Nortel Patent Probe Picks Up | Thomas and Apple

Nortel Patent Probe Picks Up | Thomas and Apple

WASHINGTON—The Justice Department is intensifying an investigation into whether tech giants including Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Research in Motion Ltd. could use a recently acquired trove of patents to unfairly hobble competing smartphones using Google Inc.'s Android software, according to people familiar with the matter.

A consortium of six companies last month paid $4.5 billion to acquire a portfolio of 6,000 patents auctioned by the bankrupt Canadian telecom equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp., thwarting Google's interest. Read More

Stock Market Today: Today’s Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, Nasdaq, S&P 500 Index Trends; Current Stock Market Investing News Today

Stock Market Today: Today’s Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, Nasdaq, S&P 500 Index Trends; Current Stock Market Investing News Today

The inability for the U.S. government to compromise on an agreement relevant to the U.S. debt ceiling over the weekend spelled bad news for the opening session this week in the stock market. If no agreement is reached by the looming deadline, Americans would face weaker purchasing power and rising interest rates.

Stock futures indicated a drop in index trends prior to opening bell this morning and the additional breaking news of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion preparing to cut over 10 percent of its workforce applied additional negative pressure to the marketplace today. Prior to opening bell, stock futures were red across the tracking boards. The Dow Jones was off by more than .67 percent and the Nasdaq was lower by .56 percent. 

As the mid-day point in the trading session approached today, the major indices were still trending in the red. The Dow Jones was lower by .58 percent at 12,607.93. The Nasdaq was lower by .46 percent at 2,846 and the S&P 500 was lower by .53 percent at 1,338. Oil for September delivery is dropping and the dollar was losing strength to the euro and the Japanese yen. Gold futures were benefiting from the uncertainty playing out in the market today and futures pushed to an intraday high today. Shares of RIMM dropped after the announcement that the company would be laying off over a tenth of its workforce. Investor confidence drops as the trading week opens. Read More

{Stock Market Today, Stock Market, Debt Ceiling, Cnn Money, Dow, Dow Jones}:"Historical Insights From The TARP Bailout Vote Failure And The Market Crash In 2008

{Stock Market Today, Stock Market, Debt Ceiling, Cnn Money, Dow, Dow Jones}:"Historical Insights From The TARP Bailout Vote Failure And The Market Crash In 2008"

Traders of today can learn lessons from historical events where Politics and the Stock Market collided – with negative results.

Current Congressional gridlock is threatening another potential market crash via two separate but related events:

The US Debt Ceiling Negotiations ahead of August 2nd and the “Big Three” Credit Agencies warning that the US may receive a downgrade as a result of failed negotiations or a too small solution.

A full discussion of the current political and economical climate is outside the realm of this post, but I thought it would be helpful to study the most recent situation where Congressional gridlock helped usher in a literal stock market crash:

The initial TARP (Bail-out) Vote Failure and the 30% Decline in US Stocks over the next two weeks:

The chart above shows the stock market peak (Dow Jones) in October 2007 and the slow but steady downturn that resulted ahead of the October 2008 collapse.

Though there were certainly many negative headlines circling about during September and October 2008, I wanted to focus on the two votes for the initial (first) Bail-out Package – called “TARP” – and the aftermath that is currently being cited as a warning for what could happen again should Congress fail to pass a Debt Ceiling increase bill that the President will sign.

After a round of negotiations from then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and then President George W. Bush, the US House of Representatives voted on a controversial bail-out of financial institutions that was designed to stabilize the metastasizing financial crisis.

Notice that the stock market was in a relatively stable downtrend/decline until early October 2008.

After a contentious debate, the US House of Representatives – in what many thought was a must-pass ‘done deal,’ – rejected the initial TARP bail-out bill by a vote of 205 to 228.

Not only did this shock analysts and pundits, but it shocked the stock market as well, as it was assumed that this was a “must pass” bill that would be accepted. Read More

Dow Jones Stock Market Gold: Reviewing the Dow-to-Gold and Greek Stocks-to-Gold Ratios

Dow Jones Stock Market Gold: Reviewing the Dow-to-Gold and Greek Stocks-to-Gold Ratios

In this article we will discuss different ratios, including the important Dow Jones-to-Gold ratio and another special ratio as well.

Let’s start with the Dow Jones-to-Gold ratio.

