Be prepared for all kind of surprises
Tuesday 18 February 2014
Music: Rock of the 60's. Michelangelo Antonioni film Blow-up, Yardbirds concert Scene
Jeff Becks gets wild with his guitar
Bob Dylan "Blowing in the Wind"
How many roads most a man walk down
Before you call him a man ?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand ?
Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Yes, how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea ?
Yes, how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free ?
Yes, how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn't see ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky ?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry ?
Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
The Kinks "Waterloo Sunset"
Dirty old river, must you keep rolling
Flowing into the night
People so busy, makes me feel dizzy
Taxi light shines so bright
But I don't need no friends
As long as I gaze on waterloo sunset
I am in paradise
Every day I look at the world from my window
But chilly, chilly is the evening time
Waterloo sunsets fine
Terry meets julie, waterloo station
Every friday night
But I am so lazy, don't want to wander
I stay at home at night
But I don't feel afraid
As long as I gaze on waterloo sunset
I am in paradise
Every day I look at the world from my window
But chilly, chilly is the evening time
Waterloo sunsets fine
Millions of people swarming like flies round waterloo underground
But terry and julie cross over the river
Where they feel safe and sound
And the don't need no friends
As long as they gaze on waterloo sunset
They are in paradise
Waterloo sunsets fine
US Equity Market Indices at close for 18th February 2014
Source: Schwab
U.S. equities finished mixed in their first day back from the long holiday weekend amid a mixed bag of global news. Manufacturing activity in the New York region decelerated more than expected, and U.S. homebuilder sentiment surprisingly dropped. Moreover, German investor and analyst sentiment diverged, while the Bank of Japan extended its special lending programs. News from the equity front also varied, as revenues from Dow member Coca-Cola disappointed the Street, Ireland's Actavis agreed to acquire Forest Laboratories for about $25.0 billion, and Waste Management posted softer-than-expected results. Treasuries finished higher following the data, while crude oil prices rose, and gold and the U.S. dollar were lower.
U.S. equities finished mixed in their first day back from the long holiday weekend amid a mixed bag of global news. Manufacturing activity in the New York region decelerated more than expected, and U.S. homebuilder sentiment surprisingly dropped. Moreover, German investor and analyst sentiment diverged, while the Bank of Japan extended its special lending programs. News from the equity front also varied, as revenues from Dow member Coca-Cola disappointed the Street, Ireland's Actavis agreed to acquire Forest Laboratories for about $25.0 billion, and Waste Management posted softer-than-expected results. Treasuries finished higher following the data, while crude oil prices rose, and gold and the U.S. dollar were lower.
| U.S. INDICES | Value | Change | |||||||
| DJIA | 16130.40 | -23.99 | |||||||
| Nasdaq Comp. | 4272.78 | 28.75 | |||||||
| S&P 500 | 1840.76 | 2.13 | |||||||
| NYSE Advancing Issues | 2063 | ||||||||
| NYSE Declining Issues | 1039 | ||||||||
| NYSE Trading Volume | 3.4 bln | ||||||||
| NASDAQ Advancing Issues | 1818 | ||||||||
| NASDAQ Declining Issues | 834 | ||||||||
Minerali di guerra, è battaglia legale
Le società quotate a Wall Street dovranno pubblicare un report con la tracciabilità dei cosiddetti “minerali di guerra” per informare il consumatore se l’oro, lo stagno, il tantalio e il tungsteno utilizzati nei loro prodotti, prevalentemente smartphone, computer e lampadine, provengono da zone devastate da conflitti, come la Repubblica Democratica del Congo. È la normativa della Securities and exchange commission (Sec) degli Stati Uniti che dovrebbe entrare in vigore a maggio.
La legge, in pratica, impone completa trasparenza sulla catena di fornitura. Ebbene, per quella norma prevista dal Dodd-Frank Act voluto da Obama nell’estate del 2010 l’autorità americana è finita in tribunale. La Camera di commercio, la Business roundtable e la National association of manufacturers hanno portato la normativa davanti ai giudici della Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, eccependone la legittimità .
