saw some Delta one guys, shorting the Dividend on BNP this morning @ 1.45, bbg consensus is indicating 1.50
BNP is supposed to announce dvd on the 5th of Feb (Thu)
see notes attached
Justice Department Investigating Moody’s Investors Service
Probe Looking Into Favorable Ratings on Mortgage Bonds Before the Financial Crisis
With its case against Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services nearing the finish, the Justice Department has turned its attention to another credit-rating firm under fire for issuing rosy grades on mortgage deals in the buildup to the financial crisis.
Justice Department officials in recent months have quietly met with multiple former executives of Moody’s Investors Service to discuss ratings of complex securities before the crisis, according to people familiar with the situation.
The Justice Department lawyers probing Moody’s are still in the early stages of their investigation, according to people familiar with the matter. It isn’t yet clear whether it will result in a lawsuit, the people said.
A Moody’s spokesman declined to comment.
In the recent wave of meetings, Justice Department officials, citing internal company emails, have pressed former Moody’s executives on whether the firm compromised standards to win business, according to people familiar with the matter. The main focus, as with the S&P case, has been on residential-mortgage deals from around 2004 to 2007, the people said.
Moody’s, a division of Moody’s Corp., and S&P, a unit of McGraw Hill Financial Inc., gave triple-A ratings to those mortgage deals, making it possible for even conservative investors to buy securities backed by subprime loans that later turned out to be risky. When the housing market collapsed, losses on those bonds spread everywhere and deepened the crisis, costing investors billions of dollars.
The Justice Department began looking into Moody’s as far back as 2010, the people said. But government lawyers held off on a Moody’s case as they pursued a lawsuit against S&P that eventually was filed in February 2013.
At the time, state and federal law-enforcement officials said they weren’t necessarily stopping with S&P, and were weighing potential action against Moody’s, too. Nearly two years later, the S&P case is close to wrapping up. An announcement of a more than $1.37 billion settlement among S&P, the Justice Department and more than a dozen states could come early this week, according to people familiar with the matter.
Based in New York, and the world’s second-biggest ratings firm behind S&P, Moody’s was a major issuer of triple-A ratings on residential mortgage-backed securities before the crisis.
On top of the Justice Department’s probe, the attorneys general from Connecticut and Mississippi also have lawsuits pending against Moody’s but they put their cases on hold while pursuing S&P. After the S&P lawsuit is resolved, Connecticut plans to again pursue the Moody’s case, according to a spokeswoman for George Jepsen, Connecticut’s attorney general. A spokeswoman for Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood didn’t respond to request for comment.
Moody’s had “inadequate models and methodology” to gauge the risk of subprime mortgages and exhibited a “relentless drive” to win market share, said Phil Angelides , the former California state treasurer who led the bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which included a case study of Moody’s in its 2011 report.
“What we found at Moody’s was very similar to the practices and conduct at Standard & Poor’s. The conduct and results were the same,” said Mr. Angelides. The 10-member commission concluded that credit-rating firms were “essential cogs in the wheel of financial destruction.”
In contrast with big Wall Street banks that have paid more than $100 billion to settle postcrisis lawsuits, credit-rating firms have mostly escaped the surge of legal scrutiny and regulatory changes.
But in the past year, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved new rules overseeing that industry. The SEC’s enforcement division, along with two states, won a $77 million settlement against S&P over postcrisis grades of commercial real estate and compliance issues. The Justice Department’s settlement with S&P would be the largest ever brought against a ratings firm.
Former Moody’s executives say the company adopted tighter controls and stricter guidelines around internal communication after previous run-ins with government investigators.
There was a 2001 settlement with the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division over the destruction of documents, amid a civil inquiry by the agency, leading to Moody’s pleading to one count of obstruction of justice and paying a fine of $195,000. Four years later, then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer investigated Moody’s ratings on some mortgage-backed deals, former employees say.
