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The official, William J. Baer, assistant attorney general and head of the antitrust division, will not participate in considering the merger because he represented NBC Universal when it was taken over by Comcast in 2011.

Obama administration guidelines say that during the first two years in office, an appointee is forbidden from taking part in a decision involving a former client. The rules apply to clients represented in the two years before the appointee’s confirmation.

Mr. Baer was confirmed on Dec. 30, 2012. A notice documenting his representation of General Electric and NBC was filed in federal court on Jan. 20, 2011, within two years of his confirmation.

The decision will cost the Justice Department one its most vigorous defenders of antitrust law — a man who said last year that he supported the government’s decision to block the 2011 proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile, even though his former law firm, Arnold & Porter, represented AT&T in the deal.

- EU Joint statement on Ukraine

{http://bit.ly/1l6RWqB} Link to Translation

{http://bit.ly/1fbbh4L} Link to original article in French

INTERVIEW We asked a former member of this body, Denis Payre, now head of the political movement "We citizens."

Following the proposed merger with SFR given by Bouygues Telecom, the question of the possibility of returning to the three mobile operators in France. All eyes converge on the Competition Authority which has hitherto been unfavorable to such a scheme. What can she decide? Cofounder Kiala Payre Denis, a former member of the board of the Authority, now entered politics with his movement " We citizens ", book her eyes.

How reflects the Competition Authority on a large subject like a possible return to the three operators?

I knew the competition authority in two ways. As a member of the college, which I quit there a few months to get into politics. But also as a complainant, where I chose to put me back in a case between the Kiala Poste.

I was very impressed by the level of the institution which combines the best of the public and civil society through college party formed to appropriate representatives from the company. On all issues, it provides a well-researched work. Bruno Lasserre and his college based on the recommendations of sectoral authorities. In this case, it will probably listen too much that ARCEP said.

What is the reasoning?

The Competition Authority - as the ARCEP elsewhere - will be wondering what is the most favorable to the consumer and a free and fair competition. The Authority seeks to avoid oligopolies. She was sentenced harshly, but with good reason, the telecom cartel found it a few years ago. She has done a service to citizens by helping to remove barriers to the arrival of Free , it helped to make billions of euros of purchasing power in French and even those who have lost their jobs were able to find in this very dynamic sector.

Government industrial, interventions may be many with Bruno Lasserre ...

Bruno Lasserre and his close team is really not sensitive to pressure whatsoever. Neither the political nor the economic world, even if they have great respect for entrepreneurs. Bruno Lasserre is known not to participate in dinner parties. It is truly independent. When I was a member of the college, he reminded us, on sensitive issues, take no call anyone in this area.

You think having four operators in France is a dogma for the Authority?

Bruno Lasserre is in close contact with Commissioner Almunia in Brussels on many subjects. He certainly knows the great fragmentation of telecoms in Europe, but it certainly will not be the only factor taken into account. This is a very pragmatic. I am of course unable to anticipate what it will do but if it appears that the record of Bouygues Telecom is in the interest of consumers and the community, it does not attach itself to a dogma. He will decide on evidence. And it will ensure that in terms of law, the decision is unassailable.

Deutsche Telekom to focus on US growth over free cash flow goal

Deutsche Telekom slashed its outlook for 2015 free cash flow as it set out plans to spend more money to win customers in the US.

The German telecoms group said on Thursday it would not reach its target of €6bn of free cash flow in 2015 and said the figure for this year would drop to about €4.2bn from €4.6bn in 2013.

Full-year results for 2013 showed adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of €17.4bn compared with €18bn the year before, down 3 per cent.

Deutsche Telekom shares were down 4.1 per cent at lunchtime on Thursday.

Deutsche Telekom has a 67 per cent stake in T-Mobile US, the fourth-biggest US mobile operator by subscriber numbers. The US business gained a net 2m postpaid customers in 2013, after years of losing subscribers.

T-Mobile US’s strategy has focused on offering some of the cheapest monthly plans and allowing subscribers to upgrade handsets more frequently. The free cash flow figure for 2015 is expected to increase “slightly” on this year’s level, Deutsche Telekom said.

Timotheus Hoettges, Deutsche Telekom’s chief executive officer, said the company was open to consolidation, but had no concern about running the US business on a standalone basis.

The US Department of Justice’s top antitrust official, Bill Baer, has publicly voiced doubts about the benefits of a mooted takeover of T-Mobile by third-biggest operator Sprint, which would cut the number of mobile competitors.

Heike Pauls, an analyst at Commerzbank, said: “The US market is gravitating towards more consolidation but recent regulatory signals have clearly made it look less likely on a 12 month view.”

