Author:

Foster’s, Australia’s biggest brewer by sales, rejected a $9.51bn cash offer from London-based SABMiller on Tuesday, saying the bid undervalued the Australian company.
The unsolicited and unconditional offer of A$4.90 per share for the firm was an 8.2 percent premium on the closing price of A$4.53.

SabMiller CEO Graham MacKay confirmed on Tuesday that it made an offer for its Australian counterpart as it aims to “strengthen the Foster’s brand portfolio and work with the local team to bring innovation, global scale and expertise to the business”.

He added: “SABMiller has a proven track record of acquiring and integrating brewing companies in a way which benefits shareholders, employees, business partners and the broader community.”

Foster’s said: “The board believes that the proposal significantly undervalues the company in the context of a change of control and, as such, it does not intend to take any further action in relation to it.”


European governments chose to withhold the decision on whether an additional aid payment of €12bn should go to the Greek government, saying the nation needs to put a strict austerity package in place first.


Luxembourg’s Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the 17-strong group of European finance ministers, said: “We agreed that there should be a private creditor participation, which should be voluntary because we want to avoid any credit default or credit event.”
 Juncker added: “It has to be clear that Greece has to bring about a situation where all the expected commitments are taken care of. In the beginning of July we will continue to discuss the private creditor participation, which will be voluntary and we will have to check whether Greece has fulfilled all its obligations.”

New York-based exchange operator Nasdaq OMX confirmed on Friday it is bidding for a minority stake in leading Anglo-French swaps clearing house LCH.Clearnet.
 


The bid forms part of Nasdaq’s strategy to expand beyond the US, the company said.
 
Nasdaq CEO Robert Greinfeld spoke to journalists at the Federation of European Securities Exchanges conference in Athens, saying: “We are bidding for a minority stake in LCH.Clearnet. We hope the bid will be a success since we certainly see an opportunity for a horizontal clearing house in Europe.”

Barclays Bank unveiled plans to increase annual revenue by as much as £6.4bn in the next two years in an attempt to increase shareholder returns, CEO Bob Diamond said late on Wednesday.

In a statement Barclays outlined plans to make an additional income of between £4.3bn and £6.4bn by 2013, which would mean a 20 percent increase from its £31.4bn income in 2010.

Barclays said it plans to stick to its target for a return on equity of 13 percent despite the UK governments’ capital restrictions on the banking sector.

Its CEO of retail and business banking, Antony Jenkins, said: “The plan we are presenting is about execution and organic growth. With our stock, where it is, we don’t have a currency for significant deals, but we will of course look at in-fill transactions.”

Finnish phone maker Nokia has won its long-running patents case against Apple and will receive a one-off €800m payout from the iPhone maker in addition to royalties.

The patent case was brought by Nokia against Apple in October 2009 and related to its patented technologies used in smartphones.

The settlement signed on Tuesday through a licensing agreement will see Apple commit to regular royalties for every device sold.

Nokia said in a statement: “The financial structure of the agreement consists of a one-time payment payable by Apple and on-going royalties to be paid by Apple to Nokia for the term of the agreement.”

“Apple and Nokia have agreed to drop all of their current lawsuits and enter into a license covering some of each others’ patents, but not the majority of the innovations that make the iPhone unique,” Apple said after the settlement.

Stanley Fischer, the 67-year-old governor of the Israeli central bank, was notified late on Monday by the Board of Directors of the IMF that his bid to head the IMF has been disqualified because of his age.

Fischer was told on Monday night that the IMF would not regard him for the managing director position because the rules require incoming applicants to be younger than 65, a statement released by the Israeli central bank said.

Following the disqualification Fischer said on Tuesday that he “regrets that age limits” disqualified his bid for the IMF’s top job, and noted that those type of age restrictions “are not relevant today.”

The IMF issued a statement later confirming the candidacies of Mexico’s central bank head Agustin Carstens and French finance minister Christine Lagarde only.

Former IMF deputy chief and Bank of Israel governor, Stanley Fischer, has emerged as a candidate to challenge Mexico’s Central Bank governor Agustin Carstens and French finance minister Christine Lagarde.

Fischer announced a formal bid to head the IMF at the weekend, saying his training as an economist would be an advantage to the candidacy.

He has held several leading positions, including at the World Bank and Citigroup, and has headed the Bank of Israel for the past six years.  

In the meantime, Lagarde received support from Egypt, the UAE and Indonesia, which became the latest countries to back her bid after several African states tipped her for the post last week.

The US Supreme Court ruled against Microsoft in its high profile appeal of a $290m patent case verdict against Canadian company i4i.

The verdict brings to an end a long-lasting legal battle which saw i4i sue Microsoft in 2007, saying the technology which allows text manipulation in the Microsoft Word application belonged to i4i. According to i4i it was this feature that improved document contents in Microsoft Word 2003 and Word 2007.

Microsoft has been ordered to pay the full amount and to cease selling versions of Word with infringing technology.

The fine imposed by the appeals court is the largest fine to date for a patent infringement case.