Per quale motivo? I gruppi industriali sostengono tra l’altro che la legge va contro il Primo emendamento della Costituzione nella parte in cui tutela la libertà di espressione perché obbliga i gruppi industriali a parlare contro la loro volontà .
Source: LifeGate
Il latte bio fa meglio di quello convenzionale
Uno studio rilanciato dal New York Times afferma che “il latte biologico diminuisce senza dubbio il fattore di rischio per le malattie cardiovascolari”. Scopriamo perché.
Un recente studio di confronto tra la qualità dei grassi presenti nel latte intero biologico e quella del convenzionale ha concluso che, bevendo latte bio, i consumatori potrebbero contribuire a ridurre o eliminare i “fattori di rischio probabili per una vasta gamma di problemi di salute di sviluppo e croniche.”
I ricercatori del Washington State University’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources hanno analizzato 384 campioni di latte intero bio e convenzionale prodotto nella stessa zona per ben diciotto mesi. Ne è risultato che il primo contiene il 62 per cento in più di acidi grassi omega 3 amici del cuore (quelli famosi nel pesce) e il 25 per cento in meno di omega 6. La quantità delle due tipologie di grassi e il rapporto tra loro è vantaggioso per la salute: si attesta infatti su 2,28, valore molto vicino a quello considerato ideale dai nutrizionisti (2,3), mentre quello del latte convenzionale è di 5,77. Insomma, chi ama bere lette, lo scelga bio.
Lo studio, in gran parte finanziato dalla più grande associazione di produttori del biologico americana, è stato pubblicato sulla rivista PLoS One ed è stato divulgato come prova che gli standard di allevamento bio, con le mucche che pascolano all’aperto finché la stagione lo consente, tenute in condizioni poco affollate, alimentate con foraggi privi di pesticidi, cresciuti senza farmaci e con sistemi di gestione del letame che evitano la contaminazione del suolo, dell’acqua e delle colture, “premiano” i consumatori con un profilo di grassi più sano per il cuore.
Source: LifeGate
WSJ: Macroprudential policy instead of higher interest rates,will it work?
The Wall Street Journal reports, "It's a fine line to walk. Central banks in many developed economies are holding rates near zero to protect fragile economies. But they are also rightly wary about the potential for those low rates to stoke new distortions, such as housing bubbles".
"The apparent answer to this challenge is so-called macroprudential policy, seen as a targeted way to intervene to rein in imbalances such as excessive lending via regulatory measures. The Bank of England has made clear that this, rather than the blunt tool of a rate increase, is the preferred option in dealing with excesses in a revitalized housing market; the Swiss National Bank is already trying out tweaking capital requirements to manage the risks in its real-estate market".
But will it work? The BOE points to examples such as changes to risk weightings for commercial real estate in India in 2005-2006, or to car loans in Brazil in 2010, where there was a large reduction in lending. That suggests that very targeted measures can work.
But while macroprudential policy might slow lending growth, it may not have the same clout as an interest-rate hike in changing borrowers' behavior.
In Sweden, the Financial Supervisory Authority noted in December that despite higher capital requirements for banks, lending has continued to grow, while the impact on lending rates had been small; Swedish household debt stands at above 170% of disposable income. The Riksbank says knowledge about the effectiveness of macroprudential policy is still limited.
In Switzerland, the SNB has had to launch a second round of increases to the capital required to be held against mortgages. So far, the effect of macroprudential policy there appears limited. UBS's Swiss Real Estate Bubble Index continued to climb into the "risk" category in the fourth quarter; house prices are growing faster than income and mortgage debt is now around 110% of gross domestic product. Swiss fixed-interest mortgage rates have risen only 0.08-0.09 percentage point, notes Nomura. Talks are now under way on further measures that may include tightening lending criteria.