Thomas Dannenfeldt, Deutsche Telekom’s chief financial officer, said in a statement: “We could achieve our original ambition level for 2015 of around €6bn [free cash flow] if we were to slam the door in the face of the customer rush in the US. That’s not what we want.

“The market is offering us the opportunity to achieve a different ambition: value-driven customer growth in the US that translates into an increase in the value of the company.”

Deutsche Telekom said its dividend policy would remain unchanged, expecting to pay €0.50 a share for the 2014 financial year. It gave no outlook for 2015 dividend payments.

Fourth-quarter adjusted ebitda rose to €4.06bn, from €4bn in the third quarter. It expects 2014 ebitda, excluding special items, to remain stable at around €17.6bn.

Orange [EPA ORA] has no preference over which of the two bidders for Vivendi’s [EPA VIV] French telecoms division SFR eventually buys the asset, but will be vigilant over any potential competition impacts of the deal, said CEO Stéphane Richard.

It will be important to see what remedies will be offered especially with regards to “spectrum resources”, Richard said at a press conference for the presentation of the French telco’s 2013 results.

Mobile operator Bouygues Telecom and fixed line internet provider Numericable [EPA NUM] both presented bids for SFR yesterday, Wednesday. While the Numericable deal would not impact the competition among mobile network opeators, the Bouygues one would likely be “more disruptive” as it would reduce the number of operators in France from four to three, Richard said.

“Consolidation is a positive move which we support but we don’t want it to result in competition imbalances,” he said.

The fact that both offers came from French companies justified his prior calls for the need for consolidation in the telecoms market, Richard said. But he added that one couldn’t be “dogmatic” on the reduction of four operators to three and that each case was different.

Besides the impact on competition, Richard said he would also look closely on the impact the deal would have on employment and investment, especially in the rollout of new fibre networks.

Orange’s strategy remains that of being the leader in France in both fixed line and mobile, he added.

The company also wants to participate in consolidation processes in other European jurisdictions where it is based. But any acquisition would be selective and would keep in mind the company’s objective in reducing its leverage ratio from its current 2.37x to around 2x in the medium term.

Richard dismissed that the company would seek to raise new capital via a rights issue in order to support an acquisition.

We don’t have the financial means that Vodafone [LSE VOD] has but we have other possibilities without resorting to a rights issue, he said.

The company could be “creative”, he said, and has strategies that allowed it to be present in consolidation processes “without spending a lot of cash”.

He added that Vodafone’s strong cash position, resulting from its sale of Verizon Wireless, could only impact Orange in Spain.

“But the large Countries were Vodafone could have growth ambitions, we are not present. I am thinking of Italy and Germany,” he said.

Orange was recently rumored to be considering a bid or Spain’s Jazztel [MCE:JAZ], following a failed bid by Vodafone for Spanish cable company ONO.

A Spanish sector source told this service that Orange had little appetite to bid aggressively in Spain, but if it were to focus on Spain, Jazztel would be its highest priority.

Orange would be much less likely to make a play for ONO, the banker and a person close to Orange said. The person added that Orange could also consider Yoigo.

As there is movement in the telco market in Spain, with a possible sale or IPO of ONO, “everyone was talking to everyone”, the person said.

In reaction to strong earnings/guidance: BORN +50.3%, ERII +18.9%, GRO +12.2%, AV +9.8% (also upgraded to Buy from Hold at Panmure Gordon), ORAN +9%, TKMR +8.3%, (also receives Fast Track designation from FDA for its anti-Ebola viral therapeutic), RNET +8.2%, NEON +7.1%, LOGI +6.1%, ZGNX +4.7%, RGEN +4.6%, VVTV +4.3%, SNSS +4.3%, ( sponsor study: combination of vosaroxin and decitabine is effective and well tolerated in older patients with AML and high-risk MDS), SPTN +3.1%, (light volume), PCOM +3.1%, DRIV +2.8%, ( announces repurchases of convertible debt; sees Q1 adjusted EPS of $0.08-0.12 vs $0.09 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, sees FY14 adjusted EPS of $0.41-0.51 vs $0.39 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate), CIEN +1.7%, SMTC +1.6%, BITA +1.2%, ESPR +0.7% (thinly traded), JOY +0.6%, GA +0.4%.

A few financial related names showing strength: SAN +1.3%, DB +1.1%, CS +1%, BAC +0.6% (to offer checking account with $4.95/monthly fee, according to reports), BBVA +0.3%.

