(BUS) Halliburton to Separately Market for Sale Its Drill Bits, Directional Dril

BFW 04/07 20:16 *HAL TO MARKET DRILL BITS, DIRECTIONAL DRILLING, LWD/MWD UNITS
BN 04/07 20:15 *HAL TO MARKET DRILL BITS, DIRECTIONAL DRILLING, LWD/MWD UNITS
BFW 04/07 20:15 *HALLIBURTON TO SEPARATELY MARKET FOR SALE DRILL BITS, DIRECTION
BN 04/07 20:15 *HALLIBURTON TO SEPARATELY MARKET FOR SALE DRILL BITS, DIRECTION
Halliburton to Separately Market for Sale Its Drill Bits, Directional Drilling and LWD/MWD Businesses in Connection with Pending
2015-04-07 20:15:00.168 GMT

Halliburton to Separately Market for Sale Its Drill Bits, Directional
Drilling and LWD/MWD Businesses in Connection with Pending Baker Hughes
Acquisition

Business Wire

HOUSTON -- April 7, 2015

Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) today announced it will separately market for
sale the company’s Fixed Cutter and Roller Cone Drill Bits, Directional
Drilling and Logging-While-Drilling (LWD)/Measurement-While-Drilling (MWD)
businesses. The final sale of these businesses will not be completed until we
have reached acceptable terms and conditions negotiated by Halliburton, the
approval of Halliburton’s Board of Directors and final approvals of the Baker
Hughes acquisition by competition authorities.

“Thanks to employees’ hard work, these businesses represent strong products
and services in the oilfield services industry, and we believe the value
inherent in these businesses will be recognized by prospective buyers,” said
Dave Lesar, chairman and chief executive officer of Halliburton. “Although we
would prefer to retain these assets, we will be required to divest some of our
overlapping businesses to obtain competition authorities’ approvals as
anticipated when we announced the Halliburton-Baker Hughes transaction. We are
excited about the many benefits of our pending acquisition of Baker Hughes,
which was recently approved by the stockholders of both companies, and look
forward to creating a bellwether global oilfield services company for the
benefit of our stockholders, customers, employees and other stakeholders.”

Halliburton will operate as one company, including the businesses held for
sale, until the sale of the identified businesses is complete, and the company
remains focused on providing the same safe, reliable, cost-effective service
to its customers. Halliburton expects to complete the sale of the businesses
in the same timeframe as the closing of the pending Baker Hughes acquisition
late in the second half of 2015.

About Halliburton

Founded in 1919, Halliburton is one of the world's largest providers of
products and services to the energy industry. With more than 75,000 employees,
representing 140 nationalities in over 80 countries, the company serves the
upstream oil and gas industry throughout the lifecycle of the reservoir — from
locating hydrocarbons and managing geological data, to drilling and formation
evaluation, well construction and completion, and optimizing production
through the life of the field. Visit the company’s website at
www.halliburton.com. Connect with Halliburton on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Oilpro and YouTube.

Safe Harbor

The statements in this communication that are not historical statements,
including statements regarding Halliburton’s ability to negotiate acceptable
terms and conditions in connection with the divestitures, the approval of the
divestitures by Halliburton’s Board of Directors, the approvals from
competition authorities of the overall acquisition of Baker Hughes, and
expectations regarding the timing of the divestitures and the closing of the
acquisition of Baker Hughes, are forward-looking statements within the meaning
of the federal securities laws. These statements are subject to numerous risks
and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control, which could
cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or
implied by the statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not
limited to: the timing to consummate the proposed transaction; the conditions
to closing of the proposed transaction may not be satisfied or the closing of
the proposed transaction otherwise does not occur; the risk a regulatory
approval that may be required for the proposed transaction is not obtained or
is obtained subject to conditions that are not anticipated; the diversion of
management time on transaction-related issues; the ultimate timing, outcome
and results of integrating the operations of Halliburton and Baker Hughes and
the ultimate outcome of Halliburton’s operating efficiencies applied to Baker
Hughes’ products and services; the effects of the business combination of
Halliburton and Baker Hughes, including the combined company’s future
financial condition, results of operations, strategy and plans; expected
synergies and other benefits from the proposed transaction and the ability of
Halliburton to realize such synergies and other benefits; results of
litigation, settlements, and investigations; and other risks and uncertainties
described in Halliburton’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014,
recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other Securities and Exchange
Commission filings. These filings also discuss some of the important risk
factors identified that may affect Halliburton's business, results of
operations, and financial condition. Halliburton undertakes no obligation to
revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.

