18 10 / 2011
UPDATE 1-Abu Dhabi’s IPIC H1 profit surges on investment gains
* IPIC total debt $31.8 bln; total assets $61.8 bln at June
30* Aabar raised Virgin Galactic stake to 37.8 pct -
prospectus
(Recasts with earnings, adds details)DUBAI, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi’s International
Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) saw its first-half profit nearly
triple as the energy-focused investment vehicle posted gains on
its financial investments, an updated bond prospectus showed.IPIC, which has stakes in Spain’s Cepsa and Austrian oil
group OMV , posted a $424 million gain on financial
instruments, compared with a loss of $1.1 billion for the
year-ago period, boosting profit after tax to $1.16 billion from
$413 million a year ago.Revenue rose 17 percent to $8.63 billion.State-owned IPIC, which has $61.8 billion in total assets,
gave a 7.3 billion dirhams ($2.0 bln) interest-free loan to its
unit Aabar in September, the prospectus showed. Unlisted IPIC
had raised the funds via an unsecured conventional loan, it
said.Aabar bought Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank’s (ADCB) 25
percent stake in Malaysian group RHB Capital earlier
this year. Sources told Reuters earlier this month that Aabar
would get a $1.9 billion loan through its parent IPIC from ADCB
to pay for the deal.The prospectus also showed Aabar has raised its stake in
Virgin Galactic to 37.8 percent from 31.8 percent after
investing a further $110 million in the company.IPIC, which has a mandate to invest in the energy sector,
had a total debt of $31.8 billion, according to the prospectus.
It has received six equity contributions from Abu Dhabi
totalling $3.5 billion since inception, the last of which was in
2008.IPIC will kick off investor meetings in Germany on Oct. 19
for a potential bond issue. .It tapped global debt markets in March when it raised about
$4 billion in three-tranche euro and sterling-denominated bonds
to fund its Cepsa acquisition.Earlier this month, IPIC also raised its stake in OMV to
24.9 percent.
($1 = 3.673 UAE Dirhams)
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18 10 / 2011
REFILE-GLOBAL MARKETS-German comments sap sentiment,send markets lower
* Euro off 1-month high vs dollar, oil eases but gold steady* Spreads on iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment grade index
widenBy Chikako MogiTOKYO, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Asian stocks and commodities fell
on Tuesday after Germany’s finance minister cautioned against
hopes for a quick fix to Europe’s debt problem, reminding
investors not to become too optimistic about a rapid development
to the two-year-old crisis.Investors rushed to seek protection in the options market
against losses, with the CBOE Volatility index VIX —
Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge — rising 18.2 percent to
33.39 on Monday, its highest one-day jump since August.In Asian credit markets, spreads on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan
investment grade index , another gauge for whether
investor risk appetite is returning, were about 12 basis points
wider early on Tuesday, after tightening by about 26 points over
the past week on hopes of progress in Europe.Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said on
Monday that even though European governments would adopt a
five-point platform to address the crisis, a definitive solution
would not be reached at the Oct. 23 European Union summit.This came in the heels of a Group of 20 meeting of finance
ministers in Paris the past weekend, which had raised
expectations that European banks would be recapitalised, and the
region’s bailout fund expanded to deal with a potential debt
default by Greece.”Although markets were not expecting the debt crisis to be
resolved overnight, shares prices are likely to succumb to
profit-taking after a rally,” said Hiroichi Nishi, equity
general manager at SMBC Nikko Securities.MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan
fell 1.2 percent, with the materials sector
in the MSCI index slumping more than 2 percent.The Nikkei stock average opened down 1.4 percent,
while Australian shares were down 1.6 percent.World stocks, as measured by the MSCI’s all-country world
equity index , fell 1 percent, and U.S. stocks
suffered their worst loss in two weeks on Monday, with the Dow
Jones industrial average down 2.12 percent.The MSCI have recovered from 15-month lows by more than 10
percent in the past nine days, on growing expectations Europe
was finally accelerating efforts to resolve its debt crisis.The euro fell from a one-month high against the dollar of
$1.39148 hit on Monday.Oil was also lower, with Brent crude down 0.2
percent to $109.90 a barrel and U.S. crude futures down
0.2 percent at $86.19.Retreating appetite for risks benefited government bonds,
with 10-year U.S. Treasuries gaining 23/32 in price
to yield 2.17 percent on Monday.The declines in the markets may be limited given a lack of
rush into other assets perceived as safe-haven.Gold was flat and the dollar index was also
little changed.
18 10 / 2011
Knicks centre Turiaf joins French club during lock-out
Turiaf will join San Antonio Spur and three-times NBA champion Tony Parker at ASVEL after Nicolas Batum (Portland Trail Blazers) joined Nancy, Pape Sy (Atlanta Hawks) signed with Gravelines, Ian Mahinmi (Dallas Mavericks) went to Le Havre and Boris Diaw (Charlotte Bobcats) joined second division Bordeaux.The NBA canceled the first two weeks of the regular season last week after owners and players were unable to resolve a bitter labor dispute.NBA Commissioner David Stern warned that the entire season could be in jeopardy if significant progress toward a collective agreement was not make this week.
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13 10 / 2011
UPDATE 1-Australia court stops sale of Samsung tablets in Apple dispute
* Ban applies until court rules on core patent rowBy Narayanan Somasundaram and Amy PyettSYDNEY, Oct 13 (Reuters) - An Australian court slapped a
temporary ban on the sale of Samsung Electronics’
latest computer tablet in the Australian market on Thursday,
handing rival Apple another legal victory in the two
firms’ global patent war.The two technology firms have been locked in an acrimonious
battle in nine countries involving smartphone and tablet patents
since April, with the Australian dispute centring on
touch-screen technology used in Samsung’s new Galaxy tablet.”I am satisfied that it is appropriate to grant an interim
injunction, however I propose again the opportunity of an early
final hearing on the issues presented in this application,”
Justice Annabelle Bennett told the court.The Federal Court’s ban on sales of the Galaxy 10.1 tablet
applies until it rules on the core patent issue in dispute,
which could take months and force Samsung to miss the Christmas
gift-giving season in Australia.Samsung has said that the product’s viability in the
Australian market would be killed off if it missed Christmas.The Australian ruling follows Apple’s successfully legal
move to block Samsung from selling its tablets in Germany and
some smartphone models in the Netherlands. It comes ahead of
important hearings in the United States and South Korea.Samsung has so far been reluctant to agree to an expedited
Australian court hearing of the core patent dispute, despite the
risk of missing out on Christmas sales, because it said it needs
time to prepare a proper defence against Apple’s claims.
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