(BN) Austria on Track to Bail in Heta Creditors After Aid Cut Off (1)



Austria on Track to Bail in Heta Creditors After Aid Cut Off (1)
2015-03-01 19:38:17.427 GMT


(Updates with affected liabilities, consequences for unit
sale from seventh paragraph.)

By Boris Groendahl
(Bloomberg) -- Austria won’t give fresh capital to Heta
Asset Resolution AG, making the “bad bank” of failed Hypo
Alpe-Adria-Bank International AG the first case under new
European Union rules imposing losses on bank bondholders.
Austria cut off support for Heta, which has already cost
Austrian taxpayers about 5.5 billion euros ($6.2 billion) in
aid, after Heta notified the government it may need as much as
7.6 billion euros on top of that, the Finance Ministry said in a
statement on Sunday. The Finanzmarktaufsicht regulator put Heta
into resolution and ordered an immediate debt moratorium.
“The decision was triggered by information from Heta’s
management about the first results of an asset review,” the
ministry said. “Because of that dramatic change of the asset
evaluation, the ministry together with the entire government
decided not to invest any more tax money into Heta.”
Heta’s predecessor Hypo Alpe was nationalized in 2009 after
it was close to collapse because of bad loans in the western
Balkans and shareholders led by Bayerische Landesbank walked
away from the bank. Its rescue and wind-down has been
complicated by a string of court cases and by the fact that a
large part of its debt is guaranteed by the Carinthia province,
a former owner of the bank.

No Repayment

The FMA is taking over the wind-down of Heta, which kept
around 18 billion of Hypo’s assets when it was set up last year.
While it works out a resolution plan it won’t repay Heta’s
liabilities under an Austrian law that came into force Jan. 1 to
implement the European Union’s Bank Recovery and Resolution
Directive, the authority said in a statement.
The immediate debt moratorium means 950 million euros of
bonds due March 6 and March 20 won’t be repaid. It affects 9.8
billion euros in outstanding bonds, supplementary capital and
Schuldschein loans, 1.24 billion euros debt to Pfandbriefbank
(Oesterreich) AG, a bank that handles bond issues for Austrian
provinvial banks, as well as loans from BayernLB, according to
the FMA’s decree published on its website.
Putting Heta into resolution means there is no insolvency
procedure, the FMA said. An insolvency would have endangered the
sale of Hypo Group Alpe Adria AG, the “good” part of the
business that’s operating banks in the former Yugoslavia, which
was signed last year but isn’t completed yet, it said. An
insolvency would have made the sale of Heta’s remaining assets
more difficult and led to higher losses for creditors, it said.

Government Guarantee

Avoiding Heta’s insolvency also means that the Carinthia
province’s guarantees for Heta’s bonds aren’t triggered under
Austrian law, the finance ministry said. The ministry reiterated
that it will honor a federal government guarantee for a 1
billion-euro subordinated Heta bond, should it become due.
The FMA’s intervention caps a dramatic development over the
weekend that is described in the authority’s decree.
Heta notified the FMA Friday night at 9:20 p.m. Vienna time
that an asset review that started last year led to write-down
needs of as much as 8.7 billion euros, resulting in negative
equity of up to 7.6 billion euros. It wouldn’t have enough funds
to repay liabilities from next year, Heta told the FMA,
according to the document.
Shortly after that notification Friday night, Heta and the
FMA notified the Austrian government and asked whether it would
recapitalize Heta to make sure the liabilities are repaid. It
answered at 12:24 p.m. today that it wasn’t going to, according
to the document.