The risk is that consumers may only respond to something that puts clear limits on what they can borrow, such as caps on loan-to-value ratios, or debt-service ratios. These would undoubtedly be powerful, but could also be controversial. The BOE has said it thinks there needs to be a broad public debate about LTV restrictions for them to be
L’invasione delle biciclette a pedalata assistita
Sono comode da usare, totalmente ecologiche. In più permettono delle ottime perfomances anche ai meno allenati. Forse sono questi alcuni dei motivi del successo delle biciclette a pedalata assistita.
Sì perché si tratta di un vero e proprio boom. Solo nel 2012 l’aumento delle vendite in Europa ha visto un incremento del 20%, con la Germania in testa. I tedeschi hanno infatti acquistato ben 380.000 pezzi nuovi. L’Olanda naturalmente segue (è il caso di dire) a ruota, ma anche nel nostro Paese il fenomeno ha preso piede. Sono 46.000 le nuove unità vendute, segno che questo mezzo a metà tra un bici e un ciclomotore elettrico, sta avendo un discreto successo.
Ti aiuto a pedalare. Ma qual è l’esatto funzionamento di una e-bike? Le Epac (Electric pedal assisted cycle), sono bici a tutti gli effetti, nelle quali l’azione propulsiva rimane quella data dalle nostre gambe, con un aiuto in più: un motore elettrico che si avvia con il movimento dei pedali.
Nessun acceleratore o leve da tirare, ma semplicemente un motore elettrico controllato da una centralina elettronica che funziona a batterie ricaricabili, in grado di capire quando il veicolo è in movimento. In più il motorino è in grado di entrare in azione anche senza pedalare, dando la possibilità di starsene seduti e raggiungere i 25 km/h, che in bici non è niente male.
Spesso sono dotate di pannelli di controllo grazie ai quali si può controllare velocità , l’ora, lo stato della batteria o magari scegliere tra varie modalità di “spinta”, più sportiva o magari più “eco”, per risparmiare batteria.
Source: Lifegate
In California l’auto più venduta è ibrida
Nel 2013 la Toyota Prius è risultata l’auto più venduta in California. Per il secondo anno consecutivo. È uno degli stati americani più sensibili al rispetto dell’ambiente, anche in virtù di normative ambientali molto più stringenti.
Le vendite dell’ibrida giapponese hanno raggiunto le 69.728 unità , facendo nettamente meglio di Honda Civic, Tesla Model S, Mercedes Classe E e Bmw Serie 5 berlina. Un risultato anomalo anche rispetto a quello di tutta l’America, in quanto in tutti gli Stati Uniti è – come sempre da trent’anni – il pickup Ford Serie F il veicolo più venduto. Invece, in California è solo sesto. A livello nazionale la Prius è la 16esima auto più venduta.
“Lo stato della California è sempre stato differente – ha spiegato al Los Angeles Times Jake Fisher di Consumer Reports – i gusti dei californiani sono all’incrocio con quelli europei, e storicamente sono sempre stati aperti ai modelli d’importazione”. Difatti, le marche giapponesi piazzano 8 modelli tra i 10 più venduti in California.
Ma c’è anche una questione di immagine e di praticità . “La Prius è un’auto ‘manifesto’ in California – ha spiegato Karl Brauer, analista della Kelley Blue Book – che parla di ’verde’ per la sua impressionante economia nei consumi, e parla di ‘logica’ perché è un’auto pratica ed efficiente”. Da notare che non è l’auto più economica in classifica, anzi, è la più cara delle prime cinque. Ma Brauer lo spiega così: “I californiani mostrano di scegliere apposta l’auto più costosa, la più ‘politica’ e quella con l’immagine più identificabile, perché costituisce una vera e propria dichiarazione d’intenti”.
Source: Lifegate
Tra 7 anni l’auto elettrica costerà come quella a benzina
Il fulcro della svolta per l'auto elettrica saranno le batterie: le prestazioni continueranno a migliorare mentre i consumi caleranno dell'1% ogni anno.
Entro il 2020 l’auto elettrica potrà eguagliare le prestazioni ma soprattutto i costi di quella a benzina. È quanto prevedono i ricercatori di Rse (Ricerca sul Sistema Energetico) nella nuova monografia E…muoviti! Mobilità elettrica a sistema, presentata al Politecnico di Bari in occasione del convegno La mobilità elettrica: un’opportunità per una città sostenibile.