Government lawyers targeted S&P nearly two years ago in a $5 billion fraud lawsuit. S&P had left a paper trail of emails and other internal communication, including a 2007 exchange involving S&P employees where one said a mortgage-bond deal “could be structured by cows and we would rate it.”
In the recent investigation, the Justice Department took aim at S&P despite ratings at Moody’s and Fitch “that were not dissimilar to S&P’s on many of the securities which defaulted in the 2009-2010 period,” Peter Appert, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co., said Thursday in a note to investors.
That could stem from ratings model errors specific to S&P or be because Moody’s or Fitch wrote fewer “incriminating” emails, Mr. Appert said.
But an S&P settlement “could embolden the [Justice Department] to institute suits seeking similar payments” from Moody’s and Fitch, he said.
RadioShack, Hedge Fund Hashing Out Auction Process
Court-Supervised Chapter 11 Filing of Electronics Retailer Bogged Down
RadioShack, which is running out of cash after reporting losses in each of the last 11 quarters, was aiming to file for Chapter 11 protection as early as Monday, the people said. But as of Sunday afternoon, the company and its advisers were still working out the details of an agreement with Standard General to serve as the so-called stalking horse at a court-supervised auction for RadioShack’s assets, some of the people said.
Standard General last year became the company’s largest shareholder and led a financing that helped RadioShack get through the holidays.
One scenario under discussion would have Standard General bid to buy a RadioShack with far fewer stores, one of the people said.
Workers at several RadioShack stores said the company has told them to help clear out many locations in February by shipping big-ticket smartphones to nearby stores and slashing prices on remaining inventory. The company operates roughly 4,300 stores in North America but has said it needs to close many of them.
RadioShack also hasn’t finalized the terms of a loan that would fund its operations during the restructuring, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Salus Capital Partners, which led a $250 million loan for RadioShack in late 2013, last month offered to provide a loan of $500 million to fund the retailer’s bankruptcy, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Items up for discussion include how many stores to close and milestones meant to protect lenders providing the bankruptcy financing, known as a “debtor-in-possession” loan, one of the people said.
As companies often do as they approach bankruptcy, RadioShack is trying to get some of its lenders and other stakeholders on board with a pre-determined course of action. Such agreements can ease a company’s trip through bankruptcy court, but they require the agreement of multiple parties that sometimes have conflicting agendas.
RadioShack and Salus have had a contentious relationship at times. The lender has prevented the company from ramping up its store-closing efforts, citing a condition in the 2013 financing that limits the company to 200 closings per year.
RadioShack last year announced plans to close as many as 1,100 stores, but Salus refused to sign off on the additional closings.
RadioShack, which employed 24,000 people late last year, warned in a December securities filing that it could be forced into bankruptcy court if it couldn’t raise new funds or get relief from lenders that have blocked its store-closing efforts.
The company said in the filing that it had $62.6 million on hand as of Nov. 1–$43.3 million in cash and $19.3 million in borrowing availability.
On Friday, RadioShack shares closed at 27.7 cents each, down 10.7%.
Hedge Fund Brevan Howard’s Fortunes Blighted by Billions in Outflows and Management Row
Macro Hedge Fund Treads a Rocky Road
For more than a decade, Brevan Howard traced a smooth upward path to become one of the most powerful hedge funds in Europe. In recent months, its fortunes have waned.
Its commodities fund was closed following a run of poor performance; assets under management dropped, with billions flowing out of its flagship fund in the second half of 2014; it posted its first-ever yearly loss and two of its co-founders locked horns in a high-profile legal dispute.
Brevan is headed by Switzerland-based billionaire Alan Howard and cemented its reputation by making big gains during the credit crisis. Mr. Howard, 51 years old, who was born in England, ranked 12th in a recent list of the greatest hedge-fund managers compiled by LCH Investments NV, with net gains of $17.4 billion since his fund’s inception.