For Related News and Information:
Austria Adjusted Law to Allow Bail-In of Heta’s Senior Bonds
Heta Senior Bonds Due Next Month Drop as Austria Weighs Bail-In
Austria Handled Hypo Alpe Rescue Like Amateurs, Commission Says
Top Financial Regulation Stories: TOP FREG<GO>
Top Financial Stories: FTOP<GO>
Top Stories: TOP<GO>

To contact the reporter on this story:
Boris Groendahl in Vienna at +43-1-513-2660-12 or
bgroendahl@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Patrick Henry at +32-2-237-4328 or
phenry8@bloomberg.net
Robin Stringer

Sonntagszeitung: Gategroup: Schmid on the ejector seat

http://www.sonntagszeitung.ch/read/sz_01_03_2015/wirtschaft/Schmid-auf-dem-Schleudersitz-28962 Type text or a website address or translate a document. Schmid on the ejection seat

Victor Weber, Cornelia Krause

Zurich Senior Board Andreas Schmid (Zurich Barry Callebaut AG, Oettinger Davidoff Group gate airport) is a fighter. But the General Assembly of the airline caterer Gate Group on 16 April he sees fear against heart. A group of shareholders challenge him openly. "It's about to overthrow Andreas Schmid. It is no longer acceptable, "said Rudolf Bohli, manager of hedge fund RBR Capital, a month before the newspaper" Finanz und Wirtschaft "(FuW).

Meanwhile Bohli has increased the pressure: The RBR Capital has recently formed with the British hedge fund Camox a master group that controls around 12 percent of the vote. The common goal: as many, if not all, of the Board of Directors to replace. "We want a clean cut. A better Directors as we could make this in any case. The candidates we have already found, "says Camox-founder Jonathan Herbert. The Camox Master Fund invests primarily in small to medium sized European companies are facing a turnaround or a breakthrough in product development and as promised fast earnings growth.

Opponents have been invited to a press conference

Camox-founder Herbert knows Gate Group well. He was already invested twice, most recently in 2011 but grew disappointed with management and stock performance again. In January, he bought back blocks of shares. After talking with Bohli germinated in him the hope of impending changes in the company.

Beginning of the year is also the American Wellington Management Group entered at Gate Group, their share is 4.3 percent. Also, Wellington is betting that the stock price rises when Schmid flies. Harris Associates controls 6.6 percent of the shares. The investment company invests only in companies, which it holds in the market for fundamentally undervalued.

For next Tuesday Rudolf Bohli invited to a press conference, to be presented at the four to five candidates for the Board.

Feverish search for compromise

The tug will meet with a broad interest. Because for Andreas Schmid, 57, the fate threatens to repeat. In August 2006, he threw as Chairman of the Kuoni Travel Group in the towel. He had fallen out with the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors, as he had done as president behind their backs merger talks with the British First Choice. In connection with his resignation, he announced to dispense with the Office of the President at Business Federation economiesuisse, he will compete would have three weeks later. In Economiesuisse Nicolas Hayek and Johann Schneider-Ammann were opposed to him. The reigning Bundesrat was then President of Swissmem.

The fall had Schmid was severely affected, as he admitted openly later, when he had caught again.

Whether the media briefing, scheduled on Tuesday will actually take place, but is not sure. On Friday afternoon, both parties have in fact taken to explore the possibility of a compromise, such as searches of the Sunday newspaper show. Now the chances are classified as intact on both sides to create a joint list of candidates for the renewal of the Board. Will hot: Newest to both sides adequately be represented on the Board. Only completely independent candidates are eligible, ie persons who are not in league in one form or another with the company. By the end of next week, if one is to agree on the composition of the Board in principle. Therefore, the probability is high that the press conference will be blown off, but that could be a reconciliation torpedoed.

The big question is whether Andreas Schmid will continue to be at the helm as president. For him it was yesterday Saturday still open. He must decide which the company will be better served. It Schmid go to the stability of gate Group and not individual people, said a confidant. The probability that Schmid retiring, was below 50 percent.

Another stumbling block is that Schmid has appointed Spaniard Xavier Rossinyol a new CEO who does not fit the rebellious shareholders. For Bohli is coming from the Basler travel retailer Dufry Rossinyol - he shall take office next month - a hideously bad Instrumentation: He was outside industry and have never owned redeveloped as number one. It also need a Swiss at the top of the former Swissair subsidiary. Bohli Schmid had suggested another candidate for the CEO post.

