TheChek News Flow

Dubai World in talks to extend term of $10.5bn loan

The Atlantis Hotel was one of the assets sold by Dubai World's investment arm Dubai World is in talks with creditors to extend a $10.5bn debt maturity due in 2018, sparking divided reactions among lenders over whether to take such a deal when the emirate’s economy has recovered so strongly. The government conglomerate was at the heart of Dubai’s debt crisis in 2009, agreeing a restructuring of $25bn of loans in 2010. Last week, it proposed an early repayment on the $4.1bn maturity due in September 2015 if creditors agreed to extend the 2018 maturity to 2022, people aware of the matter say.

Despite the Dubai stock market’s steep correction over the past few weeks, the underlying economy has rebounded on strong trade and tourism flows thanks to the emirate’s haven status. Some lenders, taking a tough line as negotiations start, are calling for repayment rather than an extension to the landmark restructuring that laid the foundations for Dubai’s recovery. “Dubai keeps saying how well it is doing, but they don’t seem willing to repay,” said a banker at one leading creditor. Dubai World declined to comment. Banks such as HSBC, Standard Chartered and Lloyds are major lenders among the more than 100 creditors to Dubai World. Blackstone and Clifford Chance are representing the conglomerate in the talks. Other lenders are welcoming the early tabling of what they described as a “reasonable” proposal. Dubai’s head-in-the-sand approach in 2009 sparked a debt crisis that required $20bn in bailout loans from its richer neighbour Abu Dhabi to prevent a default. “It’s refreshing to see Dubai come to the table early like this,” said a banker at another creditor. State owned enterprises have been repaying debts when they can, but the emirate has also borrowed more and is still sitting on a $130bn debt pile. An official close to Dubai World said the company would continue to negotiate with lenders over details of the proposal. Dubai World said it had sufficient cash to repay the $4.1bn due in September 2015 after selling assets held by its investment arm, Istithmar. Investment Corporation of Dubai, the state holding company, has bought some Istithmar assets, such as the Atlantis hotel on the emirate’s Palm island. The government is reluctant to consider selling shares in Dubai World’s prized assets, such as fast-growing ports operator, DP World. “This is about optimising where we are, not restructuring,” said the official. “If the banks go for it, great, if they don’t, we can wait.”

New Wall Street Trading Reality Eludes Obama

President Obama's View of How Good Wall Street Traders Have It Is in Need of an Update

Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times on Wall Street depends on where you sit: From a trading desk, the view is markedly different from that of the Oval Office.

In an interview this week, President Barack Obama said that, "Right now, if you are in one of the big banks, the profit center is the trading desk, and you can generate a huge amount of bonuses by making some big bets."

That is in marked contrast to the numbers being reported by big banks. In the first quarter, most of the biggest banks saw trading revenue decline year over year. More broadly, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency this week reported that total U.S. bank tradinfor a first quarter since 2008.

—g revenue declined 18% from a year earlier and was at its lowest ebb

Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan JPM +0.14% Chase and Citigroup C +0.48% already have warned that trading revenue in the second quarter will be down from the prior year.

All this reflects both a more subdued trading environment, marked by low volatility and an unexpected downward turn in long-term bond yields, as well as structural changes on Wall Street. The latter is in large part due to regulatory changes such as the Dodd-Frank Act and the "Volcker rule" prohibiting proprietary trading.

Consider that in 2013, J.P. Morgan generated a return on equity in its corporate and investment bank of 15%, versus 23% for its consumer-and-community-banking business. And over the past two years, both revenue and net income from the consumer-and-community-banking business have outpaced that of J.P. Morgan's corporate and investment bank. A similar picture emerges at Bank of America. BAC +1.14%

While more needs to be done to make big banks and the financial system safer, traders aren't partying like it's 2006.

