Breaking Football News reports that Wall Street stockbroker and Chinese billionaire Kenneth Huang is set to launch a £237 million bid to takeover Liverpool Football Club and Athletic Grounds Plc by offering to buy the club’s debt from the Royal Bank of Scotland.
German magazine Wirtshaftswoche reported over the weekend that France’s Total, Russia’s Rosneft and Avia we the possible buyers of BP’s Aral pretol station chain. Opec member Kuwait is rumored to be buying some of BP’s Middle East and Asian assets.
Power equipment maker Crompton Greaves has offered $400 million for the transformer division of US-based Emerson Electric.
French financial holding firm Eurazeo (EURA.PA) said on Saturday it is in exclusive talks to sell its B&B Hotels chain to U.S. private equity firm the Carlyle Group [CYL.UL].
Property group Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX: SGP) announced on Monday that it would pursue its takeover negotiations with Aevum Ltd (ASX: AVE) despite the latter’s rejection of a $266 million cash bid for the blanket acquisition of the retirement group’s shares at 38 percent premium of the stock’s closing price on Friday.
Technorati Tags: Aevum, Aral, Avia, BP, Carlyle Group, Crompton Greaves, Emerson Electric, Eurazeo, Liverpool Football Club, M&A, PulseCheck, Rosneft, rumors, Stockland Corporation, TOTAL SA
Analysts with smaller firms made a good showing on Alacra Pulse’s ranking of most-quoted analysts in the first half of the year. But, demonstrating their bench strength, it was the big sell-side firms that dominated the list of most-quoted sell-side research firms.
Despite having only the sixth most-quoted analyst, UBS topped the rankings by a comfortable margin over Citigroup, JP Morgan and Sanford C. Bernstein, which were closely grouped. Of these three, only Bernstein’s Craig Moffett featured on the most-quoted individual analyst list. Likewise, fifth place Credit Suisse had no top-ten individual analyst, though Gene Munster’s top ranking helped Piper Jaffray reach number six on the research firm list.
Rounding out the top ten were Deutsche Bank, RBC Capital Markets (with Mike Abramsky also featuring on the analyst list), Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital.
Despite being the only firm with two analysts on the most-quoted list(Maynard Um and Yair Reiner) , Oppenheimer & Co just missed the top ten, coming in at number 11, with half as many mentions as first-place UBS.
Of course, different firms have different attitudes towards publicizing their research, which helps explain why Goldman Sachs did not make the top ten.
The rest of the top 20: Stifel Nicolaus, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies & Co, Kaufman Bros, Panmure Gordon, Raymond James, BMO Capital Markets, Robert W. Baird and Macquarie.
One notable big firm did not make the top twenty: Bank of America Merrill Lynch came in at number 23. Oft-quoted banking analyst Dick Bove placed fourth on the individual list, but his Rochdale Securities only ranked number 38. Still, showing the power of personality, that was still higher than some bigger and better-know firms such as ING Financial Markets (41) and HSBC (59).
Technorati Tags: (bac), analysts, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, BMO Capital Markets, Credit-Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Equity Research, Goldman-Sachs, Jefferies & Co, Kaufman Bros, Macquarie, morgan-stanley, Oppenheimer & Co, Panmure Gordon, Piper-Jaffray, PulseCheck, Raymond James, RBC Capital Markets, Robert W. Baird, Sanford C. Bernstein, sell-side, Stifel Nicolaus
The oil & gas industry was one of the leading feeders of the deal rumor mill during the first half of the year, based on an Alacra Deal Pulse analysis of traditional and alternative news sources. There were 32 deal rumors during the period. How much of that was due to BP (BP)?
The fallout from the Gulf oil spill did spur a surge in rumors involving BP (BP). Prior to the disaster, there was only one deal rumor concerning BP since the start of the year, and that was an acquisition by the then-expansionary company. Since the spill there have been at least 9 deal rumors ranging from sales of assets in places such as Alaska and Colombia, to a full or partial takeover of the company by the likes of BHP Billiton (BHP) or Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA). Other rumors involved the government of Pakistan and BP’s Russian partner TNK.
