(Challenges) Rafale: Qatar could sign Monday

Rafale: Qatar could sign Monday

The announcement of exclusive negotiations is considered plausible. The opportunity for Dassault to finally add a client to export the table hunting his plane.

A force delays and disappointments, the Areopagus defense has learned not ignite every rumor export order for the Rafale. Too disappointed hopes, too true-false ads, too many twists last minute. Nevertheless: the visit to Paris of the young Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani (34), received this evening by François Hollande for an interview and a formal dinner from 19 hours, strongly resembles a golden opportunity to finally add a client to export table French fighter aircraft. The possibility of choosing the Rafale ad for a 36 or 72 aircraft, is mentioned by several sources interviewed by Challenges, which however remain extremely cautious. "It stirs a lot with a lot of meetings on the sidelines of Eurosatory, confirms a manufacturer. But the calendar is the sole responsibility of the Emir."

The moment the Rafale would finally come? "We are confident that the record result," a French diplomatic source indicated Friday AFP and Reuters, without specifying a date. The geopolitical context appears, in fact, the wearer. "The planets are aligned for a quick official announcement ensures Nabil Ennasri, author of The Riddle of Qatar (ed. Armand Colin) and Qatar (ed. de Boeck). Franco-Qatari relations are excellent, Qatar has strong will no longer be a military dwarf in the region, he is anxious not to be 100% dependent on the U.S., and most importantly, he has the means to achieve its ambitions. " An announcement of the Emir of Qatar "give the amplitude at his post," Judge Nabil Ennasri, stressing that the visit of the Emir Tamim comes a year almost to the day after he came to power.

The first choice of the Qatari army

Technically, in any case, the mass seems proper. After three phases of testing very advanced, the Air Force Qatari assured the French camp that the Rafale was clearly his first choice, say two sources close to the negotiations. "The chosen version would be very close to the latest standard of the device, the F3R version, with active antenna radar [in range and increased reliability, Ed]," says a close case. The Eurofighter Typhoon? Qatar prefer him flying French, more complete. The emirate also seems reluctant to acquire the same devices that rival Saudi Arabia, which has fighter Typhoon and F-15. The F-35 Lockheed Martin? For rather obscure reasons, the United States has not responded to the invitation to tender issued by the emirate last August.

The Rafale appears as the clear favorite. "Combat proven" (combat proven) in Afghanistan, Libya and Mali, it also has close military relations between France and Qatar: Fleet Fighter emirate consists of 12 Mirage 2000-5. L'Harmattan operation in Libya in 2011 saw multiple joint patrols of French and Qatari units, both air forces with a long tradition of collaboration. The Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also created an excellent context of negotiations with the Qatari authorities, multiplying travel to Doha since the beginning of the year. Should we therefore expect an announcement this evening? "Frankly, I do not believe it," says one industry, a bit superstitious. Before completing a grinning: "... but I could be wrong, eh."

Visit to London just after France

Indeed, caution should be exercised. First, a possible announcement does not relate to a definitive agreement, but rather an entry into exclusive negotiations with the "team Rafale" (Dassault, Thales, Safran). Admittedly, these last very probably much shorter than negotiations in India, started in January 2012, because the version of the Rafale selected by Qatar would be very close to that of the French air force. The component technology transfer is also much less complex, the Qatar requiring no assembly line in place as in India. But it would still transform the test in the coming months.

Another reason for caution industrial is that Amir is determined not to let it dictate no schedule. The young officer must certainly give pledges its air force, which must confirm the scaling (12 Mirage 2000-5 to 72 devices). But his visit to the United Kingdom, which fiercely defends the Eurofighter, just after France, is clearly not the ideal agenda for an ad Rafale tonight. An announcement of the Emir on the French hunter would have more weight.

FT : BNP and US cross the ‘T’s and dot the ‘I�€™s

BNP and US cross the ‘T’s and dot the ‘I’s

The transatlantic negotiations between BNP Paribas and US authorities over the French bank’s alleged sanctions violations have reached the final stages.
With both sides in agreement on the broad outlines of a settlement, the talks between US officials at a range of agencies including the Department of Justice and top BNP executives are now zeroing in on the fine print.

