Hearing strength attributed to circulation of chatter that it is being included in the new energy vehicles system in Beijing
Infineon Technologies, the German chipmaker, could attract takeover interest due to its foothold in growth sectors, including semiconductors for automated driving and electric vehicles, its chief executive believes.
But following a wave of multibillion dollar takeovers in the chip industry, Reinhard Ploss told the Financial Times that he considers the company to be “more the consolidator” — as opposed to the one being bought.
“There is one risk: we are busy in highly attractive markets. That is a strength but maybe we should be aware that people might be interested in Infineon because of that market position,” said Mr Ploss.
While technology companies including Apple and Google, as well as automobile makers, push to develop self-driving cars, Infineon has already become an important supplier of components for vehicles being sold now that have computer controlled features, such as automatic braking. It is also supplying products for the small but expanding electric car market.
The company has been partly expanding its competences through deal making. Last year Infineon agreed to pay $3bn to acquire California-based International Rectifier, to increase its US footprint and its range of compound semiconductors that enable mobile devices to use less bulky battery chargers, among other things.
“Because of the step we took last year we are much better off now than a year ago,” said Mr Ploss, an engineer by background, adding that for the time being Infineon was interested only in smaller acquisitions.
The International Rectifier deal was the harbinger of massive dealmaking in the semiconductor sector, including Intel’s $16.7bn takeover of Altera, Avago Technologies’ $37bn purchase of Broadcom and Netherlands-based NXP’s $11.8bn agreement to acquire Freescale.
Consolidation has been sparked by a maturing mobile and PC chip industry, rising development costs and the desire to profit from the next wave of innovation in the internet of things and energy — a future in which smart electricity grids connect decentralised renewable energy sources, consumer devices communicate with each other, and cars refuel at electric charger stations and then drive away autonomously.
Infineon made large losses during the 2008-09 financial crisis, but following a restructuring and divestments — including the sale of its wireless unit to Intel in 2010 — its performance has improved thanks to a focus on energy efficiency, mobility and security applications.
Having fallen to a low of €0.35 in 2009, a fraction of the €35 price when former owner Siemens floated the business in 2000, Infineon’s stock now trades at more than €9.50, giving it a €10.7bn market capitalisation. However, in tandem with other semiconductor stocks, Infineon has fallen more than 20 per cent since a peak in May due to worries about China’s economic slowdown.
Infineon’s revenues jumped 12 per cent to €4.3bn last year, putting it among Europe’s top three chipmakers, alongside STMicroelectronics and NXP.
Headquartered near Munich, the company aims to increase sales by 8 per cent a year on average over the cycle, and achieve a 15 per cent operating profit margin. Last year the margin was 14.4 per cent.
Commerzbank analysts said in April that due in part to the NXP-Freescale deal “competition is heating up . . . making it harder to gain market share as Infineon has done over recent years”. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley analysts are concerned that a rise in US interest rates could slow auto-related growth.
Autos account for about 40 per cent of Infineon’s revenues — making it the global number two in that market behind Renesas, the Japanese group.
Making cars safer, more automated and increasingly environmentally friendly almost invariably means higher semiconductor and sensor content.
Infineon’s power semiconductors help improve energy efficiency in the BMW i3 and Tesla Model-S electric vehicles, and its micro-controller assists in managing the central “brain” of Audi’s driverless test vehicle.
Infineon also makes radar-based distance warning sensors, which cause the car to brake when the vehicle in front slows. It took six years for the company to sell 10m sensors, but Infineon expects to sell the next 10m in one year, in part because of their use in the Volkswagen Golf, Europe’s top-selling car.
Mr Ploss said that Infineon was well-placed to supply components for advanced driver assistance systems such as automatic braking — with a level of reliability found in aircraft but at a price acceptable to the car industry. “Not everybody can supply that,” he added.
Infineon has benefited from strong demand for its products by German premium manufacturers such as BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz, which offer driver-assistance features.