Groups Gate Mountain and Valley ride terms of profitability

For bank analysts who Gate Group on their radar, however, the appointment of the Spaniard was well received. Bohli seems to have now come to the conclusion that his public criticism of Schmid and Rossinyol had failed too coarse.

In the eyes Bohlis it needs a restructuring, because the costs are rising faster than revenues. The fact is that the Zurich Group for years on mountain and valley ride is terms of profit and loss. The Austrian competitor Do & Co, however, continuously improved its profitability. Gate Group dominates the airline catering business in Europe and the United States together with LSG Sky Chefs. How do Gate Group has struck in 2014, you will find out on March 12.

Undoing Schmid can be the poor performance of the share price. From the high of 53.50 francs, which was reached in January 2011, the course is far away. Schmid, of course, aware that he is vulnerable it. As Chairman of Kuoni he had said in 2005 ". The best protection is a high stock price»

The Board of gate Schmid Group is one of the last eight years. 2009, the Bureau was entrusted to him. 2013 he earned 398 000 francs. The Group employs over 27 000 people and generated sales of CHF 3 billion.

To think will also be the fact that the penetration rights of shareholders have been strengthened by Thomas Schmid Minders cheaters initiative. In addition, he was the one who had cut the restrictions on voting rights at Gate Group.

(NS5) HuffingtonPt(FR): TF1 dément la mort de Martin Bouygues



HuffingtonPt(FR): TF1 dément la mort de Martin Bouygues
2015-02-28 14:22:14.184 GMT

http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2015/02/28/mort-martin-bouygues-dementi-tf1_n_6774836.html?utm_hp_ref=france

PageExcerpt:
MÉDIAS - TF1 et le groupe Bouygues ont démenti la mort de Martin Bouygues, annoncée un peu plus tôt à l'AFP par un maire d'une commune voisine de l'Orne où industrielle séjourne. Une journaliste de TF1, chaîne du groupe Bouygues, a par ...

(BFW) Lafarge Deal Terms Not Liked by Holcim Holders: DealReporter



Lafarge Deal Terms Not Liked by Holcim Holders: DealReporter
2015-02-27 20:58:22.842 GMT


By Joshua Fineman
(Bloomberg) -- Holcim holders increasingly against the
terms of deal with Lafarge, dealReporter said, citing 3 minority
holder sources, following Holcim investor roadshows.
* Holders want an improved exchange ratio
* Person close to Holcim told dR he had not heard negative
responses from the road show this week
* Holcim declined comment to dR
* NOTE: Earlier, Holcim-Lafarge Spread Widens; Helvea-Baader
Sees Risk to Deal
* Feb. 23, Holcim CFO Thomas Aebischer had said terms of
merger agreement with Lafarge remain intact, even after
the Swiss franc’s strengthening
* Feb. 23, Holcim CFO Thomas Aebischer had said terms of
merger agreement with Lafarge remain intact, even after
the Swiss franc’s strengthening</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 editor responsible for this story:
Arie Shapira at +1-212-617-1488 or
ashapira3@bloomberg.net

WSJ : China’s Central Bank Cuts Interest Rates


China’s Central Bank Cuts Interest Rates
PBOC lowers benchmark rates for second time in four months

BEIJING--China cut interest rates for the second time in four months in a fresh sign of Beijing’s concern over slowing growth.

China’s central bank said Saturday evening that it would reduce its benchmark lending rate and deposit rate each by 0.25 percentage point to lower domestic companies’ borrowing costs. The People’s Bank of China said in a statement it would lower its one-year lending rate to 5.35% from 5.6% and its one-year deposit rate to 2.5% from 2.75%

The moves are effective Sunday.

It also said it would raise the maximum interest rate on bank deposits to 130% of the benchmark rate from 120%.

The central bank previously lowered interest rates in November.

The latest move took place just as China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, prepared to gather Thursday for its annual meeting. The gathering is usually when China unveils its economic growth target for the year.

Last year’s growth of 7.4% came in just below the 2014 target of about 7.5%. It was the lowest growth rate in nearly a quarter century.

