Charter Seen Eyeing Cox After Time Warner Cable Rebuff: Real M&A

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Charter Seen Eyeing Cox After Time Warner Cable Rebuff: Real M&A 2014-02-18 00:00:00.1 GMT

(For more news on the Comcast-TWC deal, see EXT2 <GO>.)

By Brooke Sutherland Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Charter Communications Inc. may not lick its wounds for long before trying to grab another piece of the consolidating U.S. cable industry. Comcast Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts swooped in last week to buy Time Warner Cable Inc. for $45 billion, nabbing the second-largest U.S. cable provider out from under Charter CEO Tom Rutledge’s nose. Charter, John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. and advisers are having a board meeting next week to discuss options, according to a person familiar with the matter. While Charter is unlikely to match Comcast’s bid, it will probably buy some of the 3 million subscribers Comcast plans to divest and then set its sights on another target, said Paul Sweeney of Bloomberg Industries. Closely held Cox Communications Inc., the industry’s No. 3 provider with about 4.4 million subscribers, may be an attractive consolation prize to bolster Charter’s subscriber ranks, said CRT Capital Group LLC. Bright House Networks LLC and Suddenlink Communications also could help Charter expand, said Raymond James Financial Inc. Charter and billionaire Malone “have already made it clear that scale is important in this industry,” Lance Vitanza, a Stamford, Connecticut-based managing director and analyst at brokerage CRT Capital, said in a phone interview. “At this point the most likely strategy is to accept defeat and move on to other acquisitions.” Alex Dudley, a spokesman for Charter, declined to comment on the company’s plans. A representative for Cox said the company isn’t for sale.

Comcast Bid

Time Warner Cable last week agreed to sell itself to Philadelphia-based Comcast in a stock deal valued at $158.82 a share when it was announced. The offer was 20 percent higher than Charter’s rejected bid of $132.50. Charter is unlikely to be able to acquire the New York- based cable operator now, said Tuna Amobi, a New York-based equity analyst at S&P Capital IQ. Two days before the surprise agreement with Comcast, Charter had nominated a full slate of directors to Time Warner Cable’s board. “It’s hard to imagine that they’re going to be pushing ahead with the proxy battle,” Amobi said. “The case for the superiority of Comcast’s offer was well made.” Charter is unlikely to match Comcast’s bid and is willing to study any assets Comcast would sell, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations were private. Buying Time Warner Cable will add more than 11 million residential subscribers to Comcast’s 21 million video customers, compared with 4.3 million for Charter.

Acquiring Subscribers

The 3 million subscribers that Comcast may divest could be worth about $17.6 billion, based on the value that the Time Warner Cable bid placed on each subscriber, according to an analysis from Sweeney, director of North American research at Bloomberg Industries, and Geetha Ranganathan, a media analyst with Bloomberg Industries. Matthew Harrigan, an analyst at Wunderlich Securities Inc., estimates they could be valued at $13 billion to $16 billion. Picking up divested subscribers won’t be the end of Charter’s dealmaking, according to Sweeney. Malone, who owns a stake in Charter through Liberty Media, has said mergers will help the cable industry cope with the lower video profit margins caused by higher programming costs and fewer new customers. “John Malone’s stated intention is to participate in consolidation of the cable television industry,” Sweeney said in a phone interview. “He’s going to have to do a number of smaller deals to get to where he needs to be.”

Cox Talks

Cox held talks last year about combining with Charter, people familiar with the discussions said in August. Cox, which is owned by family-controlled Cox Enterprises Inc., would be an appealing takeover target for Charter because it has strong assets and is the next biggest target available after Time Warner Cable, said Sweeney and Vitanza of CRT Capital. Cox primarily provides cable services in the Southeast, Midwest and California. “It’s basically the only really big bite you could take,” Vitanza said. “It’s the only one that would really allow them to add meaningfully to their position.” Cablevision Systems Corp., the $4.4 billion cable operator controlled by the Dolan family, is another acquisition candidate, said Vitanza. Charter CEO Rutledge was chief operating officer at Cablevision until December 2011 and “knows those assets better than anyone else,” Vitanza said. Charter could afford to pay $25 a share for the company, 51 percent more than its closing price last week, he said.