When you see the following chart, you will probably be convinced that the Dow-to-Gold ratio has a long way to go before bottoming. Since 1900, the ratio has often fallen below 3. It even dropped as low as 1 in 1980:

However, when we look at the ratio since 1800 (yes, that is more than 200 years of data!), we see a completely different picture.

We can clearly see that the ratio is in an uptrend over the long term. This means that, over the long term, stocks have outperformed gold, big time. The ratio has now dropped below the green zone (just like it did three times in the mid-1800s), which looks like a long-term trend zone.

When we look at the medium term, we can see that a huge bubble in stocks was created in the late 1990s. However, that bubble burst in 2000-2001, and stocks have underperformed gold ever since. The blue line looks to provide support right now, although the bottom may fall out at anytime. Stock bulls may argue that the ratio now broke out above the red resistance line. Who is right?

Read More

Stock Market: Wall Street Analysts Like Pandora, Investors Not So Sure

Stock Market: Wall Street Analysts Like Pandora, Investors Not So Sure

Pandora (NYSE: P) shares popped nearly four percent in pre-market trading Monday after several analysts issued bullish research reports on the internet radio company—then settled quickly as soon as the market opened. The stock’s whipsaw action reflects optimism about the booming online radio market, tempered with doubts about the company’s prospects in the face of competition from Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), Google (NSDQ: GOOG), Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) and upstart Spotfiy.

Pandora went public at $16 per share last month, raising $235 million, but its stock fell sharply after Spotify’s long-awaited U.S. debut. Today’s bullish analysis from Morgan Stanley and others helped send the stock to $18.74 in early action, but investors remained unconvinced, sending the stock down 2.27 percent to $17.62 after the opening bell. Read More

Stock Market News Briefs: Autodesk, Advanced Micro Devices, Chubb, General Electric Company, Goldman Sachs Group, Honeywell International, Jefferies Group, Microsoft, Schlumberger N.V., Verizon Communications | Dow Jones, Dow, Bloomberg Ht, III, Paragaranti

Stock Market News Briefs: Autodesk, Advanced Micro Devices, Chubb, General Electric Company, Goldman Sachs Group, Honeywell International, Jefferies Group, Microsoft, Schlumberger N.V., Verizon Communications | Dow Jones, Dow, Bloomberg Ht, III, Paragaranti

• Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD) reported first quarter earnings per share of $0.09, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny
• Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) fourth quarter 2011 earnings per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by $0.11, or 19.0%. GAAP EPS and pro forma EPS were same at $0.69 compared with $0.61 in the prior quarter and $0.51 in the year-ago quarter
• Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) reported second-quarter 2011 earnings of $0.87 per share (excluding special items), beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.85
• Verizon Communications Inc.’s (NYSE:VZ) second quarter adjusted earnings of $0.57 per share was ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate by $0.02 and above the year-ago earnings of $0.51. In another development, Verizon appointed Lowell McAdam as its new CEO who will replace current CEO Ivan Seidenberg effective August 1
• Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE:HON) reported second-quarter 2011 earnings per share from continuing operations of $1.02, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.98 and prior-year earnings of $0.73 cents
• General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) second quarter 2011 earnings per share from continuing operations of $0.34 surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.32 and were up 17% year over year
• Jefferies Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) upgraded Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) to “Buy” rating from a “Hold” rating
• The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) downgraded The Chubb Corporation (NYSE:CB) to a “Neutral” rating from a “Buy” rating

Read More

Stock Market News for July 25, 2011 | Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) | New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)

Stock Market News for July 25, 2011 | Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) | New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)

Stellar earnings results provided sufficient impetus to markets as they edged modestly higher on Friday, amidst lingering concerns about debt-ceiling negotiations. The week also closed with gains as earnings provided enough cushion for the benchmarks to settle in the green.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was the only benchmark to end in the red as it dropped 0.3% to finish the day at 12,681.16. The Standard & Poor 500 (S&P 500) gained 1.2% to end the day at 1,345.02. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 2,858.83, after gaining 0.9%. On the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), consolidated volumes remained low at 3.3 billion shares. The markets’ breadth or the advance decline ratio was roughly even.

With the likes of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Analyst Report), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - Analyst Report) and The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO - Analyst Report) posting strong earnings results throughout the week, the markets happily settled in positive territory. Despite the fall in the Dow on the closing day of the week, the blue-chip index was up 1.6% for the week. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained 2.2% and 2.5% respectively for the week.