Additional Information

This communication does not constitute an offer to buy or sell or the
solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any securities or a solicitation of
any vote or approval. This communication relates to a proposed business
combination between Halliburton and Baker Hughes. In connection with this
proposed business combination, Halliburton has filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the "SEC") a registration statement on Form S-4,
including Amendments No. 1 and 2 thereto, and a definitive joint proxy
statement/prospectus of Halliburton and Baker Hughes and other documents
related to the proposed transaction. The registration statement was declared
effective by the SEC on February 17, 2015 and the definitive proxy
statement/prospectus has been mailed to stockholders of Halliburton and Baker
Hughes. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF HALLIBURTON AND BAKER HUGHES ARE
URGED TO READ THE JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS, REGISTRATION STATEMENT AND
OTHER DOCUMENTS FILED OR THAT MAY BE FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR
ENTIRETY BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN OR WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Investors
and security holders may obtain free copies of these documents and other
documents filed with the SEC by Halliburton and/or Baker Hughes through the
website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. Copies of the documents
filed with the SEC by Halliburton are available free of charge on
Halliburton’s internet website at http://www.halliburton.com or by contacting
Halliburton’s Investor Relations Department by email at
investors@Halliburton.com or by phone at +1-281-871-2688. Copies of the
documents filed with the SEC by Baker Hughes are available free of charge on
Baker Hughes’ internet website at http://www.bakerhughes.com or by contacting
Baker Hughes’ Investor Relations Department by email at
trey.clark@bakerhughes.com or alondra.oteyza@bakerhughes.com or by phone at
+1-713-439-8039 or +1-713-439-8822.

Participants in Solicitation

Halliburton, Baker Hughes, their respective directors and certain of their
respective executive officers may be considered participants in the
solicitation of proxies in connection with the proposed transaction.
Information about the directors and executive officers of Halliburton is set
forth in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014,
which was filed with the SEC on February 24, 2015, and its proxy statement for
its 2015 annual meeting of stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on April
7, 2015. Information about the directors and executive officers of Baker
Hughes is set forth in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2014, which was filed with the SEC on February 26, 2015, and its
proxy statement for its 2015 annual meeting of stockholders, which was filed
with the SEC on March 27, 2015. These documents can be obtained free of charge
from the sources indicated above. Additional information regarding the
participants in the proxy solicitations and a description of their direct and
indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, are contained in the
proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials filed with the SEC.

Contact:

Halliburton
For Investors:
Kelly Youngblood, 281-871-2688
Investor Relations
Investors@Halliburton.com
or
For Media:
Emily Mir, 281-871-2601
Public Relations
PR@Halliburton.com

-0- Apr/07/2015 20:15 GMT

>>> TRW suspension unit sale surpasses second round, sector advisors say


TRW suspension unit sale surpasses second round, sector advisors say

TRW Automotive Holdings’ (NYSE:TRW) sale of its suspension unit has advanced beyond the second round, two sector advisors said.

The bidder pool currently comprises mostly Asian strategics, the first advisor said. Both advisors said it was their understanding that TRW was angling for a strategic buyer, adding that, to their knowledge, sponsors did not advance into the second round of bids, on 17 March.

It appears that TRW would prefer a strategic buyer given that a strategic would be able to extract synergies from the business, they said, declining to elaborate.

The company has further management presentations scheduled through April and is looking to wrap these up soon, according to both advisors.

In February, this news service reported that TRW and Germany-based ZF Friedrichshafen had mandated BNP Paribas to sell TRW’s suspension business. Books had already been sent to prospective suitors on the unit, which manufactures track rod ends, control arms and ball joints for steering and suspension purposes and has around USD 40m to USD 50m in EBITDA. Sources estimated that TRW could receive offers that value the unit at 6x EBITDA.

