WSJ : Peru Expects Record 2014 Mining Investment

Peru Expects Record 2014 Mining Investment

President Humala Made Statement in Television Interview

LIMA, Peru—As companies develop new projects expected to boost the country's mineral output, Peru is expected to see a record inflow of mining investments in 2014, President Ollanta Humala said.

Mr. Humala said in a year-end television interview that mining investments are expected to total $14 billion next year, which would be an annual record.

The mining sector is an important source of private-sector investments in Peru, one of the world's biggest producers of base and precious metals. In 2012, Peru's mining investments totaled a record $8.6 billion. Mines and Energy Minister Jorge Merino said recently that mining investments this year will be greater than in 2012.

Peru has a pipeline of mining projects worth some $55 billion. New projects are expected to more than double Peru's copper production by 2016, according to the government. Peru is the world's third biggest producer of copper. It is also a major producer of gold, silver, and zinc, among other minerals.

Economists say the increase in mineral production will support Peru's economic growth over the next few years as metal prices have weakened. Peru's economy has slowed this year in large part due to lower metal prices, which have hurt exports.

Large-scale mining projects being developed in Peru include Glencore Xstrata GLNCY +0.23% PLC's $6 billion Las Bambas copper deposit, a $4.4 billion expansion at Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde SAA, and HudBay Minerals Inc. HBM.T +0.35% 's $1.8 billion Constancia project.

Government officials also expect companies to restart work at a number of projects that have been put on hold due to community opposition. In December, officials said that Southern Copper Corp. SCCO +1.43% could receive government approval for its delayed $1 billion Tia Maria project in the next 90 days and start construction in the second quarter of 2014.

Work at Newmont Mining Corp.'s NEM -1.04% majority-owned Minas Conga copper and gold project, which will require investments of $5 billion, could also restart in 2014, government officials said recently.

Violent protests against Minas Conga in 2012 led the company to suspend work on the construction of the mine. The company is currently building water reservoirs that it hopes will help it win over local support by ensuring communities' water supply.

The conflict over Minas Conga's was one of President Humala's main challenges during his first year in office. The successful development of the project would be a victory for Mr. Humala's administration and a sign that his government is able to resolve community opposition that has delayed billions of dollars in mining investments.

During the interview, Mr. Humala said he backs the development of Minas Conga, but stressed that his government is more focused on helping residents in Cajamarca by developing infrastructure and providing social programs.

"For me the people are more important," Mr. Humala said. "Conga is trivial in the history of the country."

FT : Fed getting it wrong tops list of investor concerns

Bears had a tough 2013. Too much went disappointingly right. Equities rose globally. The eurozone failed to fall back into crisis. Squalls in emerging markets faded. After initial missteps, the US Federal Reserve calmed investors’ worries about its plans to scale back, or taper, its asset purchases.
Even if markets ended the year in bullish mood, however, there is plenty that could go wrong in 2014. The share rally is based on expected, not actual, profits growth, but economic prospects remain fragile – especially in stressed European regions. The Fed has to gauge its tapering so as not to stall the US recovery, or shock emerging markets. And that is before all the unknown events that could throw up unexpected crises.

Top of many known worries lists is that the Fed’s control of events will slip. “The biggest risk for 2014 is definitely the risk of the Fed getting it wrong,” says Didier Saint-Georges, investment committee member at Carmignac.
US Treasury yields have risen this year but bond market volatility has been low. Mr Saint-Georges warns: “What is kept artificially stable is often what is most risky. It’s like the turkey analogy; a turkey that is fed regularly in the run-up to Christmas turns about to be the least safe bird of all.”
Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive of Pimco, worries about a mishap as central banks switch from “policy-induced growth to higher, durable and more inclusive private sector-led growth . . . In each case – that of the Fed, the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan – the policy transition is complex. It involves changes in an already highly experimental policy mix.”

