(BFW) U.S. Airstrike Move ‘Clearly Bad’ for Kurdistan E&Ps: Investec

U.S. Airstrike Move ‘Clearly Bad’ for Kurdistan E&Ps: Investec
2014-08-08 07:42:23.323 GMT


By Benjamin Dow
Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Lingering ISIS threat in Iraq will
“cloud the outlook” for shares of Kurdistan-exposed Afren,
DNO, Genel, Gulf Keystone, Liberum says.
* Genel (-5.7%), Afren (-3.1%) lead declines among E&Ps in
Stoxx 600 Oil & Gas Index (-0.9%); Gulf Keystone (-5.1%)
also falls
* DNO Intl. (+5.4%) rises after 9.3% decline yday; 14-day RSI
closed yday at 17, indicating shrs most oversold in 7 yrs
* Canadian-listed Kurdistan E&Ps WesternZagros (-11%),
Shamaran (-5.7%) fell yday
* NOTE: U.S. President Obama yday approved air strikes to
prevent genocide; CVX has evacuated some expatriate staff
* Gulf Keystone said yday that Kurdistan ops remained
safe, secure

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(BFW) *WHO DECLARES EBOLA AN INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY

BN 08/08 06:56 *WHO: EBOLA IN WEST AFRICA A PUBLIC HEALTH RISK TO OTHER STATES
BN 08/08 06:55 *WHO: POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF FURTHER INTL SPREAD SERIOUS
BN 08/08 06:54 *WHO: COMMITTEE VIEWS THAT CONDITIONS OF PHEIC HAVE BEEN MET
*WHO DECLARES EBOLA AN INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY
2014-08-08 06:58:20.644 GMT

--TUHIN KAR

-0- Aug/08/2014 06:58 GMT

(BFW) Sell Volkswagen; Value Trap With Slowing Returns, Goldman Says

Sell Volkswagen; Value Trap With Slowing Returns, Goldman Says
2014-08-08 06:49:55.322 GMT


By Brian Lysaght
Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Volkswagen facing “bumpy road” with
limited benefit from MQB savings and modest organic growth,
Goldman Sachs says in note.
* Stalling returns, higher investment to lead to value
destruction over next 12 months
* VW pfd cut to sell from neutral; PT cut to EU179 from EU215
* 2014/15/16 oper profit ests. are 0%/4%/7% below consensus:
Goldman
* NOTE: VW has 25 buys, 13 holds, 3 sells; avg PT EU215
implies 29% upside: Bloomberg data


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Reuters - Telecom Italia in talks to snap up Vivendi's GVT:

(Reuters) - Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) is in talks with Vivendi (VIV.PA) to acquire the French media group's Brazilian broadband unit, and trump a recent bid from Spanish rival Telefonica (TEF.MC), sources familiar with the situation said.

The plan, which could be finalised over the next three weeks, envisages a counter-bid by Telecom Italia for the Brazilian unit, GVT, followed by an equity swap that would allow Vivendi to acquire a stake in Italy's biggest phone operator, said the sources.

Telecom Italia's executives are working on the transaction with Citigroup (C.N), Mediobanca (MDBI.MI) and Banco Bradesco (BBDC4.SA), several sources told Reuters.

The news came soon after Telefonica, Telecom Italia's biggest individual shareholder for the past six years, made an unsolicited 6.7 billion euros bid for GVT earlier this week.

Telefonica is working with J.P. Morgan (JPM.N) on the deal, the sources said.

The Spanish telco also offered Vivendi the chance to acquire an 8.3 percent stake in Telecom Italia, which owns 67 percent of Brazil's second-largest mobile firm, TIM Participacoes (TIMP3.SA).

Telecom Italia aims to at least match the value of the Telefonica bid for GVT with cash and shares, most likely in Telecom Italia but possibly in TIM Participacoes, one of the banking sources said.

MEDIASET

Vivendi's pay-TV arm, Canal Plus, is also in talks, for the purchase of a majority stake in Italian rival Mediaset Premium, a subsidiary of Mediaset (MS.MI), some of the sources said. The business could ultimately be folded into Telecom Italia as telecom and media services converge, the sources said, despite Telefonica's agreeing last month to buy 11 percent of Mediaset Premium for 100 million euros.

Deutsche Bank is advising Vivendi on Mediaset Premium, while Barclays is working with rival Qatari-owned bidder Al Jazeera, one of the sources said.

"The ultimate game is the merger between Mediaset and Telecom Italia," said one source, who added that while such a deal has long been talked about it can now be achieved with Vivendi's impetus.

