>>> Goldman Expects Rise in European M&A Activity, Lists Candidates

Goldman Sachs expects ongoing increases in M&A activity over the next 12 months due to low European financing costs, strong balance sheets, increasing corporate confidence in EU macro outlook.
  • Low, in some places negative, inflation outlook may encourage an increase in in-market consolidation deals, as cos look to secure pricing power: Goldman
  • Weak euro should also increase the appeal of European assets to foreign buyers: Goldman
  • Lists stocks across European coverage with M&A probability of over 30%; excludes banks, mining & pharma:
    • Meggitt, MTU Aero, Actelion, Innate Pharma, Alent, Croda, Elementis, Victrex, Lindt & Sprungli, Nutreco, PZ Cussons, Reckitt, Remy, SABMiller, Swedish Match, Nexans, Oxford Instruments, Spectris, ITV, Smith & Nephew, Tullow Oil, Africa Oil, Det Norske, DNO, Dragon Oil, Genel Energy, Gulf Keystone, Lundin, Fugro, Shaftesbury, Burberry, Ocado, Mobileye, Monitise, Liberty Global, Mobistar, TalkTalk, Tele2, Telenet, FirstGroup, Paddy Power, Restaurant Group, Whitbread, Pennon, Vestas Wind

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance: PNR -3.3%, TISI -1.5%

M&A news: RDS.A -1.7% (confirms cash and share offer for BG Group (BRGYY))

Other news: TRCH -41.2% (VERY light volume, but announces it plans to divest certain of its Hunton Assets located in Logan and Kingfisher Counties, Oklahoma), AMZG -36.4% (announced entry into a Forbearance agreement with four holders, who collectively own or manage in excess of 50% of co's August notes), CBMG -10.5% (cont weakness), ATNM -10.3% (still checking; light volume), CPTA -6% (announced an offering of 3.5 mln shares of common stock; provides preliminary estimates of results as of April 7, 2015), CPTA -6% (announces an offering of 3.5 mln shares of common stock; provides preliminary estimates of results), LGF -5.9% (announced offering of 10 mln shares of common stock being sold by MHR Fund Management), MUX -4.7% (reported armed robbery at El Gallo 1 mine; an estimated 900 kg of gold-bearing concentrate containing ~7000 ounces of gold were stolen)), LBIO -4.2% (has flipped both pos and neg pre-mket -- announces that data from a metastatic cervical cancer study conducted by the National Cancer Institute was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology), BIP -2.2% (announced $750.5 mln equity offering), TRCO -0.9% (proposed secondary offering of 9,240,073 shares of its Class A common stock by certain stockholders)

Analyst comments: WBMD -3.6% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman), ANGI -3.1% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley & Co), RGC -1.3% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Janney), TSL -1.2% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill), CMI -1% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman -- Removed from Americas Buy List), YGE -1% (downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill), HCP -0.7% (initiated with an Underperform at BMO Capital), NEP -0.5% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman )

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance: SIMO +4.5%, HABT +2.8%, PLAY +1.8%, RAD +1.5%, MIND +1.3%, GPN +1.1%, RPM +1%, .

M&A news: ZEP +17.8% (announces a definitive agreement to be acquired by New Mountain Capital for $20.05/share in cash in transaction valued at ~$692 mln ), AGEN +1.2% (announces the acquisition of key antibody assets of Celexion), .

Select China/Macau related names showing strength: ZNH +9.2%, SHI +6.9%, CHL +6.6%, LFC +5.9%, EJ +5.8%, CHA +4.9%, WBAI +4%, LVS +1.8%, MGM +1.8%, HSBC +1.1%

