>>> Russian Submarine Hauling Nuclear Warheads En Route To Syria

{http://warmonitor.net/news/2015/09/07/russian-submarine-hauling-nuclear-warheads-en-route-to-syria/}

In what could be a major escalation in tensions between Russia and the West, Israeli media reported that the world’s largest submarine, the Dmitri Donsky, has been sent to the Syrian coast in what appears to be a heavy display of nuclear force. The submarine, deemed the “Typhoon” by NATO, is stocked with 20 Bulva intercontinental ballistic missiles, with a combined capability of carrying up to 200 nuclear warheads. The nuclear missiles have a range of over 6,000 miles, placing them well within reach of North America’s East coast.

This would likely be in response to a warning issued by the United States to Moscow over a Russian military buildup currently unfolding in Syria. Russia has dismissed these claims despite multiple intelligence sources stating otherwise. It’s also been discovered that Russia has been transporting high grade weapons over the past few months to Syrian President Assad’s forces, for use against the US-backed rebel fighters in the country. There are currently nearly a dozen nations conducting airstrikes against targets in Syria as part of a US backed coalition against ISIS. Britain and France are also considering the use of military force inside Syria in response to the Syrian refugee crisis currently taking place in Europe.

This would mark the first time that nuclear assets were brought to the table in a series of tit-for-tat scenarios since tensions between Russia and the West began to escalate following the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last year. The introduction of this submarine is being taken as a bold message that Moscow will not allow the US to impede on its military intervention in Syria, demonstrating that Russia is willing to go through great extremes in supporting Assad’s regime.

Get SHTF Survival Supplies

The Typhoon departed from its North Sea base on September 4th, and is being escorted by two anti-submarine warships. It will take approximately ten days for the underwater vessel to reach its destination. There is currently no way of knowing how the Pentagon might respond to such a move from the Kremlin, but it’s possible that the West may counter by introducing its own nuclear capabilities into the mix as a deterrent. This would likely result in a series of escalations that could gradually increase the potential for a new nuclear stand-off between the two military superpowers.

This comes at a time when just today, Russian President Vladimir Putin also placed military forces on high alert, likely for the purpose of conducting snap drills in a continued attempt to flex muscle toward the West.

>>> EXCLUSIVE-Pfizer negotiating 2-3 pct Allergan break-up fee -sources - RTRS

EXCLUSIVE-Pfizer negotiating 2-3 pct Allergan break-up fee -sources - RTRS


19-NOV-2015 07:41:33

Nov 19 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc PFE.N is negotiating a break-up fee in the range of 2 to 3 percent of the value of its roughly $150 billion potential acquisition of Allergan Plc AGN.N, proportionally in line with other deals, people familiar with the matter said.

A break-up fee of that order in the merger agreement would show that Pfizer and Allergan do not see regulatory risk as an existential risk to their deal, despite the U.S. Treasury planning this week to tighten the rules on corporate tax inversions, a key aspect of their plan.

The break-up fee in the Pfizer-Allergan deal would still be one of the highest ever agreed because the deal itself would be one of the biggest mergers ever. Break-up fees however are set in relation to the target company's size, and one of the people said the break-up fee in the Pfizer-Allergan deal would proportionally be at the lower end of comparable transactions.

The sources, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential, cautioned that the break-up fee and other aspects of the deal have not been finalized, and that the companies were still waiting for the Treasury to unveil its updated rules on inversions.

Pfizer and Allergan both declined to comment.

FT : Air Liquide chief expects investors to see appeal of Airgas deal

Air Liquide chief expects investors to see appeal of Airgas deal

    Benoît Potier says there is a ‘very compelling’ strategic case for takeover bid

    Benoît Potier, chief executive of Paris-based Air Liquide, had reached the most sensitive phase of negotiations to buy Airgas of the US when the terrorist attacks of November 13 hit his home city, killing 129 people.
    He was at home, watching the terrible news come in all night. “Your kids are out having parties: my daughter was in one of those restaurants just a week ago. So it’s a big shock,” he said.

    The terrorist attacks provided a sombre backdrop for the final stages of the negotiations, but the two companies concluded a deal, resulting in Tuesday’s announcement of Air Liquide’s agreed takeover of Airgas for $13.4bn including debt.
    The deal is an ambitious move, one of the largest acquisitions of a US materials company by a European group. It will make Air Liquide the world’s largest supplier of industrial gases, which include oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and helium, used in industries such as manufacturing, construction and healthcare.
    The initial reaction from the stock market, though, was unenthusiastic. Air Liquide’s shares fell 7 per cent on Wednesday, as investors digested what was described by David Silver, an analyst at Morningstar, as a “generous” price. They also worried about Air Liquide taking on more debt to increase its exposure to US manufacturing, which has shown unimpressive growth this year, in part because of the commodity price slump.
    Mr Potier believes that adverse reaction will prove shortlived. “We lost 7 per cent, which is not good,” he told the Financial Times in New York on Wednesday. “But we just need to wait another week or so, and give time to absorb the news, and the time it takes to recognise the value.”
    There is no doubt that the offer looks attractive for Airgas shareholders. At $143 in cash per share, it is at a 51 per cent premium to the average Airgas share price over the past month.
    It is also double the $70 per share that Air Products, another US gases company, offered to pay in a hard-fought hostile takeover battle in 2010-11. That bid eventually failed when a court in Delaware upheld Airgas’s “poison pill” defence.

