:00:00 UTC | EU Outlines Expansion of Emissions Trading After 2012 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-13/eu-outlines-expansion-of-emissions-trading-after-2012-update1-.html
| Jonathan Stearns | The European Union outlined ways to
widen its system for trading air-pollution credits, seeking to
break the international deadlock over climate change.
The EU said it may cap power plant and factory pollutants in
addition to carbon dioxide and create links to countries such as
the U.S. starting in 2013. New gases to be covered might include
methane from coal mines and nitrous oxide from ammonia
production.
``Climate change is the gravest challenge facing mankind and
emissions trading is the most effective policy instrument for
tackling it,'' EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said in
a statement today in Brussels. ``The better its design, the
easier it will be for other countries to adopt similar
policies.''
The 25-nation EU wants global limits on emissions of gases
such as carbon dioxide blamed for higher world temperatures,
rising sea levels and more frequent heat waves, floods and
storms. Poor nations say rich ones should lead the way with
emissions cuts, while the U.S. says the refusal of developing
countries to take part makes its participation too costly for
American companies.
EU Quotas
The EU last year introduced carbon-dioxide quotas on 11,400
power plants and factories. Under the system covering companies
such as German utility RWE AG (RWE) and British steelmaker Corus Group
Plc, businesses that exceed their limits must buy permits from
companies that emit less or pay a penalty.
The system is part of an EU pledge under the global Kyoto
Protocol to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions 8 percent in 2008-
2012. Existing caps cover an initial period from 2005 through
2007 and new allowance grants will be for 2008-2012.
The EU says pollution-permit trade may facilitate a global
accord to cut greenhouse gases after Kyoto expires in 2012. The
141-nation treaty doesn't impose reduction targets on developing
countries where emissions are growing and is opposed by the U.S.,
the world's biggest polluter.
EU cuts would have little impact without reductions
elsewhere because the bloc's share of global emissions will fall
to less than 10 percent in the coming decades, according to the
European Commission.
Carbon Trading
``The EU is committed to a global carbon market,'' the
commission, the EU's regulatory arm, said in a strategy paper.
``The EU emissions-trading scheme is already a key driver of
international carbon trading and provides a solid foundation for
a global carbon market.''
The commission is talking about emissions trading with
countries including China , Russia , Brazil and Norway and earlier
this year endorsed the idea of linking the system to California
after an accord between U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In today's paper, which goes to EU lawmakers and a working
group for more analysis, the commission also mentions possible
connections to northeastern U.S. states and Australian states
that are planning emissions-trading systems.
The commission said it is ``committed'' to continued EU
recognition after 2012 of emissions credits allowed under Kyoto
for energy-efficient projects in developing and other countries.
It said ``regulatory certainty is important for companies.''
Slumping Prices
The strategy paper comes as the commission tries to restore
investor confidence after a price slump this year when it emerged
companies had a surplus of permits from national governments in
2005. The surplus prompted the price of EU permits for 2006 to
halve to about 15 euros ($19) a metric ton in mid-May from an
April high.
The drop in the price, which is now about 8 euros a ton for
2006, raised questions about how strict the commission will be in
limiting allowance grants in 2008-2012. The price of permits for
delivery in 2008 is about 16 euros a ton.
The commission's paper also calls for an alignment across
the EU of the types of installations covered and more ``robust''
compliance with the rules and enforcement of them. The paper says
it may be necessary to establish an EU accreditation process for
organizations that verify emissions reports by companies.
In addition, the strategy paper mentions the possibility of
setting a single EU-wide cap after 2012 rather than separate
national caps.
The review excludes plans to add airlines to the system
because the commission is drafting separate legislation on this
matter. The EU could impose emissions caps on airlines from
``about 2010'' after legislation is proposed in December, Dimas
said last week.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jonathan Stearns in Brussels at
jstearns2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Edward Buckle at ebuckle@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-13 00:00:00 UTC | Malone's Starz Unit to Form New Film Studio Overture | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-13/malone-s-starz-unit-to-form-new-film-studio-overture-update3-.html
| Cecile Daurat | Billionaire John Malone plans to
start his own motion-picture studio through the Starz cable-
television unit, budgeting as much as $360 million a year for his
first foray into movie-making.
Overture Films will distribute eight to 12 live-action films
a year, with budgets of $10 million to $30 million, Chief
Executive Officer Chris McGurk said in an interview. Overture may
release the first between March and May.
Malone chose to create his own studio after his bid to buy
Universal Pictures fell through in 2003. He's venturing into the
business as larger rivals such as Walt Disney Co. trim payrolls
and distribute fewer films to save money. The new studio is a
departure from Starz's traditional TV business.
``It's a good way for them to diversify their pipeline,''
said Andrew Baker, a Cathay Financial analyst in New York, who
rates Liberty Capital shares ``neutral.'' The purchase also may
help Starz cut costs to buy films as it competes with CBS Corp.'s
Showtime and Time Warner Inc.'s HBO , he said.
Shares in Liberty Capital fell 4 cents to $89.56 as of 4
p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading.
They've gained 28 percent since the tracking stock started
trading in May.
