>>> GKN receives approaches for individual businesses; approval for takeover cou

GKN receives approaches for individual businesses; approval for takeover could be delayed due to CFIUS backlog - reports
28 JAN 2018
GKN [LON:GKN], an FTSE-100 engineering group, has received bid approaches for its individual businesses, the Financial Times reported.
The newspaper cited people with knowledge of the situation for the information.
One of GKN’s 20 largest shareholders told the newspaper that GKN has been approached more than ten times for its automotive arm since the company disclosed plans for a split into automotive and aerospace divisions, the item said.
GKN announced the split plans on 12 January, alongside confirmation that it had rejected an unsolicited takeover offer from the UK-based industrial group Melrose Industries [LON:MRO].
GKN’s automotive division has made a substantial investment in “eDrive,” an electric driveline technology used in hybrid electric vehicles, the report said.
The top-20 shareholder said a lot of companies will be looking to enter the eDrive market and predicted that eDrive will have huge growth in the coming 15 years.
GKN said last week that its revenues from its eDrive operations will be significantly bigger than expected due to contracts it has agreed since August, the item noted. The company said sales will grow from GBP 33m (EUR 37.5m) to GBP 500m over the next four years, according to the report.
GKN refused to comment, the item said.
Another person cited by the newspaper said GKN’s board would look at selling one of its divisions if the price was higher than Melrose’s offer. Melrose has tabled a hostile bid at 405p per share, which values GKN at GBP 7bn.
The report mentioned speculation that the Chinese automotive group SAIC Motor [SHA:600104] and the German company ZF Friedrichshafen are interested in GKN, but did not specify which business they are said to be interested in.
The person cited by the newspaper said GKN’s board would be reluctant to sell to a private equity buyer.
Separately, the report said GKN’s new CEO, Anne Stevens, has been trying to persuade shareholders of the merits of her strategy for the company, which also includes non-core asset disposals. Shareholders on the whole viewed Stevens’ transformation plan positively and have indicated that they are unhappy with Melrose’s offer, according to the newspaper.
Melrose has offered 1.49 of its own shares plus 81p cash for each GKN share and is likely to improve the share component of its bid rather than the cash portion, the report continued. A higher proportion of shares to cash would give GKN shareholders the opportunity to benefit more should Melrose succeed in improving the enlarged group’s performance, the article added.
Separately, The Daily Mail reported that any sale of GKN could be delayed by up to eight months as it would require the approval of the US Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS). GKN makes components for the US Air Force’s F-35 fighter jet and its G-21 stealth bomber, the item noted.
Some sources think CFIUS has a backlog of cases, which could lead to a delay of between six and eight months for a review of any GKN takeover, the report said.
The newspaper went on to quote a US Treasury spokesperson, who would not comment on any backlog.
A takeover of GKN would also require the approval of other US regulators and of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy, as well as from France’s Ministry of Economy, the report added.
GKN's share price closed 3.10p up at 436.00p in London on Friday, 26 January, valuing the company at GBP 7.48bn.

Recode : Telegram’s ICO is attracting the industry’s newer crypto investors whil

Telegram’s ICO is attracting the industry’s newer crypto investors while firms like Andreessen Horowitz sit this one out
The investors are not who you’d expect


Some of the most prominent investors in cryptocurrency are passing on a much-hyped initial coin offering hosted by the messaging app Telegram, while the venture firms that have largely missed out are preparing to invest.

That role reversal is crystallizing ahead of a deadline to decide whether to participate in the $1.2 billion project. The venture firms that have been among the most aggressive in the burgeoning cryptocurrency sector — Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners — are all expected not to invest in the upcoming ICO, according to sources familiar with their plans.

This ICO, however, is attracting a range of U.S. investors who see the deal as less of an investment in cryptocurrency and more as another investment in a promising consumer product. Several major players in Silicon Valley who are newer to cryptocurrencies are investing: Benchmark, Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and the investor Yuri Milner, in his personal capacity, according to people briefed on their plans.

Outside investors are being asked to contribute about $20 million in the pre-sale period of the ICO offered by Telegram, the encrypted social messaging app that is hugely popular overseas. The $1.2 billion made in the ICO would allow Telegram to build and support a payment system on its platform.

