(BFW) KPN Falls; America Movil Now Holds 27.1% Stake

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KPN Falls; America Movil Now Holds 27.1% Stake 2014-02-12 08:29:02.944 GMT

By Sam Chambers Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- KPN falls as much as 4.3% vs Stoxx 600 telcos -0.2%, with volume reaching 73% of its 3-month daily avg in first 27 mins trading. * In its annual report, America Movil discloses 27.1% stake in KPN. Filing here * As of Aug. 2013, AMX held 29.7% stake in KPN, according to Bloomberg data. Holders here * NOTE: Under Dutch takeover law, companies must make full takeover offer when they surpass a 30% stake in a co. * NOTE: KPN said it expects AMX to retain its stake after takeover snub * NOTE: KPN downside limited by potential of renewed AMX bid: Citi

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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

(BFW) Omnicom-Publicis Merger Offers 17% Return Over 5 Yrs: Barclays

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Omnicom-Publicis Merger Offers 17% Return Over 5 Yrs: Barclays 2014-02-12 08:21:06.865 GMT

By Blanche Gatt Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Omnicom-Publicis merger cost savings, tax synergies to deliver very attractive 17% total shareholder return for investors over next 5 years, though no rev. benefits, Barclays says in note. * Barclays sees Publicis Omnicom Group (POG) generating 14% EPS expansion 2013-2018, with 3% avg. div. yield; attractive for shareholders of both cos * Reiterates overweight on Omnicom, PT $85 * Omnicom reported 4Q yday; stock closed down 1.6% * Publicis reports 4Q on tomorrow; preview here * Stock down 1% today after gaining 1.1% yday * NOTE yday: Publicis Shares Reach 14-Year High as Omnicom Beats Ests.

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--Editor: James Cone

To contact the reporter on this story: Blanche Gatt in London at +44-20-7392-0351 or bgatt@bloomberg.net

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

>>> Wolseley plc To acquire Puukeskus in Finland

Wolseley plc To acquire Puukeskus in Finland
- Has agreed to acquire Puukeskus, a building materials distribution business in Finland with 23 branches, from funds advised by Triton along with a portfolio of freehold properties used by the business. Puukeskus generated revenue of £190 million and trading profit of approximately £4 million in the year ended 31 December 2013. On completion approximately 400 employees will join the Group and the business will be integrated with Wolseley's Starkki business in Finland which has 22 branches. Completion is subject to receiving the appropriate clearance from the Finnish Competition Commission.

(BFW) Actelion Buy Repeated at Vontobel; Big Pharma May Be Interested

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Actelion Buy Repeated at Vontobel; Big Pharma May Be Interested 2014-02-12 07:59:42.465 GMT

By James Ludden Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Opsumit progress prompts Vontobel to repeat buy rating, confirm peak sales forecast of CHF2.5b. * Actelion may attract interest again from “big pharma,” as co.’s long-term value is secured: Vontobel * Today: Actelion’s Opsumit May Face Study Comparing Gilead’s Letairis

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--Editor: James Cone

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

FT : China notches record imports of key commodities

China notches record imports of key commodities

Fresh credit lines in the first month of the year combined with restocking ahead of the long Chinese New Year holiday drove up Chinese imports of oil and some key commodities to record highs in January.

Imports of crude oil, copper and iron ore are often watched for insight into the strength of the Chinese economy, but the western and Chinese New Year holidays often distort data in the month in which they fall.

January’s records do not necessarily portend strong imports for the coming months, although iron ore is expected to continue to flow in.

Imports of unwrought copper hit a record high of 536,000 tonnes, Chinese customs data showed on Wednesday, up 21 pct from the month before as buyers who had used up their credit lines at the end of 2013 restocked.

In addition to manufacturers of copper products, copper importers include real estate developers and other credit-starved industries that open lines of credit to import copper then sell the metal in domestic markets to raise cash.

Crude oil imports hit a fresh record of 6.65m barrels a day, reflecting the start-up of new refineries in the provinces of Fujian and Sichuan. A new strategic petroleum reserve due to begin operations may also have boosted imports, said Barclay’s analyst Sijin Cheng.

Iron ore imports reached a record 86.8m tonnes, a 22 per cent rise on the previous month, as producers in Australia and Brazil pushed more of the steel-making commodity into China.

This helped to push down iron prices as inventories built at Chinese ports. According to Shanghai-based consultancy Steelhome, iron ore stocks at major Chinese ports now stand at a near-record 97.25m tonnes.

Benchmark iron ore prices as assessed by the Steel Index have fallen from $135 a tonne at the start of the year to $120 earlier this week.

Citi analyst Ivan Szpakowsk said exports from Australia and Brazil were likely to fall in February because of adverse weather conditions that had hit production there.