Disney, based in Burbank , California , said in July it would
cut 20 percent of its film unit's workforce and put out 10 Disney
features and two to three Touchstone ones a year, down from as
many as 16 under the two brands a year earlier. That leaves room
for smaller studios such as Overture to gain a share of the
market, McGurk said.
Room for Overture
``There's an opportunity for a new distributor to set up
shop,'' McGurk said in a telephone interview. The executive, a
former chief operating officer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.,
joined Starz as a senior adviser in August when the company
acquired animated-film company IDT Entertainment Inc. He pitched
the idea for Overture to Starz executives and Malone.
Malone made a fortune building up Tele-Communications Inc.
into the second-largest U.S. cable-TV operator before selling it
in 1999. In May, he separated his Liberty Media businesses into
two tracking stocks.
Overture's new chief operating officer, Danny Rosett, also
worked for MGM. Overture will produce a mix of movies similar to
the MGM ones McGurk and Rosett helped put out, such as ``Hotel
Rwanda,'' ``Capote,'' ``Barbershop'' and ``Legally Blonde,''
Rosett said.
Overture is at least the third attempt to create or revamp a
movie studio in the past year, along with the Weinstein brothers'
film company and Tom Cruise's plan to revive United Artists.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Cecile Daurat in New York at
cdaurat@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Emma Moody at
emoody@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-11-14 00:00:00 UTC | CSN Boosts Wheeling-Pittsburg Bid to Rival Esmark | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-14/csn-boosts-wheeling-pittsburg-bid-to-rival-esmark-update5-.html
| Choy Leng Yeong | Cia. Siderurgica Nacional, Brazil 's
third-biggest steelmaker, sweetened its merger proposal for
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp. to counter an opposing hostile bid
from Esmark Inc. and objections from some investors.
CSN said it will pay $50 million to the combined company,
reduce its convertible debt and increase a payout on depositary
shares to $32 from $30. Investors can back the deal by re-electing Wheeling-Pittsburgh directors at the annual meeting
Nov. 17, Rio De Janeiro-based CSN said today in a statement.
CSN Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Steinbruch has sought
to buy mills in the U.S. and Europe to produce finished steel
products that are more profitable because they avoid import
tariffs. Wheeling-Pittsburgh, which has a market value of $283
million, said today its board endorsed the new CSN bid.
``We have addressed each aspect of offer, and have improved
each component significantly,'' Marcos Lutz, CSN managing
director for infrastructure and energy, said in the statement.
``Wheeling-Pittsburg shareholders will have more hard value,
more options, more control and a stronger combined company.''
Shares of Wheeling, West Virginia-based Wheeling-Pittsburgh, which has rejected an unsolicited proposal by steel
distributor Esmark, rose 74 cents, or 4.1 percent, to $18.98 in
Nasdaq trading. The stock has more than doubled in the past
year. CSN rose 1.5 reais, or 2.2 percent, to 68.9 reais in Sao
Paulo.
Esmark Bid
Esmark Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James P.
Bouchard said his Chicago-based company has no plans to counter
with a higher offer.
``Obviously with our $20-per-share offer, we're not going
to increase it,'' Bouchard said in an interview. He estimated
the value of CSN's bid at $17.50 today, up from its previous
offer of $16.
``We still have a superior offer on the table,'' Bouchard
said. ``We talked to shareholders today. The shareholders view
this offer as less than our offer, so the votes are still
staying with us.''
Esmark has the support of the Wheeling-Pittsburgh union,
which owns about 14.7 percent of the company, Bouchard said.
Hedge-fund manager Jeffrey Gendell, who owns about 9.5
percent of Wheeling-Pittsburgh, has said he favors an Esmark
deal. A union representing workers at Wheeling-Pittsburgh filed
a grievance last week to block the CSN transaction.
Boost Capacity
Merging North American operations with Wheeling-Pittsburgh,
which emerged from bankruptcy in 2003, would increase CSN's
output capacity for rolled products in the U.S. fourfold from
about 1 million tons at a Terre Haute, Indiana-based mill.
``The proposed combination of Wheeling-Pittsburgh with
CSN's North American assets creates a strong company that is
uniquely positioned to be successful in the U.S.,'' Wheeling-Pittsburgh Chief Executive Officer James G. Bradley said today
in a statement. ``I believe, as does our Board of Directors,
that CSN is the right partner for our shareholders, our company,
our employees and our steel communities.''
Gendell declined to comment. Lutz of CSN didn't immediately
return calls.
CSN in August agreed to buy 49.5 percent of Wheeling-Pittsburgh and invest $225 million of cash in a new company.
Under the original proposal, CSN would have the option to
convert the investment into 11.8 million shares in three years,
boosting its stake to about 65 percent.
Wheeling-Pittsburgh earlier this month reported a third-quarter profit of $17 million on higher steel prices after a
year-earlier loss. The company forecast a loss in the fourth
quarter because of higher imports and slumping demand.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Carlos Caminada in Sao Paulo at
ccaminada1@bloomberg.net ;
Choy Leng Yeong in Seattle at
clyeong@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Laura Zelenko at
lzelenko@bloomberg.net ;
Steve Stroth at
sstroth@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-14 00:00:00 UTC | Temasek Acted in Accordance to Thai Laws on Shin | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-14/temasek-acted-in-accordance-to-thai-laws-on-shin-update1-.html
| Chan Sue Ling | Singapore said the purchase of
Thailand's Shin Corp. by investors led by Temasek Holdings Pte
was in accordance with the laws of the kingdom.