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Shire CEO Ornskov Doesn’t Exclude Possible Other Bids: FuW 2014-07-04 15:40:43.809 GMT

By Jan-Henrik Förster July 4 (Bloomberg) -- Shire Plc CEO Flemming Ornskov says co.’s board objected to AbbVie’s bid “very clearly,” Finanz und Wirtschaft reports, citing interview. Newspaper also cites Ornskov saying: * Another question is whether other companies consider a bid for Shire * Shire forecast to double revenue to $10b by 2020 is “moderate” * NOTE: June 27, Pfizer’s Failure Gives AbbVie Lessons in $46.5 Billion Shire Bid * NOTE: June 25, AbbVie CEO Won’t Rule Out Hostile Bid in Pursuit of Shire * Link to interview

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

To contact the reporter on this story: Jan-Henrik Förster in Zurich at +41-44-224-4116 or jforster20@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mariajose Vera at +49-89-244478-803 or mvera1@bloomberg.net

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

ONE 07/04 16:00 Sanofi: Pre-quarterly Results Communication BN 07/04 16:02 *SANOFI REPURCHASED 8.47M SHRS IN 2Q FOR TOTAL €654M BFW 07/04 16:02 *SANOFI SEES FX HURTING 2Q BUSINESS EPS BETWEEN 8-10 PCT PTS BN 07/04 16:01 *SANOFI SEES NEG. FX IMPACT 2Q BUSINESS EPS BETWEEN 8-10 PCT PTS BN 07/04 16:01 *SANOFI SEES NEGATIVE FX IMPACT ON 2Q SALES ABOUT 6 PCT POINTS BN 07/04 16:00 *SANOFI: ESTIMATES NEGATIVE FOREIGN CURRENCY IMPACT ON 2Q '14 BN 07/04 16:00 *SANOFI: PRE-QUARTERLY RESULTS COMMUNICATION

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Sanofi Says Currency Hurt 2Q Business EPS by 8-10 Pct Points 2014-07-04 16:07:21.277 GMT

By James Ludden July 4 (Bloomberg) -- Negative effect on 2Q sales about 6 percentage points. * Still sees vaccine sales relatively flat y/y * Sees 2014 effective tax rate ~25% vs 24% in 2013

Link to Statement:{NSN N8734U3V2800 <GO>} Link to Company News:{SAN FP <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: James Ludden at +44-20-7673-2645 or jludden@bloomberg.net

Iraq’s Sunni leadership meets in Erbil to plot against Maliki

Iraq’s Sunni Arab leaders have converged on the Kurdish city of Erbil, holding court in marble hotel lobbies like an opposition in exile as they plot their campaign to take down Nouri al-Maliki’s government and improve their hand in the country’s ever-shifting political game. Tribal sheikhs in long robes and suited politicians puff on cigarettes and speak in hushed tones, huddling in groups on separate couches to hammer out a vision for a post-Maliki order and debate how to keep up the pressure on Baghdad.