One rumor that turned to fact was BP’s sale of $7 billion of oil fields in Canada, Texas and Egypt to Apache Corporation (APA). Interestingly, the only BP-related deal rumor in the first quarter was the company’s acquisition of $7 billion of deepwater assets from Devon Energy (DVN) in March.
Given BP’s need to pay multi-billion oil spill costs and its avowed commitment to get smaller, look for more BP deal rumors -and actual deals- in the second half of the year.
Below is Alacra Pulse’s breakdown of deal rumors during the first half of the year, by region and by sector. Click image to enlarge.
Likewise the aftershocks of the financial meltdown have resulted in continuing rumors and deals in the banking sector. Big global banks such as Citigroup (C) and Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) have been busy divesting assets, often at the demand of regulators, while other big banks like Banco Santander (SAN) are looking to get bigger by picking up some of those assets. Much of the activity has involved smaller regional banks changing hands. This process is far from over so more deals are guaranteed.
Coupled with the likelihood of big US banks looking to spin off some trading activities as a result of the financial reform act, and we’re likely to see some significant changes in the rankings of the world biggest banks in the next year or so.
Technorati Tags: (APC), (BHP), (DVN), Apache, Banco Santander, BHP Billiton, BP, BP plc, deal rumors, Devon Energy Corporation, m & a, mergers and acquisitions, oil-&-gas, PulseCheck, Royal Dutch Shell
Fitch Ratings suggests high-yield bonds of some food, beverage and restaurant companies may be worth a look as their risk of default is low. We are pleased to offer a complimentary download of Fitch’s full report, High Yield Food, Beverage, and Restaurants: Cross-Company Liquidity, Debt, and Covenant Analysis.
Selected highlights:
Fitch Ratings examines liquidity, debt structures and covenants for a subset of speculative grade food, beverage and restaurant companies. Fitch says liquidity is healthy, debt structures are fairly balanced between secured and unsecured obligations, and covenant restrictions provide adequate to good protection for bondholders.
Issuers reviewed and their IDRs include Tyson Foods, Inc. (Tyson; ‘BB’; Outlook Stable); Smithfield Foods, Inc. (Smithfield; ‘B-’; Outlook Stable); Dole Food Co. (Dole; ‘B’; Outlook Stable); Del Monte Foods Co. (Del Monte; ‘BB+’; Outlook Positive); ARAMARK Corporation (ARAMARK; ‘B’; Outlook Stable); Burger King Corporation (Burger King; ‘BB’; Outlook Stable); Constellation Brands, Inc. (Constellation; ‘BB’; Outlook Stable); and Dean Foods Co. (Dean; Not Rated). In aggregate, these firms have nearly $24 billion of debt.
Credit implications for these high yield food, beverage and restaurant companies are stable to positive. - Carla Norfleet Taylor, Director at Fitch.
Del Monte’s (DLM) ratings have a Positive Outlook, after being upgraded in May, while continued debt reduction concurrent with strong operating performance by Tyson (TSN) could result in positive rating actions.’
Liquidity and latest 12-month free cash flow for the firms in Fitch’s universe currently averages approximately $800 million and more than $290 million, respectively. Roughly 57% of the $24 billion in debt of these companies is secured while 43% is unsecured. Fitch views Dole’s (DOLE) covenants as being most restrictive but believes Smithfield (SFD provides the most protection in a leveraged buyout because of change of control put options in all of its bonds.
‘Default risk for even the lowest rated companies, such as Smithfield and Dole, is no longer an immediate concern due to recent refinancing activity and improved operating results,’ said Wesley E. Moultrie, Senior Director at Fitch.