The Telegram Open Network offering would put the currency before the app’s 180 million monthly active users.

“TON is not a technology bet, since the ICO isn’t really proposing anything new. It is a user-traction bet,” said one investor with knowledge of the transaction.

Founders Fund, the investment vehicle started by Peter Thiel that has also taken the unusual step of buying cryptocurrencies directly, is also still deciding whether to allocate money to the ICO. Some of those interested firms’ plans were first reported by the Financial Times.

Venture capitalists in recent months have been huddling with their funds’ own investors to see whether they can purchase ICO tokens instead of securities — or stock in private companies, which is what they’re supposed to do. Some firms are treading cautiously, but others like Coinbase backers Andreessen and USV have effectively become branded as, in the words of one investor, “the establishment” in this market.

Nearly every major venture firm has had access to participate in the Telegram ICO. And this deal appeals to venture funds, they say, because it offers an easy, introductory way for them to gain exposure to the crypto-economy without taking a risk on whether the currency will gain sufficient distribution. Interested investors say that Telegram’s mainstream appeal means that venture investors are not betting on some obscure platform that could fail even if the underlying technology is brilliant.

“It’s an easy ‘first ICO’ for VC’s ramping up to get their head around” cryptocurrency, said another person close to the ICO.

But here’s the bearish case, in the eyes of investors that passed on the deal: The assumption that every Telegram user is interested in using cryptocurrency isn’t valid. And this ICO does not solve the underlying problem for all ICOs — it is unclear how venture firms will cash in, even if the project is successful.

And others worry about the ICO’s lockup period — which sources say ends one to two years after its launch — and whether that could handcuff participants. A savvier move, investors say, would be to merely buy the currencies directly and be able to ride the incredible rise in the value of things like bitcoin.

Some others worry about the background of Pavel Durov, Telegram’s controversial CEO, or say they are not impressed by the underpinnings of the technology.

But unlike in traditional financing, the opinions of top-flight venture firms are only somewhat relevant to cryptocurrency insiders. The blessing of a Benchmark — or the thumbs-down of an Andreessen Horowitz — does not have the same signaling effect as it does when a startup is raising capital.

And also unlike startup fundraising, there is not one or two “lead” investors that provide most of the money. Some venture funds here that are pushing around $20 million also later plan to distribute their investment to their own syndicates of investors.

Much of the cash for the Telegram ICO is expected to come from non-American financiers, too.

About half the money for the project will be raised from the public at large later this winter, after institutional investors have had the chance to buy in.

TheKorea Herald : Apple to diversify suppliers for new OLED iPhones this year

Apple to diversify suppliers for new OLED iPhones this year

Apple is seeking to diversify parts suppliers for its OLED iPhone lineup this year, launching two new models adding to the current iPhone X, according to industry sources on Jan. 26.

The two news models come with 5.85-inch and 6.46-inch screens, along with the 5.8-inch iPhone X, the first OLED iPhone launched last year. With the new addition, the California-based company has also started seeking new panel and battery suppliers.

The rigid flexible printed circuit board, more widely called RFPCB, is the key to the OLED screen as it connects chips with parts such as display screen and camera.

Currently, three Korean suppliers BH, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Interflex provide the part. Sources say Apple could select one or two more suppliers to secure increased parts demand.

Thus far, Samsung Display has been the sole supplier for the OLED screen. From this year, its crosstown rival LG Display is expected to supply the largest 6.46-inch screen.

Considering the RFPCB and the panel are produced for a model, the new RFPCB supplier is likely to work with LG Display.

The brand new “L-shaped” battery will be produced by LG Chem, the battery-making unit of LG Group. The battery comes in a single cell and has increased capacity over current rectangle iPhone batteries with two battery cells.

The tentative production plans have also been informed, sources said. Production of the RFPCB will start in May and the panel production will start in June. The new iPhone launch is expected to come in the latter half of this year like previous years.

9to5: Digitimes claims Apple will only launch one new OLED iPhone this year, the

Digitimes claims Apple will only launch one new OLED iPhone this year, the 6.5-inch ‘iPhone X Plus’

KGI’s Ming-Chi Kuo has been reporting the 2018 iPhone lineup as two OLED models (5.8-inch and 6.5-inch) and one LCD model (6.1-inch) for a little while now. Today, a Digitimes analyst says that Apple has been testing various screen panels, and may only launch a single new OLED iPhone this year, with a 6.5-inch screen.