Unexpectedly strong Chinese steel production – which peaked at 2.2m tonnes a day in May – helped boost iron ore imports over the past year. Steel output has since dropped to about 2m tonnes a day as of mid-January and seaborne iron ore prices have also softened to six-month lows.

But high-grade imports are likely to continue to see strong demand from Chinese mills, displacing low-grade and relatively expensive domestic ore.

(Citi) Shire - still positive but removing from Focus List

Still positive but removing from Focus List — We update our forecasts to reflect
the disposal of Dermagraft, resulting in 2014-19E EPS upgrades of 2-6% and a
CAGR of 11% (sector on 13x 2015E PE offering 10%). Our new PT of £36 is based
on the mid-point of our 2015E PE valuation of 15x and our DCF valuation of £39
(WACC 7.5%, g=0%). Shire has outperformed significantly over the last six months.
With deal flow now a more important driver of further outperformance, and
competitive/patent/execution risks to consider, we remove Shire, and add Roche, to
Citi’s Focus List. Our other preferred names include Novo Nordisk, Novartis, and
BMS/PFE in the US. With this note we transfer coverage to Peter Verdult.

(Citi) Changes to Citi Focus list Europe Roche in Shire Out

* Adding Roche — We believe Roche (ROG.VX; SFr255.60; 1) will be one of the
key beneficiaries in the developing immunotherapy opportunity. Roche pipeline
provides sufficient optionality to offset concerns about 1) future competitive risks to
Avastin, 2) pricing risk from biosimilars, 3) competition for Rituxan in from several
new agents under development. We continue to think that Roche will utilise its
strong balance sheet to diversify away from oncology. Moreover, we believe the
market is attributing minimal value to Roche's multiple high probability novel
immunotherapies in clinical development. Roche management have historically
underplayed the potential for immunotherapy, but simultaneously extensive
business development over the past 6-12 months means that Roche now have
arguably the most extensive portfolio of novel multi-modality immunotherapy assets
in the industry. We anticipate that Roche will present very positive data for their anti-
PDL1 in bladder cancer at ASCO (June 2014), which is a $4bn potential opportunity.
Please click here for full details: Roche Holding AG (ROG.VX).

* Removing Shire — Still positive but removing Shire (SHP.L; £31.59; 1) from Focus
List: We update forecasts to reflect the disposal of Dermagraft, resulting in 2014-
2019E EPS upgrades of 2-6% and a CAGR of 11% (sector on 13x 2015 PE offering
10%). Our new PT of £36 is based on the mid-point of a 2015 PE valuation of 15x,
and DCF valuation of £39 (WACC 7.5%, g=0%). Shire has outperformed
significantly over the past six months. With deal flow now a more important driver of
further outperformance, and competitive/patent/execution risks to consider, we
remove Shire and add Roche to Citi’s Focus List. Other preferred names include,
Novo Nordisk, Novartis, and BMS/PFE in the US. Please click here for full details:

(Citi) Roche : added to Citi Focus list - note attached

Summary and Investment Conclusion — We reiterate our BUY on Roche and
increase our price target to SFr300 (from SFr280) and add Roche to Citi's EU
Focus List. Our EPS forecasts increase c.3-8% in 2018-20 and are now c.20%
ahead of consensus in 2018e. Our DCF increases to SFr306. We believe the
market is attributing minimal value to Roche's multiple high probability novel
immunotherapies in clinical development, including checkpoint blockers, immunestimulators,
DNA and peptide vaccines, bi-specific TCRs and small molecules.

WSJ : Germany to Comb Museums for Nazi-Looted Art



Germany to Comb Museums for Nazi-Looted Art

Decision Follows Fresh Revelation of Cache Held by Son of Nazi-Era Dealer
The house of German Cornelius Gurlitt in Salzburg in November. More than 60 additional works have been discovered in Gurlitt's Austrian home. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
BERLIN—Germany will set up an independent center to comb museum collections for art looted by the Nazis, the country's culture minister said, shortly before representatives for the son of an art dealer tied to Hitler disclosed another hidden cache of paintings.

The discovery of more unrecorded treasures, including paintings by Impressionist masters Monet, Renoir and Manet, was likely to add fuel to the firestorm of criticism over Germany's record in dealing with potentially looted art.

Representatives of Cornelius Gurlitt, whose vast collection was seized in 2012 by Munich prosecutors, revealed that he had dozens more works stashed outside the country in a second home in Salzburg, Austria.

Several families of Holocaust victims have laid claims to some of the 1,400 works seized in Munich as part of a tax investigation. Among them are relatives of Anne Sinclair, the ex-wife of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who are claiming a Matisse portrait that experts say could fetch up to $20 million at auction.

