LONDON/FRANKFURT. Alle drei Gebote für RBS Sempra liegen dicht zusammen und bewegen sich im Bereich von vier Mrd. Dollar. Zum Verkauf stehen zunächst 51 Prozent an dem Rohstoffhändler, die von der Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) gehalten werden. Die Bank ist in der Finanzkrise mehrheitlich vom Staat übernommen worden und muss nun auf Druck der EU-Kommission Beteiligungen abstoßen, zu denen eben auch der Rohstoffhändler gehört. RBS-Chef Stephen Hester versucht derzeit in zwei Dritteln der 54 Länder, in denen die RBS operativ tätig ist, Einheiten loszuwerden oder im Zweifelsfall zu schließen.
Auch der Miteigner Sempra Energy denkt Kreisen zufolge über einen Ausstieg nach. Der Preis von vier Mrd. Dollar bezieht sich auf den möglichen Kauf des Gesamtpakets. Mit dem Verkauf ist die Investmentbank Lazard betraut, die den Zuschlag spätestens im Februar erteilen will. Sprecher der beteiligten Unternehmen wollten die Informationen gestern auf Anfrage nicht kommentieren.
RBS Sempra ist in den vergangenen Jahren stark gewachsen, die Firma handelt zahlreiche Rohstoffe von Öl über Gas bis zu Metallen und landwirtschaftlichen Produkten. Die RBS hatte für ihren Anteil vor knapp zwei Jahren 1,7 Mrd. Dollar bezahlt.
Die Deutsche Bank ist im Rohstoffhandel bislang schwach
In der Finanzkrise sind die Preise für Rohstoffe wie Gold drastisch gestiegen, was die Märkte für Banken und andere Marktteilnehmer attraktiv macht. Die Deutsche Bank hat im vergangenen Jahr ihr Rohstoff-Geschäft deutlich ausgebaut und zahlreiche neue Produkte auf den Markt gebracht. Der für das Investment-Banking mitverantwortliche Bankvorstand Anshu Jain hatte im Dezember angekündigt, Zukäufe in dem lukrativen Bereich unter die Lupe zu nehmen. Zuletzt hatte Jain auf die relative Schwäche im Rohstoffhandel hingewiesen. Während die Deutsche Bank etwa im weltweiten Devisenhandel die Nummer eins ist, kommt sie im Rohstoffsektor nur auf Rang sechs. Angestrebt wird grundsätzlich eine Position unter den Top drei bzw. Top fünf. Der Marktanteil im Kundengeschäft ist mit 5,2 Prozent nur halb so hoch wie in den meisten anderen Handelsgeschäften der Investmentbanker.
"Wir zielen zukünftig darauf, die wenigen verbliebenen Lücken zu schließen", hatte Jain erklärt. Die Einnahmen im Rohstoffhandel sollten in diesem Jahr deutlich wachsen. Der Ausbau solle sich sowohl auf Produkte als auch Regionen erstrecken, etwa den Stromhandel in Osteuropa als auch Erdgas und Metalle auf den asiatischen Märkten. Die Konkurrenten im Wettrennen um RBS Sempra denken ähnlich: JP Morgan hat jüngst Rohstoffbereiche von Bear Stearns und UBS erworben. Macquarie kaufte 2009 einen Teil des US-Energiehändlers Integrys Energy.
Falls die Deutsche Bank zum Zuge kommt, dürfte eine Kapitalerhöhung bei den Institut erneut ein Thema werden. Vorstandschef Josef Ackermann und Risikovorstand Hugo Bänziger hatten im vergangenen Jahr Kapitalmaßnahmen bei großen Übernahmen nicht ausgeschlossen.
Dienstag, 26. Januar 2010
Orascom: 160 Millionen Franken für Hotel-Finanzierung
Die Orascom Development Holding AG hat über die ägyptische Tochtergesellschaft Orascom Hotels & Development einen Konsortialkredit mit der National Bank of Egypt (NBE) und der Banque Misr (BM) unterzeichnet.
Der Kredit habe einem Umfang von rund 160 Mio CHF und eine Laufzeit von sieben Jahren, teilte das Unternehmen am Montag mit.
