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June 29 (Reuters) – Japan’s Toho Zinc Ltd (5707.T) on Tuesday extended its takeover offer for Australian miner CBH Resources (CBH.AX) for seven days to July 14.
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Toho is offering A$0.24 a share, or A$361.5 million for CBH, which mines zinc and lead. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Balazs Koranyi)
(Reuters) – U.S. drugmaker Abbott Laboratories Inc (ABT.N) is looking to sell its flu vaccine business in a deal that could fetch 500 million euros ($614 million), the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
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Abbott had recently bought the flu vaccine unit from Belgian drugmaker Solvay (SOLB.BR). The unit has business exposure in eastern Europe.
“We are now exploring the option to potentially sell Solvay’s vaccine business,” an Abbott spokeswoman told the Journal.
The company had launched an auction last week, sending marketing materials to a handful of large healthcare companies, a person told the paper.
The flu vaccine unit, which will clock about 200 million euros in sales this year, is expected to draw interest from big pharma companies, the paper said.
Abbott could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters outside regular U.S. business hours.
Several big drug companies have invested heavily in production of new flu vaccine in recent years, partly trying to cash in on pandemic flu viruses.
The drug makers see vaccines as an alternative area for growth amid increasing competition for their core drug offerings, according to the Journal. ($1=.8143 Euro) (Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
June 29 (Reuters) – Japan’s crude steel output in July-September is expected to grow 10.7 percent from a year earlier to 26.82 million tonnes, helped by exports to Asia and demand from domestic manufacturers such as carmakers and electronics makers, the trade ministry said on Tuesday.
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That would be down 4.3 percent from April-June, the ministry said, following a survey of Japanese manufacturers, exporters and steelmakers. (Reporting by Yuko Inoue)
June 29 (Reuters) – Japan’s crude steel output in July-September is expected to grow 10.7 percent from a year earlier to 26.82 million tonnes, helped by exports to Asia and demand from domestic manufacturers such as carmakers and electronics makers, the trade ministry said on Tuesday.
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That would be down 4.3 percent from April-June, the ministry said, following a survey of Japanese manufacturers, exporters and steelmakers. (Reporting by Yuko Inoue)
June 27 (Reuters) – The head of Tata Steel’s (TISC.BO) European unit Corus is to step down later this year, the company said on Sunday.
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It said Kirby Adams, managing director and chief executive of Corus, Europe’s second largest steel producer, will step down from Oct 1, 2010 and will be replaced by Karl-Ulrich Kohler, currently chief operating officer at the subsidiary and a former head of Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Steel (TKAG.DE).
Adams “has decided to step down from his executive roles and return to Australia, having successfully initiated a restructuring of the company and restored profitability,” the world’s eighth biggest steelmaker said in a statement.
Adams will remain available to Tata Steel in an advisory capacity, it added.
Tata Steel’s European operations account for two thirds its global capacity of about 30 million tonnes, while the booming Indian operations contribute a quarter. Tata Steel also has units in Thailand and Singapore. (Reporting by Aniruddha Basu; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
June 25 (Reuters) – These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
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GENERAL AND POLITICS
- The restructuring of the hospitals which is part of the long-delayed healthcare reform will finish by the end of the year, Health Minister Anna-Maria Borisova said (Dnevnik, Sega, Trud, Standart, Klasa).
ECONOMY
- Bulgaria expects to fetch 1 billion levs ($630.9 million) from the export of grains from the 2010 crop, Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naidenov said (Trud, Standart, Monitor).
- Bulgaria’s economy will most likely contract by one percent in 2010 as a result of the drop in consumption, an Ernst & Young report said (Dnevnik, Trud, Standart, Klasa, Duma, Pari).
BUSINESS
DNEVNIK – Chemicals producer Solvay Sodi, controlled by Belgian chemicals and plastics maker Solvay (SOLB.BR), posted a net profit of 12.2 million levs for 2009, down 54.5 percent on the year.