High Yield Food, Beverage, and Restaurants: Cross-Company Liquidity, Debt, and Covenant Analysis has been made available free of charge to Research Recap users for 30 days by special arrangement with Fitch Ratings, an Alacra content partner. After 30 days, the report will revert to its regular AlacraStore price of $275.
For additional free research reports from the Alacra Store click here
Technorati Tags: (DF), (DOLE), (SFD), (STZ), (TSN), ARAMARK, Burger King, complimentary research, Constellation Brands, Dean Foods, Del Monte Foods, Dole Food Co, food-&-beverage, high-yield, restaurants, Smithfield Foods, speculative-grade-bonds, Tyson Foods
There is no question that the overall cost structure of that business has to come down.
Chief Pulse Comment by James McNerney, Chairman and CEO of Boeing (BA), saying the company’s defense business would have lower margins than expected this year because of pricing pressure in the United States.
Chief Speak highlights interesting comments from corporate leaders, based on a search of traditional and alternative media outlets using Alacra Pulse.
Technorati Tags: (BA), Boeing, chiefspeak, PulseCheck
The assumptions on which the new coalition UK government’s fiscal projections depend are optimistic, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. We are pleased to offer a complimentary download of the EIU’s comprehensive 54-page analysis of the investment outlook for the UK following the recent election.
Selected highlights:
The risk is that the recovery in private-sector demand upon which the coalition’s fiscal projections depends remains elusive. Investment will no doubt recover from its currently depressed level–the move to cut corporation tax should help in this regard–but the UK’s poor record on investment points to a weaker outturn than the predicted surge in capital spending. Meanwhile, the outlook for exports is far from rosy.
With the EU and US economies, which together account for two-thirds of UK exports, facing a period of sluggish below-trend growth, an export-led recovery could be difficult to engineer.
Moreover, despite domestic weakness, there is a risk that sterling could strengthen considerably against the euro if the euro zone suffers ongoing economic stagnation and a series of fiscal crises. Another factor is that the BoE may decide to raise interest rates by more than the government expects.
A rapid turnaround in private-sector capital spending is one of the key assumptions underpinning the new coalition’s growth forecasts for the period ahead, but achieving almost double-digit annual rates of expansion in new business investment in 2011-14 (as projected by the OBR) will be extremely challenging, given continued financial market strains and the uncertain demand outlook in many key export markets. Moreover, the UK has a poor record on capital spending. As a share of GDP, fixed investment in the UK has been below that of every other EU27 country (with the exception of Malta) in all but one of the past eight years, accounting for just 14.9% in 2009 (compared with 18% in Germany, 19% in Italy and 21% in France).
If there is a medium-term inflation threat for the economy it could lie in the possibility of persistently weak capital spending. Given the likelihood of some damage to productive capacity from the financial crisis and deep recession, this would reduce the potential output of the UK economy and raise the spectre of stagflation.
United Kingdom: World Investment Service has been made available free of charge to Research Recap users for 30 days by special arrangement with the Economist Intelligence Unit, an Alacra content partner. After 30 days, the report will revert to its regular Alacra Store price of $575. Also available is United States: World Investment Service (Premium).
For additional free research reports from the Alacra Store click here
Technorati Tags: complimentary research, Economist Intelligence Unit, UK-economy, United Kingdom, US-economy
A review by Moody’s Investors Service of nearly 60 U.S. non-financial companies that have emerged from default since the trough of the credit crisis shows that investors have recovered an average of about 51 cents on the dollar on defaulted debt, near the historical average of 55 cents.
Despite the high leverage and easy terms from lenders that characterized the credit bubble, recoveries have actually been better in this default cycle than the mid-40% range seen in the previous two downturns - David Keisman, senior vice president at Moody’s.
The main reason recoveries have been stronger than expected is that the first wave of companies to emerge from default in the Great Recession included an historically high percentage of distressed exchanges, which typically yield higher recoveries than regular or pre-packaged bankruptcies, according to the report. Without this lift to overall recoveries from the 25% of defaults that occurred via distressed exchanges among the 57 defaults Moody’s reviewed, recoveries would have been at record lows compared to previous recessions.
