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Qatar continues its buying spree abroad, entering the capital of the British oil giant Royal Dutch Shell and considering a stake in Italy's ENI, according to news reports.
Last month, Qatar had already strengthened the capital of French Total to 3%.
A Shell spokesman confirmed Friday that Qatar's sovereign wealth fund bought shares in the group but did not say how much this participation rose.
The journal Middle East Economic Survey reported earlier that the Qatari sovereign wealth fund was "in very advanced discussions" to take 3% to 5% stake in Shell.
"We are delighted to welcome Qatar Investment Authority as a shareholder in major long term Shell, particularly in view of our excellent strategic relationship with Qatar," said a spokesman in a statement ;.
According to Reuters data, a 5% stake would make the emirate's largest shareholder Shell.
At the London Stock Exchange, Shell action progressed from 0.46% at 10:20 GMT when the European sector index of the energy lost 0.49%.
According to the Middle East Economic Survey, Qatar's sovereign wealth fund is also in talks to take a stake in Italy's ENI. The group did not wish to comment.
Qatari sovereign wealth fund has been very active in recent years, taking stakes in various sectors ranging from automobile manufacturer Porsche at the British bank Barclays.
Qatar is among the top five shareholders and Total also holds interests in several other French companies, including Lagardère, Vinci and Veolia.
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Lagardère announced Monday the launch of a bid for the company LeGuide.com, publisher of the website of the same name, at a price of 24 euros per share, valuing the comparator prices at about 84 million euros.
The media group headed by Arnaud Lagardère hopes to complete its digital portfolio that already includes the particular site or financial information Boursier.com Doctissimo.fr , bought in 2008.
The offer of the media group, which is the entire capital of LeGuide.com, will be open from 9 May to 12 June
The price represents a premium of 31.2% over the average as the company three months, 25.4% on average in one month and 20.5% from its last closing price, May 4, Lagardere said in a statement.
"Lagardere Active wishes to preserve the autonomy of management and leadership team LeGuide.com maintain the policy of employment and entrepreneurial culture that made its success since its inception" the company adds.
Present in 14 European countries, LeGuide.com, which compares the offers of more than 76,000 online merchants, claiming an audience of 28.9 million unique visitors.
For the offer to be validated, the total shares held by Lagardère and tendered should be at least 51% stake in the company.
The operation will also receive a green light from regulatory authorities in Germany and Austria.
Vivendi has been considering its strategy and investment banks are preparing proposals for divestiture or restructuring to try and halt the plunge in its stock price, several sources have told Reuters.
The difficulties of SFR, the leading provider of liquidity, led the Board to revive the old debate about the relevance of a model combining media and telecoms and put under pressure its number one Jean-Bernard Levy.
Facing the bronca shareholders embittered by a share price at its lowest for nine years, President of the Supervisory Board Jean-Rene Fourtou promised last month that the conglomerate would not remain idly and that all subjects would be put on the table, no "taboo".
Jean-Bernard Levy told Reuters on his side to the group questioned constantly on optimizing its business portfolio.
"There is no doubt that they are in full introspection on what to do," said one investment banker. "Until now, the board supported management and strategy, but the situation becomes critical and there may be a split."
Investors who dream of a quick and radical, however, may have to be patient despite the excitement in the markets by the situation mentioned by Bloomberg for dismantling and the arrival of man in the capital stock shots, Vincent Bolloré.
The contractor, who is poised to sell its conglomerate channels Direct 8 Direct and Star in exchange for Vivendi shares, wants to be a long-term shareholder and looks forward to working with the council rather than to impose its views at the outset, according to two people familiar with the CEO of Bolloré.
Most importantly, the tandem-Fourtou Levy, who oversaw the reconstruction of Vivendi after the debacle of the Messier era in 2002, is still in command.
Under the leadership of two men, Vivendi has cleaned up its financial position, streamlined its structure by acquiring minority stakes and settled a series of disputes.
The group also made acquisitions including that of the fast-growing operator GVT and tried to create synergies between its divisions with mixed success, however.
BACK TO SQUARE ONE
"All these years later, it is quite ironic that the group returned to square one: the action is at its lowest, there is still no synergies between the different business and it will be even harder to sell assets whose value has declined, "said one former executive of the group.
In a letter to shareholders dated March 27, the two leaders again rejected the idea that Vivendi would be a collection of unrelated activities with each other while judging " excessive "the conglomerate discount applied to the title, estimated at 40% by Jean-Rene Fourtou.
The challenge now is whether the group, which has previously rejected the dismantling scenarios, could this time take the plunge and abandon its hybrid structure.