Brevan is part of a group known as macro hedge funds, many of which have struggled in recent years. Macro funds bet on bonds, currencies and other assets and try to predict major shifts in financial markets. But macro funds have found it tough to identify big trends to bet on, partly because of central-bank policies aimed at kick-starting global growth, said Sam Diedrich, who manages about $1.1 billion at Pacific Alternative Asset Management Co. LLC and invests in macro funds.
Quantitative easing “has created a low-volatility environment where currencies didn’t move and rates didn’t move,” he said.
Brevan’s run of redemptions is particularly significant because the fund has in the past been viewed as one of the most attractive in the world. Its “one in, one out” policy limited the number of investors that could become clients.
Recently, though, the flow of money has mostly been out of Brevan’s flagship Master fund. While Brevan keeps a tight grip on its numbers, the fund suffered a long run of outflows in the second half of last year, according to calculations by The Wall Street Journal, based on investor letters. Investors withdrew a net $4.2 billion between the end of May and the end of December, according to the Journal’s data.
The firm’s total assets, including the Master fund, dropped to $32.8 billion at the end of December from $37.3 billion at the end of May.
Performance has also dropped off sharply. Brevan’s Master fund posted eye-catching gains of more than 20% both in 2007 and 2008, benefiting from correct bets on interest-rate and currency movements, among other trades. But in 2012 and 2013, the fund recorded only small gains of 3.9% and 2.7% respectively, according to investor letters reviewed by the Journal. In 2014, for the first time in the Master fund’s 12-year history, it recorded a loss of 0.8% after making incorrect bets on Japanese equities and U.S. bond yields.
During the first half of last year, Brevan shifted gears, reducing its exposure to equity and currency markets and returning to a greater focus on trading interest rates—the specialty of its founders.
Brevan’s other funds have also encountered problems. It closed the $630 million Brevan Commodities Strategy fund, the Journal reported in November, after the fund was hit with big losses as a result of incorrect bets on oil prices.
Brevan Howard co-founder Alan Howard in Beverly Hills, Calif. ENLARGE
Brevan Howard co-founder Alan Howard in Beverly Hills, Calif. PHOTO: PRENSA INTERNACIONAL/ZUMA PRESS
Meanwhile, Mr. Howard got into a public spat with Brevan co-founder Chris Rokos over a noncompete agreement. The two settled the dispute out of court, though not before some of the inner workings of the firm were exposed in court filings. The dispute was resolved last month and Mr. Howard agreed to invest in Mr. Rokos’s new fund.
Investors globally continue to put money into hedge funds, according to Hedge Fund Research. The sector as a whole attracted net inflows of $76.4 billion last year, the highest level since 2007.
Some investors say the tide could be about to turn in favor of macro funds, which could benefit from divergent monetary policy and different growth trajectories in Europe, Japan and the U.S., for instance.
One bright spot for Brevan Howard was that it avoided the carnage that wreaked havoc in other parts of the hedge-fund industry last month when the Swiss National Bank unexpectedly removed its long-standing cap on the Swiss franc. The Journal reported that Brevan, which had been profiting from a negative bet on the Swiss franc against the dollar, cut this back shortly before the SNB’s surprise move. Brevan’s Master fund gained 0.8% in the week to Jan. 16, taking gains for this year to 1.9%.
Brevan’s flagship fund gained around 3% in January, said a person familiar with the matter. Its smaller, computer-driven fund that bets on market trends made double-digit gains last year and is up again this year.
TUI France in exclusive talks to sell Corsair to Air Caraibes
French tour operator TUI France is understood to have initiated exclusive talks for the sale of its airline Corsair, French daily La Tribune reported. The report cited union sources as saying said the head of Corsair and TUI France Pascal de Izaguirre announced during a works council last week that the preferred bidder, Air Caraibes, asked to be granted the exclusivity for the sale.
Another unsourced report from daily Les Echos claimed that discussions with other potential buyers such as Air Contractors or IAG could however still be ongoing. The report added that a sale could be finalised soon.
