See attaches full document
After Hours Summary: FCEL +6.5%, WG +1.8%, WHR +1.4%, PAY +0.3%, AXAS -2.7%, ELY -0.6%, KO -0.4%, ESRX -0.2% following earnings/guidance
After Hours Gainers:
Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings: FCEL +6.5%, WG +1.8%, WHR +1.4%, PAY +0.3%
Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: STRI +11.6% (announced closing of sale of controlling interest to Zhenfa Energy Group; declared special dividend of $0.85 per share; increased size of Board of Directors), LADR +10.7% (announced that it is commencing the steps necessary to elect Real Estate Investment Trust status with an expected effective date of January 1, 2015), PRTA +10.6% (announced that the FDA granted Fast Track designation to NEOD001, a novel monoclonal antibody for the potential treatment of AL amyloidosis), AUY +5.5% (announced 'significant' new discoveries at Chapada and El Penon; discoveries improve operational outlook), IMN +4.8% (Clinton Group intends to nominate three candidates for the Imation Board of Directors), BA +2.3% (increased share repurchase authorization to $12 bln and raised dividend by 25%), PKI +1.4% (FDA approved marketing of the EnLite Neonatal TREC Kit to help detect Severe Combined Immunodeficiency)
After Hours Losers:
Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings: AXAS -2.7%, ELY -0.6%, KO -0.4%, ESRX -0.2%
Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: WAVX -3.6% (elected David Cote Chairman of the Board), AXAS -2.7% (provided Q4 and FY15 production guidance; co reduced 2015 drilling budget to ~$54 mln from $200 mln due to current commodity price weakness), PGH -0.8% (announced first steam at the initial 12,500 barrel per day commercial project at Lindbergh), BLUE -0.5% (announced proposed public offering of $150 mln in common stock)
Repsol Readies Bid for Canada’s Talisman Energy
Spanish Firm’s Board Backs $8.3 Billion Takeover Offer
MADRID— Repsol SA is preparing an US$8.3 billion bid for struggling Talisman Energy Inc. of Canada, a takeover that would roughly double the Spanish company’s oil output right away and boost its potential for further expansion.
The Madrid company’s board met Monday evening and unanimously approved the offer, which has an enterprise value of $13 billion including debt. Repsol said it was preparing to offer $8 a share for Talisman, a significant premium over the Calgary-based company’s closing price Friday.
A spokesman for Talisman declined to comment late Monday. In New York, Talisman rose 19% to $5.12. But the shares are still down about 56% so far this year.
A takeover of Talisman would allow Repsol to control assets that include oil rigs in the North Sea and off the coasts of Indonesia and Malaysia, and shale acreage in Texas, New York and Alberta.
Taking on Talisman’s 2,809 employees would nearly double Repsol’s exploration and production staff. While the Spanish company has a market value five times as big as Talisman’s, it remains a tiny competitor in oil production and for more than a year has been shopping for an acquisition that would bolster its production capacity.
Historically a refiner, Repsol has in recent years acquired stakes in several of the world’s largest oil finds. But its production unit lacks the scale and expertise needed to develop promising fields offshore in Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico.
A near-halving of oil prices since June has squeezed smaller energy companies, which are recording dwindling revenues and struggling to fund new exploration. Talisman is no exception.
Repsol, meanwhile, is cash rich and short on assets. It received $5 billion in compensation for the 2012 expropriation of its Argentine unit YPF SA, and last year sold its liquid-natural-gas unit.
The sharp slide of oil prices is “a great opportunity for anyone who is liquid, and has not been hurt too badly by this drawdown,” said Michael Hulme, a fund manager with Carmignac Gestion who manages a commodities fund with ownership in several U.S. and Canadian oil and natural-gas explorers. “There is a state of near-panic among many oil producers, particularly in the U.S.,” he said, and a “tableau of middle-ranking oil companies in situations of potential stress.”