(BFW) Switzerland Says Khodorkovsky Given Schengen Visa for 3 Months

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Switzerland Says Khodorkovsky Given Schengen Visa for 3 Months 2013-12-30 14:52:21.786 GMT

By Catherine Bosley Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Swiss foreign ministry spokeswoman Sonja Isella comments in e-mailed statement. * Swiss foreign ministry declines further comment on Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s visa, citing privacy concerns

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

--Editor: Paul Verschuur

To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Bosley in Zurich at +41-44-2244134 or cbosley1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at +44-20-7673-2841 or cstirling1@bloomberg.net

(BN) Harold Simmons, Corporate Raider and GOP Contributor, Dies at 82

NL Industries (NL +4.6%), Kronos (KRO +2.6%) and Valhi (VHI +2%) are higher off the open following death of Chairman Harold Simmons
Harold Simmons, Corporate Raider and GOP Contributor, Dies at 82
2013-12-30 07:23:50.21 GMT


By Brendan Coffey and Patrick Chu
     Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Harold C. Simmons, the Texas
corporate raider nicknamed the “Ice Man” after structuring
leveraged takeover bids using junk bonds in the 1970s and ’80s,
has died. He was 82.
     Texas Governor Rick Perry and state Attorney General Greg
Abbott confirmed his death in separate statements. Simmons was
hospitalized at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas two
weeks ago and died on Dec. 28, according to the Dallas Morning
News, citing his wife, Annette. The cause of death wasn’t
disclosed.
     Simmons supported Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012
presidential election and gave more than $15.7 million to
Republican super-political action committees in that contest
cycle, according to Bloomberg News. He was known for his
charitable giving as well, donating $177 million to the
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; in all more
than $400 million to medical and educational causes, mostly in
Texas.
     “Harold Simmons lived the American dream,” Abbott said.
“His path began with the purchase of a small drug store, and
through hard work and the free enterprise system, he was able to
turn that investment into one of the greatest American success
stories of all time.”
     Simmons was born during the depths of the Great Depression
to two schoolteachers in Wood County, Texas, in a home without
electricity or plumbing. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from
the University of Texas, where he earned a master’s degree in
economics and played basketball, he worked as a bank auditor
before buying his first drugstore in Dallas in 1960 for $5,000
cash and a $95,000 loan.

                         Use of Leverage

     Over the next 12 years, he turned it into a 100-store chain
scattered across Texas, with a boost from an $18 million
leveraged buyout of Ward’s Drug Store in 1969. He sold the chain
to Eckerd Corp. in 1973 for more than $50 million.
     Subsequent deals, such as his investment in titanium
products maker Valhi Inc., typified his ability to recognize
underpriced assets and exploit his adeptness for numbers and
finance, skills that led him to the forefront of the leveraged
buyout craze of the 1980s.
     Over the years, he owned a sugarbeet processor, a savings
and loan and fast-food restaurants. He made headline-generating,
if unsuccessful, bids to buy defense contractor Lockheed Corp.
and Pacific Southwest Airlines.
     “They call me a takeover artist and make you think I come
and steal something,” he told D Magazine in a September 1982
profile. “Hell, I offer to buy that stock at a higher price
than anyone else will pay.”

                        Billionaire Ranks

     Simmons’s net worth rose to $8 billion in 2013, according
to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He was the 158th richest
individual in the world when he died and the 56th wealthiest in
the U.S., according to the daily ranking.
     He was the owner and chairman of Contran Corp., a closely
held company that controlled a number of industrial businesses,
including Kronos Worldwide Inc., the world’s largest mining
operation of ilmenite, the raw material used for titanium
products such as white pigment titanium oxide and titanium metal
products. Through NL Industries Inc., he produced security
products, ball bearings and ergonomic desk equipment. Valhi, his
biggest holding, owns Waste Control Specialists, a 1,338-acre
Texas facility that disposes of radioactive waste.
     “Harold Simmons was one of my best friends, and it’s never
easy to say goodbye to close friends,” Texas oilman T. Boone
Pickens Jr. said in a statement. “He was a passionate person --
passionate about his family, his business, philanthropy and
politics. We should all leave such a rich legacy behind.”