``Temasek undertook appropriate due diligence to ensure that
it was in compliance with Thai laws and regulations,'' and ``it
was not a reckless investment,'' Tharman Shanmugaratnam,
Singapore's second minister for finance, said in parliament today.
The purchase ``was a clean transaction.''
Probes into the sale of Shin to a group led by Temasek, a
Singapore state-owned investment company, earlier this year have
scared off investors, who are concerned long-practiced ownership
structures using Thai nominees will be declared illegitimate by
the country's government, which was appointed after a coup in
September.
Thailand will amend foreign investment and nominee laws in
about 60 days and stop ``turning a blind eye'' to deals that may
contravene rules, the country's Commerce Minister Krirk-krai
Jirapaet said Nov. 10.
Temasek and Thai nominee companies bought 96 percent of Shin,
owner of Thailand's biggest mobile-phone company, from investors,
including the family of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The deal exacerbated protests and a political stalemate in
Thailand that led to Thaksin's ouster in a coup in September.
Shanmugaratnam said the government isn't in favor of
intervening in any way or setting guidelines when it comes to
state-owned companies such as Temasek and Government of Singapore
Investment Corp. investing abroad.
``Temasek made its own commercial decision,'' Shanmugaratnam
said. ``What matters to the government is that Temasek should
have a good governance framework, rigorous decision making
processes and regular performance evaluation. I can assure the
house that these are in place.''
To contact the reporter on this story:
Chan Sue Ling at slchan@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tony Jordan at tjordan3@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-15 00:00:00 UTC | N.Z. Oil & Gas Gets NZ$135 Million Loan, Sells Shares | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-15/n-z-oil-gas-gets-nz-135-million-loan-sells-shares-update2-.html
| Gavin Evans | New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd. (NZO) , a partner
in the country's Kupe gas field, has arranged a NZ$135 million
($89 million) loan to fund its share of the offshore project.
The loan from Westpac Banking Corp. includes a NZ$10 million
credit line to support contractor guarantees, the company said.
It also raised NZ$17.5 million selling shares and options to
local institutions and will seek NZ$23 million from shareholders
through a rights offer, New Zealand Oil & Gas said in a statement.
Kupe, the nation's largest undeveloped gas field, is the
largest of three projects worth NZ$1.5 billion New Zealand Oil &
Gas has stakes in and needs to fund. The NZ$980 million Kupe
project will receive a further NZ$25 million equity injection
from New Zealand Oil & Gas, the company said today.
``These financings will fully fund the company's budgeted
share of the Kupe development costs,'' Chairman Tony Radford said
in a statement.''
New Zealand Oil & Gas shares fell 3 cents, or 2.9 percent,
to NZ$1 at the 5 p.m. close of trading in Wellington.
Institutions paid NZ$1 for the new shares and options.
Existing shareholders will be offered the chance to buy one share
with options for every 10 held at the same price, the Wellington-
based company said.
N.Z. Oil & Gas owns 15 percent of Kupe. It owns 12.5 percent
of the $225 million Tui oil project being developed off the
country's Taranaki coast, and 61 percent of the NZ$144 million
Pike River coal mine on the country's South Island .
Shares in Pike River will be offered publicly in February
and N.Z. Oil & Gas holders will be entitled to a ``substantial
portion'' of the sale at a rate of one Pike share for every eight
oil and gas shares held, the company said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Gavin Evans in Wellington at
gavinevans@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reinie Booysen at rbooysen@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-16 00:00:00 UTC | Nationwide Profit Jumps 33% Amid `Fierce' Competition | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-16/nationwide-profit-jumps-33-amid-fierce-competition-update1-.html
| Ben Livesey | Nationwide Building Society , the
U.K.'s biggest customer-owned lender, said first-half profit jumped
33 percent as it regained market share amid ``fierce'' competition
for mortgages.
Net income advanced to 233.4 million pounds ($440.87 million)
in the six months to September 30, from 175.3 million pounds in the
year-earlier period, the Swindon, South East England-based lender
said today in a statement. Nationwide's net share of the British
mortgage market rose to 10.5 percent from 8.3 percent.
Nationwide will become Britain's second-biggest mortgage bank
after it completes the $934 million takeover of Portman Building
Society. Last year, Nationwide deliberately ``stepped back'' from
mortgages amid concerns that U.K. borrowers were taking on too much
debt, Finance Director Graham Beale said in an interview.
``We got the call wrong so we wanted to get back our market
share,'' said Beale, who becomes chief executive officer in April.
``We feel very comfortable with the state of the market.''
Nationwide had 13.7 percent of U.K. mortgages at the end of
the first half of 2004. Portman's members still must approve the
takeover, which would help Nationwide leapfrog Santander Central
Hispano SA's Abbey National and Lloyds TSB Group Plc in the U.K.'s
market for home loans, trailing only HBOS Plc.