Unlike the Munich trove, none of the 60 pieces found in Austria appears on databases of Nazi-looted art, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The Munich art consisted largely of works on paper; the Salzburg collection is mainly paintings, as well as one Picasso work on paper, this person said. Paintings typically far outstrip paper works in price.

Culture Minister Monika Grütters, an art historian and parliamentarian, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the Gurlitt case had revealed weaknesses in Germany's restitution system.

The various institutions that share responsibility for art restitution had been "a bit shy in their public relations activities," she said, speaking from her office in Angela Merkel's chancellery, overlooking Berlin's government district.

"These are delicate matters to articulate," she said. Many German museums had underestimated "the emotional components" of the debate, she said. "It's a matter of earning back trust."

Authorities in the German state of Bavaria kept the existence of the Munich collection secret for nearly two years as their investigation progressed, without examining their provenance. That prompted renewed scrutiny of Germany's record in researching and returning looted art.

Bavarian officials have defended their decision to keep the trove secret, despite international guidelines on art restitution that Germany signed in 1998, by saying that the works were part of a confidential tax investigation and their provenance was immaterial to the case.

Lawyers and international art experts as well as U.S. and Israeli diplomats have called the country's procedures to establish ownership of disputed artworks slow and the legal framework governing restitution weak. They also have criticized German museums as being reluctant to open their collections to scrutiny.

The vehemence of the criticism took government officials aback in a country that has won praise for its efforts to compensate Holocaust victims and generally take responsibility for years of Nazi terrors.

The revelations about 60 other works that Mr. Gurlitt had in Salzburg—even though outside Germany—could rekindle the debate.

The legal guardian, lawyer and spokesman for the octogenarian collector went to the house with an insurance agent Sunday and loaded up the artwork, the person familiar with the situation said.

The three representatives are having experts catalog and store the works in an undisclosed facility, light- and temperature-controlled, outside Germany to avoid confiscation by authorities, this person said.

Mr. Gurlitt hasn't lived in the Salzburg house since 2011 and his team hadn't visited it before, this person said. Some of the works they found there were in bad condition while others were "unharmed," this person added.

His representatives declined to comment publicly beyond a statement announcing the discovery.

It is unclear how many lost works from Impressionist and modern masters are still in existence. Many works registered in the artists' records, like the Matisse Ms. Sinclair claims or a Max Liebermann also claimed by Jewish heirs from the Munich trove, were missing and presumed destroyed in the war until the Gurlitt discovery upended that assumption.

Ms. Grütters's proposed provenance research center, the exact blueprint for which is being completed in talks with Germany's 16 state governments, would operate at arm's length from German museums and from the government, she said Monday, in her first interview with an international newspaper since taking office in December.

Her proposal would address what art experts and historians have long seen as a weakness in Germany's restitution policies: The absence of an independent organization with the money and authority to conduct research into museum holdings.

So far, most historians culling state and local museum collections for possibly looted art are employed by the individual museums.

Ms. Grütters said the center's legal and financial structure could be determined as early as March and it could start operating this autumn.

She declined to name the institution's expected budget but said the government's annual spending on provenance research should be doubled from its current €2 million ($2.7 million) a year and some of these activities bundled into the new structure. Including overhead, this could leave the center with an annual budget just shy of €10 million.

Ms. Grütters warned the initiative shouldn't be understood as an attempt to relieve museums of their duty to scour their vaults for loot.

"The museums must take a new approach: Their work will not only be judged by which exhibitions they hold, how many visitors they have and which purchases they make but also by how they handle their own histories," said Ms. Grütters. "We shouldn't make it too easy and say 'The national government should do it.'"

Culture in Germany is largely a regional affair. Currently, 12% of spending on cultural projects, including museums, is paid out of the federal budget, with 43% coming from state—or Länder—governments and 44% from municipalities. Ms. Grütters would like the Länder to participate in the effort to beef up provenance research, including financially.

This federal structure is often invoked as a reason why Germany has lagged behind in its restitution system. But museum directors—who typically refrain from criticizing other countries—were shocked at the extent to which the Gurlitt case highlighted the weaknesses of the country's framework.

"If you had asked me a year ago if a situation like Gurlitt could have happened, I would have said 'absolutely not,'" said Martin Roth, the head of London's Victoria & Albert Museum, who in January digitized all 479 pages of the list of art labeled "degenerate" by the Nazis on the V&A's website.

Ms Grütters said her ministry would also throw its weight behind a recent proposal being heard by the upper house of parliament to change Germany's 30-year statute of limitations as it applies to art looted by individuals from World War II victims.