Last month news reports indicated that India’s Amtek Auto (BOM:520077) was in talks to acquire the unit from TRW. Amtek declined to comment on the rumors. ZF declined to comment, while TRW did not return calls.

The European Commission has made the divestment a condition to approving ZF’s USD 13.5bn bid for TRW announced back in September.

(BFW) Vivendi Representative Denies Sky Is Acquisition Target

Vivendi Representative Denies Sky Is Acquisition Target
2015-04-07 20:00:20.115 GMT


By Anthony Palazzo
(Bloomberg) -- Vivendi representative comments by phone.
* Earlier, Reuters said Vivendi is looking at a possible
acquisition of Sky as one of several options: Link


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

--With assistance from Beth Mellor in New York.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Anthony Palazzo in Los Angeles at +1-323-782-4228 or
apalazzo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Anthony Palazzo at +1-323-782-4228 or
apalazzo@bloomberg.net
Beth Mellor

(BFW) *NOVO NORDISK US FDA TO REVIEW TRESIBA® & RYZODEG® RESUBMISSIONS

BFW 04/07 19:42 *NOVO NORDISK US FDA TO REVIEW TRESIBA® & RYZODEG® RESUBMISSIONS
BN 04/07 19:42 *NOVO NORDISK US FDA TO REVIEW TRESIBA® & RYZODEG® RESUBMISSIONS
BN 04/07 19:42 *NOVO NORDISK A/S: US FDA ACCEPTS TRESIBA®, RYZODEG®
Novo Nordisk A/S: US FDA accepts Tresiba® and Ryzodeg® resubmissions for review
2015-04-07 19:42:05.809 GMT

Bagsværd, Denmark, 7 April 2015 - Novo Nordisk today announced that the US
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review the Clas

II Resubmissions for Tresiba^® (insulin degludec) and Ryzodeg^® (insulin
degludec/insulin aspart).

To preserve the integrity of the ongoing DEVOTE trial, only a small team
within Novo Nordisk has access to the data. This team has prepared the interim
analysis for the Class II resubmission and will interact with the FDA during
the review, on matters related to the interim analysis. 

As previously communicated, the result of an interim analysis carries a higher
level of uncertainty than the final study results as this preliminary estimate
is built on a substantially lower number of observations. Accordingly, the
relative risk estimate derived from the interim analysis is thus only an
indication of the final trial results.

Novo Nordisk management does not have access to the results of the interim
analysis. The trial is expected to be completed in the second half of 2016.

For further information

Media:    
Katrine Sperling +45 3079 6718 krsp@novonordisk.com
Ken Inchausti (US) +1 609 514 8316 kiau@novonordisk.com
Investors:    
Kasper Roseeuw Poulsen +45 3079 4303 krop@novonordisk.com
Melanie Raouzeos +45 3075 3479 mrz@novonordisk.com
Daniel Bohsen +45 3079 6376 dabo@novonordisk.com
Frank Daniel Mersebach (US) +1 609 235 8567 fdni@novonordisk.com 

Company announcement No 26 / 2015

Company announcement No 25 / 2015

RTR - Vivendi eyes bid for Sky to build pan-European pay-TV giant - sources

{http://reut.rs/1JloCc0}

Vivendi eyes bid for Sky to build pan-European pay-TV giant - sources

(Reuters) - French media conglomerate Vivendi is looking at a possible acquisition of pay-TV group Sky, as one of several options to expand the reach of its own TV group Canal Plus, three sources familiar with the matter said.

Vivendi has turned its attention to Sky after reviewing smaller pay-TV targets in Turkey and other fast-growing markets in Europe, one of the sources said.

Sky has a market value of 17.6 billion pounds ($26 billion) but could cost Vivendi as much as 28 billion pounds including debt, the sources said.