For Related News and Information:
Bloomberg Billionaires Index: RICH <GO>
Obituaries: NI OBIT <GO>

--Editors: Greg Ahlstrand, Paul Panckhurst

To contact the reporters on this story:
Brendan Coffey in Boston at +1-617-210-4635 or
bcoffey10@bloomberg.net;
Patrick Chu in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-8460 or
pachu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Patrick Chu at +81-3-3201-8460 or
pachu@bloomberg.net

(NY Post) Hedge fund titan to pocket $3B for 2013

It could be one heckuva New Year’s Eve party for hedge fund titan David Tepper — again.
The founder of Appaloosa Management, with more than $20 billion under management, is looking at a possible $3 billion-plus payday in 2013, which could make him the highest paid hedgie.
That’s quite a feat, especially after Tepper’s 30 percent gain last year earned him $2.2 billion and the top spot on Institutional Investor Alpha’s annual “Rich List” of the top 25 hedge fund managers.
Tepper’s Palomino fund was up 38 percent, after fees, as of Nov. 30, according to an investor, making the 56-year-old one of the few in his business to post a return higher than the 29.1 percent gain of the S&P 500.
Also in the running for highest-paid hedgie is John Paulson, whose $20 billion firm is experiencing a comeback after years of double-digit losses. One of Paulson’s funds has gained 55 percent, but others are still below their high-water mark.
Tepper puts his success down to equal parts good strategy and good karma.
As for strategy in the brave new post-2008 world, he has transformed himself from being one of the savviest distressed debt investors into a top macro investor — or betting on worldwide trends.
For karma, he points to the tens of millions he gave to New Jersey food banks and shelters during the 2008 financial crisis in order to keep them going and the similar efforts made during Hurricane Sandy last year.
His investing perspective was unpopular in the hedge fund world over the past few years, as he refused to buy into the inflation hysteria that led so many managers to attack the Federal Reserve for its quantitative easing. Tepper thought depression was government’s greater concern — and still does. As a result, he didn’t get into the gold mania that cost peers like Paulson dearly.
He also foresaw the bull market that Fed easing would create and started buying bank stocks in late 2008, when other managers thought they could end up being nationalized.
“We always believed in this country,” Tepper told The Post. “We said it in 2008 and 2009 and again and again. We are on the verge of great things.”
That belief is mirrored in his investments in US airline stocks, like Delta Air Lines and United Continental Holdings, which are up 128 percent and 57 percent, respectively, year to date. Airlines accounted for more than $600 million of his portfolio as of Sept. 30.
Appaloosa has an annualized return of 27 percent since Tepper launched it in 1993, shortly after leaving Goldman Sachs.
What’s more, his returns have gotten better as the fund has grown larger, a contrast to the norm. He regularly returns money to investors to keep from getting too big. This year he expects to give back a little less than $2 billion.
As a result, Tepper owns a good chunk of the fund, a percentage he doesn’t disclose.

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down

M&A news: CTB -5.7% (Cooper Tire Terminates Merger Agreement with Apollo Tyres), VOD -0.6% (takeover of local unit has been approved by Indian regulator, according to reports out).

A few financial related names showing weakness: NBG -3.1%, ING -0.8%, BCS -0.7%, HBC -0.6%.

Metals/mining stocks trading lower: ABX -1.6%, HL -1.4%, NEM -1.2%, GG -1.2%, GDX -1.2%, SLV -1.1%, GLD -1%, AU -0.9%, BBL -0.6%.

Select social media names pulling back: TWTR -1.8%, FB -1.1% (reports out over the weekend indicate FB is losing popularity with UK teens; NYPost discusses that Nasdaq (NDAQ) plans to pay claims related to Facebook IPO at the end of the year), LNKD -0.1%, .

Other news: WPCS -19% (modestly pulling back; disclosed that it received a notice of resignation from CohnReznick LLP, the company's independent registered public accounting firm), MYGN -10.1% (disclosed CMS update - will address a number of both substantive and process concerns; downgraded at JMP and tgt lowered at Piper Jaffray), CWTR -1.3% (extends term of its Chairman to facilitate the Co's ongoing exploration of strategic alternatives), SNY -1.3% (Genzyme receives complete response letter from FDA on Lemtrada; complete response letter informs companies that an application is not ready for approval), BMY -1.2% (still checking), EXPR -1.1% (still checking), LPS -0.9% (RNR to replace Lender Processing Services in the S&P MidCap 400), PHG -0.9% (light volume; still checking), NOK -0.7% (announced that Jesper Ovesen is to step down as Executive Chairman of Nokia Solutions and Networks), GE -0.5% ( issues report on Hudson River project), AAPL -0.5% (Apple disclosed that its Board and management oppose shareholder buyback proposal).