On Friday, no significant economic reports were scheduled which could provide the market with direction, and it was left to corporate results to guide the benchmarks. However, the blue-chip index finished lower amidst encouraging results after a significant component, namely Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT - Analyst Report) plunged 5.8% after its results fell shy of estimates. Caterpillar’s results are of special significance as its business of selling construction and mining machinery spans the entire globe.

Corporate results did much to lift investor sentiment on Friday. Boosted by robust results from tech-heavyweights Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD - Analyst Report) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Analyst Report) the broader markets enjoyed a rally negating disappointing results from Caterpillar. The two tech stocks were up 19.2% and 1.6%, respectively. Read More

What US Debt Default Talk Means for the Stock Market - Mike Swanson (07/25/11) | Stock Market, Dow Jones, Dow, Bloomberg HT, III, Paragaranti

What US Debt Default Talk Means for the Stock Market - Mike Swanson (07/25/11) | Stock Market, Dow Jones, Dow, Bloomberg HT, III, Paragaranti

All the talk this weekend is about deft default. The US Treasury is going to run out of money come August unless Congress agrees to allow it to raise its debt limit. So far President Obama and the Congress have not been able to come to an agreement on raising it. Obama wants to raise taxes on "the rich" while Republicans don't want to do this and want some deeper spending cuts. I've gotten emails from people asking what will happen if they can't come to an agreement.

Well I'm not too worried about that. There probably will not be some complete agreement that solves this situation forever, but I fully expect some sort of temporary agreement to be announced before the end of next weekend that passes the buck down the road. To me this looks like a lot of political posturing and theater.

This is something that has been all in the news and the political talk shows this past week and so has grabbed the attention of the masses, but one thing is for sure - the financial markets don't care about it. If they did then the stock market would be collapsing and the interest on US treasury bonds would be rising to the moon already, but neither one of these things are happening. Instead the stock market has bounced over the past month and held on to most of its gains. We may see some nervous nellies do some selling about the debt over the next few days, but I expect the issue to be resolved soon.

If you are a political junkie this may be an issue that has captured your imagination, but it is a story that should not be factoring into your decision making as an investor.

All that matters there is the trend.

And right now we are in a cyclical bull market that started in March of 2009 and is now three years old. That means that it is in the latter stages. There may be about another 15% upside to the broad market averages over the next year, but right now the broad market averages are going through a sideways phase and we are in the third week of earnings seasons.

So far most of the big name stocks that have had earnings releases, such as GOOG and IBM, and are beating estimates are seeing there stocks gap up and are holding their gains. That is a good sign for the market. Read More

(Stock Market, Dow Jones, Dow, Bloomberg HT, III, Paragaranti):"Stock Market: Gold, Swiss Franc Rise on Debt Deal Uncertainty"

(Stock Market, Dow Jones, Dow, Bloomberg HT, III, Paragaranti):"Stock Market: Gold, Swiss Franc Rise on Debt Deal Uncertainty"

Gold and the Swiss franc appeared the only winners Monday, as Washington's ongoing impasse over the U.S. debt ceiling continued to depress markets.

At midday, stock markets in the U.S., Asia and Europe were all down -- the S&P 500 by 0.47 percent, the Nikkei by 0.81 percent. Gold, however, rose 0.81 percent, and futures for the precious metal hit a new record of $1,624.30 an ounce. And the Swiss franc gained 2.1 percent against the dollar.

U.S. Treasuries showed surprising resiliency, with the yield on 10-year Treasuries rising to 2.98 percent. Some observers took that as a sign that fears of financial catastrophe had been exaggerated. Guy Lebas, a fixed income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia, told Bloomberg he'd expect to see a bigger move if something "truly catastrophic" was on the horizon.

