>>> US Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers
Gapping up: NURO +27%, MIC +5.4%, GRPN +4.5%, BODY +3.9%, PHH +3.7%, FSC +2.2%, XONE +1.8%, LOV +1.5%, GPRO +1.5%, CEL +1.4%, AU +1.2%, AAPL +0.6%, ASX +0.6%, PETM +0.5%

Gapping down: GENE -12.3%, CAMT -6.8%, SDRL -4.2%, ANR -3.9%, ACLS -3.1%, BLUE -3%, PSTI -3%, ING -2.1%, IPCI -2.1%, LYG -1.9%, IGLD -1.8%, TAT -1.3%, SAN -1.3%, BCS -1.3%, DB -1.2%, CGEN -1%, CS -0.9%, HSBC -0.8%

(BFW) Dassault Systemes May Slow Acquisition Speed of Past Months: CEO

Dassault Systemes May Slow Acquisition Speed of Past Months: CEO
2014-07-08 09:03:33.884 GMT


By Claudia Rach
     July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Dassault won’t continue with almost
one acquisition every month as in the past 16 months, even
though co. always active as aims to fulfill its vision, CEO
Bernard Charles says in interview.
  * CEO reiterates co.’s philosophy of no hostile takeovers, not
    acquiring to buy market share
    * NOTE: Dassault acquisitions include Accelrys, Realtime
      Technology, Safe Technology, Apriso, Simpoe, Archivideo,
      FE-Design, SFE, SquareClock in addition to several
      start-ups in past 2 years, according to co.
  * CEO sees further consolidation in IT services, consulting
    sector
  * Confirms Dassault’s sales growth of double digit this year,
    says is confident to reach 2014 targets
    * NOTE: Co. targets 2014 non-IFRS rev. of EU2.28b to
      EU2.30b (+14% to +15%)
      * Sees 2014 non-IFRS EPS of EU3.45 to EU3.50
      * Sees 2014 non-IFRS operating margin of 29.5%-30%
    * Restates view that world economy isn’t necessarily back
      to fast growth this year
  * Next catalyst: Co. scheduled to report 2Q results July 24
  * NOTE: Stock up 6.3% YTD vs SX8P down 2.1%
  * NOTE: 24 analyst ratings 38% buy, 38% hold, 25% sell; avg.
    PT EU97

For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>

To contact the reporter on this story:
Claudia Rach in Berlin at +49-30-70010-6219 or
crach1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Ludden at +44-20-7673-2645 or
jludden@bloomberg.net

NY Post : Deal saves American Apparel; control goes to NY hedge fund

American Apparel has reached a preliminary agreement to transfer control of the board to a hedge fund following the company’s ouster of controversial founder Dov Charney, The Post has learned.
Standard General LP, a New York investment firm that has formed a 43-percent shareholder bloc with the ousted CEO, has agreed to financially guarantee the retailer against thea threat of a liquidity crunch under the terms of the Monday deal, insiders said.
The parties are looking to announce a finalized deal as soon as Tuesday, according to a source.
A key concern of the board in negotiations has been the future role of Charney, who was toppled June 18 by a five-member board committee that cited an investigation alleging misconduct.
Despite the Monday agreement, Charney’s future with the company he founded 25 years ago remains very much in the air — and will remain so at least until the outcome of the board probe, according to a source briefed on the agreement.
Earlier Monday, insiders said lender Lion Capital accelerated a demand for immediate repayment of a $10 million loan that was thrown into default last month by Charney’s ouster.
Under a deal struck Monday afternoon, Standard General has agreed to refinance the loan and could pay it off as soon as this week if necessary, according to one source.
Either way, the threat of bankruptcy has been averted under the terms of the agreement, sources said.
“The Lion loan is a non-issue,” a source close to the negotiations said Monday.
American Apparel officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Standard General officials declined to comment.
As reported by The Post, American Apparel’s board met late Sunday to discuss the preliminary deal. The board signed off on it Monday afternoon, according to sources close to the situation.
Meanwhile, insiders said Standard General is in talks with turnaround consulting firms Alvarez & Marsal and Alix Partners to support the company’s finance department.
As with Charney, it hasn’t yet been determined what role, if any, will be played at the future company by interim CEO John Luttrell, who until Charney’s ouster was the company’s longtime financial chief.
As reported Sunday by The Post, the preliminary agreement will reshuffle American Apparel’s board, but the board it will remain a seven-member board, according to a source briefed on the plans.
A slate of new directors is under negotiation, and nominees include at least one woman, according to a source close to the situation.
Co-chairmen Allan Mayer and David Danziger, who led last month’s surprise ouster of Charney, will remain as directors under the deal, according to sources close to the talks.
Meanwhile, Charney, who was stripped of his chairman role on June 18 , but who still remains on the board, will be replaced under the agreement along with American Apparel’s other four directors, the sources said.
Three of the five empty seats will be filled by directors chosen by Stadard General, and the remaining two will be mutually agreed upon by Standard General and American Apparel, according to the sources.