Any deal between Vivendi and Sky would bring together two powerful business personalities in Rupert Murdoch, whose Twenty-First Century Fox owns 39 percent of Sky, and Vivendi's chairman and biggest shareholder, Vincent Bollore, who recently raised his stake in the French group to 12 percent.

Bollore sees Canal Plus as core to Vivendi's business and the company could not go ahead with an offer without his full support, the sources said.

"Ultimately what determines a deal is Vincent Bollore," one of the sources said.

Spokesmen for Vivendi, Sky and Bollore declined to comment.

The prospects for a sale of Sky improved last year when Britain's largest pay-TV company BSkyB bought nearly all of Sky Deutschland and all of Sky Italia, to become Sky Plc, realizing Rupert Murdoch's long-held ambition to combine his European TV interests in a single business.

The deal, which was designed to give Sky access to faster growing territories where pay-TV is not yet as popular or profitable as Britain, has also made Murdoch's pay-TV assets more "sellable", with several bankers seeing the move as the prelude to a possible sale.

Sky operates in Britain, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy, and any deal would similarly open up more markets for Canal Plus and its parent.

But despite the appeal of a merger with Sky, a broadcaster with around 20 million subscribers, Vivendi has yet to decide on whether or not to go ahead with an offer, the sources said, adding that the deliberations are at an early stage.

SKY-HIGH PRICE ?

Several industry sources said the total price could prove too much of a stretch for Vivendi even with the proceeds from the sales of non-core businesses.

Analysts estimate that Vivendi's net cash, which stood at 4.6 billion euros ($5 billion) at the end of 2014, will hit 15 billion euros after it closes a series of pending disposals.

But Sky's net debt stood at 6.3 billion pounds at the end of last year, following the Italian and German acquisitions. The sources familiar with the matter said any offer would also have to include a premium to Sky's current share price of some 25 percent, giving an enterprise value of over 28 billion pounds.

Some of Vivendi's management team are reluctant to pursue a takeover of Sky, a deal they consider would make the French conglomerate too exposed to the pay-TV industry, where satellite TV is in danger of losing out to high speed fixed line alternatives.

Vivendi's management is also busy fending off attacks from activist shareholder P. Schoenfeld Asset Management (PSAM), asking for bigger payouts, and not everyone is convinced that a deal with Sky is the right way to go, the second source said.

Some executives would rather focus on bolt-on buys in the digital media industry and continue diversifying Vivendi's portfolio after Tuesday's move to enter into exclusive negotiations to buy 80 percent of video-sharing website Dailymotion for 217 million euros..

Schoenfeld and Vivendi have been at odds since March 23, when the fund, which says it owns 0.8 percent of Vivendi, called on other minority shareholders to join its campaign to get a 9 billion-euro payout, while also urging the company to consider spinning off Universal Music Group (UMG).

However, Vivendi, which has threatened legal action against PSAM, could persuade investors a deal with Sky would create long-term value and scope for higher returns in the future, another source familiar with the matter said.

"This could be the solution to their activist (shareholder) problem," he said.

>>> Sika shareholder Schenker-Winkler appeals Zug court's voting rights decision

Sika shareholder Schenker-Winkler appeals Zug court's voting rights decision, request for ex parte decision denied

On 20 March 2015, the Cantonal Court of Zug denied all requests of Schenker-Winkler Holding (SWH) with regard to a restriction of the voting rights. SWH has now appealed this decision with the Supreme Court of Zug (Obergericht Zug). Together with its appeal, SWH applied for an ex parte order prohibiting any restrictions of SWH's voting rights at the forthcoming annual general meeting on 14 April 2015. Just as the Cantonal Court before, the Supreme Court of Zug denied SWH's request for an ex parte order.

Sika is invited to respond to SWH's appeal by 17 April. The appeal has no suspensive effect.

Company Press Release(s)

(TechCrunch) The Potential Upside To A Technology Bubble

The Potential Upside To A Technology Bubble {http://tcrn.ch/1Fctj9j}

Over the last few months the question has been asked by almost everyone in the startup and venture capital community: Are we in a tech bubble? I don’t think there’s even a question anymore.