La Tribune, Les Echos
Germany Stands To Be Big Winner of Much-Opposed ECB Stimulus
Country’s Export Dominance Puts Germany Economy In Strong Position to Reap QE’s Benefits
The ECB’s program, unveiled in January in an attempt to shake the eurozone out of its economic torpor, drew cheers from many investors, politicians and businesspeople from the region and around the world.
But in Germany, Europe’s largest economy and one of the Continent’s healthiest, the decision was met with disapproval from political leaders and the public alike. That is even though the country’s export dominance, well-capitalized banks and strong labor markets provide its economy the best conditions in Europe to channel the central bank’s easy-money policies into borrowing, spending and output.
The president of Germany’s traditionally conservative central bank, Jens Weidmann, says the ECB’s massive stimulus would fail to address the eurozone’s debt and competitiveness problems. The program, he warns, would take pressure off countries such as Italy and France to revamp their labor markets and push through other economic overhauls. Chancellor Angela Merkel , as well as much of German media and industry, has stressed the same point.
Germany’s opposition, in part, reflects the economic disparity that has complicated the ECB’s task of formulating a single monetary policy for 19 mismatched countries. It also highlights a persistent philosophical disagreement between Germany and most of its fellow eurozone members about how to tackle the crisis that broke out in 2010.
Berlin’s experience with overhauling its own rigid labor market and trimming the welfare state in 2003, and the long and relatively robust recovery that ensued, have played a key role in its insistence that other eurozone governments do the same.
Benefits of the stimulus may pale against long-term risks, critics in Germany say. “It’s not necessary to flood the entire eurozone in order to fight fires in individual countries,” says Karl-Ludwig Kley, chief executive of German pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA.
“Germany has always had a long-term horizon and has been more critical about the second- and third-round effects” of policies, says Dirk Schumacher, senior European economist at Goldman Sachs . “Others have tended to say: ‘Let’s deal with the side effects later.’”
Given the growth-boosting effects expected from the ECB’s quantitative easing—from rising stock and property prices to easier credit conditions and higher exports—Germany’s opposition has left some economists perplexed.
“It’s a big puzzle,” says Prof. Marcel Fratzscher, head of the Berlin-based DIW Institute for Economic Research and one of the few prominent German economists to welcome the ECB’s announcement.
German markets have applauded the ECB’s move. The DAX index of blue-chip listed companies has appreciated by almost 10% this year and almost 5% since the quantitative-easing program was unveiled last week.
Anticipation of the bond-purchase program has driven a massive rally in German government bonds. Ten-year yields, which were above 1% as recently as late September, touched a record low of just below 0.3% the day after the ECB meeting. Yields are negative up to maturities of five years, meaning investors are effectively paying Germany to borrow.
Stimulus plans have also had a dramatic impact on the euro. The currency has fallen more than 15% against the dollar in the last six months to trade at around $1.13—a development that will help German exporters.
In a theoretical model assuming a 10% fall in the euro against a basket of other currencies, the eurozone’s $13 trillion economy would gain 0.3 percentage points of growth, Carsten Brzeski, economist at ING Bank, estimates.
But the effects would vary widely. Germany and the Netherlands, which export extensively outside the eurozone, would see the biggest boosts—0.5 percentage points or more to growth in gross domestic product—while the weaker economies of Spain and France would benefit less.
Economists at Nomura see Germany benefiting about twice as much as France from the euro depreciation. With foreign trade accounting for more than 70% of German GDP, exports are vital to the country’s wealth.
According to Gert Peersman, a professor of economics at Ghent University, a 2% rise in the amount of assets the ECB holds raises German GDP by around 0.3%, about twice the effect that Spain and Italy are expected to experience. The reason: Germany’s banks are better capitalized than many of their European peers, allowing them more leeway to lend.
German households, too, seem better positioned to channel the ECB’s largess into new spending. In January, consumer confidence hit a 13-year high according to data released Wednesday by research group GfK, while it was flat in France and well below its long-term average.