A deal with Vivendi would allow Telecom Italia to break free from Telefonica and strengthen its position in Latin America. Telecom Italia had approached Vivendi for a possible purchase of GVT in the past but walked away because of valuation issues, a source with direct knowledge of the situation said.

Vivendi's chairman, Vincent Bollore, is already one of Italy's most influential foreign investors thanks to a 9 percent stake in Mediobanca (MDBI.MI), Italy's best-known investment bank.

Mediobanca, which the sources said was advising Telecom Italia on the prospective tie-up, was also until recently one of Telecom Italia's core shareholders.

Earlier on Thursday, a Bloomberg report said that Telecom Italia was pursuing an alliance with Vivendi that could see the French group take a "significant" stake in it in exchange for GVT. Telecom Italia could also offer cash or raise shares to fund the deal, it said.

The Italian company had said on Wednesday it was considering all options in Brazil.

Several people familiar with the situation said on Thursday that talks had taken place between Telecom Italia's chief executive, Marco Patuano, and Bollore before Telefonica made its bid for GVT.

Officials at Telecom Italia, Vivendi, Mediaset and the different banks all declined to comment.

Telecom Italia's stock closed up 1 percent at 0.812 euro on Thursday, having traded as low as 0.798 euro before the Bloomberg report. Vivendi's shares initially rose on the report before falling back to close down 0.9 percent at 19.285 euros, while Telefonica closed down 1.4 percent at 11.63 euros.

(BFW) Buy Dips in European Stocks; Stay Bullish Over 12-18 Mos.: Citi

Buy Dips in European Stocks; Stay Bullish Over 12-18 Mos.: Citi
2014-08-08 06:15:28.952 GMT


By Tim Barwell
Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- European equities have sold off
hardest due to exposure to risks, biggest regional P/E re-rating
since mid-2012, Citi says in strategy note.
* Citi economists continue to back a modest and progressive
European and global economic recovery in the next 2-3 yrs;
highlight 4 key risks
* Russia spillovers, other geopolitical issues, sluggish
pace of world trade growth, possibility of China
slowdown
* Sharp escalation probably required to impact ECB policy
* European equities have de-rated modestly in absolute
terms, still very cheap relative to credit and
government bonds
* Stay bullish on European equities over the next 12-18
months, continue to buy dips
* NOTE (yday): Europe Stocks Fall as Munich Re Misses, Draghi
Warns on Ukraine

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FT : Companies at Black Hat conference warned on cyber risk disclosure

An argument is raging about whether companies should be forced to disclose cyber attacks, as cyber security experts warn that retailers, hotels and airports across the US have gaping holes in their online security.

Researchers in Las Vegas for the Black Hat cyber security conference exposed flaws they argue could allow hackers to swipe credit card details from more than 600 retailers, remotely control technology in hotel rooms and trick airport security into believing someone is drugs-free.
Dan Geer, chief information security officer for In-Q-Tel, which invests in technology on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency, told the conference the threat of cyber attack was so serious that companies should have to declare significant cyber security failures.
“Not only has cyber security reached the highest levels of attention, it has spread into nearly every corner,” he said. “The footprint of cyber security has surpassed the grasp of any one of us.”
Laws about what kind of attacks companies must report vary depending on the country or industry. But many focus on the loss of consumer data such as credit card information, rather than on the rising tide of attacks by nation states, intellectual property theft and online ransoms.

Despite the patchy regulation, the number of companies reporting cyber security concerns to US regulators has more than doubled in the past two years, according to official filings. The increasing number of devices that rely on the internet have provided more opportunities for cyber criminals.
Mr Geer called for “a public health system” for the internet where the security of everyone online is given higher priority than the privacy of attack victims. He also said the US government should pay to make public vulnerabilities that people found in software.
Alex Stamos, Yahoo’s chief information security officer, said companies needed to work together to combat cyber crime. “The bad guys share information,” he said, referring to underground forums, and other industries should learn from banks, which had succeeded at co-operating on security partly because they were highly regulated.

The public’s poor grasp of the relative severity of different attacks meant minor problems could be overblown if companies were forced to announce them, he said.
But Kevin Mandia, chief operating officer of cyber security company FireEye, said companies were right to fear being forced to disclose attacks as some were “crucified” in what he said was a “point and blame atmosphere”.
Doctors were not blamed for not having yet discovering a cure for cancer and the threat from cyber crime was similarly here to stay, he added. “I feel like we are trying to cure cancer just like doctors are.”

The US Department for Homeland Security warned this week that a recently discovered family of malicious software, known as malware, could damage businesses’ brands and reputations and lead to consumers’ information being used to make fraudulent purchases.
The warning said the “Back off” malware allowed hackers to track every character typed into a point of sale system, exposing customer names, mailing addresses, credit card numbers and email addresses.