La monografia è il quinto volume della serie RSEView dedicata a temi strategici sull’energia ed espone la visione di Rse sulla prevista diffusione del parco di autovetture a trazione elettrica nelle città italiane e delle sue ricadute tecniche, ambientali ed economiche per il sistema elettrico. Il centro di ricerca Rse appartiene al gruppo Gse (Gestore Sistema Energetico).
La svolta per l’auto elettrica arriverà dalla ricerca applicata alle batterie. ”Le prestazioni continueranno a migliorare – spiega Giuseppe Mauri del dipartimento Sviluppo dei sistemi energetici di Rse – mentre i consumi caleranno dell’1% ogni anno. Tutto ciò si accompagnerà ad una riduzione annuale dei costi pari al 5-10%. Di questo passo, entro il 2020, il prezzo di una piccola utilitaria elettrica (con batteria di circa 20 kWh e autonomia reale di circa 150 chilometri) arriverà ad eguagliare quello di un modello omologo con motore a combustione interna”.
La rivoluzione della mobilità elettrica avrà importanti conseguenze dal punto di vista energetico, come dimostra lo scenario al 2030 ipotizzato dai ricercatori Rse: se un’auto su quattro sarà ricaricabile da rete (per un totale di 10 milioni di veicoli elettrici, concentrati per il 50% nelle grandi città ), si avrà un aumento annuale dei consumi di energia elettrica inferiore al 5%. Questo sarà controbilanciato da una riduzione delle importazioni di energia primaria per circa 1,8 miliardi di euro e da un miglior sfruttamento delle fonti rinnovabili.
”La mobilità elettrica ha le potenzialità per cambiare il paradigma del trasporto privato nelle aree metropolitane”, commenta Stefano Besseghini, amministratore delegato di Rse.
Source: Lifegate
WSJ:China Sovereign Fund Shifts Focus From Commodities, looks for Plays on U.S., European Recoveries.
The Wall Street Journal reports,"China Investment Corp. is selling energy and commodity holdings while seeking to capitalize on recovering U.S. and European economies, a major shift in strategy for the $600 billion sovereign-wealth fund".
"Since late last year, CIC has unloaded more than $1.5 billion of shares in companies including AES Corp. , a U.S. power company, and GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd. , a Hong Kong-listed green-energy company, according to regulatory filings by the companies. CIC, the world's fifth-largest government-controlled fund, has also sold stakes in two other Hong Kong-traded wind-power companies, according to filings".
"CIC, which purchased billions of dollars in resources-related holdings between 2009 and the first half of 2012, is closely watched by investors world-wide for signals on where China is steering its deep pools of capital. The shift comes as the fund's new leadership grapples with a changing investment landscape triggered by the paring back of easy-money policies in the U.S".
As the U.S. Federal Reserve starts to taper, or reduce, its bond-buying program intended to stimulate the U.S. economy, CIC is finding energy and resources plays aimed at emerging markets less attractive because capital is flowing back to the developed world, the people said.
Chinese companies last year plowed $44 billion into foreign mergers and acquisitions in oil, gas and mining, according to data provider Dealogic, up from $30 billion in 2012. But there are signs that China is growing more cautious. A top economic-planning official in December 2012 lauded Chinese efforts to secure mining assets abroad but cautioned against rising costs.
Meanwhile, CIC is showing greater interest in the rebounding U.S. and European economies. The U.S. economic recovery has been "accelerating" and Europe has "a lot of potential," CIC Chairman Ding Xuedong said at a January conference in Hong Kong. Mr. Ding, who took the reins at CIC in June, added that emerging markets could suffer "capital outflows or a credit crunch" if the Fed continues to taper.