    Since then, the S&P 500 index has risen 56 per cent, and Air Products shares by about the same amount, while Airgas’s stock has increased 117 per cent.
    The Air Liquide deal is a personal vindication for Peter McCausland, who founded Airgas in the early 1980s and is now executive chairman.
    “They’ve made a good offer for our shareholders, and we’re all about creating value,” he told the FT.
    He and Mr Potier agree, though, that the bid terms are justified by the “very compelling” strategic case for the deal.
    First, said Mr Potier, although Airgas’s core business of distributing “packaged” gases, in cylinders or other small quantities, might seem unglamorous, it was actually a very attractive market. There was plenty of repeat business, cash flow was strong, and Airgas has been successful in adding sales of related products and services alongside its gas distribution.

    “The merchant business is not exciting: it is a little bit cumbersome, boring,” said Mr Potier. “[But] this is a simple, small but very, very efficient business.”
    Putting Air Liquide’s production and bulk sales together with Airgas’s distribution would create a vertically integrated company that can capture opportunities for profit wherever they emerge, he added.
    Second, there is a real prospect that technology will shake up the gas distribution business. The “industrial internet” — equipment fitted with sensors and communications to generate data that can be analysed to improve performance — is likely to mean that significant long-term productivity gains will be possible in the gas cylinder business, Mr Potier believes.
    Third, the deal sharply increases Air Liquide’s exposure to the US, which is expected to be the best market for industrial gases in the developed world over the next half-decade. In 2014 the company made 24 per cent of its revenues in the Americas. Adding in Airgas, which makes almost all of its sales in the US, that proportion would rise to 42 per cent.


    Although US manufacturing has been affected by falling commodity prices, which have hit demand for products such as mining equipment and the steel tubes used in oil and gas wells, Air Liquide still expects the US industrial gases market to grow by about 4.4 per cent every year from 2014 to 2020. That is much faster than the expected annual growth of 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent in Europe, and just 1 per cent to 2 per cent in Japan.
    Air Liquide’s executives are confident the potential pitfalls of the deal are surmountable. US antitrust regulators may order some asset sales, Mr Potier expects, but the amounts are likely to be “reasonable”.
    Paying for the deal means Air Liquide taking on a lot of debt: essentially the entire $13.4bn price as a bank bridging loan. That will be refinanced as soon as possible through bond sales, bank loans and a €3bn to €4bn share issue, so the company can keep an A or A-minus credit rating.
    With ample liquidity making the deal possible, said Mr Potier, this was actually a good time to be buying Airgas, in spite of appearances.
    “We’ve been absorbing the shock in the US of the low oil price, and I don’t know exactly how long it will take, but the US market is going to rebound,” he said.

    >>> US Gapping Down

    Gapping down
    In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance    : LQDT -16.2%, SSI -11.5%, EDAP -10.1%, JKS -8.2%, SMTC -7.5%, UNH -6.1%, BBY -4.2%, BKE -1.5%, SMRT -1.2%, IGLD -1%

    M&A news: SYT -2.3% (cont volatility surrounding M&A spec)

    Other news: NBG -17.1% (cont weakness), AMAG -10.2% (received Complete Response Letter from the FDA for Makena (hydroxyprogesterone caproate injection) for the reduction of the risk of preterm birth), VLP -9.1% (announces an underwritten public offering of 4.25 mln units ), SUNE -4.9% (Blackstone denying speculation related to debt investment), AET -4.1% (in symp with UNH), RDY -2.8% ( issues statement related to recent media reports; co states it has always adhered to international accounting practices), HUM -2.4% (in symp with UNH), AGN -1.8% (Allergan, Pfizer (PFE) near a deal under which Pfizer would acquire Allergan for as much as $380/share, according to BloombergWSJ reporting Treasury Department might issue anti inversion tax rules this week), DVA -1.6% (co's subsidiary received Civil Investigative Demand from the U.S. Department of Justice), RMAX -1.6% (prices secondary offering of 4,500,000 shares of common stock by its controlling stockholder, RIHI, at $36.00 per share), EQIX -1.6% (prices offering of 2,604,167 shares of common stock at $288.00 per share), BFAM -1.5% (announces pricing of its 3.65 mln share secondary offering by selling stockholders at $63.80/share)

    Analyst comments: TWI -7.7% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman
    )