(Barcap) European Mining - Start your Engines

* We believe a number of factors are coming together that could potentially deliver a secular shift in returns from the mining sector: 
In the near term the Chinese government’s “guarantee” of 7.5% GDP growth for 2014 implies further stimuli and a strong H2 recovery. Likewise for the US, where we expect GDP to accelerate into H2. Further out, a European recovery is in the offing and last, but not least, the “Modi effect” which could be the most powerful of all. Meanwhile price risk has diminished in bulk commodities with the 40% fall in iron ore price and coal prices seemingly finding support. The outlook for base metals is exciting following capex withdrawal. We are on the cusp of a cash harvest for the sector in 2015 and valuations look interesting, plus concern over iron ore is prevalent leaving many of our clients underweight (á la the Oil sector in March). As such we upgrade our sector view from Negative to Positive.

* A trading buy for the iron ore producers: We continue to favour base metal exposure
over iron ore in particular on mid to long term basis. However there is a strong chance, if
we’re right about macro conditions, that we could see a bounce in the iron ore equities,
which are all trading on material discounts to the sector. So, on a six months basis, we are
upgrading Rio Tinto (EW to OW) and Vale (UW to EW) of the big caps and London Mining
(UW to EW) among the small/mid caps

* Macro outlook promising: The recent Chinese PMI survey reached 50.8 from 49.4,
surprising positively. The May FAI figure rose to 17% YoY with state-led FAI up to
16.7% from 14.2%. Premier Li’s guarantee of 7.5% means growth needs to increase to
9% QoQ SAAR in H2 from 5.8% in Q1 (see More easing to achieve c7.5% target). US
economic conditions are also likely to improve in H2. European growth has stopped
accelerating for now, however the combination of accelerating bank recapitalization
and liquidity injection could lead to improvement and at least there is some rebalancing
with peripheral capital markets outperforming. A weaker euro would be a strong boost.
Of course the real excitement for our space would be an investment led secular growth
story in India which is clearly more likely under Modi, albeit a long way off. Any inflation
fear in this mix is also positive, plus any trends in increasing capital spend by public and
private sector alike.

* Our base over bulk preference remains but has played out a lot: Our index for base
metals (+21%) has outperformed our bulk commodity index (-15%) by 36% in the last
year. We are at or below the marginal cost for virtually all commodities and certainly
below the greenfield incentive prices.

* Valuations remain attractive: Despite a strong re-rating YTD, the diversifieds’ average
PER multiples are the second lowest of any sector in the UK market. P/NPV is below par
and the Price/Book at 2003 levels. It is extremely rare to have a combination of
improving economics and low valuation metrics in this space.

(UBS) European Flow Watch - Rotation run its course

* Sector Rotation comes to an end: Hedge Fund Net Leverage picks up
The brutal sector rotation in April and early May caused many investors to
underperform benchmarks in H1. We still see the rotation as technically rather than
fundamentally driven – and the data on Hedge Fund Net Leverage backs this up. Net
Leverage for European Long/Short Equity Hedge Funds troughed at 34% in mid-May –
the exact week when sector rotation peaked. Since then, rotation has faded, price
momentum as a style is working again and Hedge Fund leverage is now back up at
40%

* Biggest net buying of core Eurozone since 2005
Investors were the biggest net buyers of Core Eurozone equities since we began
tracking the data back in 2005 (see Figure 2) – albeit on low volumes. In particular,
France and Germany saw large inflows. In the periphery, Italy has been preferred over
Spain. Going forward, we think Germany, having underperformed in H1, is a good way
to play a wider cyclical recovery and a weaker Euro.

