TheChek News Flow

Ipsos SA (EPA:IPS), a French market research company, is in sale talks with large-cap sponsors including Blackstone, BC Partners and KKR, two sources briefed on the situation said.

Preliminary management presentations with potential buyers were held yesterday (July 7), the sources said.

The sale process is at an early stage with first round bids expected to be submitted at the end of July, one of the sources briefed and a person briefed said.

Ipsos' shares were trading at EUR 26.06 today (8 July), giving the company a EUR 1.18bn market capitalization.

Didier Truchot, the 69-year-old co-founder and president of Ipsos, controls 50.3% of the company directly and indirectly, according to previous reports.

Barber Hauler Capital Advisers is advising on the sell-side, the two sources said. The M&A boutique was co-founded by two former senior UBS investment bankers Dominique Bazy and Pascal Hervé.

Ipsos was founded in 1975 by Didier Truchot and Jean-Marc Lech. On 3 June 2015, Didier Truchot acquired, through his holding vehicle DT&Partners, the 26.16% stake held in Ipsos by Jean-Marc Lech's heirs following Jean-Marc Lech's death on 2 December 2014.

For 1Q16, Ipsos recorded EUR 386.9m in revenues, up 1.9% compared with the same period in 2015. The company generated EUR 1.8bn revenue and EUR 93m of net profit in 2015.

Ipsos conducts market research. It uses global surveys and polls to explore market potential, test products and advertising mediums, study audiences and audience perception, and measure public opinion trends. The company offers advertising, marketing, media, public opinion, and social research.

Ipsos operates in Europe, Latin America, Asia/Pacific Rim, the United States, and the Middle East.

Blackstone, BC Partners and KKR declined to comment. Ipsos and Barber Hauler did not respond to an email seeking comment.

- will get back on the track of two-thirds chance for rate hike by end of this year, but Fed wants to wait to see Brexit effects

Policy makers are likely relieved by the Labor Department’s report Friday that employers added 287,000 jobs in June. The gain was in part a bounce back from anemic payroll growth of 11,000 in May. Looking at the two months together, they averaged 149,000 jobs added a month, roughly in line with the pace of growth officials believe is needed to keep the unemployment rate below 5%. For the second quarter as a whole, payroll growth averaged 147,000 a month, down from 196,000 in the first quarter and 229,000 in 2015.

Taken altogether, the pace of job creation appears to have cooled in recent months, despite the strong June number. But the slowdown wasn’t as severe as officials feared a month ago and was expected because an economy growing just 2% a year can’t be expected to sustain payroll gains in excess of 200,000 a month.

For the Fed, this helps resolve a set of questions Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen posed last month: “Is the markedly reduced pace of hiring in April and May a harbinger of a persistent slowdown in the broader economy? Or will monthly payroll gains move up toward the solid pace they maintained earlier this year and in 2015?”

The answer: Somewhere in between.

Fed officials got some good news on wage growth. The 2.6% year-over-year growth in average hourly earnings of private-sector workers registered in June will strengthen the Fed’s conviction that waning slack in labor markets is putting modest upward pressure on wages. The annual rate of wage growth has lifted from levels near 2% for much of the postrecession expansion.

Other pieces of the report underscore the idea that slack in the labor market is diminishing gradually. Though the jobless rate ticked up to 4.9%, a broader measure of unemployment which includes part-time and discouraged workers dropped to 9.6%, the lowest level since April 2008.

In sum, the employment report increases the chances of a Fed rate increase in September, but officials are likely to remain in a wait-and-see mode until then, and will likely pass on moving in July. They want to see follow-through and to be sure the economy is really on its feet after a volatile first half, and they also want to be sure markets are stable in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

- Need stronger enforcement of euro zone fiscal rules, political uncertainty rising with Brexit

- Most euro zone nations cannot afford fiscal stimulus

- Brexit impact will be worse if risk aversion in financial markets continues for a long period 

Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance:

M&A news:

Select EU financial related names showing strength: RBS +5.5%, LYG +5%, BCS +4.8%, DB +4.5%, PUK +4.2%, SAN+3.5%, CS +2.9%, HSBC +1.9%

Select metals/mining stocks trading higher: MT +3.2%, BHP +2.6%, SBGL +2.5%, RIO +2.3%, BBL +2.2%, GOLD+1.7%, AU +1.5%, FCX +1.2%

Other news:

Analyst comments:

Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance:

Select drug related names showing weakness (may be related to JUNO news): KITE -7.6%, BLUE -4.8%, CELG -1.4%,SHPG -1.3%, NVS -1.1%, AZN -1%, SNY -0.7%, GSK -0.5%

Other news:

Analyst comments:

Siris Capital Group, LLC has submitted a unilaterally binding offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Polycom for a price of $12.50 per share in cash. The offer is subject to Polycom terminating its existing merger agreement with Mitel Networks Corporation in accordance with the terms thereof. Polycom has informed Siris that its Board of Directors has unanimously determined Siris offer to constitute a Company Superior Proposal under the terms of its merger agreement with Mitel. Polycom has also announced its intention to terminate promptly its merger agreement with Mitel, subject to the terms thereof. The all-cash transaction is valued at approximately $2.0 billion, including Polycoms outstanding debt, which represents a premium of 13.6% to the current value of Mitels offer, based on Mitels closing share price as of July 7th, 2016.