Reuters - Exclusive: Allergan shareholder Paulson & Co urges deal with Shire

Exclusive: Allergan shareholder Paulson & Co urges deal with Shire - sources

(Reuters) - Allergan Inc (AGN.N) shareholder Paulson & Co is urging the Botox maker to merge with specialty pharmaceutical company Shire Plc (SHP.L) as a potential alternative to a deal with hostile bidder Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX.TO), according to two people familiar with the matter.

The hedge fund, which is Allergan’s third largest shareholder, told Allergan CEO David Pyott that it would support a deal with Shire, the sources said. The deal would not be structured as a so-called tax inversion, the people said. It could not be learned whether Allergan would pursue such a deal.

Paulson’s move comes as AbbVie’s (ABBV.N) $54 billion deal to buy Shire is close to unraveling after the U.S. government changed the rules governing tax inversions.

Allergan and Paulson declined to comment.

BMW Preferred Shares Offered in Bookbuild by UBS, Terms Show

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BFW 10/20 15:49 *BMW PREFERRED SHARES OFFERED IN BOOKBUILD BY UBS: TERM SHEET

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BMW Preferred Shares Offered in Bookbuild by UBS, Terms Show 2014-10-20 15:55:13.374 GMT

By Ruth David Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Bestinver Gestion selling 3.33m preferred shares in BMW in accelerated bookbuild, according to term sheet obtained by Bloomberg News. * Equivalent to 0.5% of total outstanding shrs * Offered at between EU60 and market price; pfd stock closed at EU62.93 today * UBS sole bookrunner Link to Company News:{BMW GR <Equity> CN <GO>}

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

To contact the reporter on this story: Ruth David in London at +44-20-3525-8095 or rdavid9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Ludden at +44-20-7673-2645 or jludden@bloomberg.net

>>> US Gapping Down

Gapping down In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance: SHOO -10.5%, NCR -10.4%, IBM -6.3%, SAP -4.2%, PHG -3.9%, VFC -3.6%, ESLT -0.9%, (anticipates extraordinary finance expenses in Q3) CHL -0.9%, .

M&A news: CSX -3.4% (Canadian Pacific announced that exploratory conversations held with CSX (CSX) about a possible business combination have ended, no further talks are planned)

Select EU related names showing weakness: PT -21.5%, ARMH -2%, ALU -1.7%, MT -1.5%, NOK -1.4%, ASML -1.4%, AZN -1.2%, HSBC -1%

Select oil/gas related names showing early weakness: TOT -2.2%, STO -2%, PBR -1.9%, RDS.A -1.8%, BP -1.2%

Other news: IBIO -24.3% (may be related to calming Ebola news over the weekend), LAKE -9.9% (may be related to calming Ebola news over the weekend), ESI -3.6% (modestly pulling back following last weeks gains), TKMR -3.5% (easing ebola concerns over the weekend), ORCL -1.7% (in symp with SAP earnings), HPQ -1.6% (in symp with IBM), TSLA -1.2% (still checking), MSFT -1% (in symp with IBM earnings)

Analyst comments: CGG -4.6% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman), SDRL -2.6% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup ), CLF -2.3% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup), PBCT -0.9% (downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James).

>>> US Gapping Up

Gapping up In reaction to strong earnings/guidance: PETS +7.4%, VRX +4.8%, LII +3.5%, HAL +3.1%, CBU +2.1%, BTU +0.6%

M&A news: SHOR +18.3% (ShoreTel receives proposal by MITL for $8.10/share in cash), CNL +11.7% (enters agreement to be acquired by North American Investor Group), QEP +7.2% (announces sale of its Midstream Business to Tesoro Logistics LP (TLLP) for $2.5 bln), BBRY +5% (reports of Lenovo potentially making a bid for co),. NPSP +4.8% (Shire (SHPG) may consider another round of acquisition talks with NPSP or Cubist (CBST), according to reports), CBST +1% (sames as NPSP, also names Robert J. Perez CEO)

