12th Oct 2015 10:08
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Monday.
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COMPANIES
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Commodities trader and miner Glencore said it has begun a process to sell its wholly-owned Cobar copper mine in Australia and Lomas Bayas copper mine in Chile. The company said the sale process is in response to receiving a number of "unsolicited expressions of interest for these mines from various potential buyers". The process may or may not result in a sale, Glencore noted, and it said it will issue an update only in the event that a sale is agreed or a disclosure "is otherwise required".
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Meanwhile, Rio Tinto said it won't cut copper production, according to a Financial Times report. The miner said it would not be logical to hold back output and leave space in the market for rivals with higher costs, the report said.
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European regulators are investigating whether airlines are being forced to enter anti-competitive contracts to keep their 24,000 aircraft flying, according to a Financial Times report from Friday. The investigation comes as equipment makers look to make money in the US60 billion maintenance and repair market, the report said. The report said that the European Commission wrote to airlines and aircraft component manufacturers. The Commission wants information about the provisions being written into service contracts. Shares in Rolls-Royce, which offers such contracts for its jet engines, were down 4.3%.
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Babcock International Group, said it has been awarded one new contract by the UK Ministry of Defence, plus an expansion of a second contract, together worth GBP100 million of revenue per year. The company has been awarded a five-year contract for engineering services to the Royal Navy at air stations in the south west of England. The aviation and engineering support and aircraft services contract includes the provision of forward maintenance and aircraft engineering for Merlin, Sea King, Lynx and Wildcat helicopters, general airfield engineering services and support to aircraft operations.
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Anheuser-Busch InBev is expected to increase its GBP65 billion offer for SABMiller early this week, The Times reported. Citing sources close to AB InBev, the newspaper said the brewer was likely to table an improved offer valuing SABMiller at GBP43 to GBP44 per share before the 1700 BST deadline on Wednesday. Its current offer stands at GBP42.15 per share. The stock closed Friday at 3,668.50 pence. The report said that AB InBev is understood to be willing to move closer to GBP70 billion. However, the brewer is prepared to walk away if concessions are not made by SABMiller.
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A group of American pension and investment funds have launched a multimillion-dollar legal action against Tesco over its GBP263 million accounting scandal, The Times reported. The complaint was filed in Ohio's federal southern district court on Wednesday last week, the newspaper said. It was brought by Western & Southern Life Insurance Co, Western & Southern Financial Group, Integrity Life Insurance and Touchstone Strategic Trust.
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Royal Bank of Scotland Group is looking to buy more than GBP13 billion of mortgages up for sale by the UK government, The Sunday Times reported. According to the report, RBS, which is majority owned by the UK government, is battling with US hedge fund Cerberus and Spanish lender Sabadell for the deal. Sabadell recently TSB Banking Group in the UK. The 13,000 home loans in question fell into government ownership since failed lender Northern Rock was nationalised seven years ago. Assets from collapsed lender Bradford & Bingley are also up for grabs.
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HSBC Holdings is facing a behind-the-scenes push for reform from a cadre of institutional shareholders, The Times reported. The report said the shareholders in question have concerns about the way the business is being run. They are said also to be be frustrated by the bank's underperformance.
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European investment banks ought to think about merging to compete with US rivals, Barclays Chairman John McFarlane said, the Financial Times reported. "If you did want to create an investment banking champion for Europe, you would have to combine the investment banking arms of the main players, but you would have to swallow really hard and you would need political support," John McFarlane told the FT.
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Jupiter Fund Management said it attracted GBP77 million of total net inflows into its funds in the third quarter, bolstered by its mutual funds. In a statement, the fund manager said mutual fund net inflows amounted to GBP196 million in the three months to September 30, which together with GBP23 million of net inflows into investment trusts more than offset GBP142 million net outflows from segregated mandates. Overall, assets under management fell to GBP33.53 billion at the end of September, from GBP34.33 billion three months previously, with GBP884 million lost due to market movement and performance.
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Carillion reiterated confidence in achieving its targets for 2015 and ending the year with strong revenue visibility for 2016, as it said it has secured business worth around GBP1.7 billion since the end of its first half. Carillion said it has signed contracts, secured preferred bidder positions and been awarded frameworks worth around GBP1.7 billion since the end of June.
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Bank of Georgia Holdings is set to spin off its healthcare subsidiary in a float on the London Stock Exchange, according to statements. Georgia Healthcare Group intends to raise USD100 million when it floats on the exchange, while Bank of Georgia Holdings wants to sell an unspecified number of existing shares through its intermediate holding company. A further 10% of the total number of shares being sold under the offering will be made available to shareholders by Bank of Georgia Holdings in the form of an over-allotment option. Bank of Georgia Holdings is looking to crystallise its investment in the healthcare subsidiary, according to Chief Executive Irakli Gilauri, who also acts as chairman of Georgia Healthcare Group.
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MARKETS
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UK indices were trading mixed to lower on a light day in the economic calendar, with Glencore dominating the headlines after confirming an auction of two copper mines as it seeks to reduce its debt pile.
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FTSE 100: down 0.6% at 6,379.03
FTSE 250: down 0.4% at 17,023.03
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 736.50
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GBP: up at USD1.5343 (USD1.5311)
EUR: up at USD1.1393 (USD1.1365)
GOLD: up at USD1,165.34 per ounce (USD1,157.80)
OIL (Brent): up at USD52.94 a barrel (USD52.51)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The US and Russia held talks on measures to avoid accidents in Syrian airspace. During the 90-minute video conference, representatives from the US Defence Department and the Russian Ministry of Defence focused on safety procedures for both countries' military aircraft operating over Syria. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement that "progress was made" during the talks and the two sides agreed to future discussions. In recent weeks Russia has opened up an air campaign in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as the US continues its own air sorties against the Islamic State in Syria.
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Two Royal Air Force personnel were among five killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan late Sunday, the British government said. The helicopter crashed "due to a non-hostile incident" while landing at a NATO headquarters in the capital Kabul, the alliance said. "The incident is currently under investigation but we can confirm that it was an accident and not the result of insurgent activity," a Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said. The nationalities of the other three victims have not been released. Five others were injured in the crash.
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The worst attack in Turkey's modern history, a twin bombing of a pro-Kurdish peace rally that killed at least 95 people, exacerbated political tensions, three weeks before parliamentary elections. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Saturday's "heinous attack" in Ankara, but some of the people who rallied in several cities to protest the bombings chanted slogans calling him a "murderer." The pro-Kurdish opposition People's Democratic Party, which was one of the organizers of Saturday's rally, saw itself as the target of the attack and held the government accountable.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; [email protected]; @ArvindBhunjun
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