Meantime, a gridlocked U.S. capitol entered its last full week of negotiations before the Aug. 2 deadline for raising the nation's debt ceiling. Earlier in the day, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Hong Kong, sought to reassure Asian nations of the U.S. economy's health, reminding them that the country has recovered from such instability in the past. Clinton predicted that a debt ceiling deal would be reached before the Aug. 2 deadline to avoid an unprecedented default. Read More

UOB gold price, gold chart, goldtrader, kitco gold chart:"Zijin (HKG:2899), Zhaojin (HKG:1818) Up; More Upside For Gold Price-UOB"

UOB gold price, gold chart, goldtrader, kitco gold chart:"Zijin (HKG:2899), Zhaojin (HKG:1818) Up; More Upside For Gold Price-UOB"

HK gold miners outperform (HSI down 1.9%), with spot gold solidly above $950/oz. Choy Peng Foo at UOB Kay Hian tips gold price to average $1,000/oz for FY09; says weakening USD and inflation chance (amid hoped-for global economic recovery) likely to provide more support for gold ahead. Rates Zijin (SSE:601899, HKG:2899) at Buy with HK$7.15 target, as company has biggest output in China; while house doesn't officially cover Zhaojin (HKG:1818), she suggests investors buy this stock, as it's more leveraged to gold price, with over 80% of sales coming from gold operations. Zijin (HKG:2899) +0.2% at HK$6.65, Zhaojin (HKG:1818) +0.7% at HK$11.64; duo up 5.6%-8.2% yesterday. Read More

Macarthur Coal; US Peabody Energy and ArcelorMittal SA Submit Proposal to Acquire Macarthur Coal

Macarthur Coal; US Peabody Energy and ArcelorMittal SA Submit Proposal to Acquire Macarthur Coal

Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) and ArcelorMittal SA (NYSE: MT) today confirmed that they have jointly submitted an indicative proposal to the board of directors of Macarthur Coal Ltd. (ASX: MCC) to acquire all of the shares of the company.

Under the proposal by a newly formed company, owned 60 percent by Peabody and 40 percent by ArcelorMittal, Macarthur shareholders would be offered a cash price of A$15.50 per share through an off-market takeover offer. The new company has a relevant interest of approximately 16 percent in Macarthur’s shares.

The proposal price implies a value for the equity in Macarthur of approximately A$4.7 billion and represents a substantial premium to recent trading.

The proposal to Macarthur’s board is non-binding and conditional on the successful completion of due diligence, which would be completed in a timely manner. Any resulting offer to Macarthur shareholders would be subject only to minimum 50.01 percent acceptance, Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board approval and other customary conditions and approvals.

According to Peabody Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Greg Boyce, “We believe there is significant value that can be created by managing Macarthur’s portfolio of coal assets using Peabody’s industry-leading operating, development and commercial skills. We look forward to advancing this proposal to complete a transaction for the benefit of Macarthur shareholders.”

Aditya Mittal, Chief Financial Officer and Member of the Group Management Board of ArcelorMittal, said: “ArcelorMittal has been a long-term investor in Macarthur, and we look forward to discussing our proposal with the board of Macarthur.”

Macarthur is the world’s largest producer of seaborne low volatile pulverized coal injection (LV PCI) coal with production and development assets in the Bowen Basin, Australia, including the Coppabella and Moorvale Joint Venture and Middlemount Mine. It controls total coal reserves of approximately 270 million tonnes (approximately 175 million tonnes on an attributable basis) and total resources of approximately 2.3 billion tonnes (approximately 1.7 billion tonnes on an attributable basis). It has current production guidance of 3.8 to 4.0 million tonnes for the year ended June 30, 2011.

Peabody is the world’s largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in clean coal solutions. With 2010 sales of 246 million tons and nearly US$7 billion in revenues, Peabody fuels 10 percent of U.S. power and 2 percent of worldwide electricity.

ArcelorMittal is the world’s leading integrated steel and mining company, with operations in more than 60 countries. In 2010, ArcelorMittal had revenues of US$78 billion and crude steel production of 90.6 million tonnes, representing approximately 8 percent of world steel output. ArcelorMittal’s mining operations produced 47 million tonnes of iron ore and 7 million tonnes of metallurgical coal as well in 2010.

Peabody has engaged UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch as its financial advisers and Freehills as its legal adviser in relation to the potential transaction. ArcelorMittal has engaged RBC Capital Markets as its financial adviser and Mallesons Stephen Jaques as its legal adviser in relation to the potential transaction.

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions that Peabody believes are reasonable, but they are open to a wide range of uncertainties and business risks that may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. These factors are difficult to accurately predict and may be beyond the company’s control. The company does not undertake to update its forward-looking statements. Factors that could affect results include those described in this press release as well as risks detailed in the company’s reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Nothing in this announcement constitutes or is intended to constitute a proposal to make a takeover bid for Macarthur Coal Limited. There is no assurance that any such takeover bid will be made.