Other news: EYES +18.1% (announces first successful implant of Model of Orion I visual cortical prosthesis), OPTT +13.6% (to proceed to the next phase of U.S. DoE Power Take-Off Technology Contract), PSTR +10.6% (cont strength), RGLS +9.7% (announced the selection of RG-125 for the treatment of Non Alcoholic Steatohepatitis in patients with type 2 diabetes/pre-diabetes, as a clinical candidate by AstraZeneca (AZN) under the companies' strategic alliance), PHMD +8.2% (still checking), ONVO +4.6% (cont strength), INO +4.6% (selected to receive a grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to lead a collaborative team to develop multiple treatment and prevention approaches against Ebola), BP +3.8% (in sympathy with RDS.A/BG Grp merger), NSR +3.6% (co and North American Portability Management entered into an amendment to the regional contracts, pursuant to which the Company serves as the national Local Number Portability Administrator), TSLA +3.1% (will upgrade base level Model S 60 to dual motor 70D ), TSLA +3% (confirms introduction of 250 mile range AWD Model S 70D on its blog), LODE+3% (announces high-grade intercepts from updated drilling in Lucerne), HLT +2.8% (mention in Daily Mail detailing news that China investors are looking at hotel assets), YY +2.4% (modest rebound following yday's decline), PTLA +2.1% (announces new topline data from Phase 3 ANNEXA-A Trial ), ADXS +2% (Advaxis and Merck (MRK) announce that enrollment has initiated in the Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating the combination of ADXS-PSA), ELLI +1.7% (announced that Independent Bank has chosen Ellie Mae's Encompass all-in-one mortgage management solution as its platform for originating mortgages), ARMH +1.6% (still checking), CPHD +1.5% (announced appointment of Ilan Daskal to EVP and CFO, effective April 9, 2015), TWTR +1.4% (cont strength), AES +1.4% (announces that its AES 3C Maritza East I (Maritza) subsidiary has signed a Heads of Terms Agreement with NEK, the state-owned wholesale power company), MRK +1.1% (announced that its Chronic Hepatitis C therapy Grazoprevir/Elbasvir has been granted FDA breakthrough therapy designation)

Analyst comments: WMAR +7.5% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at B. Riley & Co), WRES +7.5% (initiated with a Buy at Noble Financial), MPO +4.9% (initiated with a Buy at Noble Financial; tgt $2.65), XRX +2.6% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup), BDSI +2.2% (initiated with a Buy at Cantor Fitzgerald), DG +1.9% (target raised to $85 from $80 at Deutsche Bank), WPX+1.8% (initiated with a Buy at KLR Group), JBL +1.5% (upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James), ZEN +1.3% (initiated with a Buy at BofA/Merrill), ICPT +1.2% (added to Short-Term Buy List at Deutsche Bank), ETE +1.1% (initiated with a Conviction Buy at Goldman)

RTR - Reportedly has hired advisors to explore M&A or LBO deal

(Reuters) - German ATM maker Wincor Nixdorf WING.DE has asked investment banks to come up with ideas to secure the future of the group, including a potential sale to a private equity group, two people familiar with the matter said.
The rise of online banking and e-commerce poses a structural challenge to Wincor, which has been struggling with low capital expenditures of banks eager to keep costs in check while emerging from the financial crisis.
"A P2P (public to private transaction) is one of the options, the acquisition of a peer by Wincor is another one", one of the people said.
No advisor has yet been officially mandated and the company may still decide against any move, the sources added.
Wincor Nixdorf, which has a market capitalisation of 1.44 billion euros ($1.57 billion), declined to comment.
Wincor specialises in banking systems like Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), accounting for roughly two thirds of its annual sales, and payment systems for retailers such as so-called Points of Sale (POS), which account for the rest.
The company has already vowed to make acquisitions, to increase investments in emerging markets and to boost the software business in its core European market, which accounts for 70 percent of its sales.
"The main question is: will small steps be enough to secure the future of the company or will it likely fare better with a bold move," one of the sources said.
Wincor's shares, which are widely held, have lost 15 percent over the past year, reflecting the company's sluggish financial performance. The German midcap index .MDAXI has gained 29 percent over the same period.
The shares traded almost 15 percent higher at 1240 GMT on Wednesday.
In the first quarter of its fiscal year ending September, the Paderborn-based company reported flat sales of 640 million euros and a 12 percent decline in earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation to 37 million euros. (Full Story)
Founded by Heinz Nixdorf in 1952, the company was taken over by Siemens SIEGn.DE in 1990 before being acquired by buyout groups KKR KKR.N and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners GS.N in 1999. It was listed on the stock exchange in 2004 and the private equity groups have since sold their entire holdings.
Goldman Sachs co-chairman Alexander Dibelius acts as chairman of Wincor Nixdorf's supervisory board.
Wincor competes with the likes of U.S.-based NCR Corp NCR.N or Japan's Oki Electric 6703.T, although these groups may not be potential takeover targets, one of the sources said.
"If Wincor opts for an acquisition, I would suspect they would buy a company in emerging markets as that's where ATM numbers are still on the rise," one of the sources said.