Net mortgage lending jumped 50 percent to 5.9 billion pounds
in the first half as the U.K housing market strengthened and the
company priced its loans more competitively, he said.
Personal Loans
Nationwide is maintaining a ``low risk'' profile for its new
lending amid ``fierce'' competition for mortgages, the bank said.
U.K. mortgage lenders are trying to grow market share and
improve cost controls amid increasing competition and rising
interest rates that threaten to damp U.K. home loan demand.
Personal loans fell 14 percent to 600 million pounds
reflecting a ``cautious approach'' as bad debts rose, Nationwide
said. Impairment losses on loans that may not be repaid increased
63 percent to 56.3 million pounds. The number of Nationwide credit
cards in issue rose 20 percent to 1.1 million, the bank said.
Beale, who succeeds Philip Williamson as CEO in April, said
the company is ``totally committed'' to maintaining its customer-owned status after the purchase of Portman.
Buying Portman will add wealth-management services to
Nationwide's consumer banking business, which offers mortgages,
checking and savings accounts as well as credit cards. The new
company will have more than 150 billion pounds of assets and 13
million customers, Nationwide said Sept. 12.
Acquisitions give Nationwide the scale to compete with rivals
such as Alliance & Leicester Plc and HBOS, Beale said. ``It is
going to be a good second half,'' he added.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ben Livesey in London
blivesey@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Frank Connelly fconnelly@bloomberg.net ;
Katherine Snyder ksnyder@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-16 00:00:00 UTC | Wheeling-Pittsburgh Says Esmark Deal to Cause Default | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-16/wheeling-pittsburgh-says-esmark-deal-to-cause-default-update1-.html
| Dale Crofts | Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp., a U.S.
steelmaker fighting an unsolicited merger proposal from Esmark
Inc., said a vote by investors to replace the board would force
the company to default on $475 million of loans.
Esmark, a Chicago-based steel distributor, is proposing a
slate of directors to replace the board at a Wheeling-Pittsburgh
shareholder meeting Nov. 17 in Wheeling, West Virginia. If
Esmark's candidates are elected, they are likely to scuttle
Wheeling-Pittsburgh's proposed merger with Brazil 's Cia.
Siderurgica Nacional SA.
The $475 million of loans would become due ``immediately''
because of ``change of control'' clauses in agreements with
lenders, Wheeling-Pittsburgh said today in a statement.
Esmark, in a separate statement, said it anticipates no
problems in extending the loans.
``In the unlikely event that these credit facilities were no
longer available to Wheeling-Pitt, we believe that replacement
financing would be readily available,'' Esmark Chief Executive
Officer James P. Bouchard said in the statement today.
Esmark wants to be bought by Wheeling-Pittsburgh for about
$273 million and then merge the two companies. It also has a loan
agreement for $350 million from banks led by J.P. Morgan Chase.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Dale Crofts in Chicago at
dcrofts@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steve Stroth at
sstroth@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-17 00:00:00 UTC | Bank of Communications May Sell $7 Bln Shares, Bonds | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-17/bank-of-communications-may-sell-7-bln-shares-bonds-update4-.html
| Luo Jun | Bank of Communications Ltd., China's
fifth-largest, plans to raise as much as $7.4 billion by selling
shares and bonds to domestic investors as it seeks funds to
extend more loans and credit cards.
The Shanghai-based bank will seek approval to sell as many
as 4.5 billion yuan-denominated shares and 25 billion yuan
($3.18 billion) of subordinated bonds, it said in a statement to
the Hong Kong stock exchange today. Based on yesterday's closing
price in Hong Kong, its stock offering could raise $4.2 billion.
Bank of Communications, 19.9 percent owned by HSBC
Holdings Plc (HSBA) , follows bigger rivals Industrial & Commercial Bank
of China and Bank of China Ltd. in tapping domestic investors
after Shanghai's benchmark index surged 68 percent this year.
The bank needs to replenish capital that's failed to keep pace
with loan growth in the world's fastest-growing major economy.
``Chinese banking stocks are all the rage right now as
investors bet on potential benefit from the robust economic
growth,'' said Zhang Ling, who helps manage the equivalent of
$2.4 billion at ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management Co. in
Beijing. ``Bank of Communications is expanding faster than the
bigger rivals and therefore demand for capital is more urgent.''
Shares of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the
nation's biggest, have gained 22 percent on the mainland since
their Oct. 27 debut after an initial public offering. Bank of
China, which also had an IPO this year, has risen 19 percent on
the domestic market since July 5.
Chinese banking stocks dropped today. Shares of Bank of
Communications fell 2.9 percent in Hong Kong to HK$7.13 at 11:56
a.m.
Capital Adequacy
Proceeds from the share and bond sales will be used to
shore up Bank of Communications' capital. The lender's capital-
adequacy ratio, an indicator of its financial health, fell to
11.09 percent as of Sept. 30 from 11.52 percent at the end of
2005.