The fund is considering moving its North American base to New York from Toronto and expanding its presence in Europe, the people close to the fund said, though no final decision has been made. CIC's team in Toronto, led by Winston Wenyan Ma, a former Wall Street banker, so far has mainly focused on doing energy- and resources-related deals in Canada. A potential move to New York could lead to more investments by the fund in private equity, real estate and other U.S. assets, the people said.
CIC, founded in 2007, invests part of China's vast hoard of foreign-exchange reserves abroad. The fund's focus on resources has been widely regarded as "strategically motivated," said Friedrich Wu, an adjunct associate professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore who follows CIC. "China, an export-dependent economy, requires access to secure supplies of energy and natural resources to power its economy," he said.
CIC officials have said the fund makes investment decisions based on commercial principles and energy investment was a good way for the fund to benefit from China's own economic growth.
CIC's international holdings returned 10.6% in 2012, the most recent data available.
WSJ: Department of Agriculture: More than half of California is classified as being in a state of extreme drought
The Wall Street Journal reports,"New Yorkers negotiating slushy streets are even less likely than usual to sympathize with Lake Tahoe's skiers grumbling about patchy snow. But dry weather on the West Coast, even as East Coasters get dumped on regularly, affects more than just the slopes—it is a big deal for energy markets, too''.
''More than half of California is classified as being in a state of extreme drought, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Recent storms have brought some snow to parched slopes—including Tahoe's—but they come very late: California's snowpack is just 10% of normal levels, according to Citigroup. The problem extends up the coast, with the Northwest River Forecast Center reporting earlier this month lower-than-normal precipitation in the region this season''.
This matters because almost half of U.S. hydroelectric generation capacity lies in California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. California, the country's second-largest electricity market behind Texas, got 17% of its power this way in the decade ending 2012, with the proportion rising to more than one-fifth in some years.
So if rivers are low, the state has a problem—even more so when other sources of energy are stressed as well.
California Independent System Operator, which manages most of the state's grid, earlier this month issued an alert calling on electricity users to conserve demand. Low hydropower supply is one issue; Teri Viswanath at BNP Paribas puts the state's available capacity at about 40% of the level at this time last year.
Adding to this is the fierce cold and snow battering New York and a host of other places across the U.S. Natural-gas fired power plants make up more than 60% of California's capacity, so these take the strain when the rivers run dry. The problem is when the rest of the country needs gas for heat, supplies can be constrained.
That might sound strange in an era of shale abundance. But this winter has reminded the U.S. that even with lots of gas in the ground, time lags, pipeline constraints and freezing weather can cause price spikes around the country. The benchmark wholesale price traded up to almost $5.50 per million British thermal units in late January from $4.19 at the end of 2013. In about the same time, prices for gas entering southern California roughly tripled to more than $15.
Barclays estimates low water supply will boost gas demand in California and the Pacific Northwest by about 400 million cubic feet a day this year. That doesn't sound like much in a market of roughly 71 billion cubic feet a day. But with U.S. gas consumption projected to contract this year, it is a fair bet that producers will take extra demand where they can get it.
Bigger gains may be found among electricity firms, particularly merchant generators that can fill the gap left by low hydropower. Jon Cohen at ISI Group suggests Calpine may benefit.
It has about 6.6 gigawatts of capacity in California, according to SNL Energy, making it the state's second-largest merchant generation operator. Furthermore, combined-cycle gas turbines, which can be switched on relatively quickly to capitalize on tight power markets.
account for 5 gigawatts of that—almost five times the size of the next-largest operator.
Mr. Cohen points out that perhaps half of Calpine's Californian capacity is contracted already and it is unclear what, if any, hedges the company has in place for those plants. Speaking to analysts last week, Calpine's president suggested the drought could mean some "second-quarter upside" for the company's Californian fleet.
WSJ: China and Russia at the Altar of Gas. A deal within reach?
The Wall Street Journal reports,''The saga over whether Russia will supply natural gas to China has always resembled rival families negotiating a marriage dowry. For a decade, the two sides have wanted different things".
"Now a match between the world's largest gas exporter and one of the world's fastest-growing gas markets seems within reach. That's in part because Russia is afraid that the longer it waits, the less it will get in dowry. And if the deal goes through, it has the potential to change the way Asia gets its energy''.