The report also corroborates a new iPhone SE successor with wireless charging, and no 3D Touch, and will launch in the first half of 2018.

KGI is regarded as one of the better Apple analysts in terms of predicting future Apple hardware plans, but is by no means infallible. In general, though, it’s fair to say that KGI has a better track record of reliability than Digitimes does.

In this report, Digitimes also hedges pretty strongly that Apple has ‘not yet made the final decision’.

It would be really strange for Apple to abandon the 5.8-inch OLED form factor in one generation, which makes it hard to give Digitimes much credibility on this one. The report actually says Apple has been testing four different iPhone designs for 2018; a 5.8-inch LCD model, a 6.1-inch LCD model, a 6.1-inch OLED and a 6.4-inch OLED.

The Digitimes report claims that Apple was originally going to push forward with two new OLED models and the 6.1-inch LCD phone, as KGI argues is still happening.

The report says the 2018 lineup will be a 5.8-inch LCD phone, a 6.1-inch LCD phone and the 6.5-inch OLED phone. It argues that this makes sense because it mirrors what Apple did in 2017; two new iPhone models with LCD displays and only one – iPhone X – featuring OLED.

It is true that the industry continues to face shortages of OLED panel supplies, which may explain this line of thinking. Apple may not be able to source enough displays to launch two flagship iPhones with OLED this year. It would then have had to decide to trade the 5.8-inch OLED form factor for the 6.5-inch size; Apple’s earnings calls have shown a customer preference shift towards larger screens so this decision would at least be logical in responding to customer demand.

Nevertheless, this is definitely in the sketchy rumor territory. Digitimes may have visibility into iPhone prototypes but it seems unlikely they would know – at this stage – what Apple is planning to mass produce.

Regarding the iPhone SE 2, Digitimes follows the consensus of the rumor mill and says a ‘new inexpensive smartphone similar to the iPhone SE’ is on the way with wireless charging and no 3D Touch pressure sensitivity. This new SE model would launch in May or June, according to the report.

NYT : Every One of the World’s Big Economies Is Now Growing

Every One of the World’s Big Economies Is Now Growing
LONDON — A decade after the world descended into a devastating economic crisis, a key marker of revival has finally been achieved. Every major economy on earth is expanding at once, a synchronous wave of growth that is creating jobs, lifting fortunes and tempering fears of popular discontent.
No tidy, all-encompassing narrative explains how the world has finally escaped the global downturn. The United States has been propelled by government spending unleashed during the previous administration, plus a recent $1.5 trillion shot of tax cuts. Europe has finally felt the effects of cheap money pumped out by its central bank.
In general terms, improvement owes less to some newfound wellspring of wealth than the simple fact that many of the destructive forces that felled growth have finally exhausted their potency.
The long convalescence has yielded a global recovery that is far from blistering in pace, and geopolitical risks threaten its demise. Many economists are skeptical that the benefits of growth will reach beyond the educated, affluent, politically connected class that has captured most of the spoils in many countries and left behind working people whose wages have stagnated even as jobless rates have plunged.
And still the fact that every major swath of the globe is expanding is a source of optimism. There is no guarantee that this expansion will prove more equitable. Yet if growth were to evolve, bolstering wages while adding to the security of middle-class lives, the beginning would probably feel something like now.
“The world is less reliant on a few star performers,” said Barret Kupelian, senior economist in the London office of PwC, the global accounting and consulting company. “If something bad happens in one economy, the fact that global growth is spread gives you more assurance that this is more sustainable.”