* UK most unloved market…but likely to stay that way
The UK saw the most net selling of any major European market. But we would not use
this as an "inverse indicator" as flows are not yet at extreme levels and the
fundamentals look troubling. We see 4 reasons to stick with our caution on the UK
relative to Europe: 1) interest rate regime (we see the first UK hike in November), 2)
strong Sterling (a problem given c.75% of FTSE 100 revenues come from overseas), 3)
the UK market is not cyclically exposed and, 4) increasing political risks (Scottish
Referendum, General Election in May 2015 and potential EU Referendum in 2017).

* Great Rotation – Equities still seeing inflows, credit inflows slowing
Equity mutual funds and ETFs in the US are still seeing decent inflows – in June there
was over $20bn. In contrast, inflows to credit funds in the US have slowed to less than
$1bn over the month – the lowest since August 2013.

FT : Middle East sectarianism masks a lust for power

Forces at play have the power to resurrect the zombies of Osama bin Laden and the Ba’ath

The conflict convulsing Syria and Iraq, and bursting regional borders, is being likened to a religious war, similar to the thirty years war that devastated Europe in the first half of the 17th century. Yet this does not quite ring true. The warriors of the new caliphate – the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant which, intoxicated with sudden success, has self-distilled into the Islamic State – are, in theological terms, painting by numbers. Such legitimacy as they have in their jihadistan is ephemeral, leeched from collapsing unitary states with oppressive rulers who have driven the Sunni masses temporarily into their bloodstained arms.
This is not so much a war of religion as a struggle for power bespattering the region, in which rival Islamic identities – Sunni and Shia – have replaced nationalism as the mobilising agent, and the states with most interest in the outcome, Saudi Arabia and Iran, have (to paraphrase Shakespeare) cried havoc and let slip the dogs of sectarianism.

Theology enters into it peripherally, insofar as an acknowledged authority such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the marja’a or “source of emulation” for millions of Shia in Iraq and around the world, has issued a fatwa in defence of the Iraqi nation that de facto is a call to arms for the Shia against the Sunni jihadi menace of Isis. Sectarianism escapes the control of those who touch it, much less unleash it.
Saddam Hussein, the late Iraqi tyrant, used nationalism to fight Iran during the 1980s but sought to emulate his hero, Stalin, with a religious values campaign in the 1990s. That was meant to stiffen popular resolve against international sanctions but it opened doors for Sunni and Shia irredentism, and what Charles Tripp, the Iraq scholar, calls “sectarian entrepreneurs”.
But there is plenty of blame to go round. The US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which overturned the regional balance of power in favour of the Shia (a minority in Islam but a majority in Iraq, as in Persian Iran), rekindled the millenarian embers of the seventh century schism within Islam between Sunni and Shia. The irredeemable sectarianism of Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister who hoards power and patronage for the Da’wa, his own Shia Islamist faction, and who began as a US protégé to end as an Iranian client persecuting and purging Sunni leaders and activists, fanned the flames.


Western policy in Syria has poured more petrol on the fire by failing to support mainly Sunni mainstream rebels against Bashar al-Assad’s regime, built around Syria’s Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiism. That created a vacuum for the jihadis, facilitated by western-allied Sunni powers: Wahhabi Saudi Arabia and Qatar as well as Turkey. Isis is riding a wave of Sunni rebellion from Syria into western and northern Iraq. But religion here is secondary to identity and sense of entitlement.
When governments and oppositions – and states such as Iran and Saudi Arabia that back them – play the sectarian card, this prevents popular grievances becoming a dispute between haves and have-nots, or about access to power and opportunity. Would-be citizens who might seek common institutions to arbitrate their interests are instead faced with the hard-wiring of sectarian affiliation and subconscious grammar of tribal loyalty, which spills across the Syrian and Iraqi borders into Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

