FT Alphaville - limited service on Monday Posted at 04:13 by FT Alphaville With a Monday holiday in the US and UK our service will be limited on FT Alphaville. Apologies to readers, but we'll be back with you in full force on Tuesday. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/05/25/56199/ft-alphaville-limite
| Bidders pitch for Australian Aviva arm Bankers to Aviva have received first-round bids for the UK insurance group's A$1bn ($778m) Australian life assurance business. The auction of Aviva's Australian assets is now down to a handful of bidders, including some of Australia's biggest banks. NAB and Westpac are bidding alongside other parties including insurers Axa Asia Pacific and Australia's AMP. It is unclear whether a joint venture between ANZ bank and ING is still in the auction. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/05/25/56198/bidders-pitch-for-au
| Lloyds eyes sale of HBOS unit stakes Lloyds Banking Group is considering selling off stakes in about 60 companies as it integrates its controversial acquisition of HBOS. Lloyds has brought in UBS to evaluate selling the stakes built up by HBOS's controversial integrated finance unit, where the bank took equity stakes in companies as well as providing debt. Insiders said there was no guarantee that disposals will be made as Lloyds is not under pressure to sell. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/05/25/56197/lloyds-eyes-sale-of-
| PetroChina secures 45% SPC stake PetroChina, the state energy group, has agreed to pay $1bn for 45.5% of Singapore Petroleum Company in what will be the first major Chinese offshore purchase of a downstream energy company. PetroChina will buy the entire stake in SPC held by Singapore's Keppel Corp the world's largest maker of oil rigs, and will carry out a mandatory general offer for the remaining 54.5% of the Singapore-listed company as soon as the deal gains Beijing's regulatory approval. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/05/25/56195/petrochina-secures-4
| China stuck in 'dollar trap' China is still buying record amounts of US government bonds, despite Beijing's growing fear that US policies could lead to a collapse in the dollar and global inflation. But Chinese officials said that China is caught in a "dollar trap" and had little choice but to keep pouring most of its growing reserves into the US Treasury, which remains the only market big enough and liquid enough to support its huge purchases. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/05/25/56194/china-stuck-in-dolla
| Australia lifts short-selling ban Australia's securities regulator lifted its eight-month ban on covered short selling of financial stocks on Monday, bringing the country in line with other markets that had already lifted their temporary bans on the practice. However, ASIC, the market regulator that lifted the ban citing a stabilisation of market conditions, warned it would "immediately" reimpose the ban if it believed that market conditions warranted such a move. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/05/25/56193/australia-lifts-shor
| Reliance plans IPO in Indian market Reliance Capital plans to become of the first Indian companies to test the country's bullish post-election stock market with an IPO of its life insurance unit. The offering of Reliance Life Insurance, part of the group controlled by industrialist Anil Ambani, would be India's first listing of a life or general insurance company. Sam Ghosh, CEO of Reliance Capital, said the group was considering selling "10% or 26%, either through an IPO only or through an IPO plus a stake sale to a strategic partner." See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/05/25/56196/reliance-plans-ipo-i
| Fiat revises Opel takeover plan Fiat has filed a revised takeover plan for Opel, the European unit of US carmaker General Motors, in which it forecast it would cut 2,000 of 25,000 jobs in Germany. The move was seen as a last-minute attempt to win over German politicians and unions, many of whom back a bid led by Magna, the Canadian car-parts group, which foresees some 2,500 job cuts in Germany. Angela Merkel, chancellor, will on Monday meet her top ministers to review bids by Fiat, Magna, and Brussels-listed RHJ International. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/05/25/56192/fiat-revises-opel-ta
| Pension Corp, Paternoster talks fail Edmund Truell's Pension Corp has failed in its attempt to take over Paternoster, a rival pension buy-out vehicle run by Mark Wood, a former Prudential executive. Talks had been going on for several weeks, but broke down over price on Friday, leaving Paternoster unable to pursue further new pension business until market conditions improve although it is unlikely it will pursue a deal with another investor. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/05/25/56191/pension-corp-paterno
| RBS details new incentive scheme Four senior executives at Royal Bank of Scotland, which is majority owned by the UK government, could receive shares currently worth nearly £5m under a new incentive scheme. RBS was bailed out by the government last October and reported losses of £24.1bn for 2008. Under the bank's new scheme, four top executives can collect the shares in three years time if certain performance criteria is met. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/05/25/56190/rbs-details-new-ince
| DTCC open to talks on LCH merger The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, the US securities post-trade group, is open to renewing talks with LCH.Clearnet, Europe's largest clearing house, about reviving plans for a merger between the two clearing houses, Don Donahue, DTCC chief executive, told the FT. Only a month ago, DTCC said it was ending a preliminary agreement with LCH.Clearnet for a deal to create the world's largest equities and derivatives clearing and settlement. The UK-based clearer is also in talks with a consortium of 11 banks and Icap, which wants to acquire LCH.Clearnet. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/05/25/56189/dtcc-open-to-talks-o
| BarCap in drive to hire M&A bankers Barclays may hire as many as 65 bankers for its European mergers advisory business this year as the UK bank seeks to become one of the top three global securities firms, reports Bloomberg. Barclays Capital, the investment-banking unit, plans to add 30 to 40 bankers in Italy, Germany and France, and 15 to 25 in the UK. The firm named Mark Warham and Matthew Ponsonby co-heads of European M&A last week. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/05/25/56188/barcap-in-drive-to-h
| SEC bans staff from trading The US Securities and Exchange Commission imposed tough new rules on trading by employees, following a probe into the dealings of two veteran enforcement lawyers, reports the WSJ. The rules will, for the first time, prohibit staff from trading securities of companies under SEC investigation regardless of whether employees have personal knowledge of the investigation. Staff will also be required to have their brokers supply trading statements to the SEC. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/05/25/56187/sec-bans-staff-from-
| Overnight markets: Up Asian stocks gained on Monday, lifting the MSCI Asia Pacific Index for the first time in three days, as metal prices rose and shipping rates rallied for a 16th-straight day. The US and UK markets are closed on Monday for a holiday. Futures on the S&P500 Index gained 0.6% after the gauge fell 0.2% on Friday, erasing gains in the final hour of trading, as financial shares weighed on the market.
Asian markets (Mon)
03:15 BST
Nikkei up 105.42 (1.14%) at at 9,331.23
Topix up 7.58 (0.87%) at 883.46
Hang Seng down 136.97 (-0.80%) at 17,062.52 US markets (Fri)
S&P500 down 1.33 (-0.15%) at 887.00
DJIA down 14.81 (-0.18%) at 8,277.32
Nasdaq down 3.24 (-0.19%)) at 1,692.01
European markets (Fri)
FTSE100 up 19.82 (-0.46%) at 4,365.29
Eurofirst 300 down 1.52 (0.18%) at 856.00 Currencies
04:10 BST
€/$ 1.4001 (1.3931)
$/¥ 94.6300 (94.0600)
£/$ 1.5885 (1.5881) Commodities
04:00 BST
Brent Crude (ICE) up $0.15 at $60.78
Light Crude (Nymex) up $0.28 at $61.95
100 Oz Gold (Comex) down $1.40 at $957.50
Copper (Comex) down $0.25 at $209.50 10-year government bond yields (%)
04:20 BST
US 3.45 (3.35)
UK 3.65 (3.65)
Germany 3.50 (3.53)
Japan 1.44 (1.44) Sources: FT, Bloomberg See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/05/25/56186/overnight-markets-up
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