NBE und BM agierten als Mandated Lead Arrangers (MLA) für diesen Konsortialkredit und weitere acht lokale und regionale Banken beteiligten sich als lead arrangers, arrangers oder participants.
Der Kredit werde mehrheitlich für die Umschuldung bestehender kurzfristiger Verbindlichkeiten und zur Finanzierung von neuen Hotels sowie zur Renovation bzw. Expansion von bestehenden Hotels in Ägypten verwendet.
Der Kredit habe einem Umfang von rund 160 Mio CHF und eine Laufzeit von sieben Jahren, teilte das Unternehmen am Montag mit.
NBE und BM agierten als Mandated Lead Arrangers (MLA) für diesen Konsortialkredit und weitere acht lokale und regionale Banken beteiligten sich als lead arrangers, arrangers oder participants.
Der Kredit werde mehrheitlich für die Umschuldung bestehender kurzfristiger Verbindlichkeiten und zur Finanzierung von neuen Hotels sowie zur Renovation bzw. Expansion von bestehenden Hotels in Ägypten verwendet.
Gea erhält 150-Mio-Euro-Kredit für Forschung und Entwicklung
BOCHUM (awp international) - Der Maschinenbau-Konzern Gea stützt seine Finanzierung mit einem 150 Millionen Euro schweren Kredit der Europäischen Investitionsbank. Noch im vergangenen Jahr sei der Kreditvertrag mit einer Laufzeit bis 2016 geschlossen worden, teilte der im MDax notierte Konzern am Donnerstag in Bochum mit. Das Geld soll in Forschung und Entwicklung investiert werden./stb/stw/tw
Dumpinglöhne für Arbeiter im Luxusbau?
Die Bank hatte für den Kauf des "Manhattan House" in New York einen 760-Millionen-Dollar-Kredit eingeräumt. Kritik der Linkspartei.
Samstag, 19. Dezember 2009
Deutsche Bank CEO says firm to globalize bonus hit
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Deutsche Bank /quotes/comstock/13*!db/quotes/nls/db (DB 71.99, -0.73, -1.00%) /quotes/comstock/11e!fdbk (DE:DBK 50.06, -0.85, -1.67%) plans to "globalize" the pain from the U.K. tax on banker bonuses, CEO Josef Ackermann told the Financial Times in an interview. "If parts [of the cost of the tax] are paid out of the bonus pool, we would seek to globalize it. It would be unfair to treat the U.K. bankers differently."
Deutsche Bank to ‘Globalize’ Pain on Bonuses
Deutsche Bank plans to “globalize” the pain from the U.K. tax on banker bonuses, CEO Josef Ackermann told the Financial Times in an interview. “If parts [of the cost of the tax] are paid out of the bonus pool, we would seek to globalize it. It would be unfair to treat the U.K. bankers differently.”
Meanwhile, the BOE’s executive director for financial stability, Andy Haldane, told the BBC’s Business Daily program that if international authorities don’t reach agreement on regulatory overhaul, the U.K. should still consider going ahead, even if it means losing some financial business.
“Some of the downsides of carrying around a big financial system are now evident to all,” Haldane said. “If some of that were to migrate overseas that would be unfortunate, but given the costs of carrying that financial system around, it may be a price worth paying.”
Meanwhile, the BOE’s executive director for financial stability, Andy Haldane, told the BBC’s Business Daily program that if international authorities don’t reach agreement on regulatory overhaul, the U.K. should still consider going ahead, even if it means losing some financial business.
“Some of the downsides of carrying around a big financial system are now evident to all,” Haldane said. “If some of that were to migrate overseas that would be unfortunate, but given the costs of carrying that financial system around, it may be a price worth paying.”
Emerging Market Blue Chips
Seek profit from strong economies in emerging markets, where demographics and government policies are driving impressive growth. That's advice barely dented by the recession and financial crisis. But this wisdom comes with caveats: These markets are particularly subject to currency swings, overheating, and unexpected shocks. And it doesn't take a bombshell of Dubai World dimensions. In October, Brazil levied a 2% tax on foreign investments in its financial markets, saying it wanted to prevent currency appreciation. The tax caused foreign investor participation on Brazil's exchange to fall to 29.5% in November, vs. 33.7% in October, says Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB - News) analyst Mario Pierry.
