PRESS DIGEST - British business - June 16

(Reuters) - Private equity firm Cinven [CINV.UL] has won the 1.5 billion
pound auction for BUPA UK's private hospitals. Cinven and CVC
are understood to have been the final bidders, but the latter
was told on Friday night it was no longer in the running.
Sources said Cinven was in the final stages of negotiations and
that an announcement could be made over the weekend. BUPA's
portfolio of 26 hospitals attracted interest from private equity
bidders because of its strong cashflows and ability to sell
services to the NHS.




VODAFONE CHIEF GETS 7.2 MILLION POUNDS


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Blackstone CEO's high profile concerns rival firms

(Reuters) - Such were the sentiments of four private equity executives
at major buyout firms interviewed by Reuters on Friday, a day
after two powerful U.S. senators introduced a bill that would
tax publicly traded private equity firms at a much higher rate
than they pay now.




That was enough to have some of the biggest private equity
firms immediately reconsider plans for public offerings. Apollo
Management, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and TPG Capital have
all pulled back from plans for public offerings because of the
tax bill, according to two bankers familiar with their efforts
who spoke to Reuters on Friday on the condition they not be
named. The firms declined to comment.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Bay Street Week Ahead-Rising C$ puts squeeze on big oil

(Reuters) - CALGARY, Alberta, June 15 - Spurred on by rising
crude prices, the shares of Canada's oil producers have posted
big gains in recent months as investors anticipate higher
earnings for the sector.




But that market strength may moderate as a rising Canadian
dollar eats into the profits.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

RPT-TREASURIES-Bonds in relief rally on tame core inflation

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 15 - U.S. government bond prices
staged a relief rally on Friday, cheered by benign data on core
inflation and weak consumer sentiment, which reduced prospects
of an interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve.




U.S. government bonds, which have been hammered by concerns
about inflation and fears of rising interest rates globally,
also got a reprieve from unexpectedly soft data on industrial
output and capacity utilization.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

US STOCKS-Wall St ends week on high note after tame CPI

(Reuters) - The Dow Jones industrial average was up 86.17
points, or 0.64 percent, to end unofficially at 13,639.89. The
Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 9.93 points, or 0.65
percent, to finish unofficially at 1,532.90. The Nasdaq
Composite Index was up 27.30 points, or 1.05 percent,
to close unofficially at 2,626.71.




For the week, the Dow climbed 1.61 percent, the S&P 500
gained 1.67 percent and the Nasdaq rose 2.07 percent.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Power companies want more US nuclear loan backing

(Reuters) - Those companies have pushed for a "nuclear renaissance" as
a way to meet growing U.S. electricity demand and also reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and U.S. reliance on foreign energy
sources.




But the wave of proposed nuclear plants may end up as a
trickle because financing such costly projects remains tough
for many power companies, even with a federal loan guarantee
program authorized in 2005 to promote new construction.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Penn National to be acquired in $6.1 billion deal

(Reuters) - The buyout comes amid a flurry of casino deals and fueled speculation that more are in the works.




The world's largest casino operator, Harrah's Entertainment Inc. , is in the process of being acquired by private equity firms for $17 billion, while smaller local operator Station Casinos Inc. is in midst of a $5.4 billion management-led buyout.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Cenbanks shouldn't target asset bubbles-Yellen

(Reuters) - WALTHAM, Massachusetts, June 15 - Central banks
should be prepared to respond to events that could have
systemic risks but should not try to "prick" asset bubbles with
tighter monetary policy, San Francisco Federal Reserve
President Janet Yellen said on Friday.




"It is exceptionally difficult to distinguish 'bubbles'
from fundamental-based booms and monetary actions impose
certain short-run costs for very uncertain future gains,"
Yellen said in comments prepared for a panel discussion at
Brandeis University's International Business School.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

South Africa Rand Gains for First Week in Six After Moody's Rating Comment

(Bloomberg) -- The rand posted its first weekly
gain against the dollar in six as Moody's Investors Service said
the country's credit rating may be put on review for a possible
upgrade on waning concerns about the current-account deficit.

The rand also ended its worst run of weekly losses in a
year on speculation the central bank will raise interest rates
further. The Reserve Bank lifted its benchmark to 9.5 percent on
June 7, and Governor Tito Mboweni forecast inflation will hold
above the bank's target in the second quarter.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Dollar Drops Most Against Euro in More Than Month as Core Inflation Eases

(Bloomberg) -- The dollar fell the most against the
euro in more than a month on reports showing a measure of
consumer inflation rose less than economists forecast and
industrial production stalled last month.

The yield advantage of benchmark Treasuries over comparable
German bunds narrowed, reducing the appeal of dollar-denominated
assets. The yen weakened to an all-time low against the euro as
Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui said the central bank
needed to be ``more confident'' about price increases before
raising rates.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Oil Rises to $68 on Concern Refiners Will Fail to Meet U.S. Fuel Demand

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil in New York rose, touching
$68 a barrel, on concern that U.S. refiners will be unable to
keep up with growing gasoline demand.

