(BFW) *ATMEL SAID TO WORK WITH ADVISER TO EXPLORE SALE, REUTERS SAYS

BFW 06/08 19:46 *ATMEL SAID TO WORK WITH ADVISER TO EXPLORE SALE, REUTERS SAYS
Atmel Said to Work With Adviser to Explore Sale, Reuters Says
2015-06-08 19:51:53.103 GMT


By Beth Mellor and Joshua Fineman
(Bloomberg) -- Atmel is working with Qatalyst Partners to
explore alternatives, including possible sale, Reuters reports,
citing people familiar.

* ATML jumps as much as 7.2%
* NOTE: June 4, ATML gained after amending change-of-control
provision: Link
* NOTE: June 4, Morgan Stanley said ATML among most attractive
takeover targets based on technology, end-market exposure,
valuation: Link


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To contact the reporters on this story:
Beth Mellor in New York at +1-212-617-3078 or
bmellor@bloomberg.net;
Joshua Fineman in New York at +1-212-617-8953 or
jfineman@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Arie Shapira at +1-212-617-1488 or
ashapira3@bloomberg.net
Beth Mellor

WSJ : Airbus Says It Likely Won’t Meet Goal for A380s This Year

Airbus Says It Likely Won’t Meet Goal for A380s This Year http://on.wsj.com/1T7IOEl
Client Transaero Airlines is having financial difficulties and likely won’t take delivery of superjumbo jetliner in 2015

MIAMI—Airbus Group SE is unlikely to deliver all the A380 superjumbos it planned to in 2015 because client Transaero Airlines is having financial difficulties, the boss of the jetliner maker said on Monday.

Airbus President Fabrice Brégier said the “probability is high” the first A380 to the Russian carrier will be delayed past the end of this year.

“We have to face reality; when we have a customer who is really facing commercial issues, hopefully temporarily, but based on the ruble devaluation and the Russia tourist market shrinking, we need to look at what can be done,” Mr. Brégier said in an interview. .

Even so, Mr. Brégier said the company would still reach break-even on A380 superjumbo deliveries this year

Airbus has long promised investors it would stop losing money on the plane that first flew a decade ago. Big delays in building the plane raised production costs and have delayed Airbus efforts to build the plane more cheaply. Airbus previously said it could reach the break-even milestone this year if it built 30 of the planes in 2015.

Mr. Brégier said A380 deliveries would be close to 30 planes this year. Transaero has ordered four A380 superjumbos.

The Russian carrier canceled an order for Boeing 787 jetliners last year amid the country’s worsening economic crisis as a result of Western sanctions over the country’s invasion of Crimea.

Airbus is struggling to win additional A380 superjumbo commitments and has seen several airlines step back from the plane they struggle to fill. Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive Christoph Mueller said on Sunday that two of the airline’s six A380 jets are “surplus to requirement.” Virgin Atlantic has said previously it wouldn't take the six A380s it has ordered,

“The challenge for me is to find additional A380 customers,” Mr. Brégier said.

Emirates Airline President Tim Clark, the world’s largest A380 buyer, has been urging Airbus to modernize the double-decker plane with new engines. Mr. Brégier said the A380neo, as the updated model has been dubbed, was “not a priority.”

Mr. Brégier also said the first delivery of the A320neo, an upgrade of its best-selling single-aisle plane, was still on track for November despite a component flaw with the Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engine that has left its test aircraft grounded. The first plane is due to go to Qatar Airways.

“The Pratt-[powered A320neo] is not flying again; it will resume its flight, hopefully soon,” said Mr. Brégier. The component problem that prompted the halt in testing “is now largely understood,” he said. Still, the aircraft wouldn't be ready to make an appearance at the Paris Air Show that begins June 15. The aircraft halted tests about a month ago.

FT : Peace deal could deliver $120bn to Israeli economy, says study

Peace deal could deliver $120bn to Israeli economy, says study

A peace agreement ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would deliver an economic boost of more than $120bn to the Israeli economy over the next decade, a study has found.
The Palestinian economy would also in turn gain $50bn over 10 years if a two-state solution were agreed, according to the Rand Corporation’s report.

