RTRS - ECB'S NOYER SAYS THERE IS A RISK THAT GREEK BANKS MAY RUN OUT OF COLLATERAL TO OBTAIN EMERGENCY ECB LIQUIDITY
--> smart idea, to sell optional intelligent Straps
Richemont’s IWC Brand to Make Intelligent Watch Straps
2015-05-05 08:20:00.136 GMT
By Thomas Mulier
(Bloomberg) -- IWC watch strap to connect to devices,
Internet of things, track activities, brand says on website.
* IWC Connect will be embedded in watchstraps, brand plans to
keep IWC watches mechanical
* “We do not touch our beautiful watches,”: IWC CEO Georges
Kern
NOTE: Montblanc has also been developing intelligent watchband
called the e-Strap
Link to Company News:{CFR VX <Equity> CN <GO>}
For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: {FIRST<GO>}
First Word newswire: {NH BFW<GO>}
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Thomas Mulier at +41-22-317-9201 or
tmulier@bloomberg.net
2015-05-05 08:20:00.136 GMT
By Thomas Mulier
(Bloomberg) -- IWC watch strap to connect to devices,
Internet of things, track activities, brand says on website.
* IWC Connect will be embedded in watchstraps, brand plans to
keep IWC watches mechanical
* “We do not touch our beautiful watches,”: IWC CEO Georges
Kern
NOTE: Montblanc has also been developing intelligent watchband
called the e-Strap
Link to Company News:{CFR VX <Equity> CN <GO>}
For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: {FIRST<GO>}
First Word newswire: {NH BFW<GO>}
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Thomas Mulier at +41-22-317-9201 or
tmulier@bloomberg.net
ITV Completes acquisition of Talpa Media; financial terms undisclosed
ITV has completed the acquisition of Talpa Media B.V., the entertainment show producer behind worldwide hit formats, including The Voice, The Voice Kids, Utopia, I Love My Country and Dating In The Dark. This follows the previously announced agreement on 12 March 2015. The acquisition is a further milestone in the company's strategy of building an international content business that creates and owns entertainment formats and dramas that sell internationally, and significantly strengthens ITV's position as a leading producer in Europe.
UBS - CEO: Does not rule out private banking M&A, but current prices are deterrent - Post Earnings Comments
China A50 Equity Futures lower by over 4.9%, Shanghai Composite closed lower by 4.1% during the session
Austria Fin Min: Reiterates cannot say if there will be deal on Greek debt on May 11 - Notes Greece has changed positions in some areas, no movement in other areas
--> Upgrading Back to Buy As Risk/Reward Now Positively Skewed Post the Recent Downdraft; Price Target Remains Unch at €4.15
* Upgrading ALU back to Buy from Neutral after downgrading it 3 wks ago, as ALU traded lower on NOK’s Q1 earnings miss creating 33% upside to our €4.15 PT.
* We now believe there is a greater possibility NOK and ALU renegotiate the merger terms, as ALU stock has fallen 27% from the original €4.28/shr implied purchase price and others could join ALU’s #2 shareholder who publicly stated it does not plan to tender its stock under the current terms. We believe the probability Nokia sweetens deal by adding a cash component is now higher.
* We do believe ALU could miss Q1 Street estimates following in ERIC and NOK’s footsteps on slower US spending; however, we believe that is now largely reflected in ALU shares, which now trade with NOK due to the fixed merger ratio.
* On the flipside, ALU shares could also benefit should Nokia make a positive announcement, such as selling its HERE business or negotiating a new licensing agreement with Samsung. We anticipate both catalysts within the next year.
* Our Bear Case price for ALU is €2.90, based on a 1.0xEV/’15 rev for routing and 0.5x EV/’15 rev for others, equal to levels for distressed assets. We do not believe regulatory approval in the U.S. is guaranteed, which aside from shareholder backlash appears to be the biggest risk factor for the deal not closing.
* We also believe ALU would be in a better position than Nokia should the deal break, as ALU has a well-diversified business across optical, routing, fixed access, and wireless vs. Nokia’s exposure to just wireless – exactly the premise NOK gave for the deal in the first place. We believe ALU shares are also attractive on a standalone basis, and our €4.15 PT equates to a 13.8x P/E on ’16 EPS of €0.30, assuming normalized op margin of 10%, a discount to our NOK PT at 16x P/E.
Global annual spending on cancer drugs has hit $100bn for the first time as the pharmaceuticals industry prepares to launch a fresh generation of treatments that promise to push costs even higher.
The record 2014 figure marks a 10 per cent increase from a year earlier, largely because of rising drug prices and increased incidence of cancer.