Other German asset classes also stand to benefit. Property prices in Germany fell between 2001 and 2007 but are now rising by up to 10% a year in some cities and with household debt low, they could go further.
German critics of the ECB object that those rising asset prices will have a limited effect. Just over half of German households own their homes, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, well below the 71% European average. While low-yielding government bonds remain popular, stock ownership is falling.
That is part of the reason why many Germans oppose stimulus plans. “Essentially, the bottom 60% of wealth and income distribution have their savings on their savings accounts,” Prof. Fratzscher says. “Given the current interest rates, building wealth is impossible for them.”
SWISS JAN PMI MANUFACTURING: 48.2 V 50.6E (lowest since Oct 2012)
- Prior revised lower from 54.0 to 53.6
Tory Burch’s stock is on the rise. {http://bit.ly/1AhNdx2}
A recent round of share swaps let some of the private fashion company’s early investors cash out with very healthy returns and valued the firm at $3.5 billion — an increase of about $1.25 billion over two years ago, according to sources.
That’s a lot of ballerina flats. And another sign that the firm is ready for primetime and perhaps closer to an initial public offering, even though co-chief executive officers Tory Burch and Roger Farah have both declared their affection for operating away from the klieg lights of Wall Street.
Sources said a total of $200 million worth of the company’s shares traded hands in the recent stock swap, with its largest investors buying out people who held smaller stakes. A spokeswoman for the company declined to comment.
Longtime shareholders Access Industries and Tresalia Capital as well as BDT Capital Partners and General Atlantic, which bought in late in 2012, are all believed to have kept or raised their stakes.
The last time the company raised money was in late 2012 in a deal that ended in a messy legal battle between Burch and her ex-husband Christopher Burch over the now-defunct C. Wonder. Prior to the sale, each of the Burches owned 28 percent of the company.
Although Christopher Burch held onto some shares after that deal, it’s not clear whether or not he still has stake in the firm and he declined to comment for this article through a spokeswoman.
The 2012 stock sale brought BDT and General Atlantic on board and, according to numerous sources, valued the company at about $2.25 billion. One financial source said that at the time, that amounted to roughly 15-times the company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $150 million.
So the company’s value appreciated a total of 56 percent over 2013 and 2014 — that’s better than rival Michael Kors Holdings Ltd., which fared on the public market with a 47 percent stock gain, but short of Kate Spade & Co.’s 157 percent jump. Coach Inc., which also plays in the accessibly priced handbag space, saw its stock fall 28 percent over the two years.
Those companies all garner higher valuations than Tory Burch, but their stocks are also constantly trading on the open market and reacting to the latest and variable winds of the financial markets. (Kors has a market capitalization of $14.9 billion, while Coach weighs in at $10.7 billion and Kate Spade at $4 billion). In the case of the Burch share sales, market forces are also at work and the price reflects the belief on the part of larger shareholders that the company will keep growing and the willingness of smaller ones to cash out.
The share sales at Burch do not have any impact on control of the firm or operations. But the company is said to have had a good holiday season and it’s useful to check the market and reset the company’s value from time to time since private stock sales set a baseline should the company take the plunge for an IPO.
The company seems to be picking up momentum, particularly with the arrival of Farah.
Hiring the former president and chief operating officer at Ralph Lauren Corp. was seen as a coup for Burch. Farah is widely regarded as one of the best ceo’s in the fashion world and his arrival cast Burch’s already well-regarded business in a new light for investors.
“There are not a lot of brands today that have the momentum that Tory Burch does and now they have with Roger Farah, I think, exceptional leadership,” said Kim Vernon, president and ceo of the Vernon Co. consultancy.
“If any apparel brand would have a higher valuation it would be Tory Burch,” Vernon said. “They’re still in growth mode, and there’s still tremendous value to create. It would not surprise me if there were some friends and family, early investors who would like to transact out considering the value that’s been created from the first couple years to today.”
