UPDATE 1-Petropavlovsk sees FY output at lower end of range

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) – Russian miner Petropavlovsk (POG.L) expects annual output to be at the lower end of the previously announced 670,000-760,000 ounce range after first-half gold production fell 26 percent on planned work at its Pioneer mine.

Gold production fell to 166,300 ounces from 224,600 ounces in the year-earlier period.

The London-listed company also announced that it acquired new mining licences in the Amur and Krasnoyarsk region of Russia.

The miner, which is considering a Hong Kong listing for its iron ore assets, last month launched its first Kuranakh iron ore mine. [ID:nLDE65N0WI]

The first product sales from Kuranakh are expected in August, it said on Thursday.

On June 7, Petropavlovsk said Hong-Kong based investors had agreed to take a $60 million equity stake in the group’s non-precious metals division, valuing the iron ore operations at $860 million. [ID:nLDE65G16Q]

(Reporting by Julie Crust; editing by Victoria Bryan)

Malaysia’s Public Bank posts 20 pct rise in Q2 profit

July 20 (Reuters) – Malaysia’s third largest lender by assets, Public Bank (PUBM.KL), reported a 20 percent rise in second quarter net profit boosted by strong loan growth.

The bank, which also has subsidiaries in Hong Kong and Cambodia, said second-quarter net profit was 734.08 million ringgit versus 610.7 million a year ago. (Reporting by Neha Singh, Editing by Liau Y-Sing)

UPDATE 1-Kent Reliance confirms in talks with J.C. Flowers

LONDON, July 12 (Reuters) – Kent Reliance Building Society (KRB_p.L) confirmed on Monday it was in talks with U.S. private equity firm J.C. Flowers and Co on creating a joint-venture to bolster its balance sheet while remaining a mutual organisation.

Kent Reliance said the new structure would allow for substantial new capital investment to support the 150-year old building society, which is owned by its members.

Sources told Reuters on Sunday that J.C. Flowers, which previously tried to buy Britain’s stricken bank Northern Rock, would combine a 50 million pound ($75 million) investment with the assets of the British building society in a new vehicle. [ID:nLDE66A0B1]

The building society would retain control with a 51 percent stake, sources familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

Kent Reliance, which is the only building society based in the south-east England county of the same name, made a pretax profit of 2.26 million pounds in 2009 and had assets of 2.26 billion pounds at year-end.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Kate Holton)

Russia’s IIB restructures $1 bln debt to cbank -reports

July 6 (Reuters) – Russia’s International Industrial Bank (IIB) restructured 32 billion rouble ($1 billion) debt to the central bank, easing concerns on its ability to repay a 200 million euro Eurobond, business papers reported on Tuesday.

Industrial magnate Sergei Pugachev, the bank’s controlling shareholder, pledged his stakes in two shipyards as collateral for the central bank’s loans, and may secure an additional $400-600 million in loans from state-controlled lender VTB (VTBR.MM), Vedomosti reported, citing banking sources.

“The loan (to the c.bank) has been rescheduled to the middle of January 2011, the bank should pledge collateral in two weeks,” a source close to the central bank told Kommersant, another business daily.

Reuters could not reach IIB for immediate comment.

IIB [IIBNK.UL], also known as MezhPromBank, is ranked among Russia’s top 30 in terms of assets, but the main part of its business is connected to Pugachev’s shipbuilding-to-mining empire.

The bank needs to repay the Eurobond on July 6 and a source close to the bank has earlier said it plans to pay the debt from own funds [ID:nLDE65F1I6] ($1=31.17 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev; Editing by Anshuman Daga)

India’s Fortis revokes 39 mln pledged shares

July 5 (Reuters) – Fortis Healthcare (FOHE.BO), locked in a battle to take control of Singapore’s Parkway Holdings (PARM.SI), said on Monday the owners of the Indian hospital chain had revoked about 39 million pledged shares, or nearly 10 percent of total outstanding equity.

After the transaction, the percentage of shares pledged to total number of Fortis’ outstanding shares was roughly 31 percent, the company said in a disclosure to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

It did not provide details of the transaction in the stock exchange filing.

