International Business News

UBS has hired Andrea Orcel, head of mergers and major acquisitions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Europe, to co-direct its investment banking activities alongside Carsten Kengeter.

The Swiss bank said Andrea Orcel, an Italian who has orchestrated some of the largest European banking in recent years, would take up his new duties July 1.

At UBS, he worked under the supervision of one of his former colleagues from Merrill Lynch, Sergio Ermotti, now CEO of Swiss number one industry. 

Andrea Orcel, a forty who is fluent in four languages, have served more than 20 years at Merrill Lynch, where he was appointed manager in September 2009, Global Banking and Markets, a year after s acquisition by Bank of America.

The new recruit UBS is one of the celebrities from the world of investment banking. This is among others in the past occupied the Dutch takeover of ABN Amro by Royal Bank of Scotland and helped to strengthen the capital of Italian Unicredit.

In 2008, he received total compensation of nearly $ 34 million (26 million).

"It is effective, even ruthless when it comes to getting things done. There is a good chance that some of his customers leave with him (at UBS), "said one banker who has worked on several transactions in which Andrea Orcel intervened

. "It always provokes a strong reaction from customers: they either love it or they hate it."

.. …… Bank of America declined to comment

. The U.S. group will also experience the departure of another of its officials, Jonathan Moulds, president for Europe and Canada, who will retire end of June according to an internal memo that was procured Reuters

The station

. Jonathan Moulds Andrea Orcel was proposed but the latter preferred to leave at UBS, said a source familiar with the matter. 

Bank of America is currently under pressure from some shareholders who demand a better performance while four of the six quarters ended in losses and its stock price was battered last year.

BofA has cut jobs in recent weeks in its equities and securitized mortgage loans according to sources familiar with the matter.

Management should be next month how the cost reduction plan launched at the group level will affect the activities of capital markets, asset management and retail banking.

European shares are wait-Thursday at mid-session, pausing near eight-month peaks, investors apparently waiting for confirmation of a more general economic before pushing the rating further.

In this regard, a volley of U.S. indicators that fall into the afternoon, particularly the weekly jobless claims, will perhaps clarify their ideas. Stakeholders on Wall Street seem to bet they'll be good since the index contracts suggest an opening up.

Following the example of the general trend, the CAC 40 gained just 0.02% to 3565.15. "It may be that up a bit as we approach the weekend, we have good momentum and we could leverage with U.S. statistics, if they are better than pre seen, "said Peter Grandy (Saxo Bank).

The U.S. jobless claims may become more important than usual because of recent strong U.S. data and explain that investors have once again risk appetite.

Values, Alstom wins 2% to 32.185 euros. The CEO declined to comment on "speculation" evoking an interest of his group for wind turbine manufacturers.

Several European newspapers have reported in recent days that Alstom was considering the possibility to purchase the German REpower, owned by the Indian Suzlon Energy, Spanish or Danish Vestas Gamesa.

Gamesa wins Vestas 2.57% and 5.53%.

Lufthansa fell 0.8%. The airline announced Thursday a further reduction of its expansion plans and warned that its operating profit would probably decline in 2012 due to economic uncertainty, the renché ; dieback fuel and possible unrest.

Rapid closure of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant, in Alsace, the grid could put a strain on both sides of the Rhine and raise prices during peak demand, believe analysts and traders polled by Reuters.

Francois Hollande promised, if he wins the presidential election in May, to close the oldest nuclear power plant the French fleet which, besides its 34 years of service, is also trè ; s criticized because of its location in a seismic zone.

But the Socialist candidate did not say when, and this schedule will be critical to network operators as to the market as they will need several months to adjust. 

Bernard Cazeneuve, in charge of energy with the candidate Francois Hollande, declined to comment on the consequences of closing Fessenheim.

If, in case of victory, Francois Hollande kept his promise in the wake of its accession to the Elysee, the French offer of electricity could shrink and prices s' fly to favor consumption peaks during which France is already operating at full production capacity, according to traders.