Although above the minimum required, the ratio still lags
behind those of Hong Kong banks, which are generally above 16
percent, said Victor Tsang, who helps oversee $50 million of
assets at Quam Asset Management in Hong Kong.
Increasing lending reduces the proportion of capital to
risk-weighted credit, forcing banks to raise more funds to
sustain growth. Bank of Communications had 911.2 billion yuan of
outstanding loans as of Sept. 30, an 18 percent increase from
the end of 2005. China's banking regulator requires a minimum
capital adequacy ratio of 8 percent to protect depositors and
absorb losses in case of bankruptcy.
Growth Opportunities
``There's still ample opportunity for growth'' in China,
Tsang said. Also bank stocks are currently trading at high
valuations, he said, making this a good time to raise money
through the markets.
Chinese companies have sold $14.7 billion of A shares since
a sales ban was lifted in May, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg. The one-year restriction had been imposed to allow
time for the conversion of mostly state-held non-tradable stock
to common equity.
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China last month raised
$5.1 billion on the mainland as part of a $19.1 billion
simultaneous offering that included a Hong Kong sale. Bank of
China sold $2.5 billion of shares in China in June after an
$11.2 billion Hong Kong IPO earlier in the same month.
Mutual Funds, Credit Cards
Bank of Communications' third-quarter profit rose 42
percent to 2.99 billion yuan as economic growth spurred demand
for consumer loans and asset-management services. New yuan
lending by China's banks rose 40 percent in the first nine
months from a year earlier, even as the government tried to cool
the fastest economic expansion in a decade.
Its profit growth may average 33 percent between 2005 and
2008 as loans increase by 19 percent annually, according to
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst Ning Ma. Bank of Communications
focuses on offering loans, mutual funds and credit cards to the
wealthiest Chinese, those with savings of more than $50,000.
The bank will hold a shareholders meeting on Jan. 9 to vote
on the share offering, which is subject to approval by the China
Securities Regulatory Commission, the China Banking Regulatory
Commission and other relevant regulatory authorities, the
announcement said.
Shares of Bank of Communications, which raised HK$16.84
billion ($2.17 billion) in a Hong Kong initial public offering
last year, have doubled in price since the sale.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Matthew R. Miller in Hong Kong at
mmiller31@bloomberg.net
Luo Jun in Shanghai at
jluo6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Ben Richardson in Hong Kong at
brichardson8@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-20 00:00:00 UTC | Ameristar Casino Shares Rise on Buyout Speculation | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-20/ameristar-casino-shares-rise-on-buyout-speculation-update2-.html
| [bn:PRSN=15017728] Oliver Staley [] | Shares of Ameristar Casinos Inc. (ASCA) , an
owner of seven casinos, rose 11 percent after the death of
largest shareholder and Chairman Craig Neilsen led to
speculation the company may be acquired, analysts said.
The stock of the Las Vegas-based company rose $2.86 to
$28.54 at 4 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading and
has climbed 26 percent this year.
Ameristar operates casinos in Colorado , Iowa , Missouri ,
Mississippi and Nevada. Neilsen owned 55 percent of the company
and his shares will be transferred to his charitable foundation,
which could choose to liquidate them, said Eric Green , director
of research at Penn Capital Management that owns shares in the
company.
``We're in favor of the company selling itself and we think
it should be at a much higher price than it's selling now,''
said Green, who is based in Cherry Hills, New Jersey . ``You have
the hottest casino market ever and casinos are getting bid up
ridiculous amounts.''
In a statement, Ameristar said it was Neilsen's wish for
the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, which is devoted to spinal-cord
injury research and treatment, ``to retain a controlling
interest in Ameristar for the long term.'' Neilsen was a
quadriplegic since suffering a spinal injury in a car accident
in 1985, spokeswoman Kathy Callahan said.
Neilsen, 65, died in his sleep early yesterday. He is
survived by his son Ray and stepdaughters Jaime and Amanda, the
Las Vegas-based company said today in a statement.
Ameristar's board met yesterday and named John Boushy, 52,
the company's president, as CEO. Gordon Kanofsky, Ameristar's
executive vice president, and Ray Neilsen, Neilsen's son, were
named co-chairmen of the company.
Drawing Interest
In the past year, casino companies have drawn interest from
other casino operators looking to grow and from private-equity
firms. Ameristar was one of four bidders for Aztar Corp., which
was won by privately held Columbia Sussex Corp. in May for about
$2 billion. Harrah's Entertainment Inc., the world's largest
casino company, is the object of a $15.5 billion buyout offer
from private-equity firms Texas Pacific Group and Apollo
Management LP.
``There are plenty of interested strategic buyers for
Ameristar in our view,'' Mario Kontomerkos, an analyst at JP
Morgan Securities Inc., wrote today in a note to investors.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Oliver Staley in New York at
ostaley@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Nol at mnol@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-11-20 00:00:00 UTC | Peru August Gold Output Declines on Yanacocha Drop | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-20/peru-august-gold-output-declines-on-yanacocha-drop-update2-.html
| [bn:PRSN=6685378] Alex Emery [] | Peru 's gold production had its
biggest drop in 19 months in August as output plunged by one-
fifth at the country's largest gold mine.