Repsol and Talisman first flirted with a deal during the summer, but talks cooled because of differences over price. As oil prices sank, Repsol started to look elsewhere for a deal, while Talisman’s share price sank.
In early November, Repsol’s chief financial officer, Miguel Martínez, signaled to investors that the company was still keen to make an acquisition, and that it expected the oil-price plunge to serve up better opportunities.
Around that time, with oil prices in free fall, Talisman put out new feelers with Repsol, asking whether the company would be willing to resume talks on a deal, according to a person familiar with the talks.
Repsol demurred before agreeing and talks moved quickly over the past 10 days. Repsol executives traveled to Calgary last week to discuss a potential bid.
On Monday, Repsol’s board approved its offer. By that time, Talisman had lost more than half its market value from the start of the year. Oil prices had fallen more than 45% and remained close to multiyear lows.
PetSmart: JANA Partners, 9.8% stakeholder, discloses it does not intend to nominate any individuals for election to PETM Board in light of acquisition by BC Partners
The filing states, "On December 14, 2014, the Issuer disclosed it had agreed to be acquired by a consortium led by private equity firm BC Partners. The Reporting Person therefore does not currently intend to nominate any individuals for election to the Issuer's board of directors at the Issuer's next annual meeting."
The filing states, "On December 14, 2014, the Issuer disclosed it had agreed to be acquired by a consortium led by private equity firm BC Partners. The Reporting Person therefore does not currently intend to nominate any individuals for election to the Issuer's board of directors at the Issuer's next annual meeting."
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Puma Owner Kering Said to Have Explored Sale of Sportswear Maker 2014-12-15 19:53:59.721 GMT
By Aaron Kirchfeld, Dinesh Nair and Ruth David (Bloomberg) -- The owner of Puma SE has explored a sale of the German sportswear maker as efforts to revive the brand drag into a fifth year, according to people familiar with the matter. Kering SA, which also owns Gucci, contacted potential buyers earlier this year to gauge interest, said the people, who asked not to be identified because talks are private. Sovereign- wealth funds from the Middle East such as Qatar as well as Asian investors were approached, they said. The discussions have yet to lead to any sort of takeover proposal and it remains unclear whether the company will still pursue a sale of the brand, the people said. Representatives for Kering, Puma and Qatar declined to comment. Kering owns about 86 percent of Puma, having acquired control of the sporting-goods maker in 2007. Puma, which has a market valuation of about 2.5 billion euros ($3.1 billion) based on the remaining traded shares, is revamping athletic shoes and stepping up marketing as it seeks to reorient the company’s positioning around performance gear. Kering is also making changes at Gucci, where the top two executives are stepping down amid faltering growth. In April, Kering Chairman Francois-Henri Pinault said he was convinced the company should have a sports and lifestyle division that wouldn’t be expanded until he’d revived Puma. Mario Ortelli, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, is skeptical about Kering owning a maker of sporting products, which have much lower margins than luxury goods. Competitors such as Adidas AG and Nike Inc. are much bigger than Puma, meaning they can spend more on marketing and developing their products, he has said. Puma, known for its leaping cat logo, this fall unveiled its “Forever Faster” ad campaign, featuring athletes such as sprinter Usain Bolt and soccer player Mario Balotelli, helping boost footwear sales for the first time in seven quarters. The brand’s ad budget and sponsorship deals, including with English Premier League team Arsenal, are cutting into profit, which in 2014 may be less than half what it was a decade ago, according to analyst estimates.
For Related News and Information: Kering Reorganizes Luxury Unit Amid Confidence for Gucci, Puma M&A Data Search: MA <GO> Top Stories:TOP <GO>
--With assistance from Andrew Roberts in Paris, Manuel Baigorri in London and Aaron Ricadela in Frankfurt.