For the brave, there are plenty of ways to get in on the action. Consider Western consumer products companies, such as Cadbury (NYSE:CBY - News), which gets a third of its confection sales from developing nations. Some investors seek out commodity producers or technology and health-care companies that cater to the developing world's expanding middle class. Then there are the emerging markets' own success stories -- companies growing faster than their dynamic domestic economies.
Bloomberg BusinessWeek asked international investing experts to recommend companies likely to join the ranks of global blue chips over the next five years. The challenge was to identify companies that are growing rapidly, have sustainable business models, and are large enough to contend for dominance of their industries.
Buying shares may not be so easy: Of our experts' picks, only Wipro Technologies (NYSE:WIT - News), the Indian conglomerate, is listed on a major U.S. exchange. Some discount brokerages provide access to foreign markets in Europe and Japan, but stocks in countries such as Brazil can be harder to buy, making a full-service brokerage the best bet.
Booming Bovespa
Brazil is likely to be home to a few new global giants. But rather than guess who will prosper, bet on the company's exchange. BM&F Bovespa, a favorite of Richard Parower, manager of Seligman Investments' Global Technology Fund, is the country's only major financial exchange, offering investors a way to profit from Brazil's growth -- gross domestic product is expected to jump 4.75% in 2010. The exchange is in talks with Chile, Colombia, and Mexico for cross-listing of shares. "They're positioning themselves to become the stock exchange for Latin and South America," Parower says. In October, Bovespa's stock trading volume hit a record $4.2 billion a day, up 38% from the year before, while fixed-income and derivatives volumes rose 12.5%.
The exchange has teamed up with CME Group (NasdaqGS:CME - News), the world's largest futures and options exchange, and Nasdaq. It's also investing in technology to build a world-class trading platform. Says Adam Sussman, director of research at TABB Group, a capital markets advisory firm in Westborough, Mass.: "The faster they are, the more efficient their market will be (and) the more capital they attract." The value of the exchange's new share offering tripled from the first to the second half of 2009. Next year, analysts expect revenues to grow 26.5%, to $1.1 billion. The exchange's stock, at 6.89, is up 101% for the year.
A big risk to BM&F Bovespa's stock is the possibility that the Brazilian economy and markets may overheat, creating an asset bubble that could cause the government to intervene.
Info-Tech Behemoth
India's Wipro is another emerging-market company that is showing impressive growth. Sales have more than doubled since 2006. Like many Indian conglomerates, Bangalore-based Wipro boasts a mind-boggling range of businesses: truck parts, deodorant, and energy consulting, for starters. But Wipro is best known for its information-technology business, which makes up 88% of its $5 billion in sales and has many Western companies as clients, including Microsoft (MSFT) and BP (BP). Revenues grew 11.8% in 2009, slower than its previous 30%-plus pace. Analysts expect revenue to reach $7.3 billion by 2012. Wipro's stock is up 148% in the past year, to 20.12.
Seeking to roll out more sophisticated services and products to its technology clients, Wipro has made nine acquisitions since mid-2007. In April it bought Nokia's (NYSE:NOK - News) mobile broadcast unit for $127 million, enhancing its ability to develop mobile information technology applications for telecom clients. So far, Wipro has managed to keep its profit margins high, at 31.5%. But that could be difficult to maintain as it makes acquisitions in more expensive parts of the globe. "They've been pretty careful," says Moshe Katri, an analyst at New York investment bank Cowen, noting that the company favors smaller acquisitions, which allow it to keep most operations in low-cost countries.
Foreign Cachet
Not all the companies benefiting from growth in emerging markets call those markets home. France's Danone, specializing in water, dairy products, and baby formula, has moved aggressively into two to three new countries each year. "Danone is gaining a lot of market share in emerging markets, where people view a foreign brand name as very attractive," says Virginie Maisonneuve, head of global equities at Schroders Investment Management, which owns Danone stock. Sales in Europe rose 4.1% in the last year, but in Asia and the rest of the world they increased more than 10%. In China, Danone boosted the market share of its dairy business by 15.7 percentage points last year. It also got into a dispute with partner Hangzhou Wahaha Group and exited the joint venture. Its stock is up 2% in the past year, to 60.40.