STANDART – The Bulgarian refinery of Russian oil company LUKOIL (LKOH.MM) in the Black Sea city of Burgas posted a loss of 176 million levs for 2009.
June 24 (Reuters) – Mining companies will push Australia’s new prime minister to drop the rate on a new tax on the industry below the proposed 40 percent level, the Minerals Council of Australia said on Thursday.
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“The rate is very important. It’s a real destroyer of value,” the council’s chief executive Mitchell Hooke told a business forum.
He added the miners will also look closely at a “package deal,” indicating there were other areas where it hoped the new leader Julia Gillard will be open to negotiate. (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Ed Davies)
June 24 (Reuters) – Australian iron ore miner Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest on Thursday welcomed overtures by Australia’s new prime minister Julia Gillard to negotiate over a proposed new mining tax.
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Forrest, chief executive of Fortescue Metals Group (FMG.AX), has been at the centre of attacks on a tax that he described as a veiled act of nationalisation of Australia’s mining sector by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
“Ms Gillard and her new government have realised that government policy is best effected through open and honest consultations with the Australian people and industry,” Forrest said in a statement. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Ed Davies)
June 20 (Reuters) – Shares of U.S. steel companies are undervalued after being battered in recent months by global economic worries, Barron’s reported on Sunday.
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Assuming that steel demand does not collapse, Barron’s said steel stocks — such as United States Steel Corp (X.N), Nucor Corp (NUE.N), Steel Dynamics Inc (STLD.O) and AK Steel Holding Corp (AKS.N) — could rise 40 percent to 70 percent over the next year.
Even though steel stocks are volatile, Barron’s said they look tempting for long-term investors who think the economy is slowly healing. (Reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
June 15 (Reuters) – Iron ore shipments via Australia’s Port Hedland rose 2.9 percent to 15.02 million tonnes in May from 14.59 million tonnes in April, according to port authority figures released on Tuesday.
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China remained the largest destination with shipments of 9.98 million tonnes versus 10.9 million tonnes in April.
BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc (BHP.AX)(BLT.L) is the port’s biggest user followed by Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (FMG.AX). (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Mark Bendeich)
June 15 (Reuters) – Iron ore shipments via Australia’s Port Hedland rose 2.9 percent to 15.02 million tonnes in May from 14.59 million tonnes in April, according to port authority figures released on Tuesday.
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China remained the largest destination with shipments of 9.98 million tonnes versus 10.9 million tonnes in April.
BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc (BHP.AX)(BLT.L) is the port’s biggest user followed by Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (FMG.AX). (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Mark Bendeich)
June 13 (Reuters) – Fertilizer producer Mosaic Co (MOS.N) is in talks to buy Mexico’s Grupo Fertinal in a deal that could be worth up to $1 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
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It is uncertain when a deal could be reached, but the companies have been in talks for about six months, the newspaper said in its electronic edition. Negotiations could still falter, the newspaper said.
Mosaic and Grupo Fertinal, a fertilizer company, could not be immediately reached for comment. (Reporting by Jessica Hall; Editing by Diane Craft) (For more M&A news and our DealZone blog, go to here)
June 13 (Reuters) – A man was killed on Sunday at an iron ore mine in Ukraine’s eastern city of Kryvyi Rih, the Emergencies Ministry said.
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The mine is run by a company belonging to local tycoon Rinat Akhmetov.
Part of the Ordzhonikidze mine caved in, causing a car and driver to fall into the pit, the ministry said in a statement.
The mine is run by Metinvest, part of Akhmetov’s System Capital Management group. The ministry did not say how the accident would affect operations at the mine.
June 13 (Reuters) – Egypt’s El Wadi Cement has filed a court case seeking to regain a production licence that was cancelled over start-up delays, al-Mal newspaper reported on Sunday.
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In November, the Industrial Development Authority’s (IDA) licensing committee cancelled the licences of two firms, El Wadi Cement and North Sinai Cement, over delays and financing shortfalls, but each was granted 60 days to appeal. [ID:nLDE5BE1DN]
However, the two firms did not meet the conditions during the appeal period, which led Egypt to open a bidding in May for two new licences.