“In the absolute size of GDP dollar terms, the Israeli economy would be 5 per cent bigger and the Palestinian economy 50 per cent bigger in 2024 if the two parties were to agree a two-state solution,” Charles Ries, co-author of the study, told the Financial Times.
Translated into GDP per head, Israelis would see their income rise by about $2,200 and the Palestinians by $1,000 over 10 years if they were to make peace.
The report’s publication comes at a sensitive time for Israel, amid signs of growing support for the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions”, or BDS, movement calling for economic penalties against Israel because of its occupation of Palestinian land.
The Israeli government, worried about the economic and political fallout of BDS, is taking concerted measures to fight it.
The report puts a price tag of the cost of BDS to the Israeli economy of $47bn over 10 years under a scenario of “nonviolent resistance” — one of five outcomes on which the researchers ran a cost-benefit analysis.
“Most of the impact [of BDS] would be on the capital account — forgone investment flows, changes in policies by pension funds and banks, rather than on trade,” Mr Ries said.
The report represents a rare attempt to calculate the economic toll of the long-running conflict on both sides, both in terms of direct costs, such as budgetary spending, and opportunity costs, such as lost investment.
The research was reinforced by an Israeli government report leaked on Monday that put the cost of the BDS movement at $1.2bn a year in lost business. The report also claimed that Israel’s economy stands to lose $300m a year in exports to Europe as more of its trading partners shun goods from Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands. EU officials are weighing new Europe-wide guidelines for labelling settlement-made goods, a prospect that has alarmed the Israeli government.
The figures come more than a year after Israel and the Palestinians abandoned their last round of peace talks. Since then, the two-decade old US-sponsored process has all but died after Israel waged a deadly war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Palestinians took unilateral steps to seek recognition and legal redress against Israel in the UN and other international forums.

It is unclear how seriously Israeli officials will take the Rand study, as many economists in the region routinely play down the size of a potential peace dividend that would come from a resolution of the Palestinian conflict, or the normalisation of diplomatic and trade relations with Arab countries.
Israel’s economy is on course to grow by more than 3 per cent this year and last saw a sustained slowdown more than a decade ago during the second Palestinian intifada.
Anticipating the controversy the report may cause, the Rand researchers published a “costs of conflict calculator” that allows users to adjust variables themselves, such as security costs, tourism numbers, or the toll that BDS might take.
The researchers ran through five possible outcomes: a two-state solution, two scenarios for withdrawal, nonviolent resistance by the Palestinians, and a return to violence.
The report makes no prediction as to which course events the region will take.

(BFW) Monsanto Shows Need to Stop Corporate Inversions: Sen. Durbin

Monsanto Shows Need to Stop Corporate Inversions: Sen. Durbin
2015-06-08 18:58:07.509 GMT


By Nicholas Johnston
(Bloomberg) -- “Hundreds of millions of dollars that could
be invested in the infrastructure, education and research that
companies rely on will be lost if Monsanto is allowed to go
through with this corporate inversion scheme,” Sen. Richard
Durbin. D-Ill., says in statement.

* NOTE: Monsanto said today it’s merger with Syngenta would be
based in United Kingdom; related story
* Durbin calls on Congress to act to block inversions
*
* NOTE: Durbin is backer of legislation to change rules on
corporate inversions; S. 198 would make it more
difficult for companies to incorporate abroad to avoid
taxes


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njohnston3@bloomberg.net

>>> Greece and lenders said to be considering an extension to bailout program th

Greece and lenders said to be considering an extension to bailout program through the end of March 2016, Greece not supportive of a program after March - financial press 
- funds to help Greece may come mostly from the recapitalization funds that are left over

- Reminder: on 06/04 (GR) Creditors to Greece said to have called for increases in VAT to account for 1% of GDP and pension cuts amounting to 1% of GDP as part of plan - press 
- Recommended plans allow the EFSF to provide almost €11B in support for the July-August period

FT : Monsanto targets tax inversion strategy with Syngenta offer


Monsanto targets tax inversion strategy with Syngenta offer

Monsanto, the US agricultural seeds and chemicals group, is pursuing a tax inversion acquisition of rival Syngenta, with the merged company to be domiciled in the UK under a new name.
Under Monsanto’s proposals, a newly formed company would be incorporated in the UK, which would reduce the company’s tax bill. Monsanto would “also propose a new name for the combined company to reflect its unique global nature,” wrote Hugh Grant, Monsanto’s chief executive to Syngenta’s board.
The Swiss company’s shareholders will hold about 30 per cent of the combined company.