Companies usually pledge shares to raise funds and the agreement is revoked when the loans are repayed.

Fortis, which controls just over 25 percent of Parkway, had intended to build a controlling stake in the Singapore firm before Malaysian state fund Khazanah made a surprise $835 million partial offer in May to lift its stake to 51.5 percent. [ID:nSGE64Q042]

Analysts say billionaire brothers Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, who control Fortis, have the access to capital to challenge the Malaysian fund, although Khazanah has far deeper pockets, with $28 billion in assets. (Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)

Spyker avoids more debt in final Saab payment

(Reuters) – Dutch carmaker Spyker Cars (SPYKR.AS) used internal funding rather than external debt to pay General Motors GM.UL the final $24 million purchase price for Sweden’s Saab, ending concern over how it would foot the bill.

Niche carmaker Spyker, which has never made a profit, took over the larger Saab from GM earlier this year and is now working to revive the flagging brand, but the final installment of the purchase price had been due on July 15.

Spyker Cars said it made the payment without increasing its external debt or issuing new shares, adding the internal funding became available after the acquisition of Saab Great Britain Limited by Spyker on May 31.

Spyker shares were up 0.43 percent at 2.311 euros at 3:13 a.m. ET, in line with a higher Amsterdam market.

A Spyker Cars spokesman said the company paid the final installment to GM using cash from Saab Great Britain.

“Saab Great Britain is a wholly own subsidiary of Spyker Cars and has given an inter company loan to Spyker,” spokesman Mike Stainton said.

Further concern had been sparked about the company’s ability to fund the final part of the deal after it said in February it still needed to secure financing for the $24 million payment.

Spyker Cars had said it intended to fund the payment primarily through senior debt and that it had pledged assets to GM as security for the final payment.

“The early payment of the second and last installment underlines our desire to finalize the transaction with GM as soon as it was possible, enabling management to fully focus on the future of the group,” Spyker Cars Chief Executive Victor Muller said in a statement.

Spyker spent $400 million buying the iconic Swedish brand Saab, $74 million of which was paid in cash for Saab, including $25 million borrowed from a Muller investment vehicle and $25 million from an issue of shares, largely to GEM Global Yield Fund Ltd.

(Editing by Simon Jessop)

Systemair AB: Systemair acquires Poliplevro in Greece

Systemair has acquired the assets in Poliplevro SA, a Greek distributor of ventilation
products. “Poliplevro has suffered heavily from the Greek crisis and sales has dropped
rapidly in the last years. We see an opportunity to develop the sales of Systemairs
products on the Greek market with the Poliplevro business as a platform. We expect sales
of approximately SEK 10 millions the first year” says Gerald Engström, CEO of Systemair.

For further information contact:
Gerald Engström, CEO, + 46 222 44 001, + 46 70 519 00 01
Anders Ulff, Finance Director, + 46 222 44 009, +46 70 577 40 09

Systemair AB, 739 30 Skinnskatteberg, 0222-440 00, www.systemair.com

http://www.systemair.com/

Systemair in brief
Systemair is a leading ventilation company with operations in 38 countries in Europe,
North America, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Australia. The Company had sales of SEK
3.2 billion in financial 2009/10 and currently employs about 2,200 people.
Systemair has reported an operating profit every year since 1974, when the Company was
founded. During the past 15 years, the Company’s growth rate has averaged about 15
percent.

Systemair has well-established operations in growth markets. The Group’s products are
marketed under the Systemair, Frico, VEAB and Fantech brands. Systemair shares have been
quoted on the Mid Cap List of the OMX Nordic Exchange in Stockholm since October 2007.
The Group comprises about 60 companies

HUG#1427869

Press Release (PDF) http://hugin.info/138279/R/1427869/375450.pdf

Zain in talks with Etisalat to sell majority stake-paper

June 27 (Reuters) – Kuwait’s telecoms firm Zain (ZAIN.KW) is in talks with Abu Dhabi’s Etisalat (ETEL.AD) to sell a majority stake in the group, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Sunday.