The United States, the world’s largest economy, is into its ninth year of growth, with the International Monetary Fund lifting expectations for expansion to 2.7 percent this year from 2.3 percent because of the tax cuts.
China has diminished fears of an abrupt halt to its decades-long growth trajectory. Europe, only recently dismissed as anemic and hopelessly vexed by political dysfunction, has emerged as a growth leader. Even Japan, long synonymous with grinding decline, is expanding as well.
Rising oil prices have lifted Russia and Middle East producers, while Mexico has so far transcended fears that menacing trade rhetoric from the Trump administration would dent its economy. Brazil, still suffering the effects of a veritable depression, is flashing tentative signs of recovery.
The result is a hopeful albeit fragile recovery, one vulnerable to the increasingly unpredictable predilections of world leaders.
Threats of nuclear annihilation exchanged by President Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have sown fears. Britain’s pending departure from the European Union — known as Brexit — holds the potential to ensue absent a deal, subjecting Europe to grave uncertainty about the rules of trade especially for finance. And Mr. Trump’s on again-off again vows to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement while unleashing a trade war with China also risks derailing growth.
“We used to operate under the idea that Western markets are politically stable, while we accepted that frontier markets were risky,” said Martin Scheepbouwer, chief executive officer of the OLX Group, which operates online classified advertising platforms in 41 countries. “Nowadays, with Brexit in Europe and the presidency in the United States, there’s a new level of instability looming over the economy. That’s something that concerns us.”

The world economy is expected to grow by 3.9 percent this year and next, up from 3.7 last year, and 3.2 percent in 2016, according to the I.M.F. That is positive. Yet in the years before the crisis, global growth typically exceeded 4 percent.
As the World Economic Forum this past week released an assessment of risk factors featuring a survey of 1,000 experts, it found that 93 percent of respondents saw increased threat of political or economic confrontations. Some 79 percent fretted about heightened likelihood of military conflict and 73 percent saw rising risks of an erosion of world trading rules.
The report also warned of rising economic inequality, growing threats to cybersecurity and increased incidence of extreme weather enhanced by climate change.
“Many of these risks are increasingly systemic,” said Margareta Drzeniek Hanouz, an economist at the World Economic Forum, adding that they threaten “catastrophic consequences for humanity, and for the economy.”
Global businesses appear cautiously optimistic that the good times can last.
In Poland and Brazil, online job listings are growing rapidly, according to OLX, a clear indication of growth. Across Europe, real estate ads offering homes for sale have increased at more than double the pace of rental properties, another sign that people are operating with more money.
The global crisis began more than a decade ago with the calamitous end of an American real estate bonanza that set off a global disaster involving so-called derivatives.

As the reckoning played out from the United States to Europe to Asia, oil prices plunged, hitting Russia and the Middle East. Soybean farms in Brazil and Argentina saw orders plummet. So did mines in Australia and India, and computer chip fabricators in Malaysia and South Korea.
Washington engineered swift relief, with a bank rescue and an enormous injection of credit from the Federal Reserve. But Europe prolonged the agony with bitter recriminations over who should clean up the mess.
As European governments bailed out national banks, foisting the costs on taxpayers, investors demanded higher interest rates to continue lending, raising existential questions about the euro. Not until the summer of 2012, after the European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi vowed to do “whatever it takes,” did the siege lift.

This year, the 19 nations that share the euro are expected to see economic growth of 1.9 percent, according to I.M.F. That is not scorching. In Spain, Greece and Italy, young people still grapple with terrible rates of joblessness. Yet compared with the 4.5 percent decline in 2009, and smaller contractions in 2012 and 2013, it makes for a different era.
As recovery has spread, factories in Eastern Europe have bustled with additional orders. Auto plants in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Romania have sent growing volumes of cars toward Germany, France and the Netherlands.
DSM, a Netherlands-based multinational company that makes nutritional products, opened a $60 million factory in Rwanda last May that is buying soy and corn from nearly 10,000 local farmers and using it to produce instant porridge.
Photo
Auto plants in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, and Poland have sent growing volumes of cars toward Germany, France and the Netherlands. CreditBartek Wrzesniowski/AFP
“We are investing heavily in Asia and also in Africa because the growth of the population there is stronger,” said the company’s chief executive officer, Feike Sijbesma. “Africa, which always was the forgotten continent, is not the forgotten continent any longer.”
The reawakening of Europe combined with growth in the United States has kept Chinese industry humming to satisfy demand for goods, from auto parts to tools to clothing. More factory production has lifted prices for commodities, and increasing revenues at copper producers in Chile and Indonesia, gold mines in South Africa and silver operations in Sweden.
The world is now enjoying a positive feedback loop, with growing business confidence leading to more hiring, delivering gains in consumer spending. More money in consumer pockets gives businesses more reason to expand.
“There’s basically no country in the world where the consumer is not doing well,” said Bart van Ark, chief economist at The Conference Board, a business and research association in New York.
The question now is whether new investment will materialize quickly enough to sustain expansion. Factories in Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Portugal were operating at close to full capacity at the end of last year, according to data analyzed by The Conference Board.
In the United States, investment is increasing, adding to momentum for expansion. In Europe, the growth is uneven.
The biggest concern comes from Washington, where the Trump administration has frequently vowed to punish Mexico and China for their lopsided trade balances with the United States — a step that would raise the cost of components used by American factories. In a sign that such talk has moved beyond rhetoric, the Trump administration this past week slapped protective tariffs on imports of solar panels and washing machines.
“You get into a trade war, that’s the real worry,” said Ben May, a global economist at Oxford Economics in London. “The impacts on global growth would be quite severe.”

