European Union lawmakers and member states backed the toughest restrictions on bankers bonuses seen so far on Wednesday, sowing confusion across an already jittery financial services sector. (FT Front Page) Under legislation expected to pass the European parliament next week, between 40% and 60% of bonuses would have to be deferred for three to five years and half the upfront bonus would have to be paid in shares or in other securities linked to the bank’s performance.
UKBP (BP: 28.88 0.00 0.00%) - Co.’s chief executive Tony Hayward, during his visit to Moscow, has discussed with Russian oil firms the possibility of selling some of co.’s assets. TNK-BP is ready to acquire some of co.’s assets. (Vedomosti)
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS-A: 50.22 0.00 0.00%) - Co. says last would-be buyer for Montreal East refinery has withdrawn from talks and says is proceeding with plans to convert 130,000 BPD refinery into a fuel terminal. (RTRS)
Barclays (BCS: 15.89 0.00 0.00%) - Co. and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group said they would launch a wealth management joint venture in Japan, targeting individuals with at least USD 5.7mln to invest. (RTRS)
British Airways (BAY: 79.44 0.00 0.00%) - Co. union says will take neutral position in pay vote and will not make recommendation regarding the offer. Union says to put co. offer to crews as early as weekend. (Sources)
Vedanta Resources - Co. said it is free to acquire 74% stake in Black Mountain Mining as Exxaro Resources has not exercised pre-emption rights. (Sources)
Companies paying Dividend: AMEC (GBP 0.1160), Bunzl (GBP 0.1490), Next (GBP 0.4700)
USEquities fluctuated on Thursday after mixed data, but broke out to the downside in the latter half of the session after Moody’s put Spain’s sovereign ratings on review for possible downgrade and after Lockhart indicated the Fed was debating a possible deflationary scenario. The tech sector underperformed with Celgene(CELG: 50.82 0.00 0.00%) (-4.50%) shares amongst the laggards in the NASDAQ 100 after the co. acquired Abraxis BioScience for USD 2.9bln in cash, while Google(GOOG: 444.95 0.00 0.00%) (-2.05%) shares declined after reports that China had partially blocked its web search service. At the close the S&P 500 finished down 1.01% at 1030.71, the DJIA finished down 0.98% at 9774.02 and the NASDAQ 100 finished down 1.41% at 1739.14.
US SEC proposes expanding number of stocks which will have ‘circuit breakers’ (Sources/RTRS) Says sets level 1 stop as 1,000 points drop in DJIA before 2 pm, level 2 stop as 2,050 points before 1 pm and sets level 3 stop as 3,050 points drop in DJIA.
Google (GOOG: 444.95 0.00 0.00%) - Co.’s application to renew its operating license in China is being reviewed by the government and the results will be posted soon, according to Chinese state media. (RTRS)
Yahoo (YHOO: 13.84 0.00 0.00%) - Co. may buy back as much as USD 3bln of its stock to make use of cash holdings. (Sources)
Dow Chemical (DOW: 23.72 0.00 0.00%) - Co. is confident of selling another USD 100mln of assets this year to reach its previously stated goal of divesting USD 2bln in non-strategic businesses in 2010, according to co.’s spokesperson. (Sources)
Apollo Group (APOL: 42.47 0.00 0.00%) - Q3 adjusted EPS USD 1.74 vs. Exp. USD 1.54, Q3 revenue USD 1.34bln vs. Exp. USD 1.29bln. Co. sees Q4 EPS cont ops ex-items about USD 1.30 vs. Exp. USD 1.20. Co. says will require all incoming students with fewer than 24 credit hours to participate in orientation program and says this will adversely impact the co.’s operating metrics and financial results. (RTRS) Co. shares dropped 3.5% in after market trade.
EuropeECB’s Weber supported the German banking industry’s opposition to the full and uncontrolled disclosure of the results of the stress tests, according to sources. (Financial Times Deutschland)
Bayer - Co. has resolved a lawsuit bought by Syngenta challenging the validity of three co. US patents on insect-resistant seed traits. (Sources)
Deutsche Post - Co. is not currently considering a break up of its business but does not rule it out for the future. (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
Sanofi-Aventis - US patent office denies request for Reexam of co.’s Plavix patent. Elsewhere, co. is to acquire Targegen for USD 560mln. In other news, the FDA reports of congestive heart failure with co.’s heart drug Multaq. (RTRS) Also, co. said Rifapentine gets orphan drug status in the EU. (Sources)
EADS - US Pentagon says cannot award tanker contract without counting Airbus subsidies, says will consider WTO ruling on subsidies. (Sources)
Renault - Russia wants to become a minority shareholder in the co. in return for a stake in AvtoVAZ. (Vedomisti)
Companies going Ex-Dividend: Lafarge (EUR 2.000 and Special Ex-Dividend EUR 2.2000)
European Banks - EU’s Barroso says initial findings show banking system in good shape, says it is possible some banking institutions will show vulnerabilities. (Sources)
Spanish Banks - Moody’s says does not expect Spain’s banks to need massive extra capitalisation over that already cited by the government. (RTRS)
Telefonica (TEF: 55.53 0.00 0.00%) - Co. says has extended period for Portugal Telecom to decide on Vivo offer to July 16. Co. also said that it considered the Portuguese government’s use of its Golden Share in Portugal Telecom illegal. (RTRS/Sources)
Enel - Sintonia confirmed that it does not plan to get involved in any way in the Enel Green Power listing. (Milano Finanza)
Novartis - Co. expects to close its buy of a majority stake in the US eye care group Alcon in the late Q3 or Q4, paving the way for it to take full control of the group. (RTRS) In other news, co. said results of a phase 3 study showed Afinitor, or everolimus, tablets plus best supportive care, or BSC, more than doubled progression-free survival, or time without tumour growth, versus placebo plus BSC in patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours. (Sources)
ABB - Co.’s board has reviewed Emerson’s offer of GBP 3.75 per Chloride share and has decided not to exercise co.’s right to match Emerson’s offer under the implementation agreement entered into between co. and Chloride on June 8, 2010. Co. also said it needs to take a disciplined approach on acquisitions.
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