(BFW) *LOEB SAYS HE’S EXITED GREEK CREDIT


BN 02/27 13:56 *LOEB SAYS OPPORTUNITIES LIMITED ON CORPORATE CREDIT SIDE
BN 02/27 13:56 *LOEB SAYS HE'S PLAYING SPECIAL SITUATIONS
BN 02/27 13:55 *LOEB SAYS HE'S EXITED GREEK CREDIT
BN 02/27 13:52 *TPRE SAYS MULTI-LINE LONDON DEAL WAS FOR $125MLN
BN 02/27 13:52 *TPRE SAYS MULTI-LINE LONDON DEAL CAN BE RENEWED
BN 02/27 13:51 *TPRE SAYS PREMIUMS CLIMBED ON MULTI-LINE DEAL IN LONDON MARKET
BN 02/27 13:50 *TPRE'S BERGER SAYS HE'S OPTIMISTIC FOR 2015 AMID U.S. EXPANSION
BN 02/27 13:44 *LOEB SAYS 2014 HURT BY VOLATILTY, POOR TRADING
BN 02/27 13:43 *LOEB: MORTGAGE PORTFOLIO ESSENTIALLY FLAT IN 4Q, HAD STRONG YR
BN 02/27 13:43 *LOEB SAYS CORPORATE CREDIT HAD STRONG YEAR IN 2014
BN 02/27 13:42 *LOEB SAYS HEALTHCARE WAS STROGEST EQUITY PERFORMER FOR 2014
BN 02/27 13:42 *LOEB SAYS 4Q MARKED BY WAKENESS IN GOVT, CORP. CREDIT HOLDINGS
BN 02/27 13:41 *LOEB COMMENTS IN THIRD POINT REINSURANCE CONFERENCE CALL
BN 02/27 13:40 *THIRD POINT REINSURANCE COO BREDAHL COMMENTS IN CONFERENCE CALL
BN 02/27 13:40 *TPRE WINDING DOWN FROM CATASTRPOHE COVERAGE, BREDAHL SAYS
BN 02/27 13:36 *BERGER SAYS COMBINED RATIO IS STEADILY IMPROVING
BN 02/27 13:36 *THIRD POINT REINSURANCE CEO BERGER COMMENTS IN CONFERENCE CALL
BN 02/27 13:36 *BERGER SAYS VARIABILITY IN INVESTING RETURNS IS TO BE EXPECTED

*LOEB SAYS HE’S EXITED GREEK CREDIT
2015-02-27 13:55:59.742 GMT

--LIBBY MCGOWAN

-0- Feb/27/2015 13:55 GMT

FT: Altice on hunt for bigger acquisitions

Altice on hunt for bigger acquisitions
Arash Massoudi in London and Adam Thomson in Paris