"We can probably 216,000 scenarios, I do not fit into one of the 216,000 scenarios," said Jean-Bernard Levy told Reuters when he was asked about this hypothesis.
A seminar with the direction in June will be an opportunity to discuss the strategy and scope of Vivendi but a spokesman said the group meeting was held annually for several years and it was unlikely that it leads to major announcements.
According to several sources familiar with the matter, no bank has so far been commissioned for a sale or restructuring.
In a note, credit analysts at Société Générale consider the hypothesis of "break-up" unlikely unless a departure of Jean-Bernard Levy under pressure because of the difficulties of SFR.
The action of Vivendi has lost over 30% since its acquisition in April 2011 of the total SFR against 7.95 billion euros, an operation expected to result in a boost for the stock market Title and a dividend increase.
The arrival nine months later Free on the mobile market, has destabilized the operator which provides for 2012 down 12 to 15% in operating profit . Vivendi cut its dividend and the difference between the total assets of the group and its market capitalization has increased.
The AIGUILLON BOLLORÉ
Jean-Bernard Levy took the reins of SFR directly before passing the baton to a new CEO in the summer, with the promise to "tighten the bolts" within which the subsidiary recovery is deemed crucial to right the course of the action and for his personal future, according to several sources.
In this context heckled, the group is studying its options, reported by observers and bankers who do not see much to fix.
"Everything is reviewed. When they write in their letter to shareholders that nothing is taboo, it is a call for bankers to offer ideas, "said a person familiar with the group ….
….. "Unfortunately, it's not as simple as what people think when you look at the structure of the group"
.
According to sources, banks are working on a script assignment of Morocco Telecom, whose margin was still 55% last year despite a drop in sales
. Vivendi could also relaunch the IPO of Canal + France initiated last year by its other shareholder Lagardère before be suspended or sell its 60% stake in the video game publisher Activision Blizzard, the U.S. side.
But the sale of Telecom Morocco, 30% owned by the Kingdom of Morocco, could face political issues, indicates the same person, adding that the operations which appear more affluent, as Activision, have little influence on the other hand on the vision of the market prospects of Vivendi.
Some investors are pinning their hopes on the arrival in the capital of Vincent Bolloré, reputedly close to Jean-Rene Fourtou who said he would be welcome to the board.
A source close to the entrepreneur Vincent Bolloré hopes to reach 5% of the combined effect of the sale of its DTT channels and purchasing title to market. Societe Generale has recently become the largest shareholder with 7.86% of the conglomerate's capital.
"The emergence of a shareholder can bring a little more pressure on management will be forced to be accountable," said Gilles Guibout, portfolio manager at ; AXA Investment Management.
At the head of a family group, the entrepreneur would not invest one billion euros in Vivendi without an idea in mind, argues one contributor.
Wall Street has won more than 0.5% Wednesday, ending a series of five sessions of declines, driven by soaring title Alcoa after the gen ant aluminum, which opened Tuesday the "earnings season" has reported an unexpected profit for the first quarter.
The Dow Jones industrials gained 30 0.70% or 89.46 points, to 12,805.39 points. The S & P-500, wider, took 10.12 points, or 0.74%, to 1368.71 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced on his side of 25.24 points (0.84%) to 3,016.46 points.
Tuesday, within the scope of concerns about global economic conditions and, perhaps, of a correction, the S & P 500 benchmark index of the managers fund, had fallen under its 50-day moving average for the first time since December.
Cyclical sectors, which have fallen sharply in recent days, took advantage of a movement to purchase cheap, the fund financial echoing 1.59%, including a gain of 3.75% to 8 , $ 86 for Bank of America.
The action Alcoa has closed up 6.34% to 9.90 dollars after the group, considered a good barometer of the U.S. industrial sector, has emerged, to everyone's surprise, a positive net income in the first quarter of 2012, benefiting from improved market conditions.
"Expectations were very low so a positive start to the earnings season is a positive sign," said Jack Ablin, Investment Officer at Harris Private Bank.
"That said, we can take stock of the health of other sectors throughout the week and the market will perhaps stand still before a complete picture."
Google, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup are among the heavyweights of the American side who must publish their interim results this week …. The fall of some
….. 1.5% S & P 500 Tuesday was most marked in four months. Investors are now assessing whether the downturn on Wall Street-which is up sharply since the beginning of the year is an opportunity to enter a market that remains on a good launch e last six months.
Two hours before the end of the session, in its "Beige Book", the Federal Reserve said the U.S. economy had continued to grow over the last months of winter, adding that rising gasoline prices starting to worry consumers and businesses throughout the country.
