Update: 18 February 2015
SHV for Nutreco (NUO NA)
Nutreco: Extension to the offer 1% to 3% annualised
This is an update to a prior note
SHV announces that it is uncertain at which point in time the Ukrainian competition authority will take a decision to clear the merger.
SHV says that the competent body of the Ukrainian competition authority is expected to convene before the end of February 2015 and the Offeror has not been notified of any substantive concerns with regard to its notification in Ukraine.
Nutreco is extending completion of the deal but there is negligible risk that the merger is cancelled.
We understand that the business in the Ukraine is a JV worth about €15m.
The deal will not collapse over clearance of a jurisdiction with such small impact on the entirety of the operations acquired.
The offeror expects Ukraine authorities to meet by the end of the month, which could mean clearance and then completion of the deal by late March is still possible. (Settlement in Holland takes about 10 trading days).
As for Bosnia, the statement indicates that clearance may be waived. If Ukraine does not comeback with a response by 28 April, we believe SHV will also waive that clearance condition
For this reason we do not believe that a large withdrawal of acceptances could take place
If the Ukraine does meet and clears the deal late February, the deal spread is 3% annualised, if the deal completes 28 April (the latest permitted under Dutch law) the annualised spread is 1%
PDF attached
HSE 02/18 07:59 Outokumpu launches a senior unsecured convertible Bond Issue for up to EUR 250 million
BN 02/18 08:00 *OUTOKUMPU BONDS EXPECTED TO CARRY COUPON OF 2.75-3.75%
BN 02/18 08:00 *OUTOKUMPU PLANS TO ISSUE PRINCIPAL OF EU215M, OPTION FOR EU250M
BN 02/18 07:59 *OUTOKUMPU PLANS TO CANCEL UNUTILIZED EU250M OF EU500M FACILITY
BN 02/18 07:59 *OUTOKUMPU LAUNCHES A SR UNSECURED CONV BOND ISSUE FOR UP TO
BN 02/18 08:00 *OUTOKUMPU BONDS EXPECTED TO CARRY COUPON OF 2.75-3.75%
BN 02/18 08:00 *OUTOKUMPU PLANS TO ISSUE PRINCIPAL OF EU215M, OPTION FOR EU250M
BN 02/18 07:59 *OUTOKUMPU PLANS TO CANCEL UNUTILIZED EU250M OF EU500M FACILITY
BN 02/18 07:59 *OUTOKUMPU LAUNCHES A SR UNSECURED CONV BOND ISSUE FOR UP TO
Outokumpu Plans to Sell EU250m of 5-Yr Conv Bonds
2015-02-18 08:04:53.280 GMT
By Kasper Viita
(Bloomberg) -- Outokumpu bonds seen carrying 2.75-3.75%
coupon.
* Initial principal amount EU215m, may be increased to EU250m
* Co. plans to cancel unutilized EU250m of EU500m liquidity
facility agreed in Feb. 2014
* Credit Agricole acts as sole coordinator, bookrunner
Link to Statement:Link
For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>
To contact the reporter on this story:
Kasper Viita in Helsinki at +358-9-2512-3738 or
kviita1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Kati Pohjanpalo at +358-9-2512-2678 or
kpohjanpalo@bloomberg.net
Kasper Viita
2015-02-18 08:04:53.280 GMT
By Kasper Viita
(Bloomberg) -- Outokumpu bonds seen carrying 2.75-3.75%
coupon.
* Initial principal amount EU215m, may be increased to EU250m
* Co. plans to cancel unutilized EU250m of EU500m liquidity
facility agreed in Feb. 2014
* Credit Agricole acts as sole coordinator, bookrunner
Link to Statement:Link
For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>
To contact the reporter on this story:
Kasper Viita in Helsinki at +358-9-2512-3738 or
kviita1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Kati Pohjanpalo at +358-9-2512-2678 or
kpohjanpalo@bloomberg.net
Kasper Viita
Muddy Waters, one of the world’s best-known short sellers, has taken its first public long position — saying that the holding company of French billionaire Vincent Bolloré has been hugely undervalued due to its “horrifically complex corporate structure”.
“This is the first time in our investment careers that we have come across a situation in which a company’s opacity is a reason to buy the stock,” Muddy Waters said in a research report published on Tuesday.