New York

Malone, 72, said in October that he doesn’t see Cablevision as an appealing target because it’s entrenched in the New York market, giving it less room to grow. Bright House Networks or Cequel Communications Holdings, which operates as Suddenlink, could also draw interest from Charter, said Frank Louthan, an Atlanta-based analyst at Raymond James. Bright House has about 1.9 million subscribers, while Suddenlink has 1.2 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Mediacom Communications Corp., with about 960,000 subscribers predominantly in smaller cities and towns, is another possibility, said Amobi of S&P. A representative for Bethpage, New York-based Cablevision declined to comment. Bright House, Suddenlink and Mediacom, which are all closely held, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Lesser Options

Charter’s remaining options pale in comparison to Time Warner Cable, which it had been courting for months. The Cox family may not want to do a deal with Charter because it would add leverage, while Cablevision’s New York assets may not be a good fit for Charter, said Harrigan of Wunderlich. The other smaller operators don’t have enough subscribers to help Charter approach the size of Time Warner Cable and Comcast, he said. “Charter is in a situation where they can pick up some nice systems and it’s better than Time Warner Cable remaining intact, but it’s a far cry from becoming the sister to Comcast in terms of the domestic business,” Harrigan said in a phone interview. Comcast’s bid for Time Warner Cable still validates the need for consolidation in the cable industry, and Charter is one of the best positioned buyers, said Sweeney of Bloomberg Industries. After the shares more than doubled in two years, Charter had a market value of $13.5 billion last week. “A lot of cable companies are now probably stepping back and saying, ‘Maybe it is time to sell,’” he said. For Charter, “it just remains to be seen whether they can convince anybody to sell to them.”

For Related News and Information: Cox Said to Discuss Cable Merger With Malone-Backed Charter NSN MQX7786TTDTX <GO> Malone Seeking Consolation Prize After Second Deal Defeat NSN N0Z9QB6K50YR <GO> Marcus Secures Sweetheart Deal for Time Warner Cable: Real M&A NSN N0ZQ1P6VDKHS <GO> Time Warner Cable deal news: TWC US <Equity> TCNI MNA <GO> Charter deal news: CHTR US <Equity> TCNI MNA <GO> Bloomberg Industries - Cable & Satellite: BI CATV <GO> Real M&A columns: NI REALMNA <GO>

--With assistance from Alex Sherman and Laura Lorenzetti in New York. Editors: Sarah Rabil, Beth Williams

To contact the reporter on this story: Brooke Sutherland in New York at +1-212-617-0448 or bsutherland7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sarah Rabil at +1-212-617-5992 or srabil@bloomberg.net

>>> Grand City Properties places EUR 150m 1.5% five-year CB

Grand City Properties places EUR 150m 1.5% five-year CB

Grand City Properties S.A. (the “Company”) announces the successful placement of EUR 150m senior, secured convertible bonds convertible into new and/or existing ordinary shares having a par value of EUR 0.10 (the “Shares”) of the Company (the "Bonds"). Following an accelerated book building process, the Company fixed the nominal coupon at 1.50 % p. a., payable semi-annually in arrear. The initial conversion price was fixed at EUR 9.72 (equal to a premium of 27.5 % above the reference share price). The Bonds will be issued at 100% of their principal amount and will be redeemed at maturity at 106.65 % of their principal amount.

The offer was oversubscribed. Grand City Properties S.A. will receive gross proceeds of EUR 150m. The net proceeds will be used to fund the Company’s acquisitions pipeline. The Company is in advanced process of signing several acquisitions of various under-performing property portfolios with a total volume of more than EUR 200m. The portfolios under consideration are consistent with the Company's business strategy, and the geographic distribution is with primary focus on North Rhine Westphalia and Berlin.

Settlement is expected to take place on or around February 24, 2014. Inclusion of the Bonds to trading on the Open Market (Freiverkehr) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is expected to take place on the same day.

J.P. Morgan is acting as Sole Global Coordinator and together with Berenberg and Deutsche Bank as Joint Bookrunners, and Anoa Capital S.A. as Co-manager in relation to the transaction.


Source Company Press Release

(NYPost) Stephen Schwarzman is drilling up north for deals.