US authorities are pushing for the issues to be resolved before Americans break for the Independence Day weekend on July 4, according to people familiar with the talks.
The French bank seems to be playing for time. One person close to the Paris-based lender joked darkly that it would be ideal if the settlement was announced on July 14 – Bastille day – when most of France is on holiday.
Whenever it does emerge, the details of the settlement are expected to make embarrassing reading for France’s biggest bank by assets and market value.
Even French government officials privately acknowledge the seriousness of BNP’s errors, particularly over its dealings with Sudan, despite the bank having committed no crime under European or French law.
“As one of the biggest banks in global trade finance, BNP should have been aware that they had to be careful,” said a French regulatory official. “They should have stopped doing business with Sudan. They made a huge mistake and they have to pay for it.”
One sticking point is over the wording of the statement of facts that will be published by US authorities as part of a settlement. The bank is trying to avoid a direct link being asserted between its financing of much of Sudan’s oil trade and the violent actions of the Sudanese army in the Darfur region.
In particular, the bank wants to avoid the settlement mentioning the “genocide” accusations levelled at the government of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, people close to the negotiations said. It is also pushing back against any suggestion by US authorities that the bank’s oil financing deals helped the government of Sudan to buy weapons.
The International Criminal Court has indicted Mr Bashir for alleged war crimes, including genocide, over violence in Darfur, in the southwestern corner of Sudan.
Senior BNP executives concede that even if these elements are excluded from a statement of facts there is little to stop Eric Holder, US attorney-general, from talking about them when he publicly announces a settlement. They concede privately that this is likely to besmirch the bank’s reputation both internationally and in France, and which could impact on its business.
Paris officials are worried by the scale of the fine facing BNP for violating US sanctions on dealing with Iran and Cuba, as well as Sudan, which now looks likely to be $8bn-$9bn. But their biggest concern is the prospect of BNP being barred for a period from dollar clearing – and having to plead guilty.
Michel Sapin, the French finance minister, has lobbied Mr Holder and Jack Lew, the US Treasury secretary. Last month, Christian Noyer, head of the Banque de France, travelled to New York to speak to US regulators and prosecutors.
Arnaud Montebourg, the economy and industry minister, complained in a TV interview that US laws allowing prosecution of actions by foreign companies beyond US territory gave it an unfair edge in the global “economic war”.
Officials and bank executives offer little defence of BNP. Although they say the Cuban transactions were relatively small, involving money being taken out of the country, not inward financing.
Paris is angry over what the officials call the “crazily disproportionate” scale of the likely punishment. They say it could not only damage BNP permanently, but also have a wider systemic effect on France and Europe by driving international customers away and reducing the ability of banks to lend to the struggling economy.
In retaliation, ministers have made clear there would be an impact on the transatlantic trade partnership talks that US President Barack Obama is keen to bring to fruition next year. There is little public enthusiasm for the talks in France, so throwing a spanner in the works would not cost President François Hollande much politically.
“You can’t have an improvement in trade between two countries if one side behaves like this,” a senior government official said.
He said Paris would also take the issue to the Financial Stability Board, the international body set up under the G20 to monitor the global financial system.
Beyond that, officials say France would support efforts to persuade bank clients to carry out international trade and finance transactions in the euro instead of the dollar.
They acknowledge this is not something that will change quickly, but Paris believes there could be a boomerang effect on the US if it is seen to be over-aggressively pursuing extraterritorial cases against banks such as BNP.
“In the longer term, the Chinese want to make the renminbi an international currency and the Russians also want to move more transactions away from the dollar. You could see a change in equilibrium. Not very quickly, of course, but maybe over 10 years,” said the regulatory official.

WWD : Lululemon Shares Up as Founder Mulls Shake-up

Lululemon Shares Up as Founder Mulls Shake-up

Shares of Lululemon Athletica Inc. rose nearly 3 percent in early trading Monday on indications that founder and former chairman Chip Wilson is weighing options to change the company’s management or even its ownership.

Wilson, who holds 27.7 percent of the company’s stock, was unsuccessful in his efforts earlier this month to unseat non-executive chairman Michael Casey and director RoAnn Costin from their seats on Lululemon’s board. He did not contest the reelection of Laurent Potdevin, who succeeded Christine Day as chief executive of the firm following a search in which Wilson was personally involved.