“El Wadi Cement requests to get back its revoked licence or be granted a financial compensation that is up to 250 million Egyptian pounds ($44 million) which is the total value of the company’s investments in construction operations,” al-Mal said, citing the firm’s managing director Khairy Maklad.
However, the head of the IDA, Amr Assal told the newspaper that the authority has not received any request from El Wadi Cement to get its licence back.
Both El Wadi Cement and the industrial authority were unavailable to comment.
El Wadi Cement in February secured a $328 million loan which it said it will use to build its delayed factory in order to get back its revoked production licence and return to Egypt’s booming construction sector.
The country’s construction industry has continued to grow in the wake of the global financial crisis, although it stalled in other parts of the region, with consumption rising 25 percent and production topping 50 million tonnes per year.
Egypt is planning to issue eight additional cement licences this year, as it aims to boost production capacity to 80 million tonnes a year by 2015 from 50 million. (Writing by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Alex Richardson)
June 10 (Reuters) – The parliament of Belarus on Thursday voted to lift restrictions on privatisation of Belaruskali, one of the world’s top producers of potash.
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State-owned Belaruskali owns 50 percent of the Belarussian Potash Co, a joint venture with Russian miner Uralkali (URKA.MM) (URKAq.L) that controls about 30 percent of the world potash market.
In May, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said Belarus may sell a minority stake in Belaruskali, but will retain a controlling stake. [ID:nLDE6432CB] (Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky, writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Maria Kiselyova)
June 10 (Reuters) – Finnish paper and board maker M-real (MRLBV.HE) in slides for its capital markets day on Thursday:
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* Says demand expected to remain strong in pulp, board and paper
* Says sees additional 60 mln euros of cost savings from 2011 onwards
* Says sees prices of all main products rising in Q2
(Reporting by Brett Young)
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June 10 (Reuters) – South Korea’s steel demand is expected to grow 13 percent in 2010, with recovery in demand set to contract sharply in the second half of the year, POSCO’s think tank POSCO Research Institute (POSRI) said on Thursday.
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POSCO (005490.KS), the world’s No.4 steelmaker, said on Wednesday it expected a difficult business environment in the second half because of oversupply in the domestic market and increasing steel imports, adding domestic demand was seen growing 10 percent or more this year. [ID:nTOE658073]
POSRI Chief Executive Kim Joon-han said domestic demand was projected to reach 51.3 million tonnes in 2010 from last year’s 45.4 million tonnes.
“Demand is seen high in the first half and low in the second half, recovering to its 2007 levels after its minus growths in the past two years,” Kim told Reuters by telephone.
He noted that demand would retreat from 24-25 percent year-on-year growth in the first half of this year to 4 percent in the second half, adding that POSRI might adjust the growth forecast in July. (Reporting by Cho Mee-young; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
June 4 (Reuters) – Chile’s state copper think tank Cochilco said on Friday it forecast world copper demand jumping 5.5 percent in 2011 to 19.1 million tonnes after a slight drop in 2010.
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Cochilco said the current global financial turbulence will have little impact on price projections this year.
(Reporting by Fabian Cambero)
June 4 (Reuters) – Chile, the world’s top copper producer, is expected to increase output in 2010 and 2011 as expansion and new projects come online, the country’s state copper think tank Cochilco said on Friday.
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Cochilco said it sees prices of molybdenum, a metal used to strengthen steel, ranging between $14 and $18 a pound in 2010.
(Reporting by Fabian Cambero; Editing by)
June 4 (Reuters) – Chile’s state copper think tank Cochilco said Friday it raised its forecast for copper prices to $3.20/lb in 2010 despite the ongoing market volatility stemming from Europe’s debt woes.
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Cochilco, which helps set price views for the world’s top copper miner Codelco, said it also raised its 2011 average copper price forecast to $3.30/lb from $3.20/lb. (Reporting by Fabian Cambero; Editing by John Picinich)
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