In France, each degree Celsius less on the thermometer causes an increase of 2,300 megawatts (MW) of electricity consumption, equivalent to twice the consumption of a city Marseille as a third of French homes are heated with electric heaters. 

During the cold snap in February, the French electricity demand hit a record 101,700 MW, 105 MW more than the country's production. Prices have skyrocketed and electricity transmission network (RTE), the network manager, was forced to ask consumers to reduce the maximum use of their devices é ; electric.

A decline in nuclear output could increase the deficit during the next peak consumption.

EDF, which manages 58 French reactors, and RTE did not wish to comment on the impact of a shutdown of Fessenheim on offer.

"We see every year a new record demand, so close Fessenheim certainly mean higher prices and risks for the supply of winter," said a trader based in electricity london. 

Traders and analysts said that France, the leading exporter of electricity in Europe, will not take the risk to close Fessenheim until you have installed production capacity sufficient to offset this loss.

"Fessenheim close perhaps in 2017, and the impact on prices will then depend on the ability of France had to quickly build wind farms, gas-fired unit and ; s biomass to compensate for the lost electricity, "said the trader in London.

At Flamanville (Manche), in 2007 EDF began construction of a new EPR nuclear reactor of 1650 MW. Delayed by 4 years, its commissioning is scheduled for 2016.

"If the EPR is again delayed, this could complicate things," said another trader.

SECURE SUPPLY

GERMAN

Also, if Fessenheim closed in 2012, Germany would face supply problems.

"If we close Fessenheim, there will be a real problem to secure supplies at local level on the southwest of Germany," said Fabien Roques, head of research at the company IHS CERA council.

"Fessenheim really brings (to Germany) production at a specific location on the network for managing peak demand during cold snaps," he added.

The plant, located between Mulhouse and Freiburg, has a capacity of 1,800 megawatts. 

After the disaster of Fukushima, Japan in March 2011, Germany decided to close eight of its 17 nuclear reactors, four of which were located in the south-west , a heavily populated area that is home to large cities such as Stuttgart and Heidelberg.

This region is now importing more electricity from the north – which produces massive electricity from wind – but also from France, Belgium and Luxembourg, according to analysts.

A spokesman for EnBW Transportnetze, the electricity transmission network in south-west Germany, confirmed to Reuters that a closure of Fessenheim would impact on its network . Should be used more frequently to production sites and non-nuclear alternative to maintain balance in the region, she said.

Main black spot, a plant closure could jeopardize Alsatian drawing rights granted to the German supplier E.ON, 800 MW from the central French Fessenheim and Cattenom, also near the German border .

These rights could be redirected to other stations, said a spokesman for the German utility, adding that the exchange agreement may be renegotiated between the two countries.

Doubts about the effectiveness of the plan of aid to Greece and rising oil prices weighed on the market

actions on Monday and promoted the decline of the safe havens, but the relative strength of Wall Street and rising values ​​

Oil and defensive allowed European markets to limit their losses late in the session.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index closed lower by 0.31% to 1,073.81 points but well above its low of the day.

In Paris the CAC 40 dropped 0.74% to 3441.45. Among the other major European markets, London has sold 0.33%, Frankfurt

0.22% and 1.09% Milan.

Before German lawmakers met to discuss aid to Athens, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the effectiveness of

plan reached last week was not 100% guaranteed. The Bundestag, however, adopted the plan of aid to Greece.

Doubts about the evolution of the debt crisis have encouraged profit-taking, including penalizing banking stocks.

The Stoxx sector index was down 1.42%, Societe Generale and UniCredit loser respectively 2.95% and 2.31%.

Meanwhile, the energy sector rose by 0.3% and that of food and drinks from 0.36%.

Rexel said Friday propose a dividend increase of 62.5% to € 0.65 per share for its fiscal 2011, the group that last year's record profitability including a 39% growth in net profit to 319 million euros.

In the current context of uncertainty, Rexel said he was confident of its ability to continue to generate organic growth in 2012 of its sales outside "copper effect" than the weighted average growth e of the GNP of the countries where the Group operates. 