>>> Afren : Suspends operations at Barda Rash in Kurdistan citing height of regi


Suspends operations at Barda Rash in Kurdistan citing height of regional security 

Has taken the precautionary step to temporarily suspend operations at the Barda Rash field in light of heightened regional security related issues. Working with our local security advisors, Afren is implementing a phased withdrawal of non-essential field personnel from the Barda Rash field. All other Afren operations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq remain unchanged. Afren will continue to closely monitor events on the ground in consultation with our security team and the relevant authorities. It is expected that we will return to field operations as soon as it is prudent to do so. The suspension is not expected to have a significant impact on the Group's cashflow.

>>> Andritz looks at potential takeover targets; no deal likely in 2014

Andritz looks at potential takeover targets; no deal likely in 2014 

Andritz, the Austrian plant engineering specialist, is always on the lookout for buys and is currently evaluating potential takeover targets, Wirtschaftsblatt reported. The Austrian newspaper quoted Wolfgang Leitner, the chief executive of Andritz. However, Leitner added in the article that a deal is unlikely to materialise before the end of the year.

Andritz has a market cap of EUR 4.247bn.


Source Wirtschaftsblatt

>>> What to look at today - 08/08/2014

US MArket Closed Lower, mkt was stronger after Draghi reaffirm commitment to current policy and news of potential US strike in IRaq send the market lower, S&P closed below its 100d MA, DOW settled just above its 200-day moving average (16343) after crossing that level for the first time since February 6. Healthcare was worth performers @ -1.2%, Other countercyclical sectors like consumer staples (-0.8%) and telecom services (-1.0%) also underperformed, while the utilities sector (+1.1%) displayed relative strength to narrow its week-to-date loss to 2.0%, Meanwhile, all six cyclical groups posted losses with the materials space (-0.9%) having the worst showing. Similarly, the other commodity-related sector—energy (-0.7%)—also finished near the bottom of the leaderboard, volume were below average @ 600mil shares...VIX @16.66 +1.77%...- Shanghai Composite is the only regional index with mild declines, erasing post Obama-conference losses on much stronger than expected China trade data. $47B surplus for July is a record high, and even though imports surprisingly
fell 1.6%, double-digit rise in exports more than made up for that decline. Shipments to Europe were particularly strong, up about 17% y/y, while exports to Japan reversed last month's drop with a 3% increase....- Monetary policy statement from the BOJ saw the central bank maintain it overall economic assessment unchanged for the 12th consecutive meeting, b
also downgraded its view on exports and industrial output as had been speculated in local press. BOJ said exports "have shown some weakness", a also added output "recently shown some weakness" though still increasing moderately as a trend. BOJ was also a bit more upbeat on wages, noting "employment and income situation is improving steadily"...Nikkei -2.86% Hang Seng +0.07% Shanghai +0.22%

Eur$ 1.3362 S&P -0.54% EuroStoxx -0.9% FTSE -0.66% Dax -1.05% SMI -0.7%

Macro
- Israel Says That Hamas Has Resumed ‘Indiscriminate Rocket Fire’
- EU Considers WTO Complaint Over Russian Import Ban, BNS Reports
- China July Retail Auto Sales Rise 11.5% on Year, PCA Says
- S&P 500, Dow Jones Futures Fall as Obama Authorizes Air Strikes

Keep an eye on :
- ALV GY : Allianz Confirms FY Outlook, Upper End of Target Range in Reach
- AZA IM : Alitalia to Name Montezemolo Chief on Etihad Signing: Messaggero
- BES PL : Portugal Says Loan to Resolution Fund for BES Aid Will Be EU3.9b
- DEXB BB : Dexia Has EU9.3b Cash Surplus Even as Cash Collateral Up EU3.9b
- GTO NA : Gemalto Buys SafeNet for $890 Million; Closing Seen in 4Q
- HYC LN : *NIPPON KOEI TO PAY 680P-SHR FOR HYDER; HIGHER THAN ARCADIS BID
- III LN : 3i Said to Hire Goldman Sachs for Sale of Agent Provocateur, Value £200m
- NRE1V FH : Nokian Renkaat 2Q Sales, Profit Miss Ests. as Russia Weakens
- RHK GY : Rhoen-Klinikum 1H Ebitda Rises; Still Can’t Provide 2014 Outlook
- S92 GY : SMA Solar’s Urbon Sees 2H Boost From China, U.S.: Handelsblatt
- TOD IM : Tod's 1H Rev., Ebit Miss Ests., Says Confident on 2H