Macarthur reserves and resources and other information are based on public disclosures and exclude the MDL162 tenement.

CONTACT: Vic Svec +1-314-342-7768
Source: Peabody Energy

Macarthur Coal; Peabody Energy bets $5bn on future of coal | Macarthur Coal Limited ("Macarthur")

Macarthur Coal; Peabody Energy bets $5bn on future of coal | Macarthur Coal Limited ("Macarthur")

THE world's biggest coalminer has boosted Julia Gillard's efforts to sell her clean energy plan, signalling its confidence in the future of the industry under a carbon tax by launching a $4.7 billion takeover bid for Macarthur Coal.

Peabody Energy has teamed up with fellow Macarthur shareholder ArcelorMittal - the world's biggest steelmaker - to bid $15.50 a share in the biggest takeover offer made for an Australian coalminer.

The bid came only a day after the government launched its carbon tax plan, which was attacked by coalminers for failing to provide sufficient industry assistance. Miners warned that the package would force marginal operations to close.

It also came as Qantas and Virgin Australia yesterday quantified the impact of the carbon tax on their bottom-line profits and warned that they would be forced to pass on the cost to passengers through higher airfares.

Qantas shares fell below the $2 mark after it revealed the tax would cost it $110 million to $115m in the first year of the measure in 2012-13, contributing to a 1.6 per cent slump on the Australian stockmarket. Goldman Sachs analyst Hamish Tadgell said the carbon tax, at $23 a tonne in its first year, would reduce the earnings growth of S&P/ASX 200 companies by up to 0.5 per cent.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.

Related Coverage

Michael Stutchbury: A miracle if carbon package survives

Graham Richardson: Ray of hope as PM discovers prayer

The number: $23 the price that will define Julia

Compensation: Greens steeled to step in for Abbott

Australians: No warming to climate plan

Travel: Airlines 'forced to cut routes'

Coal-seam gas: Greens 'derailing' key projects

Peabody bid undercuts Abbott's argument The Australian, 1 hour ago

Macarthur in play again with $5bn bid The Australian, 1 hour ago

Steel and coal giants bid for Macarthur Courier Mail, 1 hour ago

Joint bid for Macarthur Coal Herald Sun, 1 hour ago

Peabody's new Macarthur bid The Australian, 1 hour ago

End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

Responding to news of the Peabody takeover bid last night, Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said the government "has always said that the Australian coalmining industry has a bright future under a carbon price".

"The industry is profitable, prices are high and there is a sizeable pipeline of planned new investment," Mr Combet told The Australian. "The only person talking the coal industry down is Tony Abbott, who has made the reckless and untrue claim that a carbon price will destroy the Australian coal industry."

The Opposition Leader kick-started his election-style campaign against the carbon tax package yesterday at Peabody's Wambo Mine in the NSW Hunter Valley, telling workers he had "staked my political life, what's left of it, on stopping this carbon tax". "I figure for people in the coal industry, it's a hit on your potential employment and it's going to be a hit on your standard of living," he said.

Mr Abbott ruled out supporting $1.6bn in additional government assistance for the coal sector and steel industry, which was negotiated outside the framework of the multi-party climate change committee.

Greens leader Bob Brown is refusing to back $1.3bn in support for the coal sector, which would provide compensation to about 25 gassy coalmines in NSW and Queensland for fugitive methane emissions, but left open the possibility of supporting the $300m package for steelmakers. The government's extra support for coalminers is expected to be provided through financial grants and is unlikely to require specific legislation, but the steel assistance will need parliamentary backing.

Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce, who travelled with Mr Abbott to the Wambo Mine yesterday, said the takeover bid for Macarthur Coal would not dent the opposition's assault on the $23 carbon price. Read More

Cherry Credits, Dragon Nest SEA Download, Dragon Nest Global, Dragon Nest Cherry, Dragon Nest SEA, Cherry Credits Payment Method

Cherry Credits, Dragon Nest SEA Download, Dragon Nest Global, Dragon Nest Cherry, Dragon Nest SEA, Cherry Credits Payment Method

Finance Executive Cherry Credits Pte Ltd

As leading global payment service provider for digital content, we connect virtual content merchants to the savvy youth market by providing convenience in shopping online without using credit facilities.