Farah isn’t the only sign that Tory Burch continues to think big. Former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ceo Lee Scott is also on the company’s board.
Those and other indications that the business is starting to expand made it a good time for some early friends and family to sell — particularly given how much Burch has soft-pedaled the prospect of an IPO in the near future.
“We enjoy being a private company,” Burch told WWD when Farah was hired in September. “I think having someone like Roger come on board really helps us to do things that we see we want to do and really have control.”
For his part, Farah said: “Being private is very attractive to me. I did not want to be in a public company. I think this company has the ability to look long-term in how they build the brand globally and how they make decisions. They’re extraordinarily well-financed and have tremendous cash flows that allow reinvestments and good ideas. As a private company, really rallying around Tory’s vision, there’s a lot we can accomplish.”
While adopting a slow-and-steady strategy, the Burch business has become more aggressive about expansion in the last 18 months. Beauty products were added in 2013 and watches came last year.
But as measured as Burch has been, her investors are not necessarily as patient, even though they are sitting on significant gains.
Some of the company’s backers are believed to be angling for an IPO this year or next, while others are willing to wait until 2017 or 2018.
The company, which was founded in 2004, is said to have surpassed $1 billion in retail sales last summer and has 2,500 employees and more than 3,000 points of distribution in more than 50 countries. Handbags and footwear account for about 80 percent of the business. And 75 percent of revenues come from the U.S. That translates to relatively fat profit margins for fashion and room to grow abroad.
It’s a story that big-money investors are going to want to sell on Wall Street sooner or later.
Realia could see bid from Carlos Slim
Carlos Slim, the Mexican investor, has instructed his lawyers to look at the possibility of bidding for the listed Spanish construction group Realia, Expansion reported. Slim’s interest in Realia comes after he recently became a key shareholder in the Spanish services and construction company FCC, which has undertaken to sell its 36.9% stake in Realia, the unsourced report said. Bankia, the listed Spanish bank, has also said it will sell its [24.9%] stake in Realia.
The Spanish regulator (CNMV) is currently studying an offer for 100% of Realia launched by Hispania in November 2014, the report said. Hispania has offered EUR 0.49 for each of Realia’s shares.
Expansion
Dow-1,45% S&P-1,30% Nasdaq-1,03% Russell-2,08% VIX 20.97 +11.78%
US Market closed Lower, first time since 2012 that the US market has 2 consecutive months. key indices struggled at the start after a disappointing GDP report for the fourth quarter introduced a new wrinkle into a deteriorating outlook for global growth, Equities followed their lower open with another slip, but the S&P 500 turned around just north of the 2,000 level and spent the afternoon working back to its flat line. The rebound coincided with a Der Spiegel report indicating Germany is ready to back EUR20 billion in aid for Greece, but the package would be contingent on Greece accepting reform conditions imposed by the troika. This contrasted with earlier comments from Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis who said Greece will no longer negotiate with the troika. Furthermore, Germany's government was quick to deny the report from Der Spiegel. Crude Oil bounced back more than 8% (down -2.5% this morning). Volume were ahead average with more than 1bil share traded. In spite of the targeted fiscal and cosmetic monetary stimulus measures in recent weeks, China PMIs for January suggested the overall economy is yet to turn the corner, prompting analysts to call for heavier PBoC lifting in the way of more interest rate and RRR cuts. Official manufacturing PMI contracted for the first time in 2 years, non-manufacturing hit a 1-year low, and HSBC final manufacturing slowed further to its 2nd consecutive sub-50 figure. ANZ economist found the official PMI decline particularly surprising as it comes just ahead of the Lunar New Year, which is typically preceded by "significant front loading effect" providing short-term impetus to the manufacturing industry...EUR/USD is up about 30pips from Friday close just above $1.1310 in the final hour of Tokyo trading session. Greek PM Tsipras expressed to ECB's Draghi his new govt would like to achieve a mutually beneficial solution for Greece situation, but Chancellor Merkel in a German press interview said she does not see another Greek debt cut. Merkel added "there has already been voluntary debt forgiveness by private creditors, banks have already slashed billions from Greece's debt." Greek Fin Min Varoufakis travelled to meet with French Fin Min Sapin ahead of schedule, stating Athens aims to send detailed reform program by the end of February and agree on new debt deal by the end of May, calling for a new social contract between Greece and EU. European Commission Pres Juncker seemed to be supportive of reforming Troika and ending the humiliating visits by lending inspectors, but also expressed opposition to granting a "haircut" for Greek creditors.