Other news: SGMO +19.8% (reported first-in-man study of genome editing using Sangamo's ZFN technology published in NEJM ), PXLW +12.5% (disclosed established direct relationships with companies that manufacture high-end display systems; disclosed sales to top customers including Apple), BIOD +11.1% (announces commercial manufacturing agreement with Emergent BioSolutions for glucagon rescue product), DDXS +10.6% (announces exclusive U.S. licensing deal with Thermo Fisher Scientific), TKMR +9.6% (receives fast track designation from FDA for Anti-Ebola Viral Therapeutic), RGSE +6.3% (still checking), PSTI +5.9% (FDA approves Pluristem's commercial scale cell manufacturing process , OMER +4.9% (reports additional positive data from its OMS824 Phase 2a schizophrenia clinical trial; significantly higher drug exposure achieved with continued tolerability), NBS +4.5% (ticking higher, entered into a sponsored research collaboration with Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Schepens Eye Research Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School), SODA +4.4% (speculation of new investor stake), QUNR +4.3% (has received $300 mln investment from Bidu, according to reports), FCEL +3.5% (continued momentum), PPHM +2.8% (continued strength), VRNS +2.7% ( announces closing of its initial public offering of 4.8 mln shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $22.00), XGTI +2.4% (following yesterday's 130% move higher), CSTM +1.8% (announces secondary offering by selling shareholder), DRI +1.8% (has canceled out of investor meeting amid activist pressure, according to reports), CSIQ +1.5% ( Receives CAD48 Million Financing from Manulife), ARR +1.4% (authorizes co to increase the size of its existing stock repurchase authorization from $100 mln in value of its outstanding shares to an authorization for future repurchases of up to 50 mln shares of its outstanding common stock), PHG +1.4% (still checking), LBTYA +1.2% (still checking), GEVA +2.4% (announces pricing of 2 mln offering of common stock at $105.75 per share), ENDP +1.2% (announces FDA Approved AVEED), NVS +1.1% (announces Xolair approved in EU as first and only licensed therapy for chronic spontaneous urticaria patients unresponsive to antihistamines, ASC +1.1% (priced upsized public offering of 7,000,000 shares of its common stock at $13.50 per share (previously announced 6,000,000 shares), APC +1% (trading higher following positive Cramer mention), TSLA +0.9% (Model S has received sizable pre orders in China, according to reports), LNG +2.1% (WSJ discusses that House Republicans are pressing Obama to approve natural gas exports).

Analyst comments: AXLL +5.9% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman; tgt raised to $60 from $45), DRTX +3.6% (initiated with a Buy at ROTH Capital; tgt $20 ), HA +3% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank),BIIB +2.1% (Biogen Idec upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at BMO Capital Mkts; tgt raised to $422 from $286), NM +1% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel), NS +0.7% (upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan; tgt raised to $60 from $51)

In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance: AMCN -15.1%, SYNC -7.8% (light volume), BIOL -7.7%, ( CEO to continue at symbolic annual cash salary of $1.00), LOV -7.5%, (Spark Networks downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair), SPLS -6.7%, WX -6%, CCRN -4.4%, (light volume), BYD -2.6%, COST -2.6%, INTT -2.5%, (thinly traded), LRE -1.8%, (light volume), VIP -1.5%, (ticking lower), SN -0.3%, .

M&A related: TMUS -1% (late spike lower following Deutsche Telekom exec comments suggesting TMUS sale not in near-term), VIVHY -0.9% (following late spike; co has confirmed it received two binding offers for a controlling stake in its SFR subsidiary .

Select Russia/Ukraine related names showing early weakness: YNDX -2.8%, MBT -2.1%, MTL -1.7%, QIWI -1.4%.

Other news: DANG -7.6% ( CFO resigns effective April 10), BLDP -5.2% (modestly pulling back from recent momentum), SUI -3.3% (commences public offering of 4.2 mln shares of common stock), ODP -3.3% (following SPLS results), CRTO -3.2% (Criteo filed for $250,000,000 ADS offering), MXWL -2.8% (modestly pulling back), MPW -2.3% (announces public offering of 8 mln shares of its common stock, consisting of 7.7 mln shares offered by the co and 300,000 shares offered by selling stockholder), KGC -2.2% ( Unionized employees strike at Maricunga mine), TI -1.9% (still checking), BLDP -1.9% (modestly pulling back), CCL -1.5% (may be related to lawsuits from passengers), CUZ -1.4% (announces public offering of 8.7 mln shares of its common stock), HIMX -0.6% (Korea plans to offer K Glass to compete with GOOG Glass, according to reports), CHK -0.4% (Chesapeake Energy and Encana (ECA) may face Michigan antitrust charges, according to reports), RNG -0.2% (prices follow on public offering of 7.2 mln shares of Class A common stock, including 2 mln shares being sold by the co and 5.2 mln shares being sold by selling stockholders, at $21.50 per share).

Analyst comments: AUXL -6% ( downgraded to Underweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley), SXE -1% ( downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan; tgt lowered to $18 from $20)