Gold production fell 6.1 percent from a year earlier to
16,222 kilograms, its lowest since June 2005, after output fell
20.2 percent at Denver-based Newmont Gold Corp. (NEM) 's Yanacocha
mine, the Energy and Mines Ministry said in an e-mail statement.
Copper output fell 1.8 percent to 85,035 tons on a 10 percent
decline at Minera Antamina.
Peru, the world's fourth-largest copper producer and fifth
largest in gold, is counting on $10 billion in mining exports to
drive a 6.6 percent economic expansion in 2006. The Andean
country has benefited from copper prices that have jumped one-
half over the past 12 months, while gold has risen 28 percent.
``Peru is barely tapping 10 percent of its mining
potential,'' Cabinet chief Jorge del Castillo told reporters
today after meeting with BHP Billiton Plc (BHP) Vice President Peter Worthington at the presidential palace in Lima . ``There are
still many investment projects pending.''
Melbourne-based BHP Billiton holds a 33 percent stake in
Antamina, the world's largest copper-zinc mine.
Production at Yanacocha, the world's second-largest gold
mine, will drop 30 percent to around 2.5 million ounces this
year from 3.3 million ounces in 2005 as reserves deplete at the
mine, according to Newmont.
Newmont's shares fell for a third day, dropping 15 cents,
or 0.3 percent, to $44.05 at 1:57 p.m., a four-week low. Shares
have fallen 18 percent this year.
Zinc, Silver Gain
Peru, the world's largest producer of silver and tin and
third in zinc , boosted zinc output by 6.7 percent to 110,307
tons, while silver rose 1.1 percent to 281,680 kilograms and
lead fell 6.5 percent to 26,506 tons, according to the ministry.
Iron output fell 3 percent, tin fell 29 percent and molybdenum
production fell 16 percent.
Copper futures for March delivery fell 0.80 cent, or 0.3
percent, to $3.0785 a pound at on the Comex division of the New
York Mercantile Exchange . Gold futures for December delivery
fell 40 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $622.10 an ounce.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Emery in Lima at
aemery1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Laura Zelenko at
lzelenko@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-20 00:00:00 UTC | Real Madrid Agrees to Sell TV Rights for $1.4 Billion | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-20/real-madrid-agrees-to-sell-tv-rights-for-1-4-billion-update3-.html
| Alex Duff | Real Madrid, soccer's richest club by
sales, agreed to sell television rights to its games through 2013
to production company Grupo Mediapro for 1.1 billion euros ($1.4
billion), in what it called a record deal for a sports team.
``This agreement is a new landmark in the history of this
club,'' Real Madrid said in a statement on its Web site, adding
it had accepted the biggest offer with ``the most solid''
guarantees. It's more than double what Madrid currently gets.
Real Madrid, whose squad includes David Beckham and
Ronaldo, is further increasing its income after last year ending
Manchester United's eight-year stint as soccer's richest club.
Sogecable SA, Spain's biggest pay-TV company which dominates
coverage of soccer in the country through its Canal+ stations,
will have to pay Mediapro more to transmit games, said Fabian Lares, a Madrid-based analyst at Espirito Santo.
Sogecable had a contract with Madrid until 2008, though the
Mediapro deal takes effect this season, the club said without
going into detail. Sogecable is also paying more to air European
champion Barcelona's matches after Mediapro in June bought the
rights for about 1 billion euros for seven years.
Sogecable shares rose 2.2 percent to close at 26.15 euros
in Madrid , though are down 23 percent this year. Sogecable said
it had no immediate comment on the new contract.
The shares gained today because of a perception that
Mediapro and Sogecable are working in conjunction, Lares said.
In June, Sogecable had said it was consulting its lawyers after
Barcelona announced its accord with Mediapro.
``The war is over,'' Lares said in a phone interview.
Income Streams
Mediapro also bought the rights of Sevilla, the UEFA Cup
champion, on Nov. 16. Joan Bonareu, a spokesman for Barcelona-based Mediapro, which is closely held, wasn't immediately
available for comment today.
Television rights are one of the most important income
streams for top soccer clubs, and Madrid's TV revenue is now
challenging that of other leading European teams including
Italy 's Juventus and AC Milan.
Traditionally, the value of Spanish TV rights has been
diluted because national legislation requires one league game
per week on free-to-air TV. Real Madrid got 64.6 million euros
from TV rights in the year through June 30 2005, 39 percent less
than Juventus.
The method of TV rights sales varies between countries.
Unlike in the Spanish system, England 's Premiership TV rights
are marketed by the league in multiteam packages of games rather
than sold by individual clubs.
Trophy Drought
Manchester United had broadcast income of 72 million euros
in 2004-05, according to accountant Deloitte & Touche LLP, with
Chelsea on 82 million and Liverpool on 76 million. Leading the
field was AC Milan with 138 million as it reached the Champions
League final against Liverpool.
Real Madrid didn't disclose what other offers it had for
the new contract. The club's revenue in the year to June 30 2005
increased 17 percent to 275.7 million euros. It will disclose
its earnings for the last financial year Dec. 3.