This appreciation of the Fed had little impact on the trend of the day.
Concerns about the debt crisis of the euro area eased somewhat after the statements of Benedict Coeuré, board member of the European Central Bank (ECB), saying that the purchase of government bonds remained a weapon available to the ECB.
The Apple stock lost 0.36% to 626.20 dollars after the U.S. Department of Justice announced legal action against Apple and two large e publishers for agreement on the price of electronic books.
The way Johnson & Johnson has little reaction (-0.11% to 64.13 dollars) a verdict of a judge of the State of Arkansas saying that the pharmaceutical company was fined a , 1 billion dollars after being convicted by a jury of having used illegal tactics to market a drug.
Exchanges of Brazil should grow twice as world trade over the next 15 years a cosmetics factory in Sao Paulo
The Brazilian economy is booming: according to HSBC Trade connections, Trade Forecast (February 2012), the Brazilian business know in the next fifteen years a growth of 163%, double that of world trade (86% ). Over this period, the country is expected to arrive in sixth place worldwide for the growth of its trade. This year, the growth of its economy expected to remain at 3% (as in 2011) and accelerate to above 3.5% in 2013, according to forecasts of Euler Hermes. The organization of the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016 are short-term opportunities.
The big challenge for this huge country, rich in raw materials: building infrastructure (roads, railways, power lines) to open up the interior, where the raw materials, and link it to major cities growing, like Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte.
Another government priority: to develop industrial production. The country is clearly positioned to become the leading producer of ethanol from sugar cane. The emergence of a middle class eager to consume is also a great opportunity for investors.
Are real opportunities for businesses … provided they are aware of the constraints: complex tax system, high taxes and powerful bureaucracy.
These obstacles do not discourage emerging countries like Vietnam and Indonesia but especially China, whose trade with Brazil expected to increase substantially in coming years. The proof is opening this year's huge port complex Superporto do Açu, one of the largest in the world, and already dubbed "the highway to China".
Molson Coors Brewing will buy the fund CVC Capital Partners brewer of Eastern Europe StarBev to 2.65 billion euros, the U.S. group is keen to develop its presence in the market s emerging.
Molson Coors has prevailed over the Japanese Asahi Group, which was not willing to pay more than three billion dollars for StarBev, according to people familiar with the matter.
The U.S. brewer is mainly present in mature markets such as USA, Canada and Great Britain with brands such as Carling, Coors Light and Blue Moon.
With this acquisition, expected to be accretive in the first year, the share of emerging sales expected to rise from the bottom of a single-digit margin to around 15%, estimated Molson Coors.
StarBev is present in the Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovakia.
Nevertheless, analysts are wondering about the synergies of the transaction, which is why the action lost nearly 3% to 44.35 dollars on Wall Street.
"Being present in emerging markets is positive but this acquisition seems quite devoid of potential for synergies," said Kaumil Gajrawala, an analyst at UBS.
The transaction represents about 11 times Ebitda of StarBev, 241 million euros, which also carries a turnover of 700 million euros.
CVC bought StarBev to Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer, in December 2009 and had sold given the interest shown by several brewers among which, besides Asahi is believed to know, were Carlsberg, Heineken and SABMiller.
CVC had paid for its acquisition of approximately $ 2.2 billion.
Promise to close in 2010, the Bosch plant in Venissieux, a suburb of Lyon, rising from the ashes thanks to the manufacture of photovoltaic panels in the most modern and important production unit of this type in France.
The German group intends to make this site the bridgehead of photovoltaics for southern Europe and northern Africa, and a model of "French production" that is central the campaign in France.
After eight months of construction, the new production of photovoltaic modules from Bosch is being phased in and the 200 employees of this plant produce in full capacity by July, 2000 panels per day, or 600,000 modules per year.
"This corresponds to the consumption of 51.000 French households, "explains Jürgen Pressl, board member of Bosch Solar Energy
. The plant is yet act as industrial miracle …
…… In 2010, the Bosch plant in Venissieux was promised at the close. Specializing in the production of diesel injection pumps, she was condemned by a falling market.
With an investment of 25 million euros, the conversion of the site has saved 200 of the 450 jobs previously identified.
"The successful transformation of Venissieux is the result of an exemplary social dialogue, and unique German enough", Guy said Maugis, president of Robert Bosch France.
To switch to the manufacture of injection pumps to that of photovoltaic modules, French employees of Bosch had to go to Germany for training.