The hedge fund, founded by US investor Carson Block, is famous for its secretive research and detailed attacks on companies including Sino-Forest, the Chinese timber group, and British technology company Blinkx. Mr Block relocated from Hong Kong to San Francisco after receiving death threats a few years ago.
He told the Financial Times that Bolloré, the Paris-listed holding company, had far fewer shares outstanding than analysts had estimated because of cross-ownership and circular ownership structures.
Bolloré said it did not comment on market research. The company’s investments include African ports, electric cars and stakes in advertising group Havas. Mr Bolloré is also chairman of Vivendi, the French media group.
Muddy Waters’ report did not challenge Bollore’s current market capitalisation of €12.2m, but it estimated that the company owned 57.2 per cent of its own shares through various intermediary entities. That meant the public “effectively owns 42.8 per cent of the company, versus the reported 24.3 per cent”.
The ownership structure “has circles within circles within circles”. This meant that it was “infeasible to use Excel to estimate the percentage of circular ownership”, the report said. Instead Muddy Waters “engaged consultants that created a program to do the calculations necessary”.
Mr Block said he “had never heard” of Vincent Bolloré, whose wealth is estimated at $6.6bn by Forbes, before he came across his holding company. “We were therefore surprised to learn that he has been one of the sharpest-elbowed activist investors in Europe over the past three decades,” its report said.
Mr Block investigated the company after an existing long investor approached Muddy Waters, but has had no contact with its management.
Mr Bolloré, who is a close friend of Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, has tended to keep a low profile in French business circles. He has built the family business slowly, which originally made paper for cigarettes and bibles, and diversifying into plastics, and then into transport and logistics, particularly in Africa, as well as cotton and cacao.
More recently, he started investing heavily in electricity storage and is behind Paris’s Autolib electric car rental service. Today, his Bolloré group has almost 55,000 employees and annual revenues of close to €11bn.
Mr Bolloré has his own history of taking active positions, including on Bouygues, the construction group. “He is sometimes viewed as collaborative, sometimes viewed as uncollaborative,” said Claudio Aspesi, an analyst at Bernstein.
Muddy Waters’ report argued that Bollore’s shares are worth 95 per cent more than their previous stock price of €4.3. On Tuesday, shares in the group rose 2.4 per cent to €4.48.
Even if Muddy Waters’ calculations are correct, investors may still be wary of committing funds to Bolloré given its opaque structure.
“A bunch of bad things could happen to the underlying businesses and the stock is still a buy,” said Mr Block. “The big risk is that there’s not enough disclosure.”
Bolloré’s largest shareholders include International Value Advisors and Norway’s Norges Bank Investment Management Bank.
Rolls-Royce is the latest luxury carmaker to confirm plans to build a sport utility vehicle as it looks to tap into one of the industry’s fastest-growing market segments.
The company’s move into SUVs sees it follow fellow British motoring brands Jaguar and Bentley into the oversized luxury market, which is headed by German brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi.
SUVs have become one of the car industry’s most profitable segments for both premium marques and volume manufacturers. Sales in the so-called medium premium SUV category are expected to increase 30 per cent to 1.9m by the end of the decade, according to IHS Automotive, having already tripled in the past five years.
Rolls-Royce, which is owned by German motoring group BMW, confirmed on Wednesday that it would launch its first 4x4 — a big departure for a company that produces only three saloon-style models.
The high-end carmaker said it was responding to demand from its customers to create an “all-new, high-bodied” Rolls-Royce.
Last month, Jaguar confirmed the launch of its first ever “performance crossover” car — an alumnium-bodied SUV — that will go on sale in 2016. Bentley — famed for its sleek saloons — will also launch its luxury 4x4 in 2016. Rolls-Royce said it was too early to say when its new model would go on sale, noting it was likely to be in a few years’ time. The upmarket British brand said the aluminium platform for its luxury 4x4 would be bespoke to Rolls-Royce, and would be built out of its existing UK factory capacity of about 6,000 vehicles.
“I am confident that this new Rolls-Royce will fully deliver on our brand’s promise of supreme luxury,” said Torsten Müller-Ötvös, chief executive of Rolls-Royce.
Phil Harrold, automotive partner at PwC professional services, said the 111-year-old company was “moving with the times” and addressing a popular emerging market.
“The Rolls-Royce brand has been around for a long time . . . by launching a SUV they are refreshing and reinvigorating the brand and keeping it relevant to the modern market,” he said.
