October 20, 2011 at 3:49am
Human Genome shares jump amid takeover speculation
A $25-a-share offer would value Human Genome at about $4.8 billion, based on the number of shares outstanding.Glaxo declined to comment on the speculation. Human Genome Sciences spokesman Jerry Parrott said the company does not comment on market rumors.Human Genome and Glaxo jointly sell Benlysta, a recently launched drug to treat Lupus.”HGSI shares are trading up this morning on speculation of a potential acquisition by partner GlaxoSmithKline,” said Ian Somaiya, an analyst at Piper Jaffrey, in a research note. “While takeout rumors are nothing new and the timing appears to be relatively early — only seven months into Benlysta launch — we believe that GSK could be opportunistic given the weakness in HGSI stock, which is trading at its lowest levels since 2009.”A speculative article in Britain’s Daily Mail sparked the most recent speculation.”The article circulated late on Monday,” said WhatsTrading.com options strategist Frederic Ruffy.Options volume in Rockville, Maryland-based Human Genome is 3.7 times the average daily levels with about 19,000 calls and 3,679 puts traded through midday, according to options analytics firm Trade Alert.The upside calls, giving investors the right to buy the company’s shares at $15 apiece by November expiration in 31 days, are the most active option with volume of 1,739 contracts traded, data from Trade Alert showed.Human Genome’s shares were up 10.2 percent at $12.40 on the Nasdaq on Tuesday afternoon, off an earlier high at $13.19. The company’s shares are down from a year high of $30.15 in April.
October 18, 2011 at 3:46am
CORRECTED-Hutchison exec rules out sale of 3 Italia-paper
Telecom Italia Executive Chairman Franco Bernabe
said earlier this month the outcome of a tender for fourth-
generation mobile frequencies showed there was no room for four
operators on the Italian market, which should be rationalised.3 Italia was the only contender that failed to secure the
coveted 800 MHz band, feeding speculation this may lead to its
exit from the Italian market.”This looks to me more like somebody’s wish than the
reality,” Hutchison Managing Director Canning Fok was quoted
saying. “We had set a limit above which it was no longer
economical for us to bid for the 800 MHz.”He said Italy offered great growth opportunities especially
for an operator like 3 Italia that had bet on data traffic long
before the others, and could now take advantage of the growing
popularity of smartphones and tablet computers.”We have the most competitive offers on data traffic,” he
said, pointing to the fact that cash-strapped consumers paid
more attention to costs.If a consolidation in the Italian telecoms market were to
take place, 3 Italia would not be a target. “If there is one we
would be ‘consolidators’ and not ‘consolidated’. In terms of
financial resources, Hutchison Whampoa is more than ready,” he
said.3 Italia competes in Italy with former monopoly Telecom
Italia, the local unit of Britain’s Vodafone and Wind,
controlled by Russia’s Vimpelcom .
October 13, 2011 at 12:46am
Mongolia’s giant coal mine to start production on Dec 1
“We have all the necessary rights to start production on
December 1,” said Wolfgang Peters, chairman of Germany’s BBM
Operta Group, which was awarded the contract to develop the
eastern Tsankhi block of Tavan Tolgoi with Australia’s Macmahon
Holdings in August.Peters, who was in Mongolia as part of a delegation
accompanying German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said output from
the block is expected to reach 3 million tonnes in 2012, and
eventually rise to 15 million tonnes per year.Mongolia plans to list the east Tsankhi block, which covers
about 40 percent of the total area of the estimated 7.5-billion
tonne Tavan Tolgoi deposit, in a multibillion dollar
international IPO scheduled for the first half of next year.But analysts have expressed concern that political
uncertainties could still delay the project, with Mongolia’s
parliament still to approve a politically contentious investment
agreement for the western block.Following complaints from Japanese and South Korean bidders,
the government backtracked from a previous deal granting 40
percent of the block to China’s Shenhua Energy , 36
percent to a Russian-Mongolian consortium and 24 percent to
Peabody of the United States.Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi, the state-owned company in charge of
the deposit, said last month that all the original bidders were
still in the running.Local media reports suggested last week that the Japanese
and South Korean bidders would become part of a Peabody-led
consortium and be granted a total stake of 33 percent, with
Shenhua and the Russian consortium also granted 33 percent.The Mongolian government is keen to get a deal in place for
both the eastern and western blocks of Tavan Tolgoi as soon as
possible as it strives to fulfil promises it made to the
electorate in 2008.But a growing number of voices have been calling for the
project to be delayed until after next year’s parliamentary
elections, saying that populist jockeying could harm
decision-making.
October 12, 2011 at 7:01am
Gaddafi resistance crumbling in Libya’s Sirte
Fighters from the interim Libyan government’s volunteer army walked slowly up the same battle-scarred streets strewn with empty ammunition cases where they had fought fierce clashes a day before. Other fighters searched the partly destroyed houses as a few dazed civilians emerged from their basements.”It looks as though there is no resistance from Gaddafi’s men. There are no clashes today,” said government field commander Mustah Hamza.”More than 80 percent of Sirte is now under our control. Gaddafi’s men are still in parts of neighborhood Number Two and the ‘Dollar’ neighborhood,” he said.A few shots rang out in the distance, then a burst of heavy machine gun fire closer by. Some green flags, the banner of Gaddafi’s 42 years in power, still flew above many of the buildings, indicating how recently they had changed hands.National Transitional Council forces said they believed Gaddafi’s son Mo’tassim, his father’s national security adviser, was still holed up in Sirte.NTC fighters maneuvered a tank into a small side street flooded with sewage from a burst pipe. It fired a few rounds at a large building up ahead, then infantrymen moved in, letting off bursts from their AK-47s as they advanced up the street. But there was very little return fire from the pro-Gaddafi side.”TWO MORE DAYS”The NTC has said it will start the process of rebuilding Libya as a democracy only after the capture of Sirte, a former fishing village transformed by Gaddafi largesse into a showpiece for his rule replete with lavish conference halls and hotels.NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil said on a visit to Sirte on Tuesday that it would take two more days to take the town, which was the last major holdout for Gaddafi loyalists. Gaddafi himself is believed to be hiding somewhere far to the south in the vast Libyan desert.But the remnants of Gaddafi’s forces, surrounded on three sides in Sirte and with their backs to the sea, have so far fought tenaciously, perhaps believing they face mistreatment or worse at the hands of their ill-disciplined foe.Back from the front line, fighters from the National Transitional Council jostled with one another as one man tried to punch a wounded prisoner and others struggled to keep him off. The prisoner repeatedly shouted out that he was a civilian.”But you had a gun,” his captors said.”I never used it,” he said, fear in his eyes.Any male of fighting age still in Sirte was under suspicion.”We were staying in a basement,” one man, Gamal Ammar, said alongside family members. “Some of us were hit. If we had died it would have been better. We had no water and no food. We couldn’t get out.” As NTC fighters drew near, he fell silent.