However, by driving down costs, Infineon aims to enable mid-market manufacturers to offer similar functionality. This trend is expected to help the automotive semiconductor market to grow at almost 6 per cent a year until 2019, according to IHS, the research firm.
Infineon also plans to use expertise gained from its chip card and security division to help protect vehicles from hacker attacks.
“Today’s car is not designed in a manner to be resistant against hacker attacks — but in order to hack today’s car you have in general to physically plug something in,” said Mr Ploss. “If you add internet to the car and do not do it in a diligent manner, then you have a problem.”
Safran Rises; Repsol, RWE Drop Ahead of Euro Stoxx 50 Reshuffle
2015-08-31 13:58:10.508 GMT
By Blaise Robinson
(Bloomberg) -- Safran rises as much as 3.9% while Repsol
drops as much as 4.0% ahead of expected reshuffle of Euro Stoxx
50 index later today.
* Vol. on Safran shares is 920k, or 87% of 3-month daily avg
at 3:55pm CET; vol on Repsol is 5.7m, or 50% of 3-month avg
* Other expected change in SX5E: RWE out, Fresenius in
* RWE falls as much as 4.5%, vol 2.1m, or 51% of 3-month
avg
* Fresenius little changed, vol ~570k, or 45% of 3-month
avg
* NOTE: SocGen said on Aug. 25 Safran Could Join Euro Stoxx
50, Replacing Repsol
* NOTE: Stoxx blue-chip index components review on Aug. 31,
effective Sept. 21
For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>
To contact the reporter on this story:
Blaise Robinson in Paris at +33-1-5365-5008 or
brobinson58@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gaurav Panchal at +44-20-3525-0511 or
gpanchal2@bloomberg.net
2015-08-31 13:58:10.508 GMT
By Blaise Robinson
(Bloomberg) -- Safran rises as much as 3.9% while Repsol
drops as much as 4.0% ahead of expected reshuffle of Euro Stoxx
50 index later today.
* Vol. on Safran shares is 920k, or 87% of 3-month daily avg
at 3:55pm CET; vol on Repsol is 5.7m, or 50% of 3-month avg
* Other expected change in SX5E: RWE out, Fresenius in
* RWE falls as much as 4.5%, vol 2.1m, or 51% of 3-month
avg
* Fresenius little changed, vol ~570k, or 45% of 3-month
avg
* NOTE: SocGen said on Aug. 25 Safran Could Join Euro Stoxx
50, Replacing Repsol
* NOTE: Stoxx blue-chip index components review on Aug. 31,
effective Sept. 21
For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>
To contact the reporter on this story:
Blaise Robinson in Paris at +33-1-5365-5008 or
brobinson58@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Gaurav Panchal at +44-20-3525-0511 or
gpanchal2@bloomberg.net
--> Sanofi to work with Google now
Google Pairs With Sanofi to Move Diabetes Patients to Cloud {NSN NTY6SDSYF01X<Go>}
Sanofi Says It’s No Longer Working With Medtronic on Diabetes
2015-08-31 13:00:00.22 GMT
By Simeon Bennett
(Bloomberg) -- Sanofi will not pursue agreement with
Medtronic on diabetes signed last year, Pascale Witz, head of
Sanofi’s diabetes and cardiovascular care division, says in
phone interview.
* Memorandum of understanding to work together with Medtronic
was not “going far enough,” Witz says
* Sanofi says today it will work with Google on developing new
ditital tools to manage diabetes
* NOTE: From June 2014, Sanofi Joins Medtronic to Develop
Devices for Diabetes
For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>
To contact the reporter on this story:
Simeon Bennett in Geneva at +41-22-317-9238 or
sbennett9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Chitra Somayaji at +44-20-3525-9717 or
csomayaji@bloomberg.net
2015-08-31 13:00:00.22 GMT
By Simeon Bennett
(Bloomberg) -- Sanofi will not pursue agreement with
Medtronic on diabetes signed last year, Pascale Witz, head of
Sanofi’s diabetes and cardiovascular care division, says in
phone interview.