We expertise in customizing e-commerce facilities to assist digital content developers and merchants in payment collection online. Our unique online e-wallet system with physical retail distribution provides turn-key access for Merchants with immediate capabilities to collect payments effortlessly. Our in-house proprietary billing system is robust and flexible to fulfill ever-changing business requirements and development needs.

Our company established distribution for our prepaid solutions in retail points spanning across Asia, Oceania, Europe, USA and Middle East. Through these physical networks, we provide payment convenience to online shoppers.

With international partnerships in the US, Korea, Europe and Asia, our solutions service a broad range of digital content including gaming, animation, software, mobile, events ticketing and many.

Overseeing millions of online transaction annually, online developers and merchants has recognized and adopted our technologies and solutions as an integral part of their global expansion plans.

Finance Executive
Responsibilities:
* Daily preparation of invoices for delivery of physical cards
* Prepare management reports
* Handle logistics of cards inventory
* Control and manage A/Rs
* Facilitate and manage A/Ps
* Prepare, reconcile and submission of quarterly GST reports
* Prepare and maintain Fixed Asset list
* Sort and process of staff claims
* Manage, track and control supply of card inventory
* Support other accounting functions

Requirements:
* Candidate must possess at least a Diploma in Finance/Accountancy/Banking or equivalent.
* Good working knowledge in Excel
* At least 1 year working experience in the related field
* Willingness to hand-on when needed for manual work
* Responsible and reliable
* Good working ethics
* Helpful and analytical
* Meticulous
* Proactive, possess good interpersonal skills
* Fresh graduates are welcome to apply

Other Information:
* Working location: West / Buona Vista
* Working hours: Mon-Fri
* Website: http://www.cherrycredits.com/sg/
Interested applicants are invited to apply with detailed resume in Microsoft Word format, recent photo, current & expected salary. Read More

Private Equity: Braits' earnings rise 50% | Private Equity Africa

Private Equity: Braits' earnings rise 50% | Private Equity Africa

Private Equity: South Africa private equity investor Brait has reported a 50% year-on-year rise in attributable earnings, bolstered by its equity and debt investments.

The company saw its earnings reach R115.7 million as at the end of September 2010, 50% higher than the R77.3 million recorded in 2009. Brait, whose businesses include mezzanine, debt and hedge fund investing also recorded a 10% rise in assets under management to R14.9 billion in the period.

“Despite challenging conditions, our private equity portfolio companies continue to achieve strong operating performance while our public markets’ funds are on track to exceed their target returns for the year,” said Antony Ball, Brait’s chief executive officer. Read More

Private Equity: ET Solar Announces US$50 million private equity placement

Private Equity: ET Solar Announces US$50 million private equity placement

Private Equity: ET Solar Group Corp. , a solar power one-stop solution provider, recently announces a US$50 million common equity issuance to an existing investor of ET Solar.Mr. Fischer Chen, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of ET Solar, commented: “The transaction demonstrates our existing investor’s confidence on ET Solar and the growth prospect of solar industry.

It will strengthen our ability to increase our vertical integration and expand our manufacturing capacity that is a very important factor for our growth and competitiveness going forward.”In total, ET Solar has raised approximately US$ 100 million proceeds through the issuance of preferred and convertible shares and common shares since 2008. Read More

Private Equity: Global private equity on the rise

Private Equity: Global private equity on the rise

Private Equity: Private equity-backed M&A has risen by 51 per cent over the same period last year, with transactions totalling $128.2 billion (£80.4 billion).

The findings from Thomson Reuters also found that buyouts in the healthcare sector reached $12.6 billion, a 58 per cent increase from 2010 levels.

David Silver, co-head of European investment banking at Baird, says that trade buyers that weathered the recession well and emerged with strong balance sheets are now being proactive in approaching high priority targets, leading to healthy competition with private equity buyers.

Silver adds: ‘Private equity firms are now keen to show returns to aid fundraising through exits for businesses that have come out of the recession in good shape.

‘Private equity is now focused on aggressively deploying capital in the absence of trade buyers in certain processes.’

For the year so far in 2011 the UK contributed $10.7 billion of private equity M&A, a fall of 1 per cent, with the bulk of the 51 per cent rise in global figures attributable to the United States which posted an increase of 25 per cent to $53.3 billion.

