(BFW) Alstom CEO Rejects Siemens CEO Offer to Consolidate Train Units

BN 03/11 10:29 *ALSTOM WILL BE DEBT-FREE AFTER GE DEAL IS CONCLUDED, CEO SAYS
BN 03/11 10:26 *ALSTOM CEO: SIEMENS CEO INTERVIEW COMMENTS WERE `UNACCEPTABLE'
BN 03/11 10:25 *ALSTOM CEO REJECTS SIEMENS CEO OFFER TO CONSOLIDATE TRAIN UNITS
Alstom CEO Rejects Siemens CEO Offer to Consolidate Train Units
2015-03-11 10:32:09.424 GMT


By Mathieu Rosemain
(Bloomberg) -- Alstom CEO Kron says interview with Siemens
CEO published in French daily Le Figaro included some
“unacceptable” comments. He was speaking to a parliamentary
committee in Paris.
* NOTE: Siemens CEO Says Alstom Rail Venture Possible: Le
Figaro


For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>

To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathieu Rosemain in Paris at +33-1-5530-6298 or
mrosemain@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Chris Reiter at +49-30-70010-6226 or
creiter2@bloomberg.net
Steve Rhinds

(BFW) Airbus Considers Buyback, Kepler Cheuvreux Says After Road Show

Airbus Considers Buyback, Kepler Cheuvreux Says After Road Show
2015-03-11 09:39:21.545 GMT


By Andrea Rothman
(Bloomberg) -- Airbus to revisit shareholder return policy
mid-year, buyback is an option, says Kepler Cheuvreux analyst
Christophe Menard in note following road show with co.
* Co. wants to soften impact of defense/space divestments on
EPS
* Airbus also may raise A320 production beyond announced 50/mo
by 2017/18 after evaluating supply chain
* A380 focus is on increasing capacity by putting passengers
11 abreast; A380neo can only be done if returns sound, more
than one customer needed: Kepler Cheuvreux (buy)
* NOTE yday: Airbus’s Multibillion-Dollar Bet: Whether to
Overhaul A380 Jumbo


For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>

To contact the reporter on this story:
Andrea Rothman in Toulouse at +33-5-6365-7668 or
aerothman@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Benedikt Kammel at +49-30-70010-6230 or
bkammel@bloomberg.net

>>> Sika shareholder Ethos backs request filed by Gates Foundation and Cascade a

Sika shareholder Ethos backs request filed by Gates Foundation and Cascade at the Swiss Takeover Board
Ethos Foundation supports the request filed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust and Cascade Investment last Friday at the Swiss Takeover Board.

This request demands the Swiss Takeover Board to rule on whether Saint Gobain needs to make a public offer to all shareholders when acquiring the 52% of voting rights sold by the Burkard Family. The articles of association contain an opting out clause (exemption from the obligation to make a public offer). Ethos and 11 shareholders filed a resolution last December to the next annual general meeting of Sika demanding the removal of this opting out clause.

In its recent decision on the request filed by Schenker Winkler Holding (SWH), the Swiss Takeover Board validated the general principle of the opting out contained in the articles of association. However, the Swiss Takeover Board did not make a decision on whether the opting out applies to the specific case of the acquisition by Saint Gobain of the shares of SWH. The shareholders Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust and Cascade Investment are now asking for an answer concerning the validity of the opting out in this case.

Ethos supports the request of the American shareholders and, in general, every step taken to protect the long term interests of Sika and its minority shareholders. In particular, Ethos encourages the board to take every available measure to resist the hostile takeover of Sika which jeopardizes the demonstrated success of the company. This is even more important as shareholders holding more than half of Sika's capital have explicitly declared their support for the board and the executive management.

Last December, Ethos and 11 shareholders filed a resolution to the next annual general meeting demanding the removal of the opting out clause. This provision strongly penalises minority shareholders in the case of a sale of shares by a controlling shareholder. After the removal of the opting out clause, the buyer of the shares held by SWH will have to make an offer to the rest of the capital. In addition, the offer must be made at equal conditions to all shareholders as the payment of a control premium is prohibited by the Stock Exchange Act (SESTA). It is probable that, under such constraint, Saint Gobain will refrain from the purchase.

Ethos urges all shareholders, institutional or private, to join the support group for this resolution. Today, the group is composed of more than 50 institutional investors and close to 170 private shareholders that together hold 6.8% of the capital and 3.8% of the voting rights of Sika. The list of members is updated daily and published on the website of Ethos.