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The details of Monsanto’s unsolicited $45bn cash and share offer for Syngenta have been revealed after the Swiss group rejected a second approach by the US group, which offered a $2bn termination fee.
Monsanto executives are meeting investors of Syngenta and its own shareholders in Europe this week in an effort to gain support for its offer.
Monsanto did not increase its initial offer price of SFr449 a share, which it made in April. Syngenta in April told Monsanto that the number was “grossly inadequate. The Swiss group said the latest approach represented “the same inadequate price, same inadequate regulatory undertakings to close, same regulatory risks”.
Investors want an offer that at least “starts with a 5”, said one person familiar with the situation.
A combined company would become a leading global agribusiness, offering seeds and chemicals to many farmers around the world. Monsanto has said that merging the US group’s leading seeds business with Syngenta’s dominant position in agricultural chemicals would create “significant value for growers and consumers”.
Monsanto’s plans for a tax inversion deal could face political opposition in the US. In April, US Senator Dick Durbin urged Monsanto not to use a deal to move its tax domicile overseas.
The other potential hurdle to a transaction is competition regulation in the various markets both companies operate.
Monsanto has pledged to sell Syngenta’s seed business to avoid antitrust issues, but analysts say that a potential deal will still come under the scrutiny of regulators in many countries.
The US group’s advisers are also meeting Monsanto shareholders as part of a broader effort to win support for the deal.
Michel Demaré, Syngenta’s chairman, and chief executive Mike Mack said in a statement that if a transaction were to be announced and failed to complete, “there would be significant harm and value destruction for Syngenta and its shareholders”. It said that the break-up fee was “paltry” and failed to adequately address the regulatory risk.
The two companies’ lawyers had met on three separate occasions after Syngenta rejected Monsanto’s initial offer, the Swiss company said.
“These meetings have reinforced Syngenta’s assessment of the regulatory risks and Monsanto has made no attempt to seriously address these concerns. Monsanto continues to gloss over these fundamental transaction risks.”
Syngenta said that it did not think that Monsanto’s proposed divestments would resolve the antitrust issues. Some industry analysts have noted that the merged company accounting for a larger “share of wallet” for the farmer could come under scrutiny from some regulators.
A potential deal would be reviewed by antitrust regulators in about 10 countries, including China, Russia and India, according to people familiar with the situation.

The Swiss group said: “There are notable examples of proposed transactions that have been blocked by regulators due to ‘conglomerate concerns’ and other non-horizontal issues”.
However, in its letter to Syngenta’s board outlining the company’s bid last week, Monsanto rejected concerns about “vertical” and “conglomerate” regulatory issues. “There is very little precedent for deals to be blocked on such theories and we see no credible basis that would support such a result in our transaction,” wrote Hugh Grant, chief executive of Monsanto.
Transactions with high regulatory risk have tended to have sizeable break-up fees. Oil services group Halliburton agreed to a 10 per cent fee over its $34.6bn deal with Baker Hughes, while Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility included a 20 per cent fee.

Barron's : Corning’s Latest Magic: Turning Glass Into Cash

Corning’s Latest Magic: Turning Glass Into Cash
A famed glassmaker’s bet on 4K ultrahigh-definition TVs could reward investors with a 40% gain.

For a 164-year-old, Corning sure doesn’t act its age. The company that invented Pyrex cookware 100 years ago mostly makes products linked to the digital age—Gorilla Glass for smartphones, optical fiber to speed networks, ultrathin glass expected to facilitate Internet video streamed over a traditional TV. Corning is definitely of the times.
Enlarge Image
Corning’s superthin and flexible Willow glass.Photograph: Courtesy of Corning Incorporated
One area where the company (ticker: GLW) is behind the times is stock-price performance: Its share movement has been as flat as a panel-TV screen in the past year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has jumped 10%. Reason: Investors worry that the long boom in liquid-crystal-display TV sales is over and that they are headed for a period of slow, or no, growth. Corning is the dominant supplier of glass for these flat panels.
But that’s focusing too much on the past. The Corning, N.Y., company has a good pipeline of new products, including glass for 4K ultrahigh-definition TVs—much bigger sets with four times the resolution of today’s most popular high-definition televisions. They are expected to usher in a new era of technology that Netflix (NFLX) among others, is pioneering to make its streaming Internet services pop on the screen.
INVESTORS ALSO are ignoring $1.50 a share in net cash on Corning’s balance sheet. When that cash is counted, the shares trade at just 10.8 times one investor’s 2017 earnings estimate of $1.80 a share, compared with an average of 14 over the past 10 years. From its recent quote of $21, the stock could rise 40% in the next 12 to 18 months, as more content becomes available in the format, estimates Edward Shill, a principal at QCI Asset Management in Pittsford, N.Y.
Enlarge Image

“They continually reinvent themselves,” says Shill. Indeed, Corning stock surged in the dot-com era, when the company significantly expanded its optical-fiber operations, before plummeting from the ensuing bust and a failed laser-products venture. The market’s skepticism is understandable but ignores Corning’s improving growth prospects, Shill adds.
Corning, too, believes 4K TV “has the opportunity to be a major driver of demand in the near future,” Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer James Flaws told analysts on the first-quarter earnings call in April. He predicted that 4K ultrahigh-definition TV sales will more than double from 2014’s level in 2015, to 25 million units, and will keep climbing from there in ensuing years.
Sporting a market value of $26 billion, Corning has five segments, with the largest, display technologies—which makes the glass used in LCD television sets—contributing 43% of the company’s $10.2 billion in 2014 sales and 64% of its $2.2 billion in net income (constant currency). This group makes the glass for 4K TVs.
The next-largest segment is optical communications, which is the fast-growing fiber business. It kicked in 26% of sales last year and 11% of net income. Sales jumped 18% in the first quarter, driven by more fiber connections to homes and data centers. This is a “massively cash-flow-positive” business, says Shill. Networking giant Cisco Systems (CSCO) forecasts that global network traffic will grow, on average, by 23% a year through 2018. Corning’s three other business units include specialty materials, like Gorilla Glass; environmental technologies; and life sciences. The last unit is its smallest, at about 8% of sales, and the only one in which sales fell in the first quarter.
Enlarge Image