* Memorandum of understanding to work together with Medtronic
was not “going far enough,” Witz says
* Sanofi says today it will work with Google on developing new
ditital tools to manage diabetes
* NOTE: From June 2014, Sanofi Joins Medtronic to Develop
Devices for Diabetes
For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>
To contact the reporter on this story:
Simeon Bennett in Geneva at +41-22-317-9238 or
sbennett9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Chitra Somayaji at +44-20-3525-9717 or
csomayaji@bloomberg.net
Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance:MAGS +3.7%
M&A news: EXC +9.8% (Exelon and Pepco Holdings (POM) issue statement following PSCDC's Order, says continue to believe the merger proposal is in the public interest, and will continue working to complete the merger)
Other news: BLFS +60% (announced that its customer TiGenix recently disclosed that its lead compound Cx601 met the primary endpoint in the Phase III ADMIRE-CD trial ), RXII +21.5% (he 30-day review period following the filing of the Company's Investigational New Drug (IND) for ocular indications with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has passed and the IND is now active), MDCO +19.7% (positive ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial with ALN-PCSsc for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia), VTL +19.1% (presentation of additional data from its VTI-208 clinical trial), BVX +17% (FDA 510(k) Approval for New J-Plasma Pistol Grip Configurations), GDP +7.9% (suspends the quarterly dividends on some of its Convertible Preferred Stock), ICPT+5.3% (still checking), ALNY +4.5% (reports ALN-PCSsc generally well tolerated with no clinically significant drug-related adverse events to date), PSX +3.1% (Berkshire Hathaway late Friday disclosed an ~58 mln share, or ~$4.5 bln stake as of August 28th), QURE +1.7% (Point72 discloses an increased 5.0% passive stake in 13G filing)
Analyst comments: SUNE +5.8% (initiated with an Outperform at Macquarie), TWTR +3.4% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey), JCP +2.6% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank
)
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance:MAGS +3.7%
M&A news: EXC +9.8% (Exelon and Pepco Holdings (POM) issue statement following PSCDC's Order, says continue to believe the merger proposal is in the public interest, and will continue working to complete the merger)
Other news: BLFS +60% (announced that its customer TiGenix recently disclosed that its lead compound Cx601 met the primary endpoint in the Phase III ADMIRE-CD trial ), RXII +21.5% (he 30-day review period following the filing of the Company's Investigational New Drug (IND) for ocular indications with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has passed and the IND is now active), MDCO +19.7% (positive ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial with ALN-PCSsc for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia), VTL +19.1% (presentation of additional data from its VTI-208 clinical trial), BVX +17% (FDA 510(k) Approval for New J-Plasma Pistol Grip Configurations), GDP +7.9% (suspends the quarterly dividends on some of its Convertible Preferred Stock), ICPT+5.3% (still checking), ALNY +4.5% (reports ALN-PCSsc generally well tolerated with no clinically significant drug-related adverse events to date), PSX +3.1% (Berkshire Hathaway late Friday disclosed an ~58 mln share, or ~$4.5 bln stake as of August 28th), QURE +1.7% (Point72 discloses an increased 5.0% passive stake in 13G filing)
Analyst comments: SUNE +5.8% (initiated with an Outperform at Macquarie), TWTR +3.4% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey), JCP +2.6% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank
)
Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance: N/A.
Select financial related names showing weakness: NBG -3.3%, SAN -1.5%, MS -1.5%, DB -1.1%, BAC -0.9%, WFC -0.8%, C -0.6%, UBS -0.6%, CS -0.5%
Select metals/mining stocks trading lower: AUY -4.1%, AU -3.7%, MT -3.4%, GFI -2.5%, BHP -1.9%, FCX -1.4%, RIO -1.3%, ABX -0.9%.