Danone's sales and market share have expanded partly because the company has been able to lower prices while preserving profit margins. In some cases, that meant adjusting the size of its packaging; in others, the company launched new marketing campaigns. Danone's products in development are geared toward emerging markets, including a line of fortified food products designed to give poor people the nutrients they often miss.
Beyond Beer
While heavily dependent on sales in their home country of Japan, Brewer Kirin and privately held beverage company Suntory are beginning to pursue a global strategy similar to Danone's. They're also working on a merger, with approval expected in early 2010. According to Euromonitor International, a London market research firm, their combined sales could exceed $41 billion, more than that of Coca-Cola (KO). The merged company could cut costs while sharing an increasingly large distribution network, says Hope Lee, a Euromonitor analyst. Kirin's stock is up 19.1% in the past year, to 15.63.
Taking advantage of the strong yen, both companies are on buying sprees. According to Bloomberg data, Kirin bought more overseas assets than any other Japanese company in the first 11 months of 2009, spending a total of $4.6 billion for Australian brewer Lion Nathan and for a stake in the Philippines' San Miguel Brewery. On Oct. 26, Kirin said it wanted to get 30% of sales and profits from outside Japan -- mostly China and the Pacific Rim -- by 2015. Less than two months later, Kirin boosted its stake in a Chinese soda venture, Shanghai Jin Jiang Kirin Beverage, to 93% from 57.7%.
Suntory, meanwhile, has made seven acquisitions in the past two years, with recent targets in Australia, Thailand, and Austria. In December it bought 70% of a Hong Kong-based wine importer, ASC Fine Wines Holding. "This is a new thing" for Japanese companies, says Euromonitor's Lee. "We don't know how their brands are going to perform in these countries."
No one can predict with any certainty how these stocks will perform in investors' portfolios, either. But with economic growth around the world outpacing that of the U.S., it may be well worth finding out.
For the brave, there are plenty of ways to get in on the action. Consider Western consumer products companies, such as Cadbury (NYSE:CBY - News), which gets a third of its confection sales from developing nations. Some investors seek out commodity producers or technology and health-care companies that cater to the developing world's expanding middle class. Then there are the emerging markets' own success stories -- companies growing faster than their dynamic domestic economies.
Bloomberg BusinessWeek asked international investing experts to recommend companies likely to join the ranks of global blue chips over the next five years. The challenge was to identify companies that are growing rapidly, have sustainable business models, and are large enough to contend for dominance of their industries.
Buying shares may not be so easy: Of our experts' picks, only Wipro Technologies (NYSE:WIT - News), the Indian conglomerate, is listed on a major U.S. exchange. Some discount brokerages provide access to foreign markets in Europe and Japan, but stocks in countries such as Brazil can be harder to buy, making a full-service brokerage the best bet.
Booming Bovespa
Brazil is likely to be home to a few new global giants. But rather than guess who will prosper, bet on the company's exchange. BM&F Bovespa, a favorite of Richard Parower, manager of Seligman Investments' Global Technology Fund, is the country's only major financial exchange, offering investors a way to profit from Brazil's growth -- gross domestic product is expected to jump 4.75% in 2010. The exchange is in talks with Chile, Colombia, and Mexico for cross-listing of shares. "They're positioning themselves to become the stock exchange for Latin and South America," Parower says. In October, Bovespa's stock trading volume hit a record $4.2 billion a day, up 38% from the year before, while fixed-income and derivatives volumes rose 12.5%.
The exchange has teamed up with CME Group (NasdaqGS:CME - News), the world's largest futures and options exchange, and Nasdaq. It's also investing in technology to build a world-class trading platform. Says Adam Sussman, director of research at TABB Group, a capital markets advisory firm in Westborough, Mass.: "The faster they are, the more efficient their market will be (and) the more capital they attract." The value of the exchange's new share offering tripled from the first to the second half of 2009. Next year, analysts expect revenues to grow 26.5%, to $1.1 billion. The exchange's stock, at 6.89, is up 101% for the year.
