TheChek News Flow

Anglo American behind $100m platinum fund

James Wilson, Mining correspondentAuthor alerts

Anglo American is investing $100m in companies that use platinum and associated metals to try to spark more demand for commodities that are crucial to the financial health of the mining group.

The plans are akin to venture capital investments by the world’s largest platinum producer with hopes that small companies and start-ups will develop technologies based on little-known metals such as ruthenium and iridium as well as platinum.

Anglo’s attempts to accelerate the investments come as platinum miners are struggling to restructure their operations in the face of weak demand with prices flat over the past five years, even amid a period of labour unrest.

Anglo is trying to sell a cluster of its older South African mines while it and the other two largest producers were this year hit by a five-month strike that halted most output.

Platinum is used mainly in jewellery and in vehicle catalytic converters but recent market weakness has intensified efforts by platinum producers to try to foment demand.

Anglo and other leading producers last week launched an industry promotional body to try to increase interest in the precious metal as an investment. Other so-called “platinum group metals” have wide industrial applications.

“We think there is a need to continue to encourage the development of high-tech applications,” said Andrew Hinkly, executive head of marketing at Anglo American Platinum, the miner’s South Africa-listed subsidiary. “The companies we invest in are those which will create demand for our metals.”

The direct investments are part of a shift of marketing strategy by the miner, which last year ended a two-decade-old marketing agreement with Johnson Matthey, the refiner and distributor of platinum.

A revised supply deal eliminated discounts given by Amplats on platinum sales in return for Johnson Matthey’s marketing services.

Mr Hinkly said Amplats had not been seeing the market develop as much as it had hoped. “We thought we could do better ourselves,” he said.

Amplats has so far invested almost $29m in six companies. It is targeting minority investments for about three years and says the carrying value of its investments up to now is almost $44m, in line with a targeted return of at least 30 per cent.

Among the companies to have received investments is Ballard, a US-listed fuel cell producer, which is testing fuel cell home generators in South Africa.

Anglo’s fund has also invested in Primus Power, a US battery maker that uses PGMs such as iridium and ruthenium.

Water treatment, medical devices and electronics are other areas where Anglo expects to invest.

Platinum accounted for about one-sixth of Anglo’s revenues and about 11 per cent of underlying earnings last year.

The production is part of Anglo’s significant presence in South Africa, which some investors and analyst think is one of the political risks weighing on the company.

Anglo’s attempts to sell some South African mines – at Union and at Rustenburg – are set to come under further scrutiny at presentations for investors next month.

Mark Cutifani, chief executive, has warned that a sale or spin-off is likely to take until next year.

Brewer taking on Latin rival with beer deal

SAB Miller says Brazil represents 42pc of beer sales in South America

The FTSE 100 beer giant has agreed a tie-up with Grupo Petropolis, Brazil’s second biggest brewer, to sell “premium” beer brands in the lucrative South American market from next year.

SABMiller, a major bottler of Coca-Cola products, is also shortly expected to announce a new deal in Africa. Analysts have been speculating over a tie-up with another soft drinks bottling company on the continent, with several naming Coca-Cola Sabco as a likely target.

SABMiller has been busy working on a number of offensives in the last few months, defying speculation in the autumn that it could potentially become the latest victim of AB InBev, the world’s biggest brewer.

Speculation that AB InBev could make a play for SABMiller intensified in September after it emerged that the latter had made an approach to buy Heineken, only to be rebuffed. Talk of an AB InBev move on SABMiller has since died down.

AB InBev’s Brazilian arm, AmBev, currently dominates the lucrative Brazilian market with a 63pc share, but SABMiller is hoping to win over middle class consumers with premium brands. The first such brand – expected to be Miller Genuine Draft – will launch next year, according to Karl Lippert, SABMiller’s vice president for Latin America.

He said: “The nicest thing about the Brazilian market is female participation in the beer category is the best in all of Latin America. As a consequence of that Brazil represents 42pc of all beer sales on the entire continent.”

CGN Power to Raise Up to US$3.16 Billion in Hong Kong IPO

China’s Largest Nuclear Plant Operator to Become First Listed Pure Nuclear Play in Hong Kong

CGN Power Co. is planning to sell 8.83 billion shares in an indicative price range of HK$2.43-HK$2.78 each Monday, when it will start taking orders from investors, people familiar with the situation said Sunday. It is unclear immediately the valuation of the firm in term of forecast earnings.

At the US$3.16 billion size, the IPO would be Hong Kong’s biggest since Chinese lender China Everbright Bank ’s US$3.2 billion IPO in December 2013 and it would be also the first pure nuclear plant operator to list anywhere in the world since British Energy Group, since delisted, went public in London in 1996, according to Dealogic.

State-owned CGN Power, which is scheduled to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Dec. 10, declined to comment.

Because of its uniqueness, the offering has already attracted about 40% of the offering from 18 cornerstone investors, who will buy and hold the shares for a certain of period once the firm has listed, one of the people said.

GIC Pte Ltd., Singapore’s sovereign-wealth fund, hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC., and Hong Kong electricity firm CLP Holdings Ltd are among the cornerstone investors, other people familiar with the situation said earlier.

Investors expect CGN will benefit from Beijing’s power policy that encourages building more nuclear plants, which lead to less pollution, to reduce its reliance on coal, which makes up around 70% of its total power capacity.

The company currently operates 11 nuclear power generating units mainly in China’s southern Guangdong province, where the power grid is the company’s top customer. It plans to use proceeds from the IPO to build more power plants and to buy a stake in a nuclear power station owned by its parent, CGNPC.

China International Capital Corp., Bank of America Merrill Lynch and ABC International Holdings Ltd., the investment banking arm of Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. are the lead banks handling the deal.

Cover story: Most U.S. states-which "represent one of the most secure areas of the global bond market, typically benefiting from low debt levels relative to the size of their economies"-are healthier than they were a few years ago; 15 states have a triple-A rating from Moody's, and only two-Illinois and New Jersey-have a rating below double A; North Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Nebraska, Iowa, and Alaska top the list in a ranking of general obligation bonds. 

Features: Positive on INTC: Chip maker's shares are 7% cheaper than the S&P 500 index, relative to projected earnings for the next four quarters, and shrinking losses in its mobile-chip division will eventually uncover earnings power in the rest of the company that is currently hidden; stock offers a 2.7% yield and could have a 30% upside; A look at picks and pans from the Sohn London Investment Conference (Long: Accor, Z, Gazprom, Masonite International, Kruk, Piaggio; Short: Superb Summit International, BID). 

Tech Trader: Tiernan Ray says Wall Street seems more interested in dividends and stock buybacks than innovation at companies such as INTC and QCOM; Both "are relatively inexpensive for such phenomenal sets of assets, though QCOM may be the better deal at the moment" even though it can't dissuade investors from focusing on risk in countries such as China. 

Trader: Positive on SLB: Despite a lack of consensus on when falling oil prices will stabilize, company's "beaten up stock" is emerging as a good value and could have a 20% upside, while recent HAL-BHI deal offers it both short- and long-term positives; Positive on KEYS: Wall Street may be underestimating company's longer-term earnings and free-cash-flow power following its spinoff from A, and it is likely to be a major beneficiary of the Internet of Things. 

Follow-Up: Positive on JBLU: Carrier is looking for increased revenue in the right places, and even when it adds seats to planes-something consumers don't like-the distance between them will still remain the highest in the industry; Cautious on TTWO: Games such as Grand Theft Auto are immensely popular, but the company makes too few of them too far apart, leading profits to soar and then disappear; now may be the time for investors to take profits; Positive on DISH: Satellite network is benefiting from the government's latest spectrum auction; chairman Charlie Ergen could sell company's spectrum, partner with a wireless carrier, or launch his own mobile service. 

Hedge Funds: Interview with Jonathan Herbert, Founder, Camox Fund (Long on Temenos Group, Software, Montupet, Durr Group; short on Danone, UL); Interview with Christopher Wood, Chief Strategist, CLSA-Asia-Pacific Markets (Indian banks: HDFC, Indusind, ICICI; Philippines banks: Metrobank, BPI; India housing finance: HDFC, GRUH Fin; China Internet: Tencent; Philippines consumer: Universal Robina; Japanese real estate: Mitsubishi Estate, Mitsui Fudosan; Japanese drug stores: Tsuruha Holdings; Japanese trucks: Isuzu Motors). 

European Trader: Some European oilfield-services companies see M&A as their best option despite the risks, given plunging oil prices that are hitting the earnings of oil majors and causing them to shutter some projects; The pressure for more mergers in Europe may grow following the HAL-BHI deal in the U.S., as evidenced by Technip's bid for CGG. 

Asian Trader: Most of the predictions about how trading would happen on the Hong Kong-Shanghai Connect are turning out to be wrong; mainland interest in high-growth stocks can't move the needle for large caps. 

Emerging Markets: Investors can ride the momentum of Indian stocks if they watch for those with improving prospects (Positive on ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank). 

Commodities: The Arabica-coffee rally "is on thin ice," and prices are likely to ease as the year winds down. Streetwise: Goldman Sachs strategist David Kostin recommends buying stocks that trade less frequently and offer an "illiquidity risk premium," such as JNJ, PG, Berkshire Hathaway, GE, and IBM.

Square founder Jack Dorsey -- who also famously launched Twitter (TWTR, Tech30) -- told CNN that he wants to help businesses accept all forms of payments, and Apple Pay is no exception.

Apple Pay and Square have generally been viewed as competitors in the mobile payment space, but Dorsey doesn't see it that way.

"We're not building a credit card. We're not building a payment device. We're building a [cash] register, and this register accepts all these forms of payments," Dorsey told CNN in an interview.

Square plans to begin accepting Apple Pay sometime in 2015.

As it stands now, Square's hardware allows businesses to accept credit card payments via iPads and iPhones, with customers swiping their cards through a tiny square device. But the technology is not currently equipped to accept Apple Pay.

The hardware will have to be reworked to be compatible with the Apple Pay system, allowing for potentially seamless transactions from one mobile device to another.

Apple Pay is currently only operating in the United States and is accepted by a number of large retailers and restaurants, including Macy's (M) and McDonald's (MCD). It launched in October.

Square also announced Friday that it is launching its app globally. The Square Register app will is now available in multiple languages in more than 100 countries.

Veteran S&P Futures Trader: "I Am 100% Confident That Central Banks Are Buying S&P Futures"

* * *

I have been an independent trader for 23 years, starting at the CBOT in grains and CME in the S&P 500 futures markets long ago while they were auction outcry markets, and have stayed in the alternative investment space ever since, and now run a small fund.

I understand better than most I would think, the "mechanics" of the markets and how they have evolved over time from the auction market to 'upstairs". I am a self-taught, top down global macro economist, and historian of "money" and the Fed and all economic and governmental structures in the world. One thing so many managers don't understand is that the markets take away the most amounts of money from the most amounts of people, and do so non-linearly. Most sophisticated investors know to be successful, one must be a contrarian, and this philosophy is in parallel. Markets will, on all time scales, through exponential decay (fat tails, or black swans, on longer term scales), or exponential growth of price itself. Why was I so bearish on gold at its peak a few years back for instance? Because of the ascent of non-linearity of price, and the massive consensus buildup of bulls. Didier Sornette, author of "Why Stock Markets Crash", I believe correctly summarizes how Power Law Behavior, or exponential consensus, and how it lead to crashes. The buildup of buyers' zeal, and the squeezing of shorts, leads to that "complex system" popping. I have traded as a contrarian with these philosophies for some time.

The point here is, our general indices have been at that critical point now for a year, without "normal" reactions post critical points in time, from longer term time scales to intraday. This suggests that many times, there is only an audience of one buyer, and as price goes up to certain levels, that buyer extracts all sellers. After this year and especially this last 1900 point Dow run up in October, and post non-reaction, that I am 100 percent confident that that one buyer is our own Federal Reserve or other central banks with a goal to "stimulate" our economy by directly buying stock index futures. Talking about a perpetual fat finger! I guess "don't fight the Fed" truly exists, without fluctuation, in this situation. Its important to note the mechanics; the Fed buys futures and the actual underlying constituents that make up the general indices will align by opportunistic spread arbitragers who sell the futures and buy the actual equities, thus, the Fed could use the con, if asked, that they aren't actually buying equities.

They also consistently use events through their controlled media, whether bad or good price altering news, to create investment behavior. The "ending" QE 3, and the immediate Bank of Japan QE news that night, and thus the ability to not quit QE using them as their front, and then propping our markets on Globex, like this is suppose to be good news, free markets totally dependent on QE, is one example. Last night, Obama passing the amnesty bill, and the more great news about how Europe and now China are also printing money out of thin air and "stimulating" their economies with QE too, which in turn prompts the Fed to prop up overnight futures markets on Globex to make that look like great news as well. I guess this is suppose to create a behavioral pattern for investors, that dependency on government gives us positive feedback and is good, much like Pavlov's dog and the ringing of the bell.

Why would the Fed prop up our stock market to begin with? Weren't they just supposed to "stimulate" the treasuries market only, to keep interest rates low, indirectly, by an eventual direct purchase in secondary markets, keeping them propped up (for five years now!)? Well, first of all as it relates to equities and utilizing the "Plunge Protection" mandate, why not just bypass the "plunge" altogether. Can't the definition of Plunge Protection be just that? Protection against a plunge instead of during a plunge? Doesn't propping the market equate to "Plunge Protection" since propping alleviates plunge and "protects" us? Does it depend on what the definition of "is" is? And really, doesn't the Fed buying futures directly alleviate those bankers who take their money in TARP or however means and then this money doesn't make its way into the very heart of what the public deems as its consumption motivator, higher stocks and real estate? Plus, buying futures is a means of then delivering fiat cash upon every expiration, therefore, "stimulus" to someone who receives it.

The Fed boasts about having a printing press, and I guess this allows them to "fix" everything. They "print money out of thin air" we keep hearing (which is true by the way) and with US taxpayer backing (fiat currency (always fails throughout history)), (perhaps post QE 3 there is an Executive Order for QE infinity), they sit on the actual bid and hold our treasury markets steady, and by buying out big sellers as they arise like Russia and China via their Belgium central bank franchise as an example, propping our dollar and then staying on that bid by other franchises, having constant bid flow into equity futures in real time hours and Globex overnite, all in order to retain US consumer confidence (since that is what we are suppose to continue to do) and the image of global strength to keep the dollar from losing its reserve status. Their obsession of stopping a deflationary depression, has headfaked people like Bill Gross, formerly of PIMCO, and known to have started hedging long bond positions five years ago with the assumptions that Fed printing would be inflationary, and rates would move higher, but without the assumption of the perpetual direct bid in the market place by the Fed creating, "price discovery". For now, that is.

In the end, which they know exactly when that is, the ultimate con is exposed through mass theft. Americans finally find out what those guys on CNBC are talking about when they mention "inflation" and how it destroys buying power over time. The end reflects the Fed stepping away from the bid in all markets. Prior to this, of course, they prep their offshore fund accounts to take the other side and short dollar, short global equities, and short fixed income, with mass leverage for maximum gain. I mean, why wouldn't they? They are a private entity and are composed of non-US citizens with no accountability or oversight and they seem to be globalist humanists with a depopulation bent (Rockefeller Foundation). Why wouldn't they use our money to prop, their money to take other side in a massive global short play, then let it all crash by simply stepping off the bid of these markets. They can then use the controlled talking heads who can relay the complexities of fiat money, index arbitrage, money velocity, currency and CDO swaps, with some geopolitical China worries, whatever, but really emphasize that the whole capitalistic system and constitution was flawed to begin with anyways, and that perhaps totalitarian fascism would be best for the country at this point since everyone's wealth is destroyed overnight and are literally hungry. Perhaps Obama is just that person! Maybe Dinesh D'souza was right about Obama. This is the way to destroy us, or "equal" the playing field globally by taking us down to third world status, is it not? Leverage the American people's money by trillions of dollars at the tops of capital markets, then bury them in a death spiral? Maybe Thomas Jefferson knew what he was saying' "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered."

Why wouldn't anyone believe these words written here? Perhaps you can't imagine someone being so evil? Wasn't the Federal Reserve Bank concept initially funded by a Rothschild in the 1800s, who used the media to deceive the public and sway the London Stock Market down negatively, who then speculated against that panicking public's sell orders by taking long positions in stocks, then making a fortune when everyone found out that the news was wrong and positive? Then later another Rothschild founded our Federal Reserve in 1913, and others like JP Morgan who supposedly bought the US stock market in a banking panic and "saved" America in 1909? Aren't all of these Fed owners Fabian Socialists?

Details of this last market move:

This last 1900 point Dow Jones push upwards - and the Ebola events leading into it - it was so orchestrated and heightened at critical points but the ascent and push straight up in price, and sideways nonreaction after was completely unlike anything I've seen before. After going up for a record breaking amount of time the last five or so years, in a nonlinear exponential mania type of ascent, there should normally be tremendous volatility that follows. But, this isn't a tech-like mania! There aren't any buyers here other then the Fed. The shorts were all squeezed in 2009, 2010, 11, 12, and everyone who has ever wanted to buy stocks is in!

Modern Portfolio Theory has reached it's pinnacle, leading 55% of the American public who partake in that "diversified" portfolio theory off an eventual cliff. The market acts more like a penny stock that has been pumped up and is "boxed" (boxed, meaning, the whole float is buying and holding and held with the promoter, one broker dealer, and thus this one broker dealer can control price "discovery"(regardless of actual fundamentals and using "press releases" to sway and create order flow they want and need from naive clients)) , and less like a free market. The Dow runs up that much that quickly, then on Globex its down .02 percent at the most over night, multiple days in a row? No pullback? Are you kidding me!? Then the actual trading days have very little volume, and the peaks in price intraday also exhibit nonreactions sideways, just a couple of tics from the highs. This price manipulation reflects that they want to expunge all shorts on all time scales, to the point that there will be no point to try, and at the very end, there will be very few. This also reflects that a group of very smart prop trader types, experienced behavioralists, perhaps off of a prior prop desk like a Goldman, are controlling this game, and not some government treasury/cftc/sec "plunge protect" type who doesn't understand this game.

With the indoctrination of Modern Portfolio Theory, and the masses' epistemology from experience and from "experts" to never ever get out because "it always comes back", and from corporate buybacks, the actual intraday trading float has disappeared, thus, easier and cheaper to manipulate and find the perfect "price discovery" for every situation to control investor behavior, especially during off hours on Globex. This past situation, during the break and runup, there would be thousands of opportunities for the Fed insiders using different variations of ways to front run (without using the focus dump then pump futures contract itself), making the HFT guys front running for pennies look like complete chumps. Can you imagine all the different ways to bet the global markets at the height of the ebola scare, which just happened to be the height of the mass media hammering the public with fear about it(haven't heard a word since!), which happened to be the exact moment of a very large Dow Jones 600 points intraday range after falling 1000 points in 9 days, which also happened to be at the height of put option premiums expanding and call option premiums eroding quickly, by knowing that the Fed is now going to prop it back up, way back up, and quickly! Shorting put premium globally for expiration in 7 or 37 days? Buying way out of the money cheap calls, buying the underlying equities, shorting interest rates, buying inflation, buying emerging markets and all of their liquid securities, options plays etc... on and on. That prior knowledge ts worth trillions, is it not? We all know that investment bank broker dealer desks take the other side of trades, and inventory the other side opportunistically. Why wouldn't this "bank" too, especially now that they are intertwined with investment banks thus have gained their intellectual property in trading? And why wouldn't they influence our idiot sheepish politicians to mandate the Fed Reserve, to encourage the Fed Reserve, to stimulate, whereas our Fed could use that for "the people", while at the same time, for themselves take the other side based on their offshore opportunistic mandate? Today's current markets are completely manipulated, every market, all the time, with our money and political Keynesian (control) mandate doing the manipulation in order for their money to front run and profit from there opportunistic mandate.

So if I am right, and my 23 years of experience trading equities, during manias enables me to know with certainty that I am, that they are allowed to directly be involved and have a perpetual standing bid in the secondary derivatives markets, they can then take the other side when they want (no need to publicly announce this, but to justify in their own heads). So when they take the other side in the public markets upon themselves pulling the prior US citizen backed bids in all markets for the ultimate 80 year cyclical "end game" (btw, about 23 years past the Kondratief Cycle deadline which is one way to describe the inevitable delay in this ongoing natural economic system reset) of the US fiat backed paper print con capped off by mass leverage, wouldn't they make trillions on the bubble pop on the way down? Wouldn't they also end up eventually owning the whole US since commerce would halt immediately, everyone would lose their jobs causing mass deflation (and hyperinflation due to our currency being booted as reserve currency, and imports becoming expensive overnight) causing mass defaults on their home loan obligations? Where do our mortgages end up now post 2008, 2009 financial collapse? Our governments coffers via FHA, FNMA, GNMA? And who will place a lien on our government when they default on it's loans? Wouldn't they be able to foreclose on America?

The US mandate on allowing Plunge Protection enabling the Fed to stick their noses directly in the equities markets was written in 1988 and is public knowledge and found in the public forum. And the attached "memo" shows incentives from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for Central Bankers to use their equity futures markets.

Write me if you have any questions or comments, or if you need me to join in your efforts help to expose this Ponzi scam.

Moses

PM

The Supreme Court doomed the online video streaming service in June for violating broadcasters’ rights and transmitting copyrighted programming without reimbursing its creators.

Between the court’s ruling and Friday’s filing, Aereo was continuing to toy with its business model. And it clearly plans on toying some more, as a Chapter 11 filing is often considered a rehabilitation bankruptcy. The objective is to reorganize the debt with a view toward re-emerging as a healthy entity.

If Aereo were throwing in the towel, it would have opted for Chapter 7 and liquidated.

Sources said Aereo — with its transcoding ability to digitize files for playback on different devices and to transfer those files at wire speed — remains valuable, and could sell that technology despite rulings that its operations were illegal

The commission, which regulates Uber, is “looking into allegations” that the mobile car-hailing app violated users’ privacy by tracking them without their permission.

“We’re looking into the allegations,” TLC spokesman Allan Fromberg told The Post.

Uber came under fire this week following several reports that it snooped on riders, including Buzzfeed reporter and entrepreneur Peter Sims.

The spying scandal also prompted a probe from Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law.

TLC Commissioner Meera Joshi was called on the carpet this week for shrugging off Uber’s alleged misdeeds.

“Growing pains,” Joshi said in dismissing the scandal, according to Crain’s Business News.

“We are surprised both at that cavalier comment and the commissioner’s attitude toward a licensee dealing with the public,” Tweeps Phillips, executive director of Committee for Taxi Safety, wrote in a letter to Joshi on Thursday.

“The Taxi and Limousine Commission has a duty to protect the riding public from unsavory businesses and their shady practices,” added Phillips, whose organization represents about 20 percent of the city’s yellow-cab business.

Phillips also asked for the TLC to suspend Uber’s operations “until the riding public can be assured that their privacy and data are safe.”

Talks to acquire the pay-TV channel controlled by John Malone are heating up with Starz said to be seeking around $5 billion, The Post has learned.

The business has drawn interest from CBS Corp., the owner of rival premium channel Showtime, and “The Hunger Games” studio Lionsgate, sources said.

A deal for Starz could bolster either company’s existing pay-TV assets. CBS’s Showtime is the No. 2 player behind Time Warner’s HBO, while Lionsgate is part owner of smaller rival Epix, along with Viacom’s Paramount and MGM.

Earlier reports suggested 21st Century Fox had met with Starz execs, but sources said the meeting was more a courtesy than anything.

The discussions are at an early stage and could include options beyond a straight sale, such as a “strategic alignment,” or asset swaps, said sources.

Showtime, HBO and Starz are increasingly competing with streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime.

That could damp demand for Starz because it’s no longer necessary to buy a cable brand to make a premium content play, sources said.

Starz, run by former HBO boss Chris Albrecht, offers a mix of movies and original series such as “The Outlander” and “Black Sails.” It has movie deals with Sony and Disney, although it is set to lose the Disney contract to Netflix after 2015.

Starz, which was spun out of Malone’s Liberty Media last year, has a market cap of $3.32 billion. The stock rose 32 cents on Friday to close at $32.20 and is up 10 percent year to date.

Malone, who owns 49 percent of Starz, has said it would be better off as part of a media company that owns other cable channels.

Starz declined comment, as did representatives for CBS and Lionsgate.