Madrid is boosting income even after failing to win a
trophy the last three seasons, its worst stint in 53 years. It's
third in the Spanish league after 11 of 38 games, three points
behind leader Barcelona. Sevilla is second.
Mediapro shareholders include WPP Group Plc, the world's
second-biggest advertising group, which has a 20 percent stake.
Mediapro has a stake in La Sexta, Spain 's newest channel which
shows one Spanish league game per week.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Duff in Madrid at
at aduff4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Ludden in London at
jludden@bloomberg.net | |||||||
2006-11-21 00:00:00 UTC | Russian Stocks Rise, Led by Gazprom, Lukoil on Oil; X5 Surges | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-21/russian-stocks-rise-led-by-gazprom-lukoil-on-oil-x5-surges.html
| [bn:PRSN=3629307] Maria Ermakova [] | Russian stocks advanced for the
first time in three days. OAO Gazprom and OAO Lukoil, the
country's biggest natural-gas and oil companies, gained with the
price of crude in New York.
OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, the world's biggest nickel miner,
and X5 Retail Group NV (FIVE) , Russia's biggest supermarket company,
also increased.
The dollar-denominated RTS Index climbed 1.3 percent to
1699.31 at the close of trading in Moscow, the biggest one-day
gain in almost two weeks. The ruble-based Micex Index advanced
1.3 percent to 1509.87.
Gazprom, Russia's natural-gas export monopoly, added 2.5
percent to $10.97. Lukoil, the country's biggest oil producer,
climbed 2.5 percent to $84.65.
Crude oil rose after the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
limited the amount of oil it will carry and a North Sea platform
was shut because of a gas leak. Crude oil for January delivery
advanced 1.1 percent to $59.44 a barrel on the New York
Mercantile Exchange.
``The Russian market has lately been driven almost entirely
by the oil price, and today is no different,'' said John Heisel,
a trader at Moscow-based Sovlink Securities. ``We see crude up
slightly on speculation supply will tighten, and speculative
money is piling into liquid oil names, pushing our market up.''
Norilsk Nickel Gains
Shares of Norilsk Nickel, Russia 's biggest mining company,
gained 2.2 percent to $142.50. Norilsk Nickel agreed to buy OM
Group Inc.'s nickel unit yesterday for $408 million in cash.
Norilsk's existing nickel plants are in Russia. The OMG
deal will give it manufacturing plants in Finland . They include
the Harjavalta refinery with an annual production capacity of
60,000 tons of nickel, and mining assets in Western Australia
that supply raw material to the Finnish plant.
X5 Retail Group jumped 6 percent to a record $25.65 in
London , the biggest one-day gain in a month. The company's sales
may more than double from expected 2.2 billion euros ($2.8
billion) this year to 4.7 billion euros in 2008 on expansion in
Russian regions, UBS AG wrote in a report released today.
The retailer said today that it finished buying OOO
Metronom AG, which operates the 16-store Merkado chain in Moscow
and owns the right to the Merkadonna brand name. The $200
million purchase will take the company's number of stores in
Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan to 1,126, the St.Petersburg-based
company said Oct. 13.
Shares of OAO Seventh Continent, a Russian supermarket
chain, fell 2.4 percent to 670.82 rubles on the Micex Stock
Exchange. The company said that profit rose 45 percent in the
first nine months to $45.9 million as the company opened more
stores and lured more customers. Sales advanced 36 percent to
$669.6 million, less than the $679 million median estimate in a
Bloomberg survey of four analysts.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael Heath in Moscow at
mheath1@bloomberg.net
Maria Ermakova in Moscow at
mermakova@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Balduin Hesse at
bhesse2@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-11-21 00:00:00 UTC | BP's Russian Unit Cuts Exports as Local Demand Rises | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-21/bp-s-russian-unit-cuts-exports-as-local-demand-rises-update2-.html
| [bn:PRSN=6963266] Torrey Clark [] | TNK-BP (TNBP) , BP Plc's Russian unit, is
cutting exports of crude oil and refined products such as gasoline
and fuel oil as export taxes and surging demand make domestic
sales more attractive.
TNK-BP plans to decrease crude exports this year to 47.5
million tons (954,000 barrels a day) from 49 million last year,
Jonathan Kollek, vice president for sales, trading and logistics,
told reporters in Moscow today. Exports of refined products will
fall 2 percent to 14.5 million tons this year.
Fuel oil demand has risen this year, including in the first
quarter, when a severe cold snap caused a surge from electricity
producers. President Vladimir Putin said customers such as OAO
Unified Energy System, the national power utility, should use more
fuel oil and less natural gas as state-run OAO Gazprom increases
European gas exports.
TNK-BP cut fuel-oil exports by as much as 140,000 tons a
month to feed demand from Russian power stations, Kollek said. He
didn't specify the period.
Exports of Russian crude fell in the first 10 months of the
year as export duties soared to record levels.
TNK-BP wants to export crude to China next year under
contract with China National Petroleum Co., Kollek said. The
company shipped 400,000 tons of Russian oil across Kazakhstan to
China through the Atasu-Alashankou pipeline earlier this year.