Select oil/gas related names showing early weakness: SDRL -5.1%, STO -3%, RIG -2.8%, TOT -1.6%, RDS.A -1.5%, BP -0.8%, CVX -0.7%
Other news: BTH -100% (The Carlyle Group (CG) will acquire all of Blyth's outstanding shares of common stock in a transaction valuing Blyth at $98 million, equating to $6.00 per share), ARIA -3.2% (small pull back following Friday's run up), TSEM -2.8% (still checking), IDCC -2.4% (provides statement following the decision of the U.S. International Trade Commission in the investigation involving InterDigital and respondents Microsoft (MSFT) Mobile Oy, and Nokia (NOK)), YNDX -2% (changing its pay-per-click advertising platform), NFLX -1.5% (will remove some high profile movies from streaming service), SQNM -1.3% (files for $300 mln mixed shelf offering), BABA -0.8% (Chinese mkts weak overnight), GM -0.7% (Japan reports July 2015 auto sales down 7.6% YoY; passenger car production also fell 6.5%), YHOO -0.7% (in symp with BABA)
Analyst comments: REGN -0.9% (downgraded to Neutral at Chardan Capital Markets), SYT -0.5% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS
)
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance: N/A.
Select financial related names showing weakness: NBG -3.3%, SAN -1.5%, MS -1.5%, DB -1.1%, BAC -0.9%, WFC -0.8%, C -0.6%, UBS -0.6%, CS -0.5%
Select metals/mining stocks trading lower: AUY -4.1%, AU -3.7%, MT -3.4%, GFI -2.5%, BHP -1.9%, FCX -1.4%, RIO -1.3%, ABX -0.9%.
Select oil/gas related names showing early weakness: SDRL -5.1%, STO -3%, RIG -2.8%, TOT -1.6%, RDS.A -1.5%, BP -0.8%, CVX -0.7%
Other news: BTH -100% (The Carlyle Group (CG) will acquire all of Blyth's outstanding shares of common stock in a transaction valuing Blyth at $98 million, equating to $6.00 per share), ARIA -3.2% (small pull back following Friday's run up), TSEM -2.8% (still checking), IDCC -2.4% (provides statement following the decision of the U.S. International Trade Commission in the investigation involving InterDigital and respondents Microsoft (MSFT) Mobile Oy, and Nokia (NOK)), YNDX -2% (changing its pay-per-click advertising platform), NFLX -1.5% (will remove some high profile movies from streaming service), SQNM -1.3% (files for $300 mln mixed shelf offering), BABA -0.8% (Chinese mkts weak overnight), GM -0.7% (Japan reports July 2015 auto sales down 7.6% YoY; passenger car production also fell 6.5%), YHOO -0.7% (in symp with BABA)
Analyst comments: REGN -0.9% (downgraded to Neutral at Chardan Capital Markets), SYT -0.5% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS
)
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. disclosed a $4.5 billion stake in Phillips 66, the Houston-based oil refiner, as the billionaire investor’s company increases its bet on the energy industry.
Berkshire held almost 58 million shares after purchases this week, or more than 10 percent of the total outstanding, according to a regulatory filing - PSX
Stocks with favorable mention: AMZN, ARRY, BABY, CPB, DLTR, EOG, FB, FIVE, GIII, GOOGL, MDT, NFLX, PAY, TJX, WPZ
Stocks with unfavorable mention: AMBA, BBBY, GRPN, JOY, MSI, SUNE
Several situations seem particularly worth-watching:
- Altice / Bouygues Tel: creation of A shares raises Altice’s deal capacity
- Severn Trent: a new CEO has arrived since 2013 approach failure
- Smith Nephew: Stryker “sees significant scope for deals" (Bloomberg,07/23)
- SABMiller: its move for Heineken may reflect concern over InBev’s appetite
- CGG: further shrinking of market cap may impose a State-supported tie-up
- Fugro: business deterioration may boost attractiveness of Boskalis proposal
• A few others are facing critical options: RSA, Liberty, T-Mobile,Starwood,…..