To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Kirchfeld in London at +44-20-3525-8830 or akirchfeld@bloomberg.net; Dinesh Nair in London at +44-20-3525-3212 or dnair5@bloomberg.net; Ruth David in London at +44-20-3525-8095 or rdavid9@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at +31-20-589-8505 or cperri@bloomberg.net Paul Jarvis
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
BFW 12/15 22:09 Russia Raises Key Rate to 17% Amid Devaluation, Inflation Risks BFW 12/15 22:05 *BANK OF RUSSIA SAYS SEEKS TO STEM DEVALUATION, INFLATION RISKS BFW 12/15 22:03 *RUSSIAN CENTRAL TO HOLD 1-YR FX REPO AUCTIONS WEEKLY BFW 12/15 22:03 *BANK OF RUSSIA TO RAISE LIMIT ON 28-DAY FX REPO AUCTION TO $5B BFW 12/15 22:02 *RUSSIAN RATE INCREASE TO 17% EFFECTIVE DEC. 16 BFW 12/15 22:01 *RUSSIA RAISES KEY RATE TO 17%: CENTRAL BANK WEBSITE STATEMENT
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Russia Increases Key Interest Rate to 17% to Stem Ruble Decline 2014-12-15 22:11:06.528 GMT
By Olga Tanas (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 17 percent from 10.5 percent at an unscheduled meeting after the ruble fell the most in 16 years. The bank increased borrowing costs to limit the currency’s drop and inflation risks, it said in a statement on its website today. Russia’s central bank raised interest rates for the sixth time in 2014 after more than $80 billion spent from its reserves failed to stop a 49 percent selloff of the ruble, the world’s worst-performing currency this year. President Vladimir Putin, whose incursion into Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March prompted the U.S. and its allies to strike back with sanctions, this month called for “harsh” measures to deter currency speculators.
For Related News and Information: Top Stories:{TOP<GO>}
To contact the reporter on this story: Olga Tanas in Moscow at +7-495-771-7705 or otanas@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at +36-1-881-0227 or bpenz@bloomberg.net
Closing Market Summary: Crude Oil Leads Stocks Lower
The major averages began the new week amid some old concerns. The S&P 500 settled lower by 0.6% while the Nasdaq Composite (-1.0%) underperformed, but most of the attention was directed to crude oil trading pits once again.
After plunging nearly 4.0% on Friday and inviting questions about macroeconomic implications of the continued weakness, crude oil enjoyed an overnight rebound before resuming its downtrend. The energy component ended the pit session lower by 3.2% at $55.96/bbl and continued its retreat into the $55.50/bbl area in electronic trade.
Similar to oil, European equities and U.S. equity futures rebounded in overnight action, but accelerated their retreat from highs once the U.S. cash market opened. All ten sectors finished the day in negative territory with heavily-weighted financials (-0.9%), health care (-0.9%), and consumer discretionary (-0.6%) keeping the market under pressure.
Notably, financials and health care finished at the bottom of the leaderboard with the health care sector enduring significant weakness in biotechnology. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 297.66, -8.44) plunged 2.8% and contributed to the underperformance of the Nasdaq.
Although the Nasdaq finished behind the broader market, the tech-heavy index was prevented from sliding deeper into the red by relative strength among some influential components like Accenture (ACN 81.88), Oracle (ORCL 41.11, +1.16), and Qualcomm (QCOM 70.37, -0.21). Of the three, Oracle rallied 2.9% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to ‘Overweight.'
Elsewhere, the energy sector (-0.9%) held up well during morning action, but retreated to lows after crude oil locked in a decline for the day. Dow component ExxonMobil (XOM 86.90, +0.30) bucked the trend, climbing 0.4% after BMO Capital Markets upgraded the stock to ‘Market Perform' from ‘Underperform.'
When the dust settled, the industrial sector (-0.3%) represented the top performer on the cyclical side. The sector benefitted from gains among transport stocks with the group likely responding to cheaper fuel. The Dow Jones Transportation Average ended just above its flat line with Alaska Air (ALK 57.65, +1.84) climbing 3.3%.