(UBS) Macro : The ultimate argument for European equity

A licence to kill debt
The level of QE announced by the ECB amounts to about 7.5% of Euro Area GDP. The public deficit this year in the Euro Area is expected to be around 2.2% of GDP. In short the ECB is not only purchasing all the net supply of Euro Area sovereign paper, but is also buying part of the existing stock. For the first time since WWII, the stock of public debt available for investors is declining.


The World (of Fixed Income) Is Not Enough
By definition, investors will be crowded out of the fixed income market by the ECB action. We show that the credit market is not large enough to absorb investments which means that the credit market could be heavily impacted and continue to rally. Also, part of the funds have to migrate to the stock market. We see that as unavoidable and as a very strong steady support for the European equity market.


The missing link: foreigners
The flaw this line of argument is that funds could be invested outside of Europe rather than in European equity. This, in theory, is true. However we highlight that recent international flows are telling us exactly the opposite: we find that foreign investors are actually increasing their allocation into Europe, making our flow argument even more powerful.

WSJ : China Economy Sputters Toward More Stimulus

China Economy Sputters Toward More Stimulus

China is increasingly playing chicken with the economy. Investors better hope they don’t get run over.
Government data released Wednesday confirmed growth is taking another leg down. Industrial production in the first two months of the year grew 6.8% from a year earlier, the slowest pace since the dark days of December 2008. Retail sales in January and February grew 10.7%, the slowest in a decade.
Most worrying is that the property market is only getting worse. People were decidedly not buying property during the Lunar New Year, despite government moves across the country to loosen borrowing and cut out restrictions on apartment purchases that were put in place when the market was overheated.
Property transaction volumes fell nearly 17% in January and February compared with last year, snuffing out hopes that a recovery was building late last year. Unsold apartment inventory hit another record, 422 million square meters.
With buyers on the sidelines, developers aren’t building new stock, providing a major drag on the economy, and now it seems on jobs. While official numbers haven’t been released, China’s human resources minister said Tuesday the slowdown has made “job creation more difficult,” a stark reversal from earlier assessments that employment was holding up despite pain in certain sectors.Fiscal tightening on the local government level represents another brake on growth.

China’s slowdown has been well telegraphed by officials—and in fact seen as a prerequisite to enact reforms and shift the country away from a debt-fueled growth model. The risk has always been that what starts as an engineered slowdown from Beijing could spin out of control as consumers and business lose confidence, and asset prices fall. That the moves to spur the property market aren’t working is a troubling development.
So far China has been relatively guarded with counteracting the slowdown. Two interest rate cuts and a move to cut bank reserve requirements are an acknowledgment of the slowdown, but aren't enough to boost growth. They are more like cushions to break the fall.
As the government’s read on the property market and jobs continues to worsen, more moves seem inevitable, including further loosening of mortgage restrictions, rate cuts and bank reserve requirement cuts. Unleashing a major stimulus package would represent a setback to remaking the economy. But the possibility of a more concerted effort now looms larger than before.

>>> Lagardere planning retail travel acquisition, watching World Duty Free aucti

Lagardere planning retail travel acquisition, watching World Duty Free auction process

Lagardere, the listed French sports and media group, is interested in making one or several acquisitions, French daily Les Echos reported citing head Arnaud Lagardere. He said that the group could make one or several major acquisitions, adding that he was closely monitoring the auction for World Duty Free.

According to Lagardere, the group has the means to make acquisitions without diluting the stakes of existing shareholders.

A report last week noted that companies admitted to the WDF data room as Swiss-based Dufry, South Korean Lotte Shopping and Chinese Sunrise Duty Free.

Les Echos

(BFW) Lafarge/Holcim Significant Terms Change Unlikely, Jefferies Says

Lafarge/Holcim Significant Terms Change Unlikely, Jefferies Says
2015-03-11 07:40:04.669 GMT


By Cormac Mullen
(Bloomberg) -- Jefferies says doubts Lafarge, Holcim
shareholders will risk losing merger synergies worth ~16%-19%
combined stockmarket value and potentially cause double-digit
percentage stock declines, in note.
* Says terms of a merger normally depend on long term
potential rather than outlook over next few quarters;
Lafarge 2015 guidance doesn’t appear to be a compelling
argument for renegotiation
* Says main argument for renegotiation in its view would be
that oil prices could have moved to structurally lower
level, potentially depressing longer-term profitability of
Lafarge’s business in Middle East, Africa
* Questions confidence in longer term oil price estimates
given recent volatility in short-term estimates
* NOTE: March 9, Lafarge/Holcim to Do What It Takes to
Conclude Deal: Analysts

For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>

To contact the reporter on this story:
Cormac Mullen in Dublin at +353-1-523-9526 or
cmullen9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Ludden at +44-20-3525-2645 or
jludden@bloomberg.net