Other news: SCOK +54% (announced that its aboveground facility for the conversion of CO2 into clean-burning syngas had begun operations), NLNK +31.1% (announces exclusive worldwide licensing agreement for development of NLG919), APRI +17.7% (expands development pipeline with the in-licensing of U.S. rights for Fispemifene), RSH +8.8% (still checking), KNDI +4.3% (still checking), FST +4.1% (announces commencement of proxy mailing), NBG +3.6% (still checking), ETFC +3.6% (added to Conviction Buy List at Goldman), TTM +2.5% (Jaguar Land Rover may open US factory, according to reports), EXXI +2.2% (appointed Bruce Busmire to the position of CFO, replacing West Griffin who is stepping down effective October 20, 2014), TGTX +1.4% (RA Capital Management discloses 8.3% passive stake in 13G filing), SJM +1.4% (increases stock repurchases by 5 mln shares), HL +1.3% (releases production guidance), SHPG +1.3% (Interim Chief Financial Officer James Bowling to step down), RCL +1.2% (Healthcare worker aboard CCL ship tested negative for Ebola, according to reports), CCL +1.1% (Healthcare worker aboard CCL ship tested negative for Ebola, according to reports), PSEC +1% (makes $86.1 million follow-on first-lien senior secured debt investment in Onyx Payments), FDO +0.9% (Elliott issues letter to Family Dollar CEO and Board of Directors) 

Analyst comments: BK +3.5% (upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman), TUBE +1.9% (upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets), NEM +1.8% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup), SWFT +1.7% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup), AIG +0.9% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank), MU +0.8% (upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at Pacific Crest)

>>> US Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers
Gapping up: SCOK +25.5%, NLNK +20.1%, APRI +9.7%, ESI +8.7%, EBS +4.5%, KNDI +4.3%, TKMR +3.4%, NBG +3.2%, BBRY +3.1%, HAL +2.5%, CBU +2.1%, SAN +1.3%, HL +1.3%, ABX +1.2%, NVO +1.1%, MU +1%, SHPG +1%, HAS +1%, RCL +0.9%

Gapping down: PT -24.1%, IBIO -13.1%, NCR -9.6%, IBM -5.5%, SAP -3.9%, PHG -3.8%, CSX -3.3%, SDRL -3.1%, EXXI -3%, PBR -2.1%, TOT -1.9%, STO -1.8%, RDS.A -1.7%, BP -1.5%, ASML -1.4%, AZN -1.3%, ALU -1.2%, NOK -1.1%, HSBC -1.1%

>>> Valeant Pharma beats by $0.12, reports revs in-line; raises Q4, FY15 cash EP

Valeant Pharma beats by $0.12, reports revs in-line; raises Q4, FY15 cash EPS guidance

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $2.11 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.99; revenues rose 33.4% year/year to $2.06 bln vs the $2.06 bln consensus.
  • Co guided up on Sept 24.
  • Total same store sales organic growth was 19%, including impact from generics Bausch + Lomb organic growth was 12%, adjusted only for foreign exchange.
Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $2.45-2.55, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $2.38 Capital IQ Consensus.
  • Expect double-digit same store organic growth in the fourth quarter
Co issues upside guidance for FY15, raises EPS to $10.00, excluding non-recurring items, from $9.65 vs. $9.58 Capital IQ Consensus; raises 2015 outlook to +10% organic growth.

>>> IBM misses by $0.64, misses on revs -- Co will guide on the

IBM misses by $0.64, misses on revs -- Co will guide on the call

Reports Q3 (Sep) non-GAAP earnings of $3.68 per share, $0.64 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $4.32; revenues rose -4% year/year to $22.4 bln vs the $23.37 bln consensus.
  • The company will provide earnings guidance during today's quarterly earnings conference call, and it is included in the presentation charts.
  • "We are disappointed in our performance. We saw a marked slowdown in September in client buying behavior, and their results also point to the unprecedented pace of change in our industry. While we did not produce the results we expected to achieve, we again performed well in our strategic growth areas -- cloud, data and analytics, security, social and mobile - where we continue to shift our business. We will accelerate this transformation."
    • Revenues from the Software segment were $5.7 billion, down 2% (down 2%, adjusting for currency) compared with the third-quarter of 2013. Software pre-tax income decreased 3% and pre-tax margin decreased to 35.5%.
    • The Americas' third-quarter revenues were $10.1 billion, a decrease of 2% (down 1%, adjusting for currency) from the 2013 period. Revenues from Europe/Middle East/Africa were down 2% to $7.2 billion (down 3%, adjusting for currency). Asia-Pacific revenues decreased 9% (down 8%, adjusting for currency) to $5.0 billion.
    • Revenues from the company's growth markets were down 6% (down 5%, adjusting for currency). Revenues in the BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China — were down 7% (down 7 percent, adjusting for currency).
  • The co has reached an agreement under which GLOBALFOUNDRIES will acquire IBM's Microelectronics OEM semiconductor business and manufacturing operations. The loss from discontinued operations in the third quarter includes a non-recurring pre-tax charge of $4.7 billion, or $3.3 billion, net of tax.
  • At the end of Sept 2014, IBM had ~$1.4 billion remaining from the current share repurchase authorization. The company expects to request an additional share repurchase authorization at the October 2014 board meeting.