Altice, the European cable and mobile group, is on the hunt for bigger takeover targets even though it has already splashed more than €28bn on acquisitions in the past 12 months.
Dexter Goei, chief executive, told the Financial Times the group would press ahead with its rapid expansion by taking advantage of cheap borrowing to challenge the region’s established telecommunications companies.
“We believe the whole telecom market in Europe will go through accelerated phases of convergence of fixed and mobile services and consolidation, especially among mobile operators,” said Mr Goei.
·
Altice saw “a pipeline of opportunities to continue doing what we have done in the last few years, just on a bigger scale”, he added.
The Amsterdam-listed company has emerged out of relative obscurity, becoming one of Europe’s most aggressive acquirers and a leading proponent of consolidation and convergence between cable, broadband, fixed-line and mobile services.
Last week, Altice made a €3.9bn offer to Vivendi of France to increase its 60 per cent stake in Numericable-SFR, the country’s second-biggest telecoms business, to 80 per cent. It has also expressed an interest in eventually acquiring Bouygues Telecom, France’s number three mobile operator.
Founded by Franco-Israeli entrepreneur Patrick Drahi, Altice has acquired a portfolio of telecom assets in France, Israel, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Caribbean. Since its initial public offering in January 2014, it has amassed a market capitalisation of more than €20.5bn.
Mr Drahi owns nearly 60 per cent of the business, making him one of Europe’s wealthiest men. His shares are worth more than €12bn.
The company has hired a stable of investment bankers, such as Mr Goei, partly by offering them equity in the business.
“All of our employees, pushed three levels below CEO, are properly incentivised,” said Mr Goei, whose shares are worth €282m.
Altice’s push has coincided with greater political support for an easing of competition rules in Brussels after years of lobbying from industry heavyweights.
Companies such as Deutsche Telekom, Orange and Vodafone have argued that the region’s rules have hamstrung the industry, sapping investment in infrastructure and benefiting US and Asian rivals.
Altice has fashioned itself after Liberty Global, the world’s largest international cable company, which was founded by US mogul John Malone.
Mr Drahi once worked under Mr Malone after selling his small French cable business to UPC, which is now part of Liberty. Both companies operate with a higher amount of leverage than their peers to help fund their acquisitions.
In the past year Altice has bought Portugal Telecom for €7.4bn, adding the leading mobile operator to the two cable operators it owns in Portugal. Altice acquired Vivendi’s SFR, France’s number-two mobile operator, for €17bn and combined it with Numericable

Salix Suitors May Yet Emerge to Challenge Valeant: Real M&A

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

Salix Suitors May Yet Emerge to Challenge Valeant: Real M&A 2015-02-23 20:29:12.310 GMT

(For a Real M&A column news alert: {SALT REALMNA <GO>}.)

By Tara Lachapelle (Bloomberg) -- It might still be early for investors to rule out competing offers for Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. The drugmaker’s $14.5 billion deal with Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. came together quickly, considering that Salix was essentially just put back in play after it restated financial results in late January. The maker of diarrhea medicine is now selling to Valeant for $158 a share, which falls short of what some analysts and shareholders were expecting given the long list of companies that were thought to be interested suitors, including Shire Plc and Actavis Plc. Valeant’s offer values Salix at 69 times trailing 12-month earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, more than four times the median multiple for similar deals. Yet with Salix poised to win regulatory approval next quarter for a potentially lucrative new product, Valeant may be paying closer to 15 times Ebitda, based on analysts’ projections for next year’s profit. “It seems like Valeant worked very quickly to conclude their due diligence and decide whether to make a bid,” David Steinberg, a San Francisco-based analyst for Jefferies Group LLC, said in a phone interview. “It is lower than most would have expected. The question is, is that the high bid or will others come in?”

Reasonable Price

Credit Suisse Group AG’s Ronak Shah said a takeover price of $170-a-share or more would have been reasonable. That’s a 7.6 percent bump from what Valeant has agreed to pay. Salix shares fell 1.3 percent on Monday to $155.80 at 3:28 p.m. in New York, leaving a more than $2 arbitrage spread. The gap signals fading speculation of a counterbid. Even so, Shire, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., AstraZeneca Plc, AbbVie Inc., Endo International Plc and Actavis are also considered logical buyers for Salix. Valeant’s speediness may be what complicated things, said Steinberg of Jefferies. Some potential counterbidders might have preferred to wait until May to see whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves Salix’s Xifaxan for diarrhea caused by irritable bowel syndrome. But Valeant is planning to close its deal before that. “Hard to envision how another bidder would come in at a much higher price,” David Amsellem, a New York-based analyst for Piper Jaffray Cos., said in his note today. “The simple reality here is that we are still in front of an FDA decision.”

For Related News and Information: Valeant’s $10.1 Billion Salix Deal a Bet on FDA Decision Salix Fit for Bids as Accounting Issue Is Resolved: Real M&A Real M&A columns: NI REALMNA <GO> Top deal stories: DTOP <GO>

To contact the reporter on this story: Tara Lachapelle in New York at +1-212-617-8911 or tlachapelle@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Beth Williams at +1-212-617-2307 or bewilliams@bloomberg.net Mohammed Hadi