Stephen Schwarzman is drilling up north for deals.
The private equity mogul’s Blackstone Group is in serious talks with Canadian oil and gas giant Encana about purchasing some of its assets, two sources close to the situation told The Post.
Encana, based in Calgary, Alberta, said in January it was willing to sell its Deep Panuke natural gas project off Nova Scotia’s coast as it focused on five other core areas of production.
The Encana CEO said last week the company, though, was not actively trying to sell Deep Panuke.
Deep Panuke is a $1 billion project that benefits from higher gas prices when the cold grips the US Northeast, as is happening now.
Schwarzman in 2012 raised the $2.5 billion Blackstone Energy Partners fund to make controlling investments within the energy and natural resources sector.

>>> Soros doubles a bearish bet on the S&P 500, to the tune of $1.3 billion

{http://on.mktw.net/1gV3fj6} link to article

Soros doubles a bearish bet on the S&P 500, to the tune of $1.3 billion

Soros Fund Management has doubled up a bet that the S&P 500 SPX is headed for a fall.
Within Friday’s 13F filings news was the revelation that the firm, founded by legendary investor George Soros, increased a put position on the S&P 500 ETF SPY by a whopping 154% in the fourth quarter, compared with the third. (A put or short position basically gives the owner the right to sell a security at a set price for a limited time, and in making such a bet, an investor generally believes the security is going to decline.)
The value of that holding, the biggest position in the fund, has risen to $1.3 billion from around $470 million. It now makes up a 11.13% chunk of all reported holdings. It had been cut to 5.14% in the third quarter, from 13.54% in the second quarter, which itself marked another dramatic lift on the bearish call. The numbers can be found at Whalewisdom.com, which makes them slightly easier to digest than the actual SEC filing.
Writing on the Bullion Baron blog, Joseph has been quick to alert readers to the hedge fund’s bets on the S&P 500, offering up a summary of changes to that call from mid-2011 onward. For the four quarters of 2013, that short has followed a pattern of big highs and big lows.
Bullionbaron.com
Of course, Joseph said, the bearish S&P call could be a hedge and, as it’s six weeks into the next reporting period, it may have already been reduced or increased. But he said it could also be indicative of jitters: In January, Soros highlighted risks coming out of China and drew a comparison with the lead-up to the crash of 2008.

(BFW) Ghana Considers Cutting Jubilee Output 10% Or Flaring Gas

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BN 02/17 13:46 Ghana Considers Cutting Jubilee Output 10 Percent Or Flaring Gas BN 02/17 12:09 *GHANA ALSO CONSIDERS DELIVERING GAS DIRECTLY TO THERMAL PLANTS BN 02/17 12:09 *GHANA IN TALKS WITH JUBILEE FIELD OPERATORS BN 02/17 12:09 *GHANA TO DECIDE ON JUBILEE GAS ISSUE BEFORE END OF MONTH BN 02/17 12:09 *GHANA DEPUTY PETROLEUM MINISTER DAGADU COMMENTS BY PHONE BN 02/17 12:09 *GHANA CONSIDERS CUTTING JUBILEE OUTPUT 10% OR FLARING GAS

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Ghana Considers Cutting Jubilee Output 10% Or Flaring Gas 2014-02-17 13:50:44.40 GMT

By Nadine Skoczylas Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Ghana is discussing with the operators of the offshore Jubilee field to cut crude output by ~10 percent or flare gas to reduce amount of gas reinjected into the deposit. * Govt also considering shipping gas directly to thermal plants in Takoradi, bypassing a gas plant that has yet to open, Deputy Petroleum Minister Benjamin Dagadu told Bloomberg’s Ekow Dontoh today by phone from Accra, the capital * Tullow Oil is reinjecting gas at the field, limiting production to ~100k bbl/d Story Link:NSN N157LL6VDKHS<GO>

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

To contact the reporter on this story: Nadine Skoczylas in Jerusalem at +972-2-640-1103 or nelsibai@bloomberg.net

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

(BFW) Avocet Mining Jumps on Volume 6 Times Daily Average

{AVM LN Equity GPC D }
Avocet Mining Jumps on Volume 6 Times Daily Average
2014-02-17 12:47:57.249 GMT


By James Ludden
     Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Avocet rises as much as 47% to 2-
month high of 12.25p; VWAP 10.81p; vol. 6x daily average
  * Volume highest since Dec. 20, when stock fell ~26%
  * Trading today equivalent to 2.8% of shrs outstanding

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

To contact the reporter on this story:
James Ludden in London at +44-20-7673-2645 or
jludden@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew Rummer at +44-20-7073-3722 or
arummer@bloomberg.net

>>> Apple : interesting Regarding iPad launch in 2014...it really seems that Q2


Apple : interesting Regarding iPad launch in 2014...it really seems that Q2 could be quiet weak with no major launch even Q3 could be light....