In that election at the firm’s annual meeting on June 11, Potdevin received 118.8 million affirmative votes for his election to the board while Casey and Costin each received 79.7 million votes. Wilson owns 40.2 million shares of Lululemon, according to the company’s definitive proxy filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in April.

Wilson said on the day of the annual meeting that he is enthusiastic about the company’s new management “that I helped put in place” but was “concerned that the board is not aligned with the core values of product and innovation on which Lululemon was founded and on which the company thrived. As a 27 percent shareholder in the company, I believe change is now needed at the board level to increase shareholder value.”

He characterized the board as being “heavily weighted towards short-term results at the expense of product, culture and brand and longer-term corporate goals.”

Shares rose $1.17, or 2.9 percent, to $41.40 in the first hour of Nasdaq trading Monday on a report in the Wall Street Journal that Wilson had retained Goldman Sachs & Co. with an eye to a board shake-up or possible buy-out with private equity partners. Goldman declined to comment on the report and calls to a spokesman for Wilson weren’t returned Monday morning.

Wilson founded Lululemon in 1998 and only relinquished the chair of the Vancouver-based firm prior to this month’s annual meeting. While hardly as controversial a figure as Dov Charney, the recently ousted founder and ceo of American Apparel Inc., he complicated Lululemon’s public relations difficulties when, in the midst of a recall of its overly sheer black Luon yoga pants last year, he said that the pants weren’t right for “some women’s bodies.”

Wilson’s departure as chairman was disclosed in December at the same time that Potdevin’s appointment as ceo was announced. Wilson remains a director of Lululemon and isn't scheduled to stand for reelection to the board until the company's 2016 annual meeting.

(Makor) Top Trading Ideas: Long Yahoo / Short Softbank

Top Trading Ideas: Back to use Softbank as a hedge vs. Yahoo BUY YAHOO (YHOO) / SHORT SOFTBANK (9984 JP)

We recommend going from a long Softbank position to short Softbank as a hedge to our recommended long position in Yahoo. This is as the discount differential between the two stocks has widened again in favor of Yahoo. This is also reflected in the relative performance of Yahoo vs. Softbank. The relationship is very mean reverting.

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(BFW) *ALTICE STARTS SALE OF ABOUT 18M SHARES

 BN 06/23 16:39 *ALTICE LAUNCHES SALE OF ABOUT 18 MILLION SHARES
 BN 06/23 16:37 *ALTICE LAUNCHES SHARE PRIMARY PLACING (ATC NA) VIA DEUTSCHE BK
*ALTICE STARTS SALE OF ABOUT 18M SHARES
2014-06-23 16:41:51.40 GMT

--ANDREA SNYDER

-0- Jun/23/2014 16:41 GMT

(BFW) Monsanto Said to Have Weighed Tax-Inspired $40b Syngenta Deal

BFW 06/23 16:16 *MONSANTO-SYNGENTA TALKS SAID TO HAVE ENDED WEEKS AGO
 BN 06/23 16:16 *MONSANTO-SYNGENTA TALKS SAID TO HAVE ENDED WEEKS AGO
BFW 06/23 16:16 *MONSANTO SAID TO HAVE WEIGHED TAX-INSPIRED $40BLN SYNGENTA DEAL
Monsanto Said to Have Weighed Tax-Inspired $40b Syngenta Deal
2014-06-23 16:16:24.383 GMT


By Vivek Shankar
     June 23 (Bloomberg) -- Talks said to have ended weeks ago,
Bloomberg reports.

Link to Company News:{MON US <Equity> CN <GO>}
Link to Company News:{SYNN VX <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:
Vivek Shankar at +1-415-617-7169 or
vshankar3@bloomberg.net

>>> Tesco plc Fitch cuts rating to BBB from BBB+

Tesco plc Fitch cuts rating to BBB from BBB+The downgrade reflects an increase of competitive pressures in the UK grocery market, in light of the continuing growth of hard discounters and increasing price competition among established players. The rating action also reflects economic and political headwinds in its international business as well as execution risk associated with the group's strategicrepositioning.