When analyzed by debt type, recoveries have been mostly in line with historical averages. The one exception is senior unsecured bonds, which have had average recoveries of 31.2% in the current cycle, compared with 40.3% historically. Much of this debt had very little junior debt that would have absorbed losses first, which made its recoveries closer to levels typical of subordinated debt.
Moody’s said it continues to monitor about 180 defaulted companies, the majority of which have filed for bankruptcy. Recoveries are likely to be pressured because bond investors typically do not fare as well in bankruptcy proceedings. In addition, some companies that had distressed exchanges are at risk of a subsequent default, which could produce lower recoveries than the initial default.
However, the report notes recoveries could be supported by a declining default rate. Recoveries are negatively correlated with the default rate, so as defaults decline, recoveries should rise. The trailing 12 months, issuer-weighted U.S. speculative-grade default rate peaked at 14.52% in November 2009 , and reached 6.3% at the end of June 2010. Moody’s forecasts that under a baseline economic scenario the default rate will fall sharply to end 2010 at 2.7% and reach 1.9% a year from now.
For details, see Hard Data for Hard Times. (Premium)
Technorati Tags: corporate-default, credit-crisis, credit-markets, defaults
Data from the Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller Indexes illustrate the continuing sharp variance in housing price performance among different cities. House prices in San Francisco were up 18.3% for the year ended in May, whereas in Las Vegas they were down 6.5%.
David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s doesn’t see much news good news in the latest report, which showed a 4.6% annual increase for the top 20 cities. “Since reaching its recent trough in April 2009, the housing market has really only stabilized at this lower level. The two Composites have improved between 5 and 6% since then, but this is no better than the improvement they had registered as of October 2009. The last seven months have basically been flat.”
Technorati Tags: home prices, house prices, housing, S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index
The main components for the Prius such as the motor and battery are not mature enough for local production.
Chief Pulse Comment by ” Atsushi Niimi executive vice president of Toyota Motor Corporation, announcing a decision to delay production of the Prius in the US. “We expect that they’ll be ready with the next remodelling.” Niimi, who oversees production as well as regional operations in North America and China for Toyota, said the company would decide in due course where in the United States it would make the fourth generation Prius, which is expected around 2016. (full story)
Chief Speak highlights interesting comments from corporate leaders, based on a search of traditional and alternative media outlets using Alacra Pulse.
Technorati Tags: automobiles, chiefspeak, hybrids, Prius, PulseCheck, Toyota
Apple (AAPL) has dominated company news so far this year, so it’s no coincidence that analysts who follow the company were the most widely quoted by traditional and alternative media tracked by Alacra Pulse. The company’s success was also responsible for launching smaller sell-side firms with well-known Apple analysts onto the list. Not surprisingly, Apple uber-analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray came out on top with more than 1,000 mentions, around twice as many as Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros and Craig Moffett of Sanford. C. Bernstein.
Other technology analysts making the list: Peter Misek at Canaccord Adams, Maynard Um at UBS, Oppenheimer’s Yair Reiner, Mike Abramsky at RBC Capital Markets, and Needham & Co’s Charlie Wolf .
Voluble bank analyst Dick Bove of the otherwise rarely quoted Rochdale Securities came in at number four, boosted by the volatility of the banking sector, especially Citigroup (C) and Goldman Sachs (GS)
BP’s (BP) continuing problems helped Fadel Gheit into the rankings, making Oppenheimer the only firm with two analysts in the top ten.
Technorati Tags: (c), AAPL, analysts, Apple, BP, Charlie Wolf, Citigroup, Craig Moffett, Dick Bove, Eugene Munster, Fadel Gheit, Gene Munster, Goldman-Sachs, GS, Maynard Um, Michael Abramsky, Mike Abramsky, Peter Misek, PulseCheck, research, Richard Bove, Shaw Wu, Yair Reiner