Many founders are in deep denial valuing their pre-revenue SaaS Uber for CRM cloud based big data machine learning platform for millions of dollars pre-money. When a potential investor asks the founder why they are valuing their startup at such a high valuation, they just don’t know or they say, “we need to look like a unicorn so we hire the best.” This story has been told by venture capitalists across the Valley.

Bubbles are like forest fires

You can think of a bubble like a forest fire. Yes, it’s tragic that trees existing for hundreds of years die and animals are displaced. The flames come through and burn down the weak underbrush.

The aftermath looks terrible and hot spots will continue to flare up way after the flames subside. However, just as forest fires are necessary for ecological health, bubbles are necessary for industry health and growth. Forest fires make way for new trees that can grow stronger fueled by the ashes of their predecessors.

Some venture capitalists will get burned and lessons will be learned similar to those who invested heavily in the dot com bubble. In fact, many of the investors that were active during the 2000 bubble are the ones that keep warning all of us of a potential bubble.

Mattermark published a report with data comparing the quarter-one midpoint of 2014 to 2015. Mattermark’s data comes from CrunchBase, AngelList, regulatory filings, thousands of news sources and company reported data. I would highly suggest that you download the entire report from Mattermark. The graphs below were reproduced with permission from Mattermark.

Graph_1

The graph above shows the number of funding events comparing the quarter-one midpoint of 2015 to the quarter-one midpoint of 2014 .

The most noticeable item is the drastic slowdown in seed deals decreasing by nearly 300 percent. This could indicate a shift in venture capital strategy focusing on funding fewer companies and putting more time into the companies they invest in.

Does this indicate a venture funding bubble? Potentially. To founders looking to raise capital, it may seem like a bubble as it is statistically more difficult to raise a seed round of funding now compared to a year ago.

Total dollar analysis

Graph_2
The graph above looks at the total dollar amount of funding per stage comparing quarter-one midpoints of 2014 and 2015.

From what we noticed above, the volume of seed deals has drastically decreased. Interestingly, the amount of total dollars being invested at the seed stage has remained roughly the same. According to this data, we could infer that the amount of money going into seed-stage startups is going up.

This simple analysis comparing total dollars invested allows us to conclude the following:

Table_3

The average round size is calculated by taking the total dollars of deals in a stage at a specific quarter midpoint and dividing it by the volume of deals done in that stage of the same quarter midpoint.

For seed rounds, the average dollar amount per deal in Q1–2014 was $584,958 now it is $1,851,852, a 217 percent increase. This is the only stage of funding that is seeing that large of an increase in funding. All other stages of funding are increasing but by far less than seed rounds. Series C funding is the most stable, only increasing by 6 percent.

This also supports the theory that seed rounds are starting to look a lot like the typical series A rounds.

Another explanation of this could be if burn rates are increasing. If this is in fact true, this strongly points to a bubble as startups are becoming more capital intensive. This would also explain why the average size of seed rounds is increasing while the number of deals is dropping.

If burn rates continue to rise, startups will be forced to actively look for their next round of funding earlier than they had initially planned. This will surely lead to more startups raising a down-round (a round of funding raised at a lower valuation than in a previous round) or not being able to raise at all — many of whom will sadly die.

What’s exciting about a bubble?

The founders who are in it for the wrong reasons will go running back to their old bosses begging for their stable jobs back. Now is the perfect time for the true founders to buckle down and improve. Capital will be scarce but the best founders will use this time to rebuild and become better founders.

Valuations will start to seem inline again and San Francisco housing cost will resemble some signs of normalcy. Recruiters will slow down on their poaching of junior level engineers in coffee shops.

The venture capital and founder community will become closer. Oh, how I look forward to the bubble bursting. If you’re not seeing it yet, try looking at the many positives that a downturn could potentially bring.

I am currently reading Antifragile. The premise of the book is looking at potential gains in times of disorder, and it’s a terrific read for those involved in startups and investing. Navigating fundamental shifts in technology and outer market forces are key characteristics of great founders.

I look at the funding landscape and see a terrific environment for learning. Bubble or not there are certain things that remain true. Great founders create amazing companies and great founders will always find a way to succeed.