Because of ``technical problems,'' TNK-BP won't send more this
year, Kollek said, without elaborating.
Output Goals
Crude production will probably match last year after the
company sold a unit to China's Sinopec and state-controlled OAO
Rosneft in August, TNK-BP Chief Executive Officer Robert Dudley
said Oct. 3. The company pumped about 1.76 million barrels of oil
a day last year.
TNK-BP expects to refine about 34 million tons of crude this
year within Russia , as much as a fifth more than last year,
Executive Vice President Anthony Considine said today. The amount
includes TNK-BP's share in refining at OAO Slavneft, which it owns
equally with Gazprom's oil division.
The company's refinery in Lisichansk , Ukraine, may refine
260,000 tons of oil this month after finishing an upgrade that
started Oct. 1, the company said on its Web site.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Torrey Clark in Moscow at
tclark8@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-11-21 00:00:00 UTC | News Corp. Sells Some Sites Acquired in MySpace Deal | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-21/news-corp-sells-some-sites-acquired-in-myspace-deal-update1-.html
| [bn:PRSN=3224909] Cecile Daurat [] | News Corp. (NWSA) , the media company headed
by Rupert Murdoch , sold some Web sites it acquired last year as
part of its purchase of MySpace.com to Demand Media Inc.
The sale of units including Cases Ladder Inc. and Social
Labs LLC and 20 Web sites such as Grab.com and GameRival.com
closed on Nov. 17, News Corp. said today in an e-mailed
statement. Terms of the sale weren't disclosed.
``These assets weren't vital to our long-term plan,'' Ann
Burkart, a spokeswoman for Fox Interactive Media, News Corp.'s
Internet unit, said in the statement.
News Corp. bought MySpace's parent company Intermix Network
LLC in October 2005 for $580 million. Privately held Demand Media
owns Web sites and domain names.
Shares of New York-based News Corp. fell 14 cents to $20.96
at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading . They have
gained 35 percent this year.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Cecile Daurat in New York at
cdaurat@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Emma Moody at
emoody@bloomberg.net . | |||||||
2006-11-22 00:00:00 UTC | Exxon, Chevron Among Companies That May Join Pipeline | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2006-11-22/exxon-chevron-among-companies-that-may-join-pipeline-update1-.html
| Yuriy Humber | Russia will limit its stake in a $1
billion oil pipeline from Bulgaria to Greece to 51 percent,
leaving room for oil companies working in Kazakhstan to join the
project.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Chevron Corp. (CVX) of the U.S., as well as
Netherlands-based Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and BP Plc (BP/) 's Russian unit,
OAO TNK-BP, may negotiate for a stake in the pipeline, a Russian
energy official said.
The holders of the 49 percent stake currently allotted to
Greece and Bulgaria have yet to be decided, said Deputy Energy
Minister Andrei Dementiev, in a statement to Bloomberg News.
``If Greece and Bulgaria want to make sure that the pipeline
is full from their side of the deal, they may invite oil producers
operating in the Caspian Sea '' to join, Energy Ministry spokesman
Yevgeny Trufanov said. ``We see the greatest interest from Chevron
at the moment.''
Russia and Kazakhstan, which together sell more oil abroad
than the world's biggest exporter, Saudi Arabia, face delays in
getting products to Europe. Turkey's narrow Bosporus and
Dardanelle straits limit oil tankers, pushing Russian and Kazakh
companies to invest in pipelines.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sealed a deal with his Greek
and Bulgarian counterparts in Athens in September to build a 258-
kilometer pipe from the Bulgarian city of Burgas to the Greek port
of Alexandroupolis, bypassing the straits.
Putin Allotments
Putin has allotted the country's 51 percent share in the
project to three state-controlled companies in a joint venture.
Pipeline-owner OAO Transneft and oil producers OAO Rosneft and OAO
Gazprom Neft will hold Russia's stake through OOO Pipeline
Consortium Burgos-Alexandroupolis.
The Kazakh energy minister said he was sure companies
operating in the oil-rich former Soviet state will participate.
``We have officially informed Russia about this,'' Minister
Baktykozha Izmukhambetov said today in an interview in London.
While neither Greece nor Bulgaria are being pressured by
Russia, the lack of oil companies from the two countries able to
support the project is likely to mean Moscow's hint will be
heeded, said Chris Weafer , chief strategist with Alfa Bank .
Greece has put forward Hellenic Petroleum SA, the nation's
biggest oil refiner, to hold part of its stake. The rest could go
to major oil producers to discourage them from using competing
Azeri pipelines and for Russia to forge closer energy ties with
Kazakhstan.
``What we've seen in the past is that Russian companies, when
they have a controlling stake, tend to have a larger influence on
the project than their equity might allow,'' Weafer said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Yuriy Humber in Moscow at
yhumber@bloomberg.net .
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net . |
End of preview. Expand
in Dataset Viewer.
@misc{dong2024fnspid, title={FNSPID: A Comprehensive Financial News Dataset in Time Series}, author={Zihan Dong and Xinyu Fan and Zhiyuan Peng}, year={2024}, eprint={2402.06698}, archivePrefix={arXiv}, primaryClass={q-fin.ST} }
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