Financials | Telecommuncations Services

Both firms held meetings last week to discuss the potential deal, daily al-Seyassah said in an unsourced report and without providing details about the size of the stake or the price.

A Zain spokesman could not be reached for comment on the report. Etisalat spokesman was not available to comment immediately.

Earlier this month, Zain’s Chief Executive Nabeel bin Salama said the firm was not in talks to sell further assets, after it closed the sale of its African assets, excluding Sudan and Morocco, to India’s Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO) in a $9 billion deal. [ID:nSGE6570D2] (Writing by Eman Goma; Editing by Dinesh Nair)

RPT-India’s Reliance Comm, GTL Infra sign $11 bln deal

June 27 (Reuters) – Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO), India’s No. 2 cellphone carrier, said on Sunday its unit Reliance Infratel Ltd has agreed to a $11 billion deal to sell its telecom tower assets to independent telecom tower company GTL Infrastructure Ltd (GTLI.BO).

Telecommuncations Services

Debt-laden Reliance Communications, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, earlier this month announced a plan to create an independent tower unit.

It had previously planned to spin-off its 95 percent-owned telecoms infrastructure arm, Reliance Infratel, through an initial public offering. (Reporting by Aniruddha Basu and Rajesh Kurup; Editing by Miral Fahmy)

S.Korea agency to buy $3.7 bln savings bank loans

June 25 (Reuters) – The state-run debt clearer, Korea Asset Management Corp (KAMCO), will buy 4.4 trillion won ($3.7 billion) worth of property-related loans held by savings banks by the end of this month, a top regulator said on Friday.

Financials

The purchase from unidentified 63 thrifts will value the loans at 74-80 percent of their book or face price, with the total including interest-service costs, the Financial Supervisory Service said in a statement.

In return, the savings banks who sell the loans to KAMCO are required to sell assets or raise fresh capital. in self-rescue measures.

It is part of the government effort to calm market concerns over the financial sector’s struggle with unpaid bills from builders as the construction industry has yet to show signs of a recovery.

Creditor banks reviewed 12.5 trillion won of project finance loans extended by 91 savings banks between April and May, and classified about one third of them deemed troubled.

($1=1188.5 Won) (Reporting by Kim Yeon-hee; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

UPDATE 1-Northern Petroleum to raise 10 mln via share placement

(Reuters) – Northern Petroleum (NOP.L) on Friday said it planned to raise 10 million pounds ($14.92 million) through a share placing, as the oil and gas explorer sought to raise additional funds to develop assets in Netherlands and Italy.

The European Union-focused explorer also plans to sell off its non-core UK assets and said it hired UK-based marketing company Envoi Ltd to handle the sale. Northern Petroleum said it planned to sell a total of 11.8 million shares at 85 pence apiece. The price represents a discount of 8.6 percent to Thursday’s mid-market closing price of 93 pence.

In the Netherlands, the company has proven and probable (2P) reserves of 42.7 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), with four gas fields in production, and two gas fields and two oil fields in development.

In Italy, the company has 53.2 million boe of net probable oil reserves from 32 Italian licences, while in the UK it has 2P reserves worth 7.0 million boe.

At June 23, the company had about 13.4 million euros ($16.52 million) of net cash.

Shares of AIM-listed Northern Petroleum closed at 93 pence on Thursday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.8112 Euro) ($1=.6701 Pound) (Reporting by Anirban Sen in Bangalore)

Mizuho to issue up to 6 bln shares in offering-sources

June 25 (Reuters) – Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T) will decide on Friday to sell up to 6 billion new shares in a planned global offering, increasing the total number of shares outstanding by up to 38 percent, four sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Mizuho had registered with regulators last month to raise up to 800 billion yen in a global offering of new shares to prepare for stricter capital requirements, but had not made an official decision to go ahead with the offering. [ID:nTOE64D069]

The bank, Japan’s second largest by assets, will hold a board meeting on Friday to decide on the number of shares to be issued, among other details, according to the sources, who were not authorised to speak about the matter publicly.

Mizuho’s board is expected to agree to issue up to 6 billion shares, which at the current market price of 155 yen would bring in 930 billion yen ($10.4 billion) in fresh capital, much bigger than what it had originally announced in May.