FT : US equities have strongest start to year since 1987

US equities have strongest start to year since 1987
Tax reform and tech earnings send S&P 500 to its best one-day gain in almost a year

US stock markets enjoyed their strongest trading day in almost a year on Friday, continuing an explosive rally that has now seen the S&P 500 log its strongest start to a year since 1987.

The one-day gain of 1.18 per cent, the strongest since the 1.37 per cent rise on March 1 last year after President Donald Trump’s first speech to Congress, came despite the publication of figures on US economic growth that were significantly lower than most had hoped, and despite a rise in 10-year bond yields.

Instead, the announcement by the drugmaker AbbVie that its effective tax rate would drop to 9 per cent, far below the previously expected 20 per cent, sparked hopes that the effects of the corporate tax cut signed into law by the president last month had still not been priced into stocks.

Goldman Sachs’ index of the S&P 500 companies that previously had the highest effective tax rates, and should therefore benefit most from a tax cut, has outperformed the S&P by 6.5 per cent since November 15, when traders first gained confidence that the tax cut would be passed into law.

A presidential speech also helped the market’s latest rally. In Davos, Mr Trump failed to lay out the aggressive protectionist agenda the market had previously feared he might.

JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, said investors had taken cheer from the president’s “conciliatory” tone on Friday. “What he said today is a very reasonable, businesslike point of view,” he said.

Traders also cited a further weakening in the dollar, which raised hopes for stronger earnings by US multinationals. Also in Davos, Haruhiko Kuroda, the head of the Bank of Japan, commented that Japanese inflation was “finally close” to his target of 2 per cent, in comments widely interpreted to mean that the BoJ’s policy of asset purchases might end sooner than expected. This strengthened the yen and sent the dollar to fresh three-year lows against a basket of major currencies.

Gains were led by healthcare companies, which have underperformed in recent months, and by technology groups, after earnings reports prompted widespread sectoral buying.

Investors have shown increasing enthusiasm for stocks, adding more than $33bn to global equity funds in the week to January 24 — a record weekly sum — according to EPFR. US stock funds have proven a beneficiary, attracting nearly $20bn over the past three weeks.

Yet investors remained aware of the risks. Many noted that this is now likely to be the strongest January since 1987, the year of the “Black Monday” October crash. There is also a widespread belief that stocks have grown too expensive.

Lee Ferridge, head of multi-asset strategy in the Americas for State Street, drew attentions to valuations and “the view that they can’t go down, which we know historically is not the case . . . One way traffic is always dangerous”.

He added: “Now that most people are getting close to fully invested, or won’t be before too long, where does the next buyer come from?”

FT : The satellite dish, Britain’s class signifier, becomes obsolete

The satellite dish, Britain’s class signifier, becomes obsolete
The end of the contentious architectural feature closes the golden age of family TV time

The announcement by Sky that all its channels will soon be available online spells the beginning of the end for one of the most controversial architectural add-ons. The satellite dish has become a fixed feature of suburban streetscapes and urban tower blocks, a marker of multichannels and big tellies. And, like almost everything in Britain, it quickly became a cipher for class.