A big risk to BM&F Bovespa's stock is the possibility that the Brazilian economy and markets may overheat, creating an asset bubble that could cause the government to intervene.
Info-Tech Behemoth
India's Wipro is another emerging-market company that is showing impressive growth. Sales have more than doubled since 2006. Like many Indian conglomerates, Bangalore-based Wipro boasts a mind-boggling range of businesses: truck parts, deodorant, and energy consulting, for starters. But Wipro is best known for its information-technology business, which makes up 88% of its $5 billion in sales and has many Western companies as clients, including Microsoft (MSFT) and BP (BP). Revenues grew 11.8% in 2009, slower than its previous 30%-plus pace. Analysts expect revenue to reach $7.3 billion by 2012. Wipro's stock is up 148% in the past year, to 20.12.
Seeking to roll out more sophisticated services and products to its technology clients, Wipro has made nine acquisitions since mid-2007. In April it bought Nokia's (NYSE:NOK - News) mobile broadcast unit for $127 million, enhancing its ability to develop mobile information technology applications for telecom clients. So far, Wipro has managed to keep its profit margins high, at 31.5%. But that could be difficult to maintain as it makes acquisitions in more expensive parts of the globe. "They've been pretty careful," says Moshe Katri, an analyst at New York investment bank Cowen, noting that the company favors smaller acquisitions, which allow it to keep most operations in low-cost countries.
Foreign Cachet
Not all the companies benefiting from growth in emerging markets call those markets home. France's Danone, specializing in water, dairy products, and baby formula, has moved aggressively into two to three new countries each year. "Danone is gaining a lot of market share in emerging markets, where people view a foreign brand name as very attractive," says Virginie Maisonneuve, head of global equities at Schroders Investment Management, which owns Danone stock. Sales in Europe rose 4.1% in the last year, but in Asia and the rest of the world they increased more than 10%. In China, Danone boosted the market share of its dairy business by 15.7 percentage points last year. It also got into a dispute with partner Hangzhou Wahaha Group and exited the joint venture. Its stock is up 2% in the past year, to 60.40.
Danone's sales and market share have expanded partly because the company has been able to lower prices while preserving profit margins. In some cases, that meant adjusting the size of its packaging; in others, the company launched new marketing campaigns. Danone's products in development are geared toward emerging markets, including a line of fortified food products designed to give poor people the nutrients they often miss.
Beyond Beer
While heavily dependent on sales in their home country of Japan, Brewer Kirin and privately held beverage company Suntory are beginning to pursue a global strategy similar to Danone's. They're also working on a merger, with approval expected in early 2010. According to Euromonitor International, a London market research firm, their combined sales could exceed $41 billion, more than that of Coca-Cola (KO). The merged company could cut costs while sharing an increasingly large distribution network, says Hope Lee, a Euromonitor analyst. Kirin's stock is up 19.1% in the past year, to 15.63.
Taking advantage of the strong yen, both companies are on buying sprees. According to Bloomberg data, Kirin bought more overseas assets than any other Japanese company in the first 11 months of 2009, spending a total of $4.6 billion for Australian brewer Lion Nathan and for a stake in the Philippines' San Miguel Brewery. On Oct. 26, Kirin said it wanted to get 30% of sales and profits from outside Japan -- mostly China and the Pacific Rim -- by 2015. Less than two months later, Kirin boosted its stake in a Chinese soda venture, Shanghai Jin Jiang Kirin Beverage, to 93% from 57.7%.
Suntory, meanwhile, has made seven acquisitions in the past two years, with recent targets in Australia, Thailand, and Austria. In December it bought 70% of a Hong Kong-based wine importer, ASC Fine Wines Holding. "This is a new thing" for Japanese companies, says Euromonitor's Lee. "We don't know how their brands are going to perform in these countries."
No one can predict with any certainty how these stocks will perform in investors' portfolios, either. But with economic growth around the world outpacing that of the U.S., it may be well worth finding out.
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