UK M&A bucked the trend of European M&A improvement by falling 6 per cent, with other nations including Germany, Italy and France posting healthy increases. Read More

Private Equity: 3i shareholders revolt over chief’s pay plans

Private Equity: 3i shareholders revolt over chief’s pay plans

Private Equity: Shareholders’ anger at 3i’s lacklustre share price performance bubbled over, as they launched a protest vote on plans to raise the pay package of Michael Queen, the private equity group’s chief executive.

Only 68 per cent approved an extension of a discretionary share plan, in a warning shot over the proposals on his remuneration.

Shareholders are dismayed at 3i’s share price, which has trailed the FTSE 250 index by 19 per cent since the start of the year.

This week’s vote overshadowed news that 3i will bring in Simon Borrows, chairman of Greenhill International, as chief investment officer, and that it became the first European group to be granted the right to launch a renminbi-denominated fund in China.

Instead, it brought to the fore discontent among shareholders and some investors in its private equity funds over perceived management weaknesses.

While most seem to accept the strategy to diversify into debt and infrastructure to level out the volatility of the private equity business, some question Mr Queen’s timing and management. Read More

Private Equity: U.K. Private Banks Are Looking at Riskier Assets, FT Reports

Private Equity: U.K. Private Banks Are Looking at Riskier Assets, FT Reports

Private Equity: Britain’s private banks have 17 percent of clients’ cash in hedge funds, private equity, commodities and real estate, up from 7 percent at the end of 2009, the Financial Times reported, citing a study by Scorpio Partnership, a firm of wealth-management consultants.

This indicates that wealth managers are overcoming the aversion to so-called alternative assets that resulted from the financial crisis and are ready to contemplate more risk, the newspaper said. Read More

Private Equity: Private banks seeking out riskier assets

Private Equity: Private banks seeking out riskier assets

Private Equity: Private banks have overcome their post-crisis aversion to private equity and hedge funds and are ploughing client money back into alternative assets in search of higher returns, according to a new study.

Client portfolios across some of the UK’s largest wealth management firms now have 17 per cent on average in so-called alternatives – hedge funds, private equity, commodities and real estate – up from 7 per cent at the end of 2009, according to a study by Scorpio Partnership, the wealth management consultants.

Wealth managers are taking on more risk in search of higher returns as equity markets look increasingly volatile, fixed-income returns fade and rates on cash remain low.

“It’s the endless quest for something that is not correlated with traditional equity markets,” said Rob Burgeman, a director at Brewin Dolphin, the wealth manager.

The amount of client portfolios held in cash has fallen from 11 per cent to 4 per cent since the end of 2009, while fixed-income holdings also decreased slightly from 33 to 30 per cent.

Wealth managers have been taking a fresh look at how they assess risk in the wake of the financial crisis. Client portfolios are far more likely to undergo stress-testing for unexpected scenarios than before the downturn, when managers still relied on historical performance and volatility when making decisions.

Many have updated their asset allocation models as a result. Before last year, Barclays Wealth, the private banking arm of Barclays, had no exposure to alternatives at all in its model portfolios. Read More

Private Equity: Wealth managers turn to private equity for high returns

Private Equity: Wealth managers turn to private equity for high returns

Private Equity: A survey of 22 senior wealth professionals, with around $5.7 trillion of assets under management, found that half were planning to increase their private equity allocation over the next 12 months.

The research, which was conducted by wealth consultancy Scorpio Partnership and LPEQ, the industry association of listed private equity investment companies, between April and June, found that nearly 40% of respondents planned to invest in listed private equity vehicles in the next year.

More than half of those surveyed said that liquidity – the ability to access and exit on demand – made private equity an attractive asset class. Other reasons given included the ability to control allocation, diversification and getting exposure to private equity at discounted prices.

Cath Tillotson, managing partner at Scorpio, said that wealth managers were embracing private equity as a way of beating inflation and volatility.

Andrea Lowe, executive director at LPEQ, added that increased allocation of the asset class did not signal renewed confidence among wealth managers but the desire to “chase returns”.

Despite this, hedge funds continued to dominate alternative investments in wealth managers’ portfolios, accounting for an average weighting of 58% compared to 11% in private equity. Read More