Valero Energy Corp. shut a unit at its Corpus Christi,
Texas, refinery yesterday, according to a state-administered Web
site. Refineries in the U.S. and Canada have unexpectedly shut
units this spring, paring gasoline production for the peak-demand
driving season. U.S. refineries reduced operating rates the past
three weeks, an Energy Department report on June 13 showed.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Global defaults stay below average for 40th month

(Reuters) - The two defaults bring the year-to-date total to 10,
affecting rated debt worth about $2 billion, the agency said.




The 12-month global corporate speculative-grade bond default
rate fell to 1.2 percent in May, from 1.25 percent in April,
well below its long-term average of 4.48 percent, S&P said.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Arcelor Mittal defends minority buyout offer

(Reuters) - The company has set an exchange ratio for the minority
shareholders of eight Arcelor Mittal shares for every seven
Arcelor shares.




Minority shareholders, who hold some 6 percent of Arcelor,
have vehemently opposed these terms and have threatened legal
action. They say the terms are less attractive than in the
original offer to shareholders about a year ago.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Low debt a boon for new Canada grain giant- ex-CEO

(Reuters) - Agricore, created through a takeover of its own in 2001,
was slated to be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange as
early as Friday after it was officially swallowed by smaller
rival Saskpool this week.




"They've got a great balance sheet, great people, great
systems at a time when ... the world's your oyster," said
Hayward, 51, who was a grain industry CEO for 17 years.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

US STOCKS-Indexes pare gains on sentiment, then rebound

(Reuters) - The Dow Jones industrial average was up 107.55
points, or 0.79 percent, at 13,661.27. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index was up 11.97 points, or 0.79 percent, at
1,534.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 23.40
points, or 0.90 percent, at 2,622.81.




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Canadian Stocks Rise on Commodity Takeover Speculation; Western Oil Gains

(Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks rose on speculation
there will be more takeovers of commodity producers, after Areva SA
offered to buy uranium explorer UraMin Inc. and Total SA was
reported to be preparing a bid for Western Oil Sands Inc.

Global demand for energy and metals has helped commodities
rise to record prices, while historically low borrowing costs have
fueled a takeover boom. That helped the Canada's main stock index,
of which almost half is commodity-related, rise to a record June 4.
Gains today were limited as copper prices fell.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Oil Rises to $68 on Concern Refiners Won't Meet U.S. Demand for Gasoline

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil in New York was little
changed amid concern that U.S. refiners will be unable to keep
up with growing gasoline demand.

Valero Energy Corp. shut a unit at its Corpus Christi,
Texas, refinery yesterday, according to a state-administered Web
site. Refineries in the U.S. and Canada have unexpectedly shut
units this spring, paring gasoline production for the peak-demand
driving season. U.S. refineries reduced operating rates the past
three weeks, an Energy Department report on June 13 showed.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Hewlett-Packard, Plains Exploration Lead U.S. Bond Sales of $17.3 Billion

(Bloomberg) -- Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's
largest personal-computer maker, and Plains Exploration &
Production Co. led companies in selling $17.3 billion of U.S.
corporate bonds this week, half the amount of last week, as rising
Treasury yields drove up the cost of borrowing.

Sales fell from $34.6 billion last week and a weekly average
of $25.3 billion this year, according to Bloomberg data. Hewlett-
Packard, based in Palo Alto, California, sold $2 billion of notes
to refinance costlier debt. Oil-and-gas producer Plains
Exploration of Houston issued $600 million of bonds to repay debt
used to finance an acquisition.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

US STOCKS-Wall St opens higher after mild US CPI data

(Reuters) - The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.03 percent or
26.70 points, at 2,626.11, boosted by positive broker comments
on technology bellwether Intel Corp. .




The Dow Jones industrial average was up 94.30
points, or 0.70 percent, at 13,648.02. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index was up 10.71 points, or 0.70 percent, at
1,533.68.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Metals slip after copper stock rise

(Reuters) - Industrial metals slipped in early London Metal Exchange business on Friday after a threatened mine strike in Mexico was called off and stocks of unused copper in Shanghai rose.

Copper for delivery in three months, often seen as a benchmark for the metals market and a gauge of economic growth in general, was down $75 at $7,390 per tonne at the end of the official open outcry session after earlier falling to $7,335.


Read more at Reuters Africa

US RATE FUTURES-Trim losses on calm May core CPI

(Reuters) - U.S. core consumer prices, stripped of food and energy,
rose by 0.1 percent in May and the year-on-year core rose by
2.2 percent, below expectations.




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

US Q1 current account widens to $192.6 bln

(Reuters) - The department also significantly lowered its estimate of
the 2006 current account gap to $811.5 billion, from $856.7
billion previously reported. It also lowered its estimate of
the current account deficit for other years dating back to
2001, while raising estimates for the years 1997 through 2000.




The department said the revisions reflected newly available
source data and a methodological change.