Likewise, retailers rallied in response to lower oil prices as evidenced by a 0.2% advance in the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 92.47, +0.19). However, the broader discretionary sector ended in-line with the market as quick-service restaurants weighed. McDonald's (MCD 88.46, -2.16) and Yum! Brands (YUM 70.63, -2.22) lost 2.4% and 3.1%, respectively.
Treasuries ended the day modestly lower with the 10-yr yield higher by two basis points at 2.12%. On a related note, the Dollar Index registered a slim gain of 0.1%, but the greenback retreated more than 100 pips against the yen to 117.70.
Participation was ahead of average with more than 940 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Economic data included Empire Manufacturing, Industrial Production, and NAHB Housing Market Index:
* The Empire Manufacturing Survey for December registered a reading of -3.6, which was below the prior month's reading of 10.2 and below the consensus estimate, which was pegged at 14.0 * Industrial production increased 1.3% in November after increasing an upwardly revised 0.1% (from -0.1%) while the consensus expected an increase of 0.7%
* That was the largest increase since a 1.6% gain in May 2010 o Manufacturing production increased a solid, and perhaps unexpected, 1.1% in November after increasing an upwardly revised 0.4% (from 0.2%) in October * Capacity utilization exceeded 80% for the first time since March 2008 and increased to 80.1% in November from 79.3% in October
* The NAHB Housing Market Index for December slipped to 57 from 58 while the consensus expected the reading to hold at 58
Tomorrow, November Housing Starts ( consensus 1.035 mln) and Building Permits (consensus 1.06 mln) will be reported at 8:30 ET.
* Nasdaq Composite +10.3% YTD * S&P 500 +7.6% YTD * Dow Jones Industrial Average +3.6% YTD * Russell 2000 -1.8% YTD
BT Group in Exclusive Talks to Buy EE
Deal Valued at £12.5 Billion ($19.6 Billion) in cash and stock
LONDON— BT Group PLC said it has entered exclusive talks to buy U.K. mobile operator EE for £12.5 billion ($19.6 billion) in cash and stock from Germany’s Deutsche Telekom and France’s Orange SA .
The period of exclusivity will last several weeks, BT said in a statement.
If a deal is reached, BT said Deutsche Telekom would end up with a 12% stake in BT and Orange would hold a 4% stake in BT.
UAE Oil Min: Reiterates OPEC will not meet early unless something really dramatic happens
so 46% since June is not something really dramatic....good to know....could meet if WTi traded below th e 40
Whisper it quietly, but Russia could be facing a full-blown currency crisis.
Rumours of Russian central bank intervention briefly calmed the rouble somewhat, but the currency is now careening lower again, falling almost 8 per cent – the most since its 1998 financial crisis - to a new low of 63.667 versus the dollar.
That makes it the worst of all 174 currencies tracked by Bloomberg this year, finally pipping the Ukrainian hryvnia today with a total 48.2 per cent slump in 2014.
Moscow's financial markets have been pounded by a wave of selling today, bond yields soaring and the stock market sliding.
In US dollar terms the Micex index has now lost over 26 per cent this month - already making it the worst month for the Moscow stock market since October 2008 (see second chart below).
But the rouble remains ground zero for the rout.
The turmoil sent the rouble to a low of 61.46 versus the dollar at around 1pm in London, before talk that the Russian central bank was intervening steadied the currency at just over 60 to the greenback. But as the trading day went on the rouble resumed its tumble, and is now at 63.44.
Analysts are now worried the slide is becoming uncontrollable and could lead to more systemic financial problems in the Russian economy, due to the heavy foreign borrowing of Russian companies and possibility that locals lose faith in the currency.
Bernd Berg, a strategist SocGen, said that there was a danger that the rouble's rout becomes a complete collapse to 70 per US dollar unless the central bank steps in forcefully in the coming days.
The third chart below shows the one-day moves since 2000. You have to go back to 1997-98 to see movements this sharp.