Nikkei -0.66% Hang Seng -0.42% Shamghai -2.46%
RUB $69.50 WTI @ $47.01 (-2.53%) EURCHF 1.05
Eur$ 1.1307 S&P +0.20% EuroStoxx +0.03% Dax +0.02% SMI +0.38%
Macro :
- Hedge-Fund Bulls Betting Most on Gold in Two Years
- Tsipras Signals Greece Has No Intention to Default: Renzi’s Aide
- Greek Govt Asks Asset-Sales Fund Board to Resign: Spokeswoman
- Fed’s Williams Expects Jobless Rate to Reach 5% by Year’s End
- Germany’s Schaeuble Says ECB Faces ‘Difficult Environment’: WamS
- Germany to Draft Rules for Self-Driving Cars by Sept.: WamS
Keep an eye on :
- AENA IPO : Ferrovial, TCI May Not Take Part in Aena Share Sale: Expansion
- AFR LN : Afren Defers Interest Amortization Payments, Uses Grace Period
- AIR FP : Germany’s Sole A400M Grounded Amid Faulty Lights, Spiegel Says
- ALO FP : Alstom Gets Delay on $772M U.S. Bribery Fine Payment: WSJ
- BP/ LN : BP, BG Group to Announce $21b Cuts to Spending Plans: Telegraph
- CRH LN : CRH to Buy Holcim-Lafarge Assets for Enterprise Value of EU6.5b
- DAI GY : Daimler in Talks Over Additional Shifts at German Factories: FAS
- GIL GY : Elliott Takes 5.55% Stake in DMG Mori Seiki AG
- GUR SW : Gurit Net FY Sales of CHF335.8m Rise 19.4% From CHF281.1m Y/y
- IAG LN : IAG Pledge Won’t Necessarily Win Aer Lingus Stake: Irish Premier
- LG FP : Spain Antimonopoly Regulator Prepares to Fine Cement Companies
- MAU FP : Maurel & Prom Says Gabon Output Levels Resume
- MEO GY : Metro Has No Plan to Sell Kaufhof Stores: Wirtschaftswoche
- PVA SM : Pescanova Reports EU1.65B Profit in Period Through End-Nov. 2014
- RBI AV : Raiffeisen at Odds With ECB Over Dividend Payout, Standard Says
- RLIA SM : Carlos Slim Wants to Buy Spain’s Realia, Expansion Reports
- RYA LN : Ryanair Raises FY Profit Forecast, Plans Buyback; 3Q Net Beats
- SHP LN : Shire’s Vyvanse Wins FDA Approval for Binge-Eating Disorder
- TEMN SW : Temenos to Help Julius Baer Modernize its Banking Platform
- TEF SM : Telefonica Plans EU4B-EU5B Share Sale: El Confidencial
- TEF SM : Sovereign Funds Interested in Buying O2 Stake, Sky Reports
- TKA GY : ThyssenKrupp AGM Approves Cevian’s Tischendorf to Join Board
- VED LN : Vedanta to Cut 2016 Capex on Commodity Weakness: ET Link
- DG FP : France’s Royal Wants Highway Rates Cut for Some Users: Parisien
- VOW3 GY : VW to Replace More Workers With Robots to Cut Costs, WamS Says