Read more at Reuters.com Economic News

Bids for Home Depot's supply group due Friday-source

(Reuters) - Several groups of private equity firms showed initial
interest, but have since faded from the picture as the division
has been hit by a housing market slowdown, according to sources
close to the deal.




A group consisting of Thomas H. Lee Partners and
CCMP Capital was among the remaining parties interested in the
company, but as of Friday morning it was still unclear whether
they would bid, the source involved with the deal said.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Sudan's Economy Will Weather U.S. Sanctions, Central Bank Governor Says

(Bloomberg) -- Sudanese central bank Governor Sabir
Mohamed Hassan said an extension of sanctions against the East
African nation announced by President George W. Bush last month
will fail to dent economic growth, which is surging at more than
10 percent a year.

``More than 50 percent of our trade is with the Far East
because of the pressure we have been getting from the West,''
Hassan said yesterday in an interview in the capital Khartoum.
``Over time we were able to disengage from the West and we found
it easier and safer to deal with the East.''


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Russian Stocks Upgraded to `Equal Weight' by Morgan Stanley Strategists

(Bloomberg) -- Investors should buy Russian stocks
such as OAO Mobile TeleSystems because the equity market has
dropped to a level that's ``more appropriate given high
political and corporate-governance risk,'' Morgan Stanley said.

Strategists led by Jonathan Garner, London-based head of
global emerging-markets strategy, raised their recommendation on
Russian stocks to ``equal weight'' from ``underweight,'' which
means that investors should hold the country's shares in line
with the country's weighting in international indexes.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

EADS Needs to Offer Russia `Serious' Cooperation Agreements, Ivanov Says

(Bloomberg) -- European Aeronautic, Defense & Space
Co., the parent company of Airbus SAS, isn't yet offering Russia
a satisfactory role to meet aerospace-industry cooperation
pledges, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said.

``If we talk about a strategic partnership here, we have to
have serious agreements and have a clear prospect'' of joint work
backed by officials in EADS's home markets of France and Germany,
Ivanov said in an interview June 13 at his Moscow office.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

UPDATE 1-Tokyo bourse buys 4.99 pct of Singapore exchange

(Reuters) - Despite being the world's second-largest economy, Japan
accounts for just 9 percent of global equity trading volume, and
has been losing investors to other markets partly because it has
not punched its weight in derivatives, commodities and other
complex products.




To catch up with other global bourses, the TSE has been
mulling alliances and acquisitions.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

UPDATE 1-Shanghai Port set to finalise Belgian buy -sources

(Reuters) - SIPG signed a framework agreement in September to buy 40
percent of a container terminal in Zeebrugge, Belgium, that was
built by APM Terminals, part of A.P. Moeller-Maersk Group
, for about 45 million euros .




The purchase would mark Shanghai International Port's first
major acquisition abroad and is likely to be part of a series of
overseas acquisitions by the company in the next few years, the
sources said.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Treasuries Fall, Heading for Sixth Weekly Decline, Before Inflation Report

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasuries fell, heading for a
sixth weekly decline, as a government report today will probably
show inflation accelerated last month.

Yields on benchmark 10-year bonds rose 13 basis points to
5.239 percent this week, while those on Treasury Inflation
Protected Securities increased 9 points to 2.79 percent,
signaling increased concern about gains in consumer prices.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Yen Declines Against Dollar, Euro as Fukui Signals Gradual Rate Increases

(Bloomberg) -- The yen fell to a 4 1/2-year low
against the dollar and a one-week low against the euro as Bank
of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui said the central bank will
raise the overnight lending rate only gradually.

The currency also slid against the New Zealand and
Australian dollars after policy makers unanimously decided to
keep the benchmark rate at 0.5 percent for a fifth meeting. The
lowest borrowing costs in the industrialized world encouraged
investors to take out loans in Japan and buy higher-yielding
assets in so-called carry trades.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Philippine Remittances Increase at the Fastest Pace in 4 Months in March

(Bloomberg) -- Remittances from Filipinos working
abroad rose in April at the fastest pace in four months as more
people found jobs overseas.

Money sent back to the Philippines rose 32.6 percent from a
year earlier to $1.2 billion, the central bank said in a
statement in Manila today. That's the fastest pace since
December and follows a 26.4 percent gain in March.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

UPDATE 1-Qatari fund raises Sainsbury stake to 25 pct

(Reuters) - Delta Ltd, a vehicle of the Qatari royal family, said in a statement
it had purchased 123 million shares in British supermarket chain Sainsbury, or a
further 7.07 percent stake, at 595 pence per share.




Property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz, with a 5.07 percent Sainsbury stake, has
said he wants the supermarket chain to release real estate assets.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Oil sector, moderate inflation boost US stock indexes

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as a 2 percent gain in oil prices boosted shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. and other energy companies while data showing moderate inflation lifted optimism about the economy.

Exxon's stock led the major advancers in the S&P 500 as crude rose on gasoline supply concerns.


Read more at Reuters Africa