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’[SFTW] Winner takes all…
It’s been a gruesome week in the mobile phone market. The almost embarrassing dominance of Apple (ideas for spending $90bn of spare cash, anyone?) provided a cruel contrast to the desperate plight of the opposition.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- Aviva sells RAC to Carlyle Group for £1bn — statement.
- Ferragamo IPO well covered ahead of close — report.
- Dixons Retail loses finance director;
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- Talks between BP, Rosneft and AAR shareholders fail to reach agreement – Reuters.
- Babcock full-year profit soars 57 per cent to £228.2m – statement.
- Vodafone sets 2012 guidance in line with forecasts,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport says he intends to approve News Corp bid for BSkyB — statement.
- Glencore announces 39% rise in full-year net income before exceptionals – statement.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- Man Group suffers single redemption of over $1bn — statement.
- Aviva plans to cut hybrid debt by at least £700m over next three years — statement.
- RSA warns of £255m of weather related losses — statement.
Ireland thwacks the insurers
Late on Wednesday, S&P cut Ireland’s credit rating from AA- to A. On Thursday, they started poking around Ireland-based insurers, placing negative watches on several companies in common with the sovereign’s outlook.
Legal & General gets the bid speculation treatment
Aviva and RSA have set tongues wagging, obviously. Legal & General had pushed up just under 3 per cent in London at pixel time, on trader talk of interest from Zurich:
Legal & General has said to Reuters it won’t comment on speculation…
The negative M&A externalities of Mr Thiam
Aviva confirmed on Monday that it hadn’t given so much as the time of day to the recent £5bn offer from RSA for its general insurance business — for reasons that were probably strategically prudential.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Monday,
- Vedanta to acquire 51 to 60 per cent of Cairn India — statement.
- Cairn Energy plans ‘principal focus’ on Greenland after disposal — statement.
- Aviva confirms it rejected recent RSA bid;
Aviva survives discreet RSA drive-by
Share-price action in Aviva on Friday, after Sky News reported that it had, in recent weeks, rejected a surprise £5bn RSA offer for its general insurance arm:
Aviva declined to comment, but Sky’s Mark Kleinman said the board immediately turned down the bid for strategic reasons.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- Aviva Q1 life and pensions sales up 15 per cent – statement.
- Diageo’s Nick Rose to stand down as CFO – statement.
- Serco says H1 performance strong, FY on track – statement.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
Petrofac announces demerger of its North Sea oil assets – statement.
- VT Group drops bid for Mouchel – statement.
- Delta recommends 185p a share cash offer from Valmont Industries – statement.
Insurers and the liquidity task force
The dead kitten is becoming a cat.
Here’s a snapshot of the price action in Prudential on Wednesday afternoon:
Although it is not the only insurer moving higher:
Those gains are in part
Thirty financial groups on systemic risk list
Thirty global financial institutions make up a list that regulators are earmarking for cross-border supervision exercises, the Financial Times has learnt. The list, drawn up by regulators under the auspices of the Financial Stability Board,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- Lloyds Banking Group announces terms of 1.34 for 1 rights issue, priced at 37p per share – statement.
- Informa confirms it is in discussions about acquiring Springer Science and Business Media – statement.
Aviva eyes ING break-up
Aviva, the UK’s second-biggest insurer, will examine the break-up of ING to see if it will yield any acquisition opportunities, according to Andrew Moss, Aviva’s CEO. The Dutch financial services group is selling its insurance and investment management business in order to win European Commission approval for the receipt of state aid.
Aviva to list Delta Lloyd
Aviva is planning to raise as much as €1.2bn ($1.8bn) selling shares of its Dutch unit Delta Lloyd which will begin trading on Tuesday in Amsterdam after European insurers posted their biggest weekly drop since March on ING Groep’s plan to sell its insurance units to gain EU approval for its bailout,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- National Express board plans cash call before end of the year, continues to evaluate Stagecoach offer – statement.
- Credit Suisse reports SFr2.4bn net profit for the third quarter – statement.
Aviva sets plan for Delta float
Aviva hopes to raise €1.2bn (£1.1bn) from the sale of 42% of Delta Lloyd, its Dutch subsidiary, in what will be Europe’s biggest IPO in at least 18 months, the UK’s second-largest insurer said. Aviva is selling more shares than expected at a lower-than-expected valuation.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Monday,
- Aviva announces price range of €2.6bn to €3.1bn for Delta Lloyd listing – statement.
- National Express confirms it has received a “highly preliminary” merger proposal from Stagecoach – statement,
Aviva to set up parallel US listing
Aviva, the UK’s second biggest insurer, plans a parallel listing on the New York Stock Exchange, in the first new issue of American Depositary Receipts from a UK company in almost a decade. Andrew Moss,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Monday,
- Aviva and Delta Lloyd confirm intention to IPO Delta Lloyd — statement.
- HSBC agrees sale and leaseback of New York HQ — statement.
- UK finance firms report first growth in two years,
Aviva to list Delta Lloyd
Aviva was set to launch a listing of its Dutch subsidiary Delta Lloyd on Monday in which it hopes to raise about £1bn by year-end, in Europe’s biggest IPO for at least 18 months. The UK’s second-largest insurer has struggled to influence the management of Delta Lloyd despite its 92% holding.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- Cisco to acquire Tandberg for $3bn — Bloomberg.
- Icap revenue expected to increase 6 per cent in second half — statement.
- 3i Infrastructure invested £32m between April 1 and Sept.
Buck-ling money market funds
Here’s a novel solution to the problem of money market funds `breaking the buck’ in periods of financial stress and low interest rates — get rid of the `buck.’
From the Wall Street Journal:
A year after a money-market fund spooked investors by “breaking the buck,”
Aviva plans Delta Lloyd IPO
Aviva, the UK’s biggest insurer, will explore a partial sale next year of Delta Lloyd, its Dutch subsidiary, which could raise about £855m. Andrew Moss, Aviva’s CEO, said the stake should be at least 25-30% to create a meaningful free float and boost Aviva’s financial flexibility.
CDS report: Bank of England QE boost sends spreads tighter
This CDS report was written by Markit’s Gavan Nolan
European credit and equity markets rallied in tandem today, helped by a surprise intervention from the Bank of England. The Markit iTraxx Europe index was trading around 90.5bp,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- Commerzbank posts $1.1bn loss on higher loan provisions – statement.
- ITV confirms sale of Friends Reunited, reports half-year results – statement, statement.
Saudi fund eyes £700m UK real estate deal
An investment manager part-owned by the Saudi royal family is planning to invest a chunk of its assets in UK and US commercial property, according to Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, its chairman.For Jadwa Investment,