(BFW) Orange Supports Atos’s Offer for Bull; Plans to Dispose Stake

Orange Supports Atos’s Offer for Bull; Plans to Dispose Stake
2014-05-28 14:41:06.23 GMT


By Sam Chambers
     May 28 (Bloomberg) -- Orange supports Atos’s offer for Bull
and plans to “dispose of the integrality of its 8%
participation,” co. says in statement.
  * Atos shrs rise as much as 2.5%
  * NOTE: Bull shareholder list here
  * Related: Atos offered EU620m for Bull on May 26


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

To contact the reporter on this story:
Sam Chambers in London at +44-20-7673-2021 or
schambers7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Ludden at +44-20-7673-2645 or
jludden@bloomberg.net

FT Lex : Metso: Weir not?

Metso: Weir not?

Finnish group should have at least discussed Weir’s latest proposal

Sometimes the flowers and the chocolates just don’t impress. Scottish engineer Weir Group approached Metso, its Finnish peer, on March 26th with an all-share offer. Metso refused to even discuss the proposal, even after Weir sweetened the deal by 13 per cent to €4.6bn. Those flowers having wilted, Weir will now slope away. Metso’s investors should ask why. Its share price on Wednesday dropped three per cent.

Weir’s last effort would have added a third to the undisturbed share price of €23. Not bad, really; hopeful traders had pushed the share price towards one-year highs. Moreover, Liberum believes that cost savings could improve earnings by a fifth, suggesting even greater upside to the combined company. Together Weir’s and Metso’s high margin after-market services plus the latter’s speciality in automation could make a good fit.
Admittedly, the Finnish company has changed a lot since the new year and perhaps needs to find itself. After spinning out its paper business, Valmet, management believes it needs more time to explain the new Metso’s strategy. When might management deliver this? Later this summer; again, no dates. Anyway, Metso believes that its key division, mining – three quarters of its profits – has hit bottom, so selling out at current prices would be premature. If true, one should expect a convincingly optimistic outlook for that industry at Metso’s next strategy day.
Metso may not know itself yet. Today its shares trade at just under 18 times this year’s estimated earnings, in line with most peers, and do not stick out as good value given single-digit earnings growth estimates through 2016. Unless Metso’s management can lay out a growth plan for the coming couple of years, it may remain a wallflower for some time.

(GS) ‘Double’ consolidation justifies further re-rating

* Convergence is raising competitive intensity
The impact of convergence continues to gain momentum. It means fixedonly
players are entering mobile and mobile-only players are responding
by moving into fixed. In the absence of M&A, we expect this increased
competitive intensity would restrict sector growth over the next five years.

* “Double” consolidation the remedy
We are cautious on the benefits of mobile consolidation. With little
evidence to support price repair optimism and likely heavy regulatory
concessions, we estimate mobile consolidation improves a market’s longterm
growth prospects by 1 pp pa. But we believe ongoing convergence
competitive pressures will drive “double” consolidation – a second layer of
consolidation between fixed and mobile players. We argue that this could
provide a further 1 pp of long-term growth improvement, reversing the
negative impacts of convergence and delivering modest sector growth.
With the sector generating c.US$1 tn of CF pre-capex over the next 5 years,
we estimate upwards of US$200 bn could be spent on M&A consolidation.

* Sector re-rating has potential to run further
We see several reasons for the sector to continue re-rating above its
ten-year peak multiple: declines are coming to an end and underlying
growth returning to pre-financial crisis levels on the back of lower
regulatory and macro headwinds; consolidation could improve the growth
outlook further. Our strategists argue the market cost of equity could
reduce by 1 pp in the medium-term; we model 8% for telecoms (from 9%).
We now see 15% weighted average upside for the sector.

* Picking the winners: TI added to CL Buy; BT, Iliad, LBTYA CL Buy
Our European telecoms structural framework helps identify winners and
losers in a convergent world, with fixed-only players best positioned. We
have also developed a screen to identify the countries most likely to benefit
from double consolidation. Overall, we see BT as the best way to play
convergence, Iliad and Telecom Italia as key beneficiaries of consolidation
and Liberty Global as a beneficiary of both. With TI added to the Conviction
List, all four stocks are CL Buy. Though the other large incumbents are
beneficiaries of consolidation, we argue this is largely reflected in
valuations; we retain Sell ratings on DT and Orange; we remove Belgacom
from our Conviction List but retain a Sell rating. Finally, we upgrade
ZonOptimus to Neutral from Sell following underperformance.