"In this context, Rexel is also expected in 2012: to maintain a margin EBITA (earnings before tax, interest and depreciation) to a level at least equal to 5.7% achieved in 2011, generating a free cash flow before interest and taxes of around 600 million euros ", the group announced in a statement.

The EBITA margin rose 70 basis points last year, a figure better than expected since November, Rexel had repeated expect for 2011 an increase of at least 50 basis points of its EBITA margin in constant and adjusted. 

"In 2011, Rexel achieved very good performance: organic growth was strong, profitability reached a record high and we strengthened our presence in markets emerging while continuing deleveraging of the company, "said in a statement Jean-Charles Pauze, CEO of Rexel.

At the end of 2011, net debt of the company was reduced from 195.1 million euros and amounted to 2.078 billion euros, reducing its debt ratio on EBITDA (earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortization) of 3.19 to 2.4. 

The turnover of Rexel emerged up 6.3% to 12.717 billion euros, driven by strong growth of 7.4% of its business in North America while in Europe activity of the company rose 4.5%.

In an interview with Reuters, Jean-Charles Pauze, which will be replaced as head of the group by Rudy Provoost, had said in early January that Rexel was on track to double its sales business in emerging markets between 2010 and 2013, particularly through external growth.

The title, which lost 0.46% Thursday to 15.25 euros, has gained 15.5% since the beginning of the year, enabling the group to exceed four billion euro market capitalization.

The U.S. company Spirit Airlines confirmed Wednesday an order for 75 A320 aircraft manufacturer Airbus, valued at seven billion dollars (5.3 billion) at list prices. The MoU, which was announced in mid-November at the Dubai air show, includes 45 A320neo, the enhanced single-aisle Airbus, a subsidiary of europe ; in EADS. The company has not announced the engine selected, the aircraft manufacturer said in a statement. 45 A320neo have been recorded in the order book in December 2011. The success of the A320neo, more fuel efficient, has allowed Airbus to sell almost twice as many planes as its U.S. rival Boeing in 2011, although it acknowledges that it will be difficult to keep the advantage in 2012, with the response of 737MAX, improved version of the aisle of his American rival.

The new head of the Italian government announced the implementation of the reform of the labor market as well as delaying the retirement age to 67 years against 65 now. Mario Monti.

The new Italian Prime Mario Monti said on Thursday before the Senate that he intended to reform the pension system and labor market, two structural reforms demanded by the European Union and expected by the markets. The Italian pension system is one of the strongest in Europe but it has "ample disparities in treatment areas of unjustified privileges," he said. The Italian system is based on two pillars.

The system of "old age", in which the retirement age should increase to 67 in 2026, against 65 years now, thanks to reforms adopted in recent years such as providing for the gradual increase in the age based on life expectancy.

U.S. GDP grew by 2.5% in the third quarter, annualized. This level was accelerated by the rise in household consumption and private investment. Barack Obama at the press conference on July 15, 2011 on U.S. debt

GDP figures published Thursday in the United States show a marked improvement in U.S. growth and suggest a strengthening of the recovery, indispensable prelude to a decrease of mass unemployment affecting the country. The first estimate of Commerce, the U.S. domestic product grew in the third quarter from 2.5% annualized over the second. The number of government reflects a significant improvement over the spring which saw growth rise to 1.3% after falling 0.4% recorded in the first quarter.

The period July to September is the best quarter of the U.S. economy since the summer of 2010. The ministry said the growth was driven by the acceleration of private consumption and private investment excluding housing, which combined made up 3.3 point rise in GDP. The main obstacle to the improvement of gross domestic product was slowing, very strong, the increase in business inventories, which lost 1.1 points of growth.

Peter Newland, economist at Barclays Capital, the sharp change in stocks of summer is "a sign that companies have responded quickly to the weakness of domestic demand in the first half, and it is unlikely that [the slowdown in output stored] is repeated in the fourth quarter. "

The major European chemistry warned Thursday the announcement of their results as demand slowed in the construction sector, compounding their problems related to rising commodity prices.