The data, from the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, a respected US research organisation, comes at a time of growing excitement among medics and investors over new cancer drugs heralded as the biggest step forward in oncology for decades.
Merck & Co, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche and AstraZeneca are among those developing so-called cancer immunotherapies that harness the body’s immune system to fight tumours.
The earliest of these have been launched in the US in recent months at prices amounting to about $150,000 a year — generating fresh optimism around the pharmaceuticals industry after a decade of sluggish growth.
However, the expected surge of expensive new cancer drugs has raised questions over their affordability for healthcare systems already struggling with the rising cost of caring for an ageing world population.
“Earlier diagnosis, longer treatment duration and increased effectiveness of drug therapies are contributing to rising levels of spending on medicines for cancer,” said the IMS report.
The compound annual growth rate in cancer drug spending increased to 6.5 per cent over the past five years and this was forecast by IMS to rise further to 6-8 per cent between now and 2018 as new treatments arrive.
“New therapeutic classes and combination therapies will change the cancer landscape over the next several years,” the report said.
A scramble for high-margin cancer assets has been a factor in the mergers and acquisitions boom across the pharmaceuticals sector, including AbbVie’s $21bn takeover in March of Pharmacyclics, maker of a fast-growing blood cancer drug.
IMS said rising prices would be mitigated by increased competition — particularly in immunotherapies as dozens of pharma groups and smaller biotech companies vie for position in the nascent market.
“The strong pipeline of medicines in clinical development ... suggests that direct competition will increase in the next five years,” said IMS. “Certain tumours, such as non–small cell lung cancer, will become battlegrounds, with multiple classes and multiple products within classes competing.”
Biosimilars — lower-cost copies of complex biological drugs — would also act as a pressure valve on costs as patent expiries loom for several best-selling oncology drugs, such as Roche’s Herceptin breast cancer treatment.
The US accounted for 42.2 per cent of the oncology market in 2014, well ahead of Europe. But cancer drugs accounted for a bigger share of total drug spending in the top five European markets at almost 14.7 per cent, compared with 11.3 per cent in the US. This proportion increased in all regions of the world in the past five years.
Average per capita spending on cancer drugs was highest in the US at $99 in 2014, up from $71 in 2010, but the biggest increase was in the UK where it rose 67 per cent over the period to just over $40. Britain’s National Health Service has this year cut access to several cancer drugs deemed insufficiently cost-effective in order to rein in spending.
Rising incidence of cancer poses a big policy challenge for global health systems as populations age — exposing more people to the biggest risk factor behind the disease: old age.
The number of over-65s on the planet is projected almost to triple between 2010 and 2050 to 1.5bn, according to the UN. This, in turn, will spur a 70 per cent increase in cancer incidence over the next 20 years, according to the World Health Organisation.
Sika: FINMA rejects Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Cascade Investment appeal regarding TOB's opting out clause decision
The FINMA takeover committee has rejected the appeal made by William H. Gates III and Melinda French Gates (as trustees of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust) and Cascade Investment, L.L.C against the TOB decision 598/01 in the matter of Sika AG.
In response to a request, the Swiss Takeover Board (TOB) concluded in decision 598/01 of 1 April 2015 that the opting out clause set out in Article 5 of Sika AG's articles of association does apply to the transaction between Schenker-Winkler Holding AG (SWH) and Compagnie de Saint-Gobain (Saint-Gobain) whereby SWH, Saint-Gobain, or any persons acting in concert with them, are not obliged to present a public takeover offer to the Sika AG shareholders.
William H. Gates III, Melinda French Gates and Cascade Investment, L.L.C subsequently lodged an appeal against the TOB decision with FINMA Takeover Committee. In its decision of 4 May 2015, the FINMA Takeover Committee has rejected their appeal.
Jazztel/Orange outstanding assets suitor Yoigo considers bid for rival MasMovil
Yoigo, the Spanish mobile operator owned by the Swedish teleco Telia Sonera is considering an offer for its Spanish rival MasMovil, the Spanish-language paper Expansion reported.
Yoigo Chief Executive Eduardo Taulet said on Sunday that should MasMovil acquire outstanding assets from Orange’s acquisition of Jazztel, Yoigo would consider a commercial or corporate agreement with MasMovil.
As reported, MasMovil is a frontrunner to acquire the ADSL network that French teleco Orange may have to sell in order to obtain the EC’s approval for its EUR 3.4bn acquisition of the Spanish operator Jazztel.
MAB-listed MasMovil has a market capitalisation of EUR 217.6m.
Expansion