The satellite dishes spread on walls and rooftops like a fungus, a plague of space-facing mushrooms. This proliferation quickly became synonymous with working class neighbourhoods, an identifier as apparently powerful as a St George’s flag draped in a window, plastic kids’ furniture fading in the front garden and lacy net curtains. The comfortably-off dwelling in conservation areas disdained these plastic pimples and a raft of regulation emerged outlining exactly how, where and under what conditions satellite dishes in genteel areas might be installed.

The middle classes aspired instead to blue heritage plaques, they craved authenticity and history while the working classes just wanted to be entertained. There were compromises and attempts at drag for dishes. New models appeared in a range of camouflage colours, from brick patterns to brutalist concrete beige. Artists began creating concentrations of decorated dishes to express something or other about contemporary society. Czech artist Jakub Geltner’s installations of flocks of dishes on historic buildings proved almost magically jarring, assigning them a virtually organic quality.

The condemnation of satellite dishes by aesthetes, Nimbys and heritage bodies revealed another curious condition, a very British distrust of modernity. Just as Brexit can look like a vote to return to a non-existent golden age sometime in the 1950s, when Britain hadn’t quite completed its decline, the desire to make streets look like the 20th century had never happened remains a particularly British aspiration.

The middle classes have historically attempted to hide their TVs. First in cabinets, then in bedrooms (so the front room can look ascetic), more recently, behind sliding panels in minimal apartments or, in the case of Samsung’s The Frame, disguising itself as an artwork when not in use. The working classes are, meanwhile, perceived to revel in the size of their widescreens. It is a familiar sniping tabloid critique of low-income families that they waste their benefits on massive televisions. Well, what else provides such value and comfort?

There is no pretence here; the TV takes the place of the middle-class fireplace as focus. A family watching TV together is a happy family — one that has spawned a whole culture of British television in itself, from “The Royle Family” to “Gogglebox”. The warmth of these sofa-dwellers basking in the glow of the telly makes the minimal interiors of the middle classes look frigid.

The satellite dish became the external expression of that culture and now it is obsolete. Coming together in front of the telly has been superseded by the age of atomised entertainment, in which we sit in the individual glow of our own tiny devices. Sky will become just another one of those millions of options. But, interestingly, the architectural excrescences are moving from the private home to the public sphere. The plan to make London Europe’s “gigabit city” by installing half a million mini-masts on to the sides of street furniture, lamp posts and buildings to become 5G-ready promises to become the new frontline in urban aesthetics.

Perhaps, however, the new class marker will be the digital detox, the pretence that shunning digital devices induces wellbeing and mindfulness. But a few dishes will remain, defunct disks forlorn in their obsolescence like phone boxes or bootscrapers. The fading plastic legacy of the last golden age of family TV.

>>> Novo Nordisk considers higher bid for Ablynx - report (translated)

Novo Nordisk considers higher bid for Ablynx (Google Translate)

Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk [CPH: NOVO-B] is considering a higher bid for Belgian biotech company Ablynx [EBR: ABLX], according to a newswire report. The Bloomberg report cited unnamed sources.
According to Belgian daily De Tijd, another unnamed source has denied this piece of information. The new bid is expected early next week.
Novo Nordisk's first bid was at EUR 30.5 per share, for EUR 2.6bn in total. Ablynx rejected the bid because it was aiming for over EUR 40 per share. CEO Edwin Moses claimed the Danish were undervaluing the people and the technology of the Ghent-based company.
It is unclear how much higher the new bid will be, the report added.
Link to original source (De Tijd)

>>> TLG Immobilien investor Dayan secures 22.54% valued at approximately EUR 530

TLG Immobilien investor Dayan secures 22.54% valued at approximately EUR 530m (translated)
27 JAN 2018
Israeli property investor Amir Dayan has secured 22.54% in German property group TLG Immobilien (ETR:TLG), Boersen Zeitungreported.
The German daily said Dayan's Ouram investment company announced it has agreed to buy 23 million shares representing 22.54% in TLG, and valued at around EUR 530m. Ouram has already secured 4.51% and can acquire a further 18.03% in April, the report stated. It is not clear who Ouram acquired the shares from, the report noted. Large shareholder DIC Real Estate is not thought to have sold shares.
Ouram is considering further increasing its shareholding, the report stated.