In Iraq, for example, Qassem Soleimani, master puppeteer of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, is stitching together a Shia militia network like the one he built in Syria for the Assads. Mr Maliki urgently needs this irregular force after Iraq’s army, whose commanders he replaced with incompetent trusties, melted before the Isis onslaught. Despite taking personal control of defence, Mr Maliki relies for his own protection on Iranian-trained militia. But the sectarian mould in Iraq has hardened such that almost everyone is looped into a circle of patronage and power.
Isis fastened on to the Sunni power networks of Saddam’s army and Ba’ath party, supposedly dismantled by the US-led occupation, and the tribes, hostile to jihadi totalitarianism but now more aggrieved by the Maliki government. While sectarianism is not religion, it does have the power to resurrect the zombie ideologies of Osama bin Laden and the Ba’ath – and even get them to work together.
The Shia, after centuries on Islam’s sidelines, finally have something to protect. It is not just about preventing a repeat of 1801, when Wahhabi marauders from the first Saudi kingdom sacked Kerbala and other Shia shrine cities. It is about 2003 and the rise of the Shia after the invasion of Iraq, which helped Tehran forge an axis of power from Baghdad to Beirut.
If this is a thirty years war, it resembles more the convulsion of Europe between 1914 and 1944: not competing nationalisms but still a clash of aggrieved – in this case, sectarian – identities, in a common space they cannot agree to share amid yearning after past glory: a reich then, a caliphate now.

(BFW) Seadrill to Issue $1b 2019 Convertible Bond

ONE 07/08 06:11 Seadrill Limited: SDRL - Seadrill launches US$1 billion 2019 convertible bond concurrently with a voluntary incentive payment
 BN 07/08 06:18 *SEADRILL OFFER TO 2017 HOLDERS WHO EXERCISE CONVERSION RIGHTS
 BN 07/08 06:17 *SEADRILL MAKES OFFER OF CASH INCENTIVE PAYMENT TO 2017 HOLDERS
 BN 07/08 06:16 *SEADRILL SEES BOND FINAL TERMS, CONDITIONS ANNOUNCED JULY 8
 BN 07/08 06:15 *SEADRILL SAYS BOND PROCEEDS FOR NEWBUILD PROGRAM, CORPORATE USE
 BN 07/08 06:14 *SEADRILL SEES BOND CONVERSION PREMIUM 30% - 35% OVER REFERENCE
 BN 07/08 06:13 *SEADRILL SEES ANNUAL COUPON OF 2% - 2.5% PAYABLE SEMI-ANNUALLY
 BN 07/08 06:12 *SEADRILL SAYS SR UNSECURED BONDS TO BE CONV INTO COMMON SHRS
 BN 07/08 06:11 *SEADRILL TO ISSUE $1B 2019 CONV BOND
 BN 07/08 06:11 *SEADRILL LIMITED: SDRL - SEADRILL LAUNCHES US$1B 2019 CONV BOND
Seadrill to Issue $1b 2019 Convertible Bond
2014-07-08 06:17:57.574 GMT


By Gaurav Panchal
     July 8 (Bloomberg) -- The senior, unsecured bonds will be
convertible into common shares of co.; bonds are expected to
have an annual coupon range of 2% to 2.50% payable semiannually
in arrear.
  * Conversion premium 30% to 35% over reference share price
    that will be based on VWAP of shares on Oslo Stock Exchange,
    NYSE between opening and closing of market on July 8
  * Seadrill will have right to call bonds after three years
    plus 21 days if value of Seadrill shares underlying one
    bond, for specified period of time, exceeds 130% of
    principal amount of bond
  * Bonds expected to be issued on or around July 16
  * Proceeds to fund newbuild program, general corporate
    purposes
  * ABG Sundal Collier, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank joint
    bookrunners.
  * Final terms, conditions expected July 8
  * Also, Seadrill is launching voluntary incentive payment
    offer to convert any and all of $650m principal amount of
    3.375% Seadrill convertible bonds due 2017
  * Statement:{NSN N8DQIP3PWT1C <GO>}


Link to Company News:{SDRL NO <Equity> CN <GO>}

For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: {FIRST<GO>}
First Word newswire: {NH BFW<GO>}

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gaurav Panchal at +44-20-7392-0511 or
gpanchal2@bloomberg.net