“I’ll be clear because I know what you want to hear. We are headed toward three regions: Sunni, Kurdish and Shia,” says Ali Hatem al-Suleimani, a prominent tribal sheikh from Iraq’s western Anbar province. Yet the plans of Sunni opposed to Baghdad’s Shia-dominated government are far from clear. Priorities differ between provinces, and between politicians and militants. Internal divisions have made it hard for Sunni to coalesce as a movement and stand up to Mr Maliki’s Shia-dominated government. Since the US occupation in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein and his ruling Ba'ath party, Iraq has been mired in a sectarian power struggle between the disempowered Sunni minority and the Shia majority. The semi-autonomous northern Kurdistan region has been hosting Sunni leaders in their shared bid to challenge Mr Maliki’s government and call for decentralisation. Even more have set up shop in Erbil in the wake of the lightning offensive three weeks ago, led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant(known as Isis), who have seized swaths of Sunni territory and threaten to tear the country apart. Despite its success, Isis does not control the majority of fighters on the ground. Sunni leaders say the jihadi group acted as a “trigger” for an uprising by tribesmen, former Ba'athist officers and many other disaffected Sunni who felt repressed and marginalised by the government. Sunni leaders say they will not confront the jihadi group until they get concessions from Baghdad. “Do you want us to raise our flag next to their black banner and demand attention? Then they’ll fight us,” says Abdel Rizzaq al-Shammar, a bespectacled, grey-bearded sheikh. “We won’t do that until we get support from the government and the outside world.” The Sunni tribes joined US forces to crush Isis’s predecessor, al-Qaeda in Iraq, in the 2008 “Awakening” movement and insist they can do so again if they choose to. But the Sunni demands are myriad – while some focus on decentralisation, others call for a technocratic ‘salvation government’ to run new elections. Many say the real priority is changing ‘de-Baathification’ and antiterrorism laws used to sideline and imprison hundreds of thousands of Sunni. One of the roots of their disaffection – and Iraq’s crisis – may be within the list of demands Mr Suleimani enumerates to a crowd of journalists. “Number one,” he says, raising a finger. “We are not a minority.” After decades of power within the ruling Ba'ath party, critics say the Sunni still do not play politics like a minority. “They haven’t been able to adjust to their new inferior status, seeking overly ambitious demands while unable to coalesce around a single leader,” says Ramzy Mardini, an analyst at the Washington-based Atlantic council. At an empty villa in Erbil, Atheel al-Nujaifi is setting up a new governorate office for oil-rich Nineveh province, after being forced to flee the Isis takeover of Mosul, 88km away. He wants the Sunni to create their own military force and regional constitution, like the Kurds. “The Sunni can stop Isis . . . There are 2,000 Isis militants in Mosul. If you just consider the former army officers in Mosul, there are 48,000 that left or were removed from service since 2003,” he says. Yet his vision differs from that of Mr Shammar and Mr Suleimani, who want a single Sunni region. Mr Nujaifi prefers regions defined along provincial lines. In such a federal system, Nineveh alone, with 11 per cent of the population, would have a right to 11 per cent of the country’s oil revenues. Few of the Sunni leaders in Erbil seem to factor in the insurgents who have lost trust in a political leadership they say has failed. Abu Abd al-Naami, a tribal and militant leader speaking by phone from a rebel position outside Baghdad: “They sit comfortably in hotels and dare speak for us? They are liars trying to ride the wave of our uprising.” His General Tribal Revolutionaries group, which he says speaks for all Iraqi insurgents, does not even agree with the politicians’ goal of federalism. The rebels want Iraq to stay together, he says. Their hope is that an assault on Baghdad will bring down Mr Maliki’s government – and give them a role in creating a new one. “Any region established now will be over our dead bodies,” he says. “Except for the Kurds.” Mr Naami adds that Iraqi rebels formed a “National Council” to prepare a new leadership, apparently without noticing that the opposition in neighbouring Syria set up a similar, failed, body two years ago. Iraq’s Sunni rebels could be just as doomed as the three-year Sunni-led uprising in Syria: deprived of cohesion and drained by ascendant Islamist forces. In Iraq’s complicated political game, they cannot be assured of allies, as the Kurds have struck last-minute deals with Mr Maliki in the past. Sunni Arabs risk being used “like pawns in the great game between Erbil and Baghdad”, Mr Mardini warns. “Iraq’s sectarian politics is like a game of musical chairs,” he says. “When the music stops, the Sunni are usually the ones left without a chair.”

Why the Peugeot family chose to Thierry Peugeot key

The shareholder family took the decision to land the Supervisory Board.

It's over: Thierry Peugeot, 58, is no longer at the heart of the reactor. Since Thursday, July 3 in the evening, according to a terse statement sent by Peugeot Citroën, it is no longer part of the board of the group, he was still the Vice President yesterday and the President prior to the General Meeting of 31 May He was replaced by his sister. Marie-Hélène Roncoroni, 54 Challenges announced a decision to this effect was imminent in its issue of 26 June: it was actually taken Tuesday July 1 in the afternoon.

This is an interview with Les Echos suicide granted on 23 June which set fire to the powder.He attacked his cousin Robert and his "financial approach" while itself is "industrial". Worse, there regretted the arrival of the Chinese Dongfeng capital, but also state: "I am a moral liberal capitalist and a defender of private enterprise.When the state enters the group for the first time in 200 years of history that inevitably raises questions. " A little phrase that made ​​Louis Gallois, great servant of the State and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Peugeot Citroën, literally furious.

As for the family, it is the criticism by Thierry Philippe Varin, former Chairman of the Board, in particular the failure of the partnership with General Motors, which has annoyed. "It was a rare inelegant," said one of the cousins ​​Peugeot.

Finally, Jean-Philippe Peugeot decided - in agreement with Louis Gallois, Robert Peugeot and the State - to send the letter to Thierry who resigns his role as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors . Indeed, it was not in his own name his tenure, but by delegation Etablissements Peugeot Frères, including Jean-Philippe is the President ... and could therefore, at any time, revoke.

This is to save the face of Thierry its cousins ​​had offered him the post in question: depressed by the fall of the group and demoralized not be able to direct the Board of Directors, the family wanted to preserve it. For he had always believed that power, and was therefore kept his freedom of speech?This is what whispers in the corridors. Certainly, with the Welsh duo-Tavares supported by Robert Peugeot, a page turns for the French manufacturer.