Mizuho will decide on a per-share price at a later date based on how its stock price performs, and plans to complete the offering next month, the sources said.

The bank will make an official announcement later on Friday, the sources said. (Editing by Chris Gallagher)

WCB Holdings, Inc. and Western Commercial Bank Announce the Resignation of Carl W. Raggio, III, President

WOODLAND HILLS, CA, Jun 24 (MARKET WIRE) —
Carl W. Raggio, III President of Western Commercial Bank and WCB Holdings
Inc. (OTCBB: WCBH) resigned as CEO of the Bank and Holding Company,
effective June 22nd 2010. Mr. Raggio was a founding member of the
company, which opened in 2006. His leadership as CEO helped the bank to
grow to its present size with over one hundred million dollars in total
assets. The Board of Directors has begun the search process to find a
replacement.

Contact:
Tommy Woo
EVP & Chief Financial Officer
(818) 449-7700

WCB Holdings, Inc.
21550 Oxnard Street, Suite 100
Woodland Hills, CA 91367

Copyright 2010, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

BA strikes pension deal to keep merger on track

(Reuters) – British Airways said it had agreed a recovery plan for its 3.7 billion pound pension deficit, potentially removing a final obstacle to its planned merger with Spain’s Iberia.

BA said it had reached a deal with the trustees of its Airways Pension Scheme, which last December had a deficit of 1 billion pounds and its New Airways Pension Scheme, which had a 2.7 billion pound black hole.

The airline said on Tuesday the proposals would avoid closing the schemes and maintain BA’s annual contributions at the current level of 330 million pounds, plus agreed annual increases in line with inflation expectations averaging 3 percent.

BA will, however, make additional deficit contributions if its year-end cash balance exceeds 1.8 billion pounds and the two schemes will also be provided with 250 million pounds of additional security over the company’s assets which would become payable in the event of British Airways’ insolvency.

Iberia has the right to pull out of its planned merger with BA if doesn’t deem the pension recovery plan to be satisfactory.

“Iberia has three months to reach a decision on the pension recovery plan,” BA said in a statement.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Paul Hoskins)

Rajawali to list plantations via Eatertainment-sources

June 20 (Reuters) – Indonesian investment firm Rajawali Group plans to backdoor list its $1 billion plantation assets through its majority-owned firm Eatertainment (SMMT.JK) this year, sources told Reuters.

Cyclical Consumer Goods

“Rajawali plans to put its plantation assets into a new company it recently acquired, Eatertainment,” said a source with direct knowledge of the deal on Sunday.

Rajawali Group’s managing director told Reuters in an interview earlier this month that it planned in the next year to list its plantation assets, including palm oil plantations in Indonesia. (Reporting by Janeman Latul; Editing by Neil Chatterjee and Jon Loades-Carter)

UAE’s Dana says has cash, funding to deliver growth plan

June 16 (Reuters) – UAE-based Dana Gas (DANA.AD) has enough cash, liquid investments and funding plans in place to deliver on its growth plans, the company’s chief financial officer said on Wednesday.

Energy

“The current cash position is healthy and in excess of $185 million,” CFO Jim Dewar told Reuters in a written statement. “We are confident on our funding arrangements for 2010, based on existing cash flows and substantial progress on the farm out of 20-30 percent of our Egypt assets.”

Dana’s production of oil and gas in Egypt stood at over 42,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), he said.

(Reporting by Amena Bakr; Writing by Simon Webb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Kenya’s KCB offers rights at 21 pct discount

June 15 (Reuters) – Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB.NR) will sell its rights issue at 17.00 shillings ($0.210), a 21 percent discount on the stock’s weighted average price over last six months, the bank’s chairman said on Tuesday.

“We want to continue growing our business in the region and we have hit that level where any new growth has to come from additional capital,” Martin Oduor-Otieno, the bank’s chief executive said.