"I was immediately voluntary," said Christelle Trioulaise, 45, who is placed in quality control. She looks forward to working conditions, "more comfortable, quieter, more interesting as new".
"But above all I could keep my job, and that's the key," concluded the worker.
"MADE IN FRANCE"
The Bosch Group has installed the new production unit in the Lyon region, not by philanthropy but by strategy.
"The French market is very important to us and here we must propose the 'Made in France', we need to produce locally," said Axel Becker, who led the project to convert.
Jürgen Pressl also emphasizes the proximity to markets such as Italy, Spain, North Africa, who are "potential customers".
"Vénissieux must become the bridgehead for photovoltaic southern Europe and northern Africa," he said.
Bosch's objective of becoming the market leader in photovoltaics, renewable energy according to the German group is the trend of the future, the era of fossil fuels being in his past.
The group spent more than four billion euros for research and filed over 4,000 patents in 2011.
Yet its leaders recognize that on this intensely competitive market, the game is not won, and that investment is still far from profitable.
"The price war is exacerbated must pass some time, and ultimately, we think about winning a very high quality of our products," said Jürgen Pressl.
In 2011, Bosch Solar Energy has achieved a turnover of 800 million euros, down from the previous year due to falling prices for modules.
GDP grew by only 2.7% in 2011 against 7.5% in Brazil in 2010. The Brazilian economy has actually stagnated in the third quarter. Bay View of Barra da Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro
Brazil's economic growth slowed to 2.7% in 2011, after reaching 7.5% at the end of fiscal 2010, according to data released Tuesday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE, public). This is slightly lower than the government forecast that predicted a GDP growth of around 3%, confirming a slower growth of the Brazilian economy was already expected by the experts because of the international crisis.
The Brazilian economy grew by 7.5% in 2010, in frank recovery from the crisis of 2008 and 2009. The sectors that grew the most in 2011 were the food (3.9%), services (2.7%) and industry (1.6%), according to IBGE.
In the fourth quarter 2011, GDP in the first Latin American economy grew by 0.3% over the third quarter and 1.4% over the same period in 2010. From July to September, growth had stagnated écomomie Brazilian.
The tender rate to ten years back below 3%
France has raised a total of 9.479 billion euros, when issued to Treasury bonds (OATs) due 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2026, announced Monday the Agence France Trésor in a statement.
This is the third award in the long run of the year. On the line OAT 4.25% maturing October 25, 2017, tenders served primarily by the Treasury (ONC) totaled 233 million euros, bringing the total of the auction to 1.058 billion euros at weighted average rate of 1.91% against 2.42% in the last similar operation on 1 December.
On the line at 3.75% maturing October 25, 2019, the ONC totaled € 343 million bringing the total amount of ajdudication to 1.593 billion euros at weighted average rate of 2.48%. AFT does not provide a comparison on this line.
On the line at 3.00% maturing April 25, 2022, the ONC totaled 620 million euros, bringing the total of the tendering procedure to 4.535 billion euros at weighted average rate of 2.91% against 3.13% in the last similar operation on December 2.
On the line at 3.50% maturing April 25, 2026, the ONC totaled 292 million bringing the total of the auction to 2.293 billion euros at weighted average rate of 3.30% against 3.65 % in the comparable operation on 1 December. Regulation of these four lines will take place March 6.
With over 75 million dollars in revenue, "The Artist" is already highly profitable. But this should not stop there. Jean Dujardin with his Oscar for "The artist"
The phenomenal success of "The Artist" is obviously the happiness of the actors, director, writers, and especially of those who funded the film.
The least we can say is that the investment proves profitable. Approximately $ 15 million was spent on production, which must be added the 20 million needed for the promotion and distribution. And to date, the film has already earned $ 76.5 million worldwide.
Yet it is only the beginning, and we are moving towards more huge profits. Because different rewards, and in particular received five Oscars Sunday night, should significantly boost revenues. As highlighted in the newspaper Les Echoes, the example of "Chicago" in 2003 in this direction.
The musical was indeed the same level of income (about $ 75 million) as "The Artist" at the ceremony, where she had picked up six statues. The profits are then soared, reaching $ 307 million worldwide. Same conclusion with "The speech of a king", awarded last year and whose income totaled $ 414 million.
The box office, which currently amount to over two million in France, should experience a marked revival. United States also, and a little all over the world. While one should perhaps not be paid in the euphoria of the Atlantic, where the popularity of the film remains mixed.
The DVD, scheduled March 14, should also meet a great success. A nice bonus in preparation for Jean Dujardin and his cronies, who have not finished surfing on the wave of success.
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