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi-Kuo, who has a strong Apple product prediction track record, is out with a new report today with his expectations for the iPad line in 2014:
The iPad 2 will be discontinued in Q1 2014, and this lines up with a report from earlier this week. The iPad 2 has been on sale since March of 2011 and it sports old technologies such as a non-Retina display, 30-pin dock connector, and A5 processor, making it due for discontinuation. The iPad 2 has, however, remained popular in the education market, so perhaps Apple will keep that model around as an educational-only version of the iPad.
The fourth-generation iPad will go back into mass production in Q1 2014. Just like Apple brought the iPhone 4 back (at least for some regions), Kuo says the iPad 4 will be making an encore. The reasoning is unclear (perhaps to replace the iPad 2), but the device’s technologies are still strong with the Retina display, Lightning connector, and A6X system-on-a-chip.
The iPad Air will be updated in late Q3. Kuo says that this new iPad (unsurprisingly) will gain a more advanced processor (the A8 in all likelihood) and the Touch ID fingerprint reader from the iPhone 5s. A late Q3 launch would mean that the new iPad would arrive earlier than the October/November timeframe of last year’s models.
Chances of a new iPad mini in 2014 are “slim,” according to Kuo due to the popularity of the iPad Air and Apple’s focus on developing other new products this year. The iPad mini was updated with the A7 chip and Retina display in late-2013, so the current technology is fairly stable, and this makes an update not truly necessary this year.
Bigger iPad unlikely to launch this year. While Kuo says Apple is certainly developing a 12.9-inch version of the iPad to drive new applications, he says a 2014 launch is unlikely. If it happens this year, shipments will be limited. Why? Kuo says Apple’s software teams are focusing on finishing up the software for the impending iWatch, which is taking priority over the software enhancements necessary for a larger iPad display.
So, unlike in 2012 or 2013, Kuo is not expecting multiple new iPads this year. Instead, Apple will replace the aging iPad 2 with the faster iPad 4, keep the iPad mini at status quo, and beef up the popular iPad Air with the latest technologies.


FT : EU telecoms commissioner upbeat on reform progress

EU telecoms commissioner upbeat on reform progress

When Neelie Kroes, the EU’s telecoms commissioner, proposed last year to end roaming fees as part of her reforms to create a single European telecoms and digital market, she was met with stiff opposition from mobile operators.
Stéphane Richard, chief executive of France’s Orange, was among the senior European telecoms executives who claimed that scrapping roaming charges would cost them €7bn in lost “roaming” customer charges, deepening the woes of a sector already struggling with under-investment.

Almost a year on, however, Ms Kroes is in an upbeat mood as she prepares to attend Mobile World Congress, the industry’s biggest trade show, at the end of February.
“A year ago the sector was bleeding. But we’ve seen real progress. National leaders are signed up to the need for change and the MEPs are working like hell to agree to reform,” she told the Financial Times.
One of the reasons for her optimism is a change of heart by Mr Richard. Despite his earlier criticism, Orange recently became the latest operator in France to announce plans to scrap the additional charges for cross border mobile usage.
“Orange shares its customers’ conviction that using a mobile phone abroad should be worry free,” said Mr Richard in a statement last month. “[The] initiatives are designed to deliver on that promise, removing the need for many of our frequent roamers to even think about taking out a separate bundle.”
Ms Kroes said that mobile networks were waking up to the fact that charging more for cross-border calls made little business sense when most consumers simply turn off their phones to avoid the costs.
A survey by the EU of 28,000 people across Europe showed that nearly half of respondents avoided using mobile data when travelling in another country of the 28-nation bloc and a third never made phones calls due to roaming charges.
Ms Kroes called the results of the survey, which will be published on Monday, a “sort of boardroom nightmare”.
“You’ve got millions of businesses paying over the odds. What if you’re making a travel guide app – how are you supposed to sell it when everyone has their phone off? You can’t.”
This year’s Mobile World Congress may well be Ms Kroes’ last as EU telecoms commissioner given that her four-year term ends this year. But she believes her exit will be on a high note.
“Companies like Orange and Iliad have seen the light on roaming. 4G rollout is moving ahead. Telco share prices are up and the app sector is booming. Now isn’t the time to be complacent. Now is the time to finish the job.”