>>> McDonald's Corp Sees return of $18-20B in cash to shareholders over 2014-201


McDonald's Corp Sees return of $18-20B in cash to shareholders over 2014-2016

- Plans to return $18 to $20 billion to shareholders between 2014 and 2016 through a combination of dividends and share repurchases, representing a 10% to 20% increase over the amount of cash returned between 2011 and 2013; Refranchise at least 1,500 restaurants by the end of 2016, primarily in Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) and Europe, reflecting a more than 50% increase in refranchising activity compared with the prior three-year period; and Analyze G&A spending with the primary intent of reallocating resources to higher return initiatives and growth areas, including development of the Company's global digital capabilities.

FT : Stryker readies bid for UK's Smith & Nephew

Stryker, the US medical device maker, is preparing a takeover bid for UK rival Smith & Nephew, in what would be the latest multi-billion dollar healthcare deal to hit the market this year.

Stryker, which makes hip implants and knee replacements, has hired banks and is working on assembling finance for the bid, according to people familiar with the matter.

The process is at an early stage and the exact value Stryker is putting on Smith & Nephew could not be ascertained. However, any offer would likely be some way above the London-based group's £8.53bn market value, report the FT's Ed Hammond, Neil Hume and Andrew Ward.

An acquisition of Smith & Nephew would cut Stryker's tax bill using a so-called "inversion", under which a US company uses an overseas takeover to relocate its headquarters, thus avoiding US corporate tax obligations.

To qualify for an inversion, Styker, which has a market value of $30.5bn, would need to fund a large part of the deal with stock.

The medical device sector has already seen one blockbuster transaction this year. In April, Zimmer, the maker of the eponymous walking frame, agreed to acquire Biomet for $13.35bn.

Smith & Nephew has also been involved in its own dealmaking, with the announcement in February of a $1.7bn agreed takeover of AthroCare, a Texas-based medical devices company.

Consolidation in the healthcare sector is being driven reflects pressure to increase competitiveness as governments and healthcare providers try to ratchet down prices. Other big players in the medical devices market include Johnson & Johnson of the US.

Under the leadership of Olivier Bohuon, chief executive, Smith & Nephew has been diversifying into faster-growing businesses to offset sluggish demand for its replacement hip and knee joints.

Stryker did not immediately respond to request for comment. Smith & Nephew declined to comment.

The company's shares have jumped 14 per cent on the news a bid may be in the offing, to £10.85.

Fwd:>>> Buy Marks& Spencer Sell Ahold - Follow Up on trade idea

I still have 25% of the position left and I will use the move today to close this position as the spread is up 10% since we opened the position.
Thanks
Laurent
From: LAURENT CHEKROUN () At: May 13 2014 16:11:00
To: LAURENT CHEKROUN ()
Subject: Fwd:>>> Buy Marks& Spencer Sell Ahold - Follow Up on trade idea
The spread is up another 2% today, the strategy is up 6.15% net since set up I will take profit on half of what is left and will keep the balance because looks like there is some more upside...I put a stop on the last part of the trade at 5% perf ie 32.46 on the ratio.

----- Original Message -----
From: LAURENT CHEKROUN ()
To: LAURENT CHEKROUN ()
At: Apr 25 2014 10:49:16

Spread is up 4.9% since recommendation - I will take profit on half of the position.
Laurent

----- Original Message -----
From: LAURENT CHEKROUN ()
To: LAURENT CHEKROUN ()
At: Apr 22 2014 15:58:58

The spread is +4% since we set up on thursday....continue to think that there is some decent potential on this one.

we initiated @ 30.90 (Ratio), trading now @ 32.15 (4% higher), will start to unwind @ 34 (+10%)

Laurent

----- Original Message -----
From: LAURENT CHEKROUN ()
At: Apr 17 2014 12:22:05

{MKS LN Equity AH NA Equity GRT D <GO>}

* Marks & Spencer
- Company pulished on the 10/04 and was weak because of misunderstanding on Q4 Gross Margin Weakness, Company is expected to publish FY on the 20th of May...but numbers have been adjusted now
- M&S generak merchamfise should continue to head in the good direction, food is quite isolated from a branded food price war
- Strong execution from management and potential cash return could help the stock to rebound
- Historically MKS is trading with a 20% to UK Market P/E, trading only with 5% now

* Ahold
- Since Last publication on 27th of Feb stock outperformed the SXRP by 7%, publication can justify that move but there is no clear reason on fumdamentals
- weak LFL sales growth in the US (-2.1%) and in the Netherlands (-1.0%),
- Risk of stiffer competition and margin rebasing in the Dutch market (more powerful competitors, with in particular Jumbo)
- Still no real signs of pick-up in volumes or food inflation in the US
- It looks fully valued to us – trading at a 2014e P/E ratio of 13.7x vs 12.8x for peers

* The spread is trading on bery low historical levels - we can see a quick reversal, historical lows (-3.3% / 29.86 )
MKS 410 levels appear to be a strong support, stock can trade quickly to 460/470 levles
AH : 14 levels are a strong resistance, could see stock trading back on support 200d MA on 13 levels

BUY MKS SELL AHOLD