It comes after a bumper year for premium cars made in the UK. Both Bentley and BMW-Mini, two German-owned carmakers with sizeable UK operations, have reported record sales for 2014. Rolls-Royce reported a fifth consecutive year of record car sales.
The British high-end carmaker sold more cars in the €200,000-plus “super-luxury” category than any other manufacturer in 2014. Last year it delivered 4,063 vehicles to customers, a 12 per cent increase on the prior year and a quadrupling of sales since 2009.
BPM may seek merger with BPER to ward off foreign takeover
Banca Popolare di Milano (BPM), the listed Italian cooperative bank, could seek a merger with peer BPER to ward off a takeover by a foreign bank, Italian language daily Il Messaggero reported. The unsourced report said that BPM is considering the move in response to government's plans to turn cooperative banks into joint stock companies with the aim of encouraging mergers among Italy's medium-sized cooperative banks.
The report said that a number of foreign banks are believed to be interested in BPM including French banks BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole, German bank Deutsche Bank and Spanish bank Santander.
The report said that a BPM/BPER merger could then look to Banca Carige to join the merged entity. The report said that BPM would consider a merger with Banco Popolare if its preferred option of an aggregation with BPER was unavailable.
The report said that BPM's attempts to merger with BPER could be thwarted by BPER eying a merger with listed Italian cooperative lender Banca Popolare di Sondrio.
BPM has a market cap of EUR 3.456bn and BPER EUR 3.27bn.
Il Messaggero
Banca Etruria attracts interest of Bank Hapoalim International
Banca Etruria, the listed Italian bank placed in special administration, has attracted the interest of Israeli lender Bank Hapoalim International, Italian language daily Milano Finanza reported. The unsourced report said that Hapoalim was admitted to Etruria's data room prior to the bank being put in administration.
The report said that Hapoalim was believed to be ready to carry out a EUR 500m capital increase. The report said that Hapoalim's involvement in the dossier has prompted questions on whether it was actually necessary to place Etruria in administration.
As previously reported Banca Etruria has been seeking a merger partner at the request of the Bank of Italy.
Banca Etruria has a market cap of EUR 127m.
Milano Finanza daily edition
De La Rue rumoured to be in line for GBP 757m cash takeover bid
De La Rue, the UK-based listed banknote printer, is rumoured to be in line for a cash takeover offer pitched at 750p per share, or GBP 757m (USD 1.2bn), The Daily Mail reported. France-based Oberthur and an unspecified European private-equity house are rumoured to be the likely buyers, the market report said.
A Times market report noted the trader speculation of takeover interest in De La Rue and stated that Ingenico, the French payment-technology company, is often tipped as a prospective buyer of the business.
Oberthur abandoned a 935p-per-share offer for De La Rue four years ago, since which time the British company has issued three profit warnings, the Mail report noted. The company’s shares were trading at 546.5p by yesterday’s close (17 February).
Prudential owns a 14% stake in De La Rue, while M&G Investments owns 9.9%, the item stated.
Daily Mail, The Times
Amaya rumoured to be still eyeing Bwin.Party
Amaya Gaming Group of Canada is rumoured to be still interested in acquiring the London-listed gaming group Bwin.Party, The Evening Standard reported. The report noted that shares in Gibraltar-based Bwin lost 20% at the end of last week following reports that negotiations with prospective buyers including Amaya had ended.
The report also noted market speculation the UK-listed bookmaking group William Hill might be considering a bid for Bwin following this week’s rejection of its GBP 720m (USD 1.1bn) offer for rival gaming company 888. William Hill is believed to have considered a tilt at Bwin, which has a GBP 745m market cap, prior to opting for 888, the report said.
Evening Standard
Telecom Italia attracts interest of private equity
Telecom Italia (TI), the listed telco, has attracted the interest of private equity, the Italian language daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported, citing market rumours.
The report said that Apax, Bain Capital, Blackstone and KKR are looking at the TI dossier on the advice of investment banks. The report added that all the PE firms looking at the dossier already specialise in investing in the telecoms sector.
The report said that there are as yet no negotiations on the matter.
The item noted that the PE firms are interested in TI because it is becoming a real public company with no controlling shareholder. However, the item noted that any investment by PE would have to take political factors into account, given that TI owns Italy's national telecommunications network.
TI has a market cap of 19.13bn
Il Sole 24 Ore