4K TV isn’t the only potential catalyst for strong results at Corning. The manufacturer is developing something called Willow glass, which could be as thin as a piece of paper and flexible enough to wrap around various surfaces. It could be used in smartphones and other devices, including solar panels. Also in the works: antimicrobial glass, which prevents bacteria from attaching to the glass surface. It could be used on elevator buttons, hospital walls, cruise-ship railings, and shared tablets.
For now, however, the new generation of TVs holds the most promise. JPMorgan analyst Rod Hall, who upgraded the stock to Overweight in January, thinks that 4K unit shipments could expand even faster than Corning projects, by 171%, to 33.3 million this year, and by 62%, to 53.8 million, in 2016.
By 2017, sales are expected to total $10.9 billion, and earnings should hit $2.3 billion, or $1.76 a share. CFO Flaws told Barron’s that Corning sees sales growing 4% to 6% and EPS rising by double digits in the next few years.
Enlarge Image

Corning’s $2 billion of net cash should enable it to be more aggressive on share buybacks. Since 2011, Corning has bought back 12% of its shares outstanding and raised its dividend four times. The payout yield currently stands at 2.3%. CEO Wendell Weeks has said that both would keep rising.
All in all, the picture at Corning is clear and bright.

>>> US Gapping Up

Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance: SHLD +4.2%, .

M&A news: DATE +3.6% (announces the receipt of an amended 'going private' proposal for $4.80/share or $7.20/ADS share, also reported earnings)

Other news: BLDP +13.3% (announces a $10 million deal to power 33 clean energy buses in China), FCSC +9.7% (and Intrexon (XON) announce positive in vitro pre-clinical data for FCX-007 to treat Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa), PTBI +9.2% (licensed an AAV gene therapy for the treatment of Juvenile Batten disease from UNeMed ), MXL +8.3% (Soros Fund Mgmt disclosed 5.19% passive stake), DB +6% (appoints John Cryan as Co-CEO effective July 1, suceeding Jürgen Fitschen and Anshu Jain, also, upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BofA/Merrill), VISN +5.3% (awarded exclusive concession contracts, to install and operate its on-bus free Wi-Fi network on 5K urban buses in Hangzhou city), AOSL +3% (commences $30 mln Modified Dutch Auction tender offer for its common shares), PANW +1.4% (China considering options to protect against hackers and may attempt to require foreign tech firms to disclose source coding), RAD +1.2% (favorable commentary on Friday's Mad Money), SUNE +0.9% (awarded an additional five solar photovoltaic projects in South Africa, totaling 371 MW)

Analyst comments: DSX +8% (positive Deutsche Bank comments and target raise to $10.50), GLPG +7.1% (initiated with a Overweight at Morgan Stanley), PQ +6.4% (upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James), INVN +1% (upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Northland Capital), TSLA +0.8% (target raised to $335 from $275 at Robert W. Baird),WMT +0.5% (upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James)

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance: MTN -2.6%, PNY -1.5%

M&A news: SYT -0.9% (Monsanto reaffirms proposal for stock transaction valued at CHF449 per share)

Select EU related names showing weakness: SHPG -2.5%, DEO -2.1%, BCS -1.4%, RBS -1.4%, NVO -1%, ABB -0.6%

Other news: WLT -15.9% (ongoing credit concerns), TKC -7.1% (weakness in overseas trading on Turkey election results), AVP -0.9% (subsidiary announced they entered into a new $400 million five-year senior secured revolving credit facility)

Analyst comments: CRC -3.4% (initiated with a Sell at Goldman), LVS -3.2% (Hearing Sterne Agee CRT out cautious following weak Macau gross gaming rev), WYNN -3% (Hearing Sterne Agee CRT out cautious following weak Macau gross gaming rev), AAL -1.1% (downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at Raymond James), UAL -0.9% (downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James), RIO -0.8% (downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Exane BNP Paribas), BEN -0.8% (initiated with a Sell at Goldman), DAL -0.8% (downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James), OC -0.7% (downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie)