*VALEANT BOOSTS OFFER FOR SALIX TO $173/SHR, DJ SAYS

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

BFW 03/16 11:50 *VALEANT BOOSTS OFFER FOR SALIX TO $173/SHR, DJ SAYS

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Valeant Boosts Offer for Salix to $173/Shr in Cash, DJ Says 2015-03-16 11:56:18.878 GMT

By Joshua Fineman (Bloomberg) -- DJ cites people familiar; SLXP halted. * NOTE: March 13, Valent New Offer for Salix Could Come Close to $170/Shr * NOTE: March 11, Endo Confirms Proposal to Buy Salix for $175/Shr Cash, Stk * NOTE: March 11, Endo Confirms Proposal to Buy Salix for $175/Shr Cash, Stk</li></ul>

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

To contact the reporter on this story: Joshua Fineman in New York at +1-212-617-8953 or jfineman@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at +1-212-617-1488 or ashapira3@bloomberg.net

(MS) Global Economics & Strategy : What Would Make Us EM Bulls?

We are not EM bulls, to put it mildly, and have not been for nearly three years now, but for the first time in three years we can envisage a scenario in which a process of catharsis over the next 12-18 months may make things sufficiently worse so they can then get better.

* The story so far: India, Indonesia, Mexico and Taiwan have passed the point of inflexion away from their old models of growth. Progress is slow elsewhere and broken growth models remain in place (particularly in Brazil, Russia, South Africa and even Turkey), while China needs to deal with PPI deflation and deleveraging alongside ongoing reforms and the transition to a consumer economy. Fundamentals don’t yet warrant a call for a secular bull run in EM markets. Markets offer only a ‘pick your spots’ strategy (China and India equities; Asia investment grade credit; some pockets of local currency debt), not a generalised one.

* What would make us EM bulls? Calling for a secular bull run across asset classes needs a catharsis of EM balance sheets and drags on growth. Post-catharsis trend growth could well be lower, but of higher quality.

* Will the EM macro adjust? On the growth side, there has not been enough adjustment so far. We believe that economies like Brazil, Russia, South Africa and Turkey with EM-like drags on growth (inflation, external exposure) will respond more to the dynamics we describe below than the ones like China and Korea with DM-like drags on growth (deflation, debt) – though both have different dynamics. Whether China adjusts at least partly and sooner will be key.

* While a 1997/98 type crisis is not our base case, a combination of further US dollar strength ahead of a Fed rate hike, a continued deflationary shock from slowing investment spending in China and weakening EM credit growth could generate the necessary catharsis. A strong adjustment from the EM-like group and a partial one from the DM-like group according to our signposts can clean out EM balance sheets and deliver a new model of growth. Should this play out, EM asset prices could start a secular bull run from lower absolute and relative valuation levels than today.

(BN) Lafarge Open to Changing Exchange Ratio in Holcim Merger (1)

Lafarge Open to Changing Exchange Ratio in Holcim Merger (1)
2015-03-16 07:19:41.617 GMT


(Updates with Holcim statement in third paragraph.)

By Aaron Kirchfeld, Francois de Beaupuy and Jan-Henrik Förster
(Bloomberg) -- French cement company Lafarge SA said it’s
willing to consider revising the share-exchange ratio in its
planned merger with Holcim Ltd. of Switzerland though it’s not
willing to accept any other changes to the deal.
The French company received a letter from Holcim March 15
that said the Swiss cement maker doesn’t intend to pursue the
transaction under the terms agreed last July, Lafarge said in an
e-mailed statement today.
“Lafarge’s board of directors remains committed to the
project that it intends to see implemented,” the Paris-based
company said. Holcim said in a separate statement that it’s
willing to enter into negotiations in “good faith around the
exchange ratio and governance issues.”
The plans to form the world’s biggest cement maker were
announced to great fanfare in April 2014, with the heads of both
companies lauding the creation of an entity with sales of $40
billion and operations in 90 countries. Since then, Holcim has
outperformed Lafarge on everything from sales to profit,
prompting some investors in the Swiss company to call for a
bigger stake in the new entity.
Holcim has already proposed changes to the share-exchange
ratio and management as the two companies try to save the deal,
people familiar with the matter said yesterday.

New Ratio

Under the original agreement, Holcim was planning a capital
increase to create new shares and to give one of those to
Lafarge in exchange for one share of the French company. Under
the new proposal, Holcim would give 0.875 of a share in exchange
for one Lafarge share, said the people, who asked not to be
identified because negotiations are private.
Lafarge has signaled it will make a counter proposal that
would trim its weighting to 0.93 to get the deal done, the
people said. Holcim is also pushing for a change in management
including the chief executive officer of the merged company, one
of the people said. Bruno Lafont, the CEO of Lafarge, had been
picked to lead the new entity.
Representatives for the companies are scheduled to meet as
early as today as they try to reach a compromise as early as
this week, the people said. Talks are ongoing and the structure
could still change, they said, adding that both sides could also
fail to reach an agreement.

Asset Sales

Investors on both sides remain keen to see the merger go
through, and there is pressure to reach an accord before CRH Plc
investors assemble on March 19 to approve the purchase of a
large chunk of the combined business that Holcim and Lafarge
agreed to sell to comply with antitrust demands, the people
said.
CRH last month agreed to buy 6.5 billion euros ($6.8
billion) of the cement assets to grab market share. The Irish
company over a month ago raised gross proceeds of about 1.6
billion euros through a share sale to help fund the acquisition.
The euro has significantly dropped since then.
Holcim and Lafarge agreed to combine operations after the
global recession eroded demand for building materials, and as
increased competition from emerging-market rivals undermined
profits. The companies expect the combination to generate
synergies of more than 1.4 billion euros.
New leadership at the combined company is needed to ensure
those savings targets can be reached and the two companies can
work successfully together, one of the people said.
“While speculation continues to grow around a possible
change in terms we see very little chance of the merger
failing,” J&E Davy analysts said in a note earlier this month.
“We expect Holcim and Lafarge will do what it takes to conclude
the deal.”


For Related News and Information:
Lafarge Forecasts 2015 Profit Gains as Cement Markets Revive
CRH Buys Cement Assets From Holcim-Lafarge for $7.3 Billion
Holcim and Lafarge Managers Have Equal Billing in Merged Board
Holcim earnings graph: HOLN VX <Equity> FA ISBAR <GO>
Holcim enterprise value: HOLN VX <Equity> EV <GO>
Top Swiss stories: TOPS <GO>
Bloomberg Intelligence building-materials: BI BMATG <GO>
Top deal news: DTOP <GO>
Real M&A columns: NI REALMNA <GO>

To contact the reporters on this story:
Aaron Kirchfeld in London at +44-20-3525-8830 or
akirchfeld@bloomberg.net;
Francois de Beaupuy in Paris at +33-1-5365-5051 or
fdebeaupuy@bloomberg.net;
Jan-Henrik Förster in Zurich at +41-44-224-4116 or
jforster20@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Simon Thiel at +44-20-3525-2814 or
sthiel1@bloomberg.net
Andrew Noël

>>> Rolls Royce - Bronte Capital comment on one of their position - intreresting

Interesting Read.


Rolls Royce and the Sequoia letter


At Bronte we have a large position in Rolls Royce - the UK based manufacturer of jet engines.

Rolls is a relatively simple story - Rolls is part of a duopoly in engines for wide-bodied aircraft (aircraft with two aisles like the Dreamliner, A350, A380, 777 and forthcoming 777X).

Jet engines cost a fortune to develop and are sold at a loss - but with huge out-year maintenance streams.

The maintenance is potentially very profitable. If you sell a lot of copies of the jet engine maintenance margins can get very fat.

This duopoly is almost impossible to break. Not only would a company need to spend billions of dollars before they developed a competitive engine they would then need to sell the engine at a loss for many years until the maintenance streams come on.

Moreover it is risky.

If you attach your engine to an unsuccessful plane (like say the A340) production will be a few hundred copies - and you will eat all those development costs for smaller maintenance streams and you will not get scale on maintenance. Making unsuccessful engines or attaching engines to unsuccessful planes is a good way to lose a lot of money.

Contra: if you attach your engine to a hit plane like the 777 - especially if it is the only engine choice for that plane - you will make thousands of copies of the engine and develop scale in maintenance. And that is profitable in the billions - and maybe even tens of billions of dollars range.

Rolls has had a few less than successful planes in recent years - let by the A340 but probably including the A380. (The super-jumbo is wondrously fuel inefficient.)

FT : Short selling’s new sultans take the stage

In comic books, the masked vigilante carries a double-edged sword as far as the authorities are concerned. The mysterious hero sorts out baddies but operates outside of official control and might even risk breaking the law himself.
The rise of the independent short selling research analyst has created a similar dilemma for regulators and investors. These outfits, often run by anonymous lone wolves, have become in recent years influential voices across geographically diverse stock markets, from London to Hong Kong.

While traditional short sellers — investors who bet against company share prices — have been large hedge funds risking their own capital, the motivations of the research groups can be more diverse.
Some serve as guns for hire, taking on commissions from clients and later publishing their research online. Others invest their own money into their ideas, just on a smaller scale than conventional hedge funds. Others claim a moral imperative for their work, saying they are rooting out corporate fraud conventional investment bank analysts are too conflicted or lazy to seek out.
For traditional fund managers, who have been used to relying on the opinions of investment banks, the ability of a new breed of talented analysts to wipe millions from the value of their holdings armed with only an internet connection and blog has come as a shock.
“This is a new type of risk we need to consider when we invest,” says one UK-based fund manager. “The nature of financial markets is changing and the way information and opinions about a company spread is very different to before.”
One of the most successful and respected of the short selling research groups is Gotham City Research, named with a nod to the home town of the archetypal masked vigilante, Batman. Gotham, which is run by the research analyst Daniel Yu, has quickly built a reputation for uncovering irregularities at the companies it targets.
Few institutional investors had heard of it until it published a strongly worded report questioning the accounts of Quindell, a UK-listed legal and insurance company. Quindell later won an uncontested libel action against Gotham but the impact of the report on its share price was devastating.
Having been one of the UK’s best-performing shares over the previous year, helping Quindell grow to become one of the most valuable companies on the Aim market, the shares slumped as investors took fright at Gotham’s assessment.
While Quindell denied there was any truth to the Gotham report, its founder and chairman Robert Terry later was forced to resign over misreporting a share transaction and Gotham was able claim an element of victory.
Some of the world’s largest hedge funds profited from selling Quindell shares short, while bullish investors, including M&G, the investment arm of the Prudential insurance company, and the hedge fund Algebris, were left embarrassed.
Gotham followed up with an investigation into Gowex, a Spanish wireless internet provider that had grown into the largest company on Madrid’s small company exchange. Less than a week after Gotham questioned Gowex’s accounting, the latter’s founder and executive chairman Jenaro Garcia admitted the company had fabricated its earnings and shares were suspended from trading.
Another group claiming success is Muddy Waters Research, run by Carson Block, which came to fame for alleging accounting fraud at a Canadian-listed Chinese forestry company that filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012.


Some critics argue, however, that such analysts can spread dangerous misinformation. “These guys can say anything they want and destroy the value of companies without facing any consequences,” says one executive from a large hedge fund. “If one of my employees were to do what they do we would be called up by the financial regulator in five minutes.”
Companies that have been targeted by short selling research groups have become more co-ordinated and robust in their responses. This year Noble Group, Asia’s largest commodities trading house, issued a long and detailed rebuttal to allegations about its balance sheet by Iceberg Research, a group that publishes its notes on its blog and on Twitter.
But the vigilantes are unlikely to disappear soon. Company executives and investors may well just have to become accustomed to opinions from a broader range of sources than before.
And anyone contemplating committing financial fraud at a listed company must now be fearful in case the caped crusaders of the financial markets may swing in their

(NY Post) Elon Musk says new fleet will last longer on a single charge

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Sunday that the company’s new fleet of electric vehicles will travel longer on a single charge, ending “range anxiety” for drivers.
The billionaire inventor is expected to make an announcement about how the acclaimed Model S series will accomplish this feat during a press conference on Thursday.
Musk did not reveal how much the battery life of the Model S will improve, but promised it would curb the “anxiety” drivers get from worrying about when their car’s power will run out.
Currently, the standard Model S gets only 208 miles per charge, according to CNN.
Tesla cars also act like smartphones and receive updates “over the air,” making some trips to the mechanic unnecessary.
The Model S was included in Time magazine’s Best 25 Inventions of the Year 2012. It has been called a “glimpse of the future” by Car and Driver magazine and was Motor Trend Car of the Year in 2013.
But with a retail price that spills into the triple digits, the Telsa Model S is out of reach for most consumers.

NY Post : The huge controversy behind hedge funder’s $93.5M art sale

Bouvier runs the largest freeport — an art warehouse in a duty-free zone — which allows his wealthy clients to sidestep millions of dollars in added charges as they ship around the world pricey pieces of art that do not fit into their many homes.
Bouvier is accused of forging documents to artificially inflate the art sales, and his arrest has been was called “an earthquake” in the international art market and the close circle of the fabulously wealthy international art dealers.
The globe-trotting Bouvier was arrested on Feb. 28 and is out on $16 million bail.
Some $500 million of his Singapore assets were frozen by the courts there on Friday — and his Geneva office has been raided.
Bouvier has since fired back at the Russian, telling Swiss publication Le Temps that he is innocent and that 
Billionaire art collector Steve Cohen, one of the most successful hedge fund managers ever, has become the unwitting catalyst in an alleged international art fraud stretching from New York to Monaco and Singapore.
The alleged fraud was uncovered during a New Year’s Eve dinner between Cohen’s New York art consultant, Sandy Heller, and Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev — when Heller told his pal that Cohen had just sold a Modigliani painting, “Nude on a Blue Cushion,” for $93.5 million.

Rybolovlev’s eyes must have lit up.
He had just bought that same painting in a blind sale — but his dealer, Yves Bouvier, one of the art world’s biggest dealers, told him the price was $118 million, including a $2.36 million commission.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Bouvier may have pocketed the extra $22 million.
The 48-year old oligarch, worth $9.9 billion and with an art collection valued at $500 million, one of the largest in the world, quickly flew back to Monaco — and lodged a criminal complaint with the cops.
Bouvier, well known in the opaque world of private international art sales, has been charged in Monaco with fleecing Rybolovlev, his long-term client, who owns AS Monaco, the soccer team that plays in France’s Ligue 1.
The indictment threatens to peel back the curtain on the extremely unregulated and secretive world of high-priced art.

Rybolovlev, who saw a Swiss judge award his ex-wife a $4.4 billion settlement, owes his company “tens of millions of euros” for “the most beautiful Rothko [painting] in the world.”
With the curtain pulled back on one alleged art fraud, others have rushed forward to point fingers at other suspicious deals involving works by Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin, Degas and Magritte.
For example, Bouvier is also alleged to have pocketed an extra $52.5 million on a Da Vinci painting he sold to Rybolovlev for $127.5 million.
The dealer was also sued in a 2008 claim filed by a Canadian collector’s sale of a painting by French artist Chaim Soutine to a group of dealers, who quickly flipped the painting for twice the price.
Art collectors in Britain, the US and Asia may also have been victims of the latest alleged fraud, according to British press reports.

WSJ : Holcim Board Rejects Lafarge Merger Terms

Holcim Board Rejects Lafarge Merger Terms
Swiss-based Holcim has rejected the terms of a proposed $44.27 billion tie-up

PARIS—The board of directors at Swiss-based Holcim Ltd. has rejected the terms of a proposed €42 billion ($44.27 billion) tie-up with rival cement giant Lafarge SA, Lafarge said Monday.

France-based Lafarge said it received a letter on Sunday from the chairman of Holcim’s board saying the company doesn’t want to pursue their previous agreement that was approved last July and is “challenging the financial terms and governenance structure of the proposed merger of equals.”

Lafarge said its board of directors “remains committed” to the merger and is “willing to explore the possibility of a revision of the parity.”

The original deal, which would create the world’s largest cement maker, was dubbed “a merger of equals” and would involve a capital increase on Holcim’s part to meet a one-to-one share exchange. That share-exchange ratio is now rejected, though Lafarge has said it is willing to renegotiate.

In a separate statement, Holcim confirmed that its board would no longer pursue the combination in its current form but had proposed renegotiating the deal’s one-for-one exchange ratio and “governance issues,” most likely a reference to management of the combined company. Lafarge had agreed to discuss the exchange ratio, according to the Holcim statement, but wouldn’t renegotiate the rest of the deal.

>>> What to look at today - 16th of March 2015

Dow -0.82% S&P -0.61% Nasdaq -0.44% Russell -0.36% VIX @ 16 (+3.76%)
In Russia, Friday's rumors that Kremlin requested for media to stay put for the weekend in the absence of President Putin proved to be inaccurate. While there was still no resurfacing by the Russian leader, press reports indicated he was either treated for a flu or for back pain. Kremlin spokesperson also said the topic related to his mysterious disappearance is "closed." In Ukraine, Pres Poroshenko declared the ceasefire with pro-Russia rebels is "not working" as rebels continue to attack government positions on a daily basis, "often more than 60 times a day". Oil prices took an early tumble below $44/brl in electronic trade but quickly pared those loses. Saudi advisor al-Muhanna said it was too early to say if OPEC will keep production unchanged at its next meeting, adding prices are stabilizing around $60/brl and demand was strengthening. In Europe, Greek Fin Min Varoufakis noted that the Syriza govt may be willing to compromise its promises to the electorate in order to build up trust with its creditors and justifying the decision by pointing to the 4-year timeframe for the promised program. PM Tsipras also parried earlier German press reports claiming Greek civil servants should brace themselves for downsized salaries and pensions this month, stating there were absolutely no problem with liquidity in Greece...Asian indices traded mixed to flat with the exception of the mainland, where Shanghai Composite set fresh 6 1/2-year highs above the key 3,400 level. Outsized gains are attributed in large part to China Premier Li who warned that achieving 7% GDP target will be challenging but also added there is "relatively big" room for policy response since the more recent "short term" policies were not particularly strong. Outside of casting a wide safety net, Li expressed determination to tackle pollution, called on Japan to take responsibility for its history in order to repair China relationship, and promised to address housing shortage with 1M new affordable units. Outside of the Li comments, CSRC spokesperson welcomed China pension funds' push to invest funds directly in the stock market, while the NEA reported Jan-Feb YTD power consumption slowing to 2.5% from 3.8% for the entire 2014.

Nikkei -0.04% Hang Seng +0.39% Shanghai +2.01%

RUB $62.05 WTI $44.31(-1.18%) Brent $54.32 (-0.64%) EURCHF 1.05966 CHF 1.0061

EUR$ 1.0532 S&P +0.16% EuroStoxx +0.38% Dax +0.38% SMI+0.24%


Macro :
- France’s Fabius Supports Euro-Dollar Parity, Les Echos Says
- Oil Slumps to Six-Year Low as U.S. Production Seen Filling Tanks
- Euro Seen Draghi’s Savior as Week-Old QE Targets Lagging Economy
- Chinese Reserve Ratio Cut Seen on Record Interbank Cash Squeeze

Keep an eye on :
- AERL LN : Ireland Says Engagement With IAG on Aer Lingus Continuing
- AIR FP : to announce $1.5bil Helicopter contract with South Korea - Les Echos
- AREVA FP : Areva Is Studying Possible Chinese Investment, Echos Says
- ARYN VX : Aryzta 1H Revenue Rises, Sees European Revenues Falling
- CA FP : CarrefourSA to take over 29 Antalya Market Supermarkets
- DAI GY : Daimler Investigates Over-Service of Chinese Mercedes Dealers
- DSM NA : DSM and CVC Report Partnership for Polymer Intermediates
- EDF FP : EDF Names Graillat Head of Relations With Areva: Echos
- FLG LN : European Commission Clears Aviva’s Friends Life Acquisition
- GWI1 GY : Gerry Weber 1Q Ebit Declines 5%, Net Down 9%
- INVEB SS : Investor AB’s Moelnlycke Plans to Double Sales by 2020, Dagens Industri Says
- LI FP : Klepierre Buys Madrid Shopping Mall From Orion
- LG FP : Holcim Proposed Lafarge Negotiations on Merger Ratio, Governance
- LIN GY : Linde 4Q Oper. Profit In Line; Sees Higher ’15 Rev, Oper. Profit, Says ‘Well on Way’ to Meet Targets, Gives Unit Goals
- MUV2 GY : Munich Re CEO to Leave Commerzbank Spvy Board: Handelsblatt
- OMV AV : OMV raises OMV Petrol Ofisi stake following buyout offer, jointly own a 99.47% stake in total in the Turkish energy company OMV Petrol Ofisi AS following an offer by OMV for minority shareholders.
- PARG SW : Pargesa 2014 Net CHF636.9m vs CHF393.9m Y/y
- RBS LN : Said to Favor UBP as Buyer for Coutts International
- RNO FP : Ghosn May Remain as CEO of Renault Until 2022, Echos Says
- SAABB SS : Saab in Negotiations With Saudi Arabia for New Weapons Order: DI
- SFL IM : Safilo Sees 2015-2020 Cumulative Free Cash Flow ~EU350m-EU400m
- SAN SM : Santander Seeks to Sell Call Center Service: El Confidencial
- SU FP : Schneider to Reduce Executive Retirement Payments: Echos
- SIK VX : Sika confirms 14 April AGM date (Agenda will include proposals submitted by Schenker-Winkler Holding AG, the shareholder group led by Ethos and the shareholders Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, Cascade Investment, Fidelity Worldwide Investment and Threadneedle Investments)
- ST/ LN : Standard Life May Raise Stake in HDFC JV to 35%: ET Link
- TIT IM : Wireless-Tower Unit Inwit Files for IPO in Milan
- THR BB : ThromboGenics Says Jetrea Gains Approval in Brazil
- VOD LN : Spain Court Rejects Vodafone Claim Against Telefonica: El Pais
- VOW3 GY : Metzler Said to Be Close to Selling LeasePlan

>>> Brokers Upgrades & Downgrades - 16th of March 2015

>>> Upgrade
*BUZZI UNICEM RAISED TO OUTPERFORM VS NEUTRAL AT MEDIOBANCA
*FERROVIAL RAISED TO OUTPERFORM AT RBC CAPITAL
*HALKBANK RAISED TO BUY VS NEUTRAL VS UBS
*INDITEX RAISED TO EQUALWEIGHT VS UNDERWEIGHT AT BARCLAYS
*MICHAEL PAGE RAISED TO EQUALWEIGHT VS UNDERWEIGHT AT BARCLAYS
*RANDGOLD RESOURCES RAISED TO OVERWEIGHT VS NEUTRAL AT HSBC

>>> Downgrade
*ALPIQ CUT TO SELL VS NEUTRAL AT UBS
*ASOS CUT TO HOLD AT JEFFERIES
*AUSTRIAN POST CUT TO SELL VS HOLD AT BERENBERG
*BUZZI UNICEM CUT TO NEUTRAL FROM BUY AT GOLDMAN
*COUNTRYWIDE CUT TO NEUTRAL FROM BUY AT GOLDMAN
*HIKMA CUT TO HOLD AT JEFFERIES
*HOWDEN CUT TO NEUTRAL FROM BUY AT GOLDMAN
*KPN CUT TO HOLD VS BUY AT BERENBERG
*LAFARGE CUT TO OUTPERFORM VS STRONG BUY AT RAYMOND JAMES
*PERSIMMON CUT TO NEUTRAL FROM BUY AT GOLDMAN
*RHEINMETALL CUT TO HOLD VS BUY AT BERENBERG
*ZOOPLA CUT TO NEUTRAL FROM BUY AT GOLDMAN

>>> PT Change


>>> Initiation
*BALFOUR BEATTY REINSTATED AS NEUTRAL AT GOLDMAN
*EPWIN GROUP RATED NEW BUY AT CANTOR FITZGERALD, PT 150P

>>> Call
>> Stock
*WIENERBERGER TOP PICK AT GOLDMAN FOR EU RESIDENTIAL RECOVERY