Citigroup said today that computer hackers may have gained access to data on hundreds of thousands of card customers in North America.

An estimated one percent of customer accounts had been compromised but no actual numbers were given by the company.

City Cards, which is one of the biggest credit card providers with over 21 million accounts, has according to its 2010 annual report generated over $77bn in receivables last year.

In a statement the company said: “During routine monitoring, we recently discovered unauthorised access to Citi’s account online.”

The customers’ data affected by the breach included account numbers, names, contact information and emails.
Debit cards and customer information including dates of birth, social security numbers and card security codes have not been compromised the bank said.

The finance minister of India, Pranab Mukherjee, said he offers “no assurance” that India will support French finance minister Christine Lagarde in her bid to become the head of the IMF.

Lagarde met Mukherjee and India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi as part of her tour to gain support for her bid within emerging economies.

“India wants the election of the managing director of IMF to be on the basis of merit and competence and to be held in a transparent manner and not on any particular nationality, Mukherjee said.

Lagarde noted: “We had an excellent meeting and we were able to review quite a few issues concerning the current status of the Indian economy as well as my own perspective to the candidacy for the post of managing director of the IMF.”

Lagarde, who is competing against Mexico’s central bank head Agustin Carstens, visited Brazil on Monday and is scheduled to fly to China next to drum up votes.

A New York court late on Monday rejected a renewed attempt by Barclays PLC to attain $4bn in assets linked with the sale of brokerage business Lehman Brothers Holdings. The judge reportedly called for the full amount to go to the trustee overseeing the Lehman Brothers’ liquidation.

As part of the ruling Barclays is required to return $2.05bn in margin collateral to the trustee but the judge agreed with Barclays that the trustee should not receive a nine percent interest rate but five percent, the rate at the time of the bankruptcy filing for the disputed funds. The interest payable thus far accumulated to $280m.

The trustee, James Giddens, of the law firm Hughes Hubbard and Reed said afterwards: “Our efforts have been vindicated and our customers will benefit. The bench ruling marks a clear victory for Lehman customers.”

Italian luxury fashion house Prada is looking to raise between $2bn- $2.6bn in a Hong Kong IPO, ahead of its June 24 listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The Milan –based company anticipates selling 423.28 million shares at an indicative cost range of between $4.69 and $6.17 each.

Prada in a Hong Kong filing on Friday said it expects its half year profit to increase by 46 percent due to it Asia expansion.

The company plans to use the IPO profits to repay bank loans, supplement working capital, expand its sales network and increase shop floor space.

Chicago-based Groupon, the daily deal website which last year rejected a $6bn buyout offer from Google, has filed with the SEC to raise $750m in an initial public offering, the company said on Friday.
 
The IPO will be managed jointly by Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs, according to details of the filing.
 
The filing specified that shares would trade under the symbol ‘GRPN’ but did not detail how many shares are to be sold and at what price range.
 
The company, which offers discount vouchers for services and products such as restaurant meals, travel, spa treatments and numerous other services, saw sales rocket to $644.7m in Q1 compared to $44.2m a year earlier.

Brazil has welcomed the candidacy of Agustin Carsten, Mexico’s central bank chief, in his pursuit to become the next head of the Washington-based IMF but said it required more time to decide which candidate to support.
 
Brazil’s Finance Minister Guido Mantega however noted on Thursday: “Emerging economies are under-represented in the fund’s leadership, especially Latin American countries.”
 
He added: “Being born in Europe or in the US does not make the candidate the most qualified for the position. According to Mantega candidates’ dedication to reforming the IMF is more significant than their place of birth.
 
Although Brazil has previously shown to be one of the key countries to appeal for more say for emerging markets in global economic affairs, government sources believe Brazil may be favouring Lagarde because of her influence within the IMF and her ability to push through reforms.
 
Carstens, who is currently in Brazil campaigning for backing for his candidacy against French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, has defended Brazil’s response, saying emerging countries didn’t have enough time to co-ordinate.
 
Lagarde, who began lobbying for support among the emerging markets on Monday, promised during her visit to Brasilia to ‘universalise’ the IMF.
 
Although she is considered the favourite, sources say it is vital for her candidacy to get Brazil’s backing as it is the region’s largest economy. 

French power equipment specialist Schneider Electric has signed an agreement to acquire Spanish software firm Telvent GIT for €1.4bn ($2bn), the company said on Wednesday.

Schneider, the world’s largest producer of low and medium voltage equipment, hopes to reinforce its solution capability for the smart grid electricity software according to a company statement.

Telvent’s shareholders will receive $40 a share under the terms of the offer, which is 16 percent higher than the company’s closing price on Tuesday. The tender offer is expected to start mid-June and close in Q3.

Schneider’s president and CEO, Jean-Pascal Tricoire, said: “The acquisition is in line with our ambition to become a complete solution provider for our customers. Telvent offers software capability that complements and integrates with Schneider Electric’s offering.  It also brings complementary customer base and geographical coverage.”