FT : Swaps market prepares for its big bang

Swaps market prepares for its big bang

The US swaps market is expected to begin a shift away from the predominance of telephone trading this week as it joins the 21st century in a move towards more tightly regulated electronic trading venues.
The changes are being ushered in by global regulators in the wake of the financial crisis, and come into effect on Tuesday, as trading of over-the-counter derivatives moves on to so-called swap execution facilities – Sefs.

Long viewed as a shadowy area of the financial market, OTC swaps trading has been dominated by large global banks and investors since its inception in the 1980s, but the collapse of some banks in 2008 revealed serious shortcomings within this bilateral system.
The efforts of regulators led by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has been to open up the swaps market to greater competition and price transparency. Last year, the credit risk between buyers and sellers of standard swaps was mutualised via centralised clearing houses, setting the foundation for rapid paced transactions on Sefs.
While Sefs facilitate electronic and voice based transactions, many in the industry expect the share of computer driven transactions will quickly escalate from their current very low level.
The biggest concern facing the market is whether banks, investors, clearing houses and operators of Sefs are really ready for showtime.
Jamie Cawley, chief executive officer at Javelin Capital Markets says the mandated era of swaps trading on Sefs, “will be a bit more dramatic than people think”.
He adds: “A number of market participants recognised long ago the inevitability of Sefs coming and have prepared for this. Others, however have not.”
Ahead of a hard Sef deadline, the CFTC has announced a number of temporary measures aimed at providing relief from possible last minute problems that could hamper an orderly start for Sefs.
Lee Olesky, chief executive officer at Tradeweb says: “It’s hard to measure readiness collectively across the market, there will be bumps in the road as the market makes the transition to Sef trading.”
Meanwhile there has been a scramble among some clients to sign up for Sef access, particularly at Bloomberg, whose data terminal is ubiquitous across trading floors.
“We are seeing quite a sizeable chunk of people coming on to the platform,” said Ben Macdonald, president of Bloomberg’s Sef. “The Sef is part of the terminal and it’s very integrated into our clients’ work flow.”
For interdealer brokers used to high commissions from executing billions worth of notional derivatives over the telephone on behalf of banks amid a raucous trading floor atmosphere, the winds of change are certainly blowing.
Michael Spencer, chief executive of ICAP, the biggest interdealer broker and which began in the 1980s with a specific focus on the then fledgling interest rate swaps market, is under no illusions that the old ways of doing business are ending.
“The market in interest rate swaps is still predominantly voice brokered but it’s not where we see it in the longer run,” he says.
ICAP, which already has large electronic franchises in Treasury and currency trading, is expected to be more able than many of its rivals to weather the increasingly competitive landscape, as the likes of Bloomberg, Tradeweb, MarketAxess, the CME Group and a host of start-ups vie for a slice of the swaps market.
As swaps begin trading on Sefs, an early shakeout is expected among the 20-or-so competing platforms.
Rick McVey, chief executive of MarketAxess, says the proliferation of venues, all interpreting the rules differently, will cause problems for dealers and investors. The high cost of running a venue will also be significant, he adds. “By the end of the year we will be down to around seven venues,” he predicts.
Mr Olesky says, based on the current size of the swap market, that it is hard to see demand for more than several Sefs across different asset classes.
Tradeweb, which has been facilitating US electronic derivatives transactions for more than eight years, is looking to provide investors with a variety of ways to trade swaps on a Sef, from streaming prices, anonymous order books, to a request for quote function.
“We are not picking a particular model, the market will evolve,” says Mr Olesky. “We have prepared ourselves for a number of outcomes and protocols given the different types of customers in the market.”
Mr Cawley said: “Sef volumes will increase and it remains to be seen whether customers and dealers use voice or trade electronically on Sefs, but the market will be forever changed.”