''An outline of a deal hashed out last year would have Russia's state champion Gazprom supply counterpart China National Petroleum Corporation with 3.75 billion cubic feet a day for 30 years starting in 2018. China's current daily gas demand is about 16 billion cubic feet, which the government aims to double by 2020. Russia says the two sides have agreed on a price formula, but not an actual price. Now eyes turn to Vladimir Putin's May trip to China.
There's cause for optimism as market prices converge. The price Gazprom charges European customers has fallen to $11 per million BTU as the state giant gives discounts to ward off competition from countries such as Norway, says James Henderson at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies''.
Meantime, China pays roughly $10 per million BTUs for pipeline gas from Turkmenistan and Myanmar. But China also recently pushed retail gas prices for the average resident in, say, Shanghai to nearly $15 per million BTU, according to Platts. Assuming it costs $4 to distribute gas from northeast China to Shanghai, China is ready for $11 gas at the border.
Gazprom's options won't get any better. Europe, the bedrock of the company's cash flow, looks sluggish, while Russian rivals muscle in on Gazprom's turf. In negotiating a price, global supply is also on China's side. The U.S. shale revolution, and U.S. moves to export gas in the next few years, provide Asia with another supply option. Then there's the more than seven billion cubic feet a day of Australian LNG capacity due to come online by 2017, says Nate Taplin at Gavekal, a research firm.
If Russia locks in a deal soon, it could spark the development of eastern Siberia as a hub to sell gas to Japan and South Korea. This would put competitive pressure on Asian LNG prices generally—something Middle Eastern and Australian suppliers would have to contend with.
When two of the planet's biggest players get together,eveyone will feel the effect.
Biofach, Italia da record
Esportazioni italiane di prodotti senza pesticidi al primo posto in Europa e consumo interno in crescita. Un miliardo di export, tre di giro d’affari.
In tempi di crisi, mentre gli italiani risparmiano sul cibo e il mercato alimentare cala, il biologico continua crescere. E tanto. Secondo una ricerca elaborata da Aiab, Associazione Italiana per l’Agricoltura Biologica, sulla base di indagini della Fondazione Italiana per la Ricerca in Agricoltura Biologica e Biodinamica e su rilevazioni Ismea Gfk-Eurisko, in Italia, nel primo semestre 2013, in controtendenza con il calo del 3,7 per cento dei consumi alimentari convenzionali, i prodotti senza chimica hanno confermato il trend positivo di crescita degli ultimi anni, registrando un aumento di poco inferiore al 9 per cento.
Con i suoi 50 mila operatori, 1,2 milioni di ettari coltivati e un giro d’affari di oltre 3 miliardi di euro, il biologico del Belpaese è arrivato ad essere leader in Europa per le esportazioni: il fatturato oltrefrontiera si assesta sopra il miliardo di euro.
“Il movimento del biologico – dichiara Vincenzo Vizioli, presidente di AIAB – è per sua natura dinamico e rappresenta un’avanguardia che apre scenari di sviluppo per il sistema agroalimentare ma anche per il sistema economico italiano nel suo complesso. Si tratta di numeri che evidenziano da parte dei consumatori, sia a livello italiano sia a livello europeo e mondiale, un forte aumento di interesse, di informazione, di attenzione e quindi di domanda”.
Già da diversi anni l’Italia è ai primi posti della classifica europea per le aree coltivate a bio, in particolare per la coltivazione di ortaggi, cereali, agrumi, uva e olive. Il principale acquirente europeo dei nostri prodotti è la Germania, che importa soprattutto ortofrutta, vino, olio e altri prodotti tipicamente italiani, come la pasta. Per quanto riguarda il consumo interno, l’indagine evidenzia che è stato maggiore negli anni della crisi economica(+7,8% media annua) che in quelli precedenti (+3% nel biennio 2008 -2009).