The bank, which is the nation’s largest by assets, is issuing 887 million new ordinary shares at the rate of two for every five held, to raise 15 billion shillings. (Reporting by Duncan Miriri)

OT sale talks continue after MTN deal fails -paper

June 13 (Reuters) – Egypt’s Orascom Telecom (ORTE.CA) is still in talks with international telecoms firms to sell some of its African assets, after negotiations with South Africa’s MTN (MTNJ.J) failed last week, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Telecommuncations Services

“Orascom Telecom Holding continues to hold a number of negotiations to sell its African units, with the exception of its (Algerian) unit Djezzy,” the daily al-Mal said, citing a source closely connected with the talks.

Orascom and MTN had been in talks to sell some or all of the Egyptian firm’s assets to MTN, but the deal failed after the Algerian government refused to allow Orascom to sell its Algerian unit Djezzy to MTN. (Writing by Alexander Dziadosz)

Virtual Data Rooms from DRSdigital Simplify Transaction Processes for MidCap M&A Advisors

Virtual Data Rooms Increase Efficiency in Complex Sales Processes
MILAN–(Business Wire)–
DRSdigital, transaction service provider and provider of virtual data rooms for
exchanging internal and external confidential information, have made transaction
processes for MidCap M&A advisers simpler by professionally marketing assets via
the DRSdigital Online Teaser.

Using Online Marketing, M&A analysts are able to better regulate and control
access to information about the assets to be sold, in contrast to their previous
method of sending information by e-mail or fax. A protected area presents
information on the item to be sold to all interested parties.

Bidders receive access to the virtual data room for information memos and Due
Diligence. The often time-consuming and painstaking assessment of countless
documents is work which can be made more difficult by a lack of professionalism
during implementation. Storing Due Diligence documents in a virtual data room,
as opposed to a classical physical data room, has significantly improved the
latter in the past few years. Quick, simple, and parallel access to the
documents in the virtual data room makes the work easier for all parties
involved. Of course, this is provided that the data in the data room is well
organized.

The professional online marketing of items to be sold as well as a perfectly
structured virtual data room provide more than just a touch of professionalism;
they also simplify and shorten the transaction process for MidCap M&A advisors.

Company Profile

DRSdigital is a transaction services provider specializing in highly secure,
fast and reliable virtual data rooms. DRSdigital data rooms can be used for a
variety of purposes as the solutions and services are customized to each
customer´s specific needs. DRSdigital facilitates complex transactions in the
areas of M&A, Private Equity, Non-Performing Loans and Initial Public Offerings
although the transaction specialist is likely best known as the market leader
for large cap real estate transactions. www.drs-digital.com

DRS Frankfurt
Meike Mohr
Vice President Marketing
P: +49 (0) 69 478640 – 280
F: +49 (0) 69 478640 – 1
meike.mohr@drs-digital.com
www.drs-digital.com

Copyright Business Wire 2010

UPDATE 1-Zain, Bharti to close African deal on Tuesday-sources

June 8 (Reuters) – Kuwait’s Zain (ZAIN.KW) and India’s Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO) are expected to close a $9 billion deal for most of the Kuwaiti firm’s African assets on Tuesday, sources said.

Zain will receive $7.9 billion from Bharti on Tuesday before both firms make an announcement about the final closing, sources close to the deal told Reuters.

Bharti has called for a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday at 0900 GMT, but did not provide more details. Sunil Mittal, the firm’s chairman, will attend the press conference.

In March, Zain struck a $9 billion deal selling its operations in 15 African countries, excluding Sudan and Morocco, to Bharti.

Kuwaiti daily al-Rai said in a report earlier on Tuesday, citing informed sources, that $400 million will be deposited into the Kuwaiti firm’s accounts after completing some procedures related to the transfer of Zain’s license in Gabon to Bharti.

In April, Zain said that the Gabon government has approved the sale of Zain Gabon to Bharti. [ID:nSGE63T024]

The remaining $700 million will be received by Zain a year after the closing, according to the agreement.

Zain’s shares were halted since May 30 pending the distribution of its 2009 cash dividend after its shareholders approved a cash dividend of 170 fils per share, which excludes distribution from the sale of the African units to Bharti. [ID:nLDE64Q0TG]

There are 1,000 fils to the dinar. (Reporting by Eman Goma; Editing by Thomas Atkins)