Analyst comments: POZN -2.8% (downgraded to Neutral from Strong Buy at Ascendiant).

>>> Cable & Wireless Communications Discloses Unwind of Monaco disposal pact wi


Cable & Wireless Communications Discloses Unwind of Monaco disposal pact with Bahrain communications group Batelco
- Agreed with Batelco to unwind the previous transfer of a 25% shareholding in Compagnie Monegasque de Communication SAM ("CMC") from CWC to Batelco. CWC has re-paid to Batelco the US$100 million paid by Batelco to CWC upon completion of the Islands disposal and Batelco has re-transferred to CWC the 25% shareholding in CMC. All option arrangements between CWC and Batelco in relation to CMC have terminated.


***Reminder: On Dec 3rd, there were reports that CWC would sell Monaco and Islands unit for $680M in cash to Batelco, with option for another $345M

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
Select solar related names showing strength: TSL +8% ( signs investment framework agreement to develop 1GW solar power plant project in Xinjiang, Western China), YGE +2.5%, JASO +1.9%, SOL +0.6% (ReneSola signs Memorandum of Intent to sell three utility-scale projects in China).

A few oil/gas names are modestly higher: WFT +1.1% RIG +0.9%

In the news: CROX +8.8% (Crocs announced that an investment fund affiliated with Blackstone has agreed to purchase $200 mln of newly issued series A convertible preferred stock; CEO McCarvel announced retirement; sees Q4 EPS and revs at low end of prior ranges), PRCP +8.3% (still checking), KNDI +8.2% (continued strength), BIOL +6.5% (ticking higher, Biolase granted canadian license to sell its EPIC 10 soft-tissue diode laser), JDSU +3.6% (still checking), ATHM +3.1% (continued strength), RNR +2.8% (to replace Lender Processing Services in the S&P MidCap 400), PPHM +2.2% (files for $100 mln common and preferred stock offering in S-3 filing; initiates Sunrise pivotal Phase III clinical trial of bavituximab in second-line non-small cell lung cancer), JCP +2.2% (still checking), VVUS +1.4% (received 'generally positive' feedback from CHMP on AQCLAIM/OB-401), BIIB +1% (following WSJ report highlighting cheap stocks), VISN +1% (continued strength), CCL +0.7% (still checking), PPO +0.6% (announces settlement and license agreement with Sumitomo Chemical), WU +0.6% (still checking), KO +0.5% (ticking higher following positive Barron's mention), BITA +0.5% (continued strength), WMT +0.2% (following positive Barron's mention as defensive play of downsizing).

Analyst comments: DIS +0.7% (Disney upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Guggenheim)

(BFW) Sanofi CVR Falls 72% After FDA Rejects MS Drug Lemtrada

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Sanofi CVR Falls 72% After FDA Rejects MS Drug Lemtrada 2013-12-30 13:06:44.627 GMT

By Catherine Larkin Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Sanofi CVR (GCVRZ) falls as much as 72% pre-mkt to 23c. * CVR holders were due to get $1 if Lemtrada won FDA approval before March 31 and as much as $12 more for certain global sales milestones * NOTE: Earlier, Sanofi Multiple Sclerosis Drug Fails to Win FDA Approval; Sanofi Plans to Appeal FDA Decision

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

To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Larkin in Chicago at +1-312-443-5968 or clarkin4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joanna Ossinger at +1-212-617-7789 or jossinger@bloomberg.net

>>> FB US : According to a study from Global Social Media Impact Study funded by

According to a study from Global Social Media Impact Study funded by the EU, 16-18 yos in UK have moved off Facebook to Snapchat, Instagram and WhatsApp - BBC
- Reason for large decline of teens use on Facebook is they don't want to use something that is now frequented by their parents.
- Head researcher drew attention to his research by putting out the line Facebook, dead, and buried among teenagers.