Anche le mense scolastiche con “menù sostenibile” si sono diffuse: da una recente ricerca Nomisma/Pentapolis emerge che in cinque anni sono cresciute del 50%, con quasi 1,2 milioni di pasti bio consumati annualmente.
E’ con questi numeri e con 400 operatori del settore che l’Italia si presenta alla 25esima edizione del Biofach di Norimberga, la più grande fiera mondiale del bio, con l’obiettivo di ampliare sempre di più un mercato che risponde alle esigenze dei consumatori attenti alla salute del pianeta, al gusto e al proprio benessere.
Source: LifeGate
Actavis Agrees to Buy Forest Labs for $25 Billion
The Wall Street Journal reports,"Actavis PLC agreed to acquire rival drug maker Forest Laboratories Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal that values Forest at about $25 billion''.
''The proposed combination of Dublin-based Actavis and Forest of New York is partly designed to position the resulting company to deal with the changing health-care landscape in the U.S. Hospitals, insurers and doctors in the country are combining to make larger organizations that can negotiate directly to buy prescription drugs.
A combined Actavis-Forest could offer a range of generic and brand-name medicines, reaping economies of scale of its own.
Forest had a market capitalization of $19.3 billion as of Friday's close, compared with $33.4 billion for Actavis.
The deal values Forest at $89.48 a share, a 25% premium to Friday's close. That breaks down to $26.04 in cash and 0.3306 Actavis shares for each share of Forest''.
Actavis is known for its generic drugs, but it recently bought Warner Chilcott, a provider of branded treatments for gastrointestinal and urological conditions.
Forest has a gastrointestinal business, including the constipation drug Linzess. Forest also sells a number of brand-name drugs for neurological conditions like depression, as well as Bystolic for hypertension.
The combined company would be led by Actavis Chief Executive Paul Bisaro, while new Forest CEO Brent Saunders will join the board of the combined company. The company also said three members of the Forest board will be named to the Actavis board following the close.
The combined company is expected to have more than $15 billion in revenue for 2015, and the deal is expected to immediately add to adjusted earnings, with double-digit accretion in 2015 and 2016.
Forest shareholders are expected to own 35% of the combined company on an adjusted basis after the close of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval but has been approved by the boards of both companies.
Le 20 città del mondo più amiche delle bici. Nessuna italiana
L'Italia non è ancora un Paese bike-friendly ma ci sono molte più persone che comprano una bici e la usano per gli spostamenti quotidiani. In parte per la crisi, ma in parte per un cambiamento di mentalità .
Al primo posto c’è Amsterdam con 83 punti su 100, seguita da Copenhagen (81/100), Utrecht (77/100), Siviglia, Bordeaux, Nantes, Anversa, Eindhoven, Malmo, Berlino, Dublino, Tokyo, Monaco, Montreal, Nagoya, Rio, Barcellona, Budapest, Parigi e Amburgo.
Il rapporto prende in esame 13 parametri: la cultura delle due ruote, le infrastrutture, il successo dei programmi di bike sharing, le politiche comunali a favore della ciclabilità e perfino l’accettazione sociale della bicicletta. A ogni parametro è stato assegnato un punteggio da 0 a 4, con eventuali 12 punti di bonus per interventi e politiche che si sono distinti particolarmente. Siviglia è riuscita a conquistare il massimo dei punti bonus a disposizione mentre ci sono andate vicine Bordeaux, Rio de Janeiro e Copenaghen.
Source: LifeGate
European Equity Indexes Brief
Europe | ||||
| Europe Dow | 2068.60 | 4.57 | 0.22% | |
| Stoxx Europe 600 | 333.85 | -0.71 | -0.21% | |
| France: CAC 40 | 4325.49 | -9.68 | -0.22% | |
| Germany: DAX | 9651.30 | -5.46 | -0.06% | |
| Italy: FTSE MIB | 20440.11 | -19.54 | -0.10% | |
| Spain: IBEX 35 | 10037.60 | -81.00 | -0.80% | |
| UK: FTSE 100 | 6763.53 | 27.53 | 0.41% | |
Source: WSJ
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