BASF, the world leader in chemistry in terms of sales, announced Thursday a quarterly profit above expectations, but warned that its growth was slowing, clients sell their stocks.

"BASF's customers are more cautious, reduce inventory and postpone some of their orders in hopes of a possible drop in prices," explains the German group said in a statement.

The chemical sector is highly dependent on investments in highly cyclical sectors such as automotive or construction, which makes it more vulnerable to economic downturns.

In addition, the high cost of operation of its huge factories plunged the benefits as soon as the demand and the rate of capacity utilization decreases.

The slight decline in oil prices since last May, however, somewhat reduced the rising costs of certain petrochemical feedstocks.

"Europe seems to be the worst of markets.We were very pessimistic about the prospects for growth, assuming we can even talk about growth, "said Jan Hein de Vroe, an analyst at ING.

"They keep all their earnings forecasts, but they were at the base not very restrictive," he added.

OBJECTIVES LOWERED

The Belgian Solvay, which in September bought its French rival Rhodia, said the demand for vinyl and specialty chemicals had slowed, while maintaining its forecast of net profit up on its activities in plastics and products chemicals.

Rhodia also confirmed its own perspectives.The French group posted a recurring EBITDA (REBITDA) of 273 million euros against 235 million a year earlier. Its turnover was 1.67 billion euros against 1.36 billion a year earlier.

German Bayer has meanwhile indicated that its MaterialScience arm, which produces the clear plastic used for panoramic roofs coupe convertible SLK Mercedes (Daimler), this year would have an adjusted operating profit of 1.3 billion euros.

Bayer previously provided a similar result to that of last year (1.36 billion euros).The group justified the downward revision by higher prices of raw materials and energy.

Bayer, however, confirmed its outlook and published a comprehensive annual quarterly results better than expected thanks to strong growth in emerging markets.

Last week, Dutch AkzoNobel, the world leader in paints, had abandoned its 2011 profit target, involving the slowdown in economic growth and rising costs, including titanium dioxide (TiO2), a pigment white.

Tuesday, the American DuPont, which produces titanium dioxide, announced quarterly earnings higher than expected.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe announced Monday his intention to devote one third of the investments of the city housing next year. Housing is the recurrent problem of large cities.

One third of the total investment in the city of Paris will go to housing and 6,000 housing units will be funded in 2012, announced Monday the mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe in Paris with the Council in 2012 budget guidelines based on "solidarity". Before "crisis," said the mayor of Paris, the city "will intensify its efforts this year to promote solidarity and innovation."

As for 2011, "more than 2 billion euros" will be devoted to solidarity: "It is necessary to preserve and develop the diversity of Paris' Bertrand Delanoë argued, often accused by the UMP Paris to promote "most helpful and easier."

"Housing is about a third of our total investment. 6,000 housing units will be funded in 2012," Mr. Delanoë has announced. For the poor, "we will enhance our efforts to create, by 2014, 2,000 places of emergency shelter," pointing out that this type of accommodation 1700 "have already been funded." He also indicated that 940 nursery places would be funded in 2012 and the extension of the tramway to the door of the chapel is completed.

The UMP denounced the tax increases

On behalf of the UMP, Mayor Jean-Francois Legaret I found that these budget guidelines reflected "disarray" and denounced a "hype tax". "You have increased taxation in all its forms" said Mr Legaret who cited the "increasing every conceivable tax levied on Paris.""During that time, transfer taxes, which are not an adjustment value, represent an 1/7th of all revenue of the city and will likely reach one billion euro of revenue" he said .

For his part, chairman of the NC Yves Pozzo di Borgo attacked the "tax snake that chokes strangle businesses and households," and cited a study of the Paris workshop planning (APUR), which he , has "made the finding of an increasing gap in the territory with a poverty rate of 13.9%, to a regional average of 12.1%." The 2011 budget of the City of Paris in the amount of 7.7 billion euros, is the most important of all French communities.