LONDON (Alliance News) - Glencore Xstrata said Monday it has agreed to sell its interest in the Las Bambas copper project in Peru to a Chinese consortium including MMG, Guoxin International Investment Corp and CITIC Metal Co for USD5.85 billion in cash.
The deal is part of an agreement to win Chinese regulatory approval for its USD29 billion takeover of Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata in May last year
In UK economic news, UK house prices rose to a record high due to the lack of property coming for sale in April, data from the property tracking website Rightmove showed. Asking prices increased at a pace of 7.3% year-on-year in April, the highest since October 2007 and takes it back to pre-credit crunch levels.
Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: Down 0.3% at 6,541.79
FTSE 250: Down 0.3% at 15,848.96
AIM ALL-SHARE: Flat at 835.06
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Hang Seng: Up 0.1% at 23,034.01
Nikkei 225: Closed down 0.4% at 13,910.16
DJIA: Closed down 0.9% at 16,026.75
S&P 500: Closed down 1.0% at 1815.69
Nasdaq: Closed down 1.3% at 3,999.734
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GBP-USD: Down at USD1.6733
EUR-USD: Down at USD1.3848
GOLD: Up at USD1,328.43 per ounce
OIL (Brent): Up at USD108.19 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Monday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times British Summer Time)
09:00 Italy Consumer Price Index
10:00 EU Industrial Production
13:30 US Retail Sales
15:00 US Business Inventories
17:45 EU ECB Governing Council Member Noyer speech
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UK house prices rose to a record high due to the lack of property coming for sale in April, data from the property tracking website Rightmove showed. Asking prices increased at a pace of 7.3% year-on-year in April, the highest since October 2007 and takes it back to pre-credit crunch levels. This follows a 6.8% rise reported for March. The availability of mortgage finance coupled with property shortages exacerbated house prices. The monthly growth held steady at 2.6% in April.
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Pro-Russian separatists must lay down their weapons and leave the police stations and administrative buildings in eastern Ukraine they are occupying or a large-scale army operation will be launched against them, Ukraine's president said. The separatists had until 9 am (0600 GMT) to meet the demands, Turchynov said, adding that he had signed a decree promising they would not face prosecution unless they had fired upon Ukrainian security forces.
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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has suggested that the more than three-year-old civil war in his country is tilting in favour of his government. "There is a turning point in the Syrian crisis. Militarily, the army has made successive accomplishments in the war against terrorism," he told a gathering of students in the capital Damascus, according to Syria's official news agency SANA. While al-Assad has faced an unprecedented rebellion since 2011, his troops, backed by fighters from the allied Lebanese Shiite Movement Hezbollah, have in recent months regained opposition-held strongholds, mainly near the border with Lebanon.
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Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lashed out at the head of the Constitutional Court, as tensions rise between the country's chief judicial body and the government. In a veiled reference to Hasim Kilic, the head of the court, Erdogan called for a judge who wants to get involved in politics to "take off your robe." The court this week issued a ruling overturning key parts of a controversial new law that gave the justice minister more power over the judiciary, which civil rights groups argued risked politicizing the justice system.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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UBS CUTS ASHMORE GROUP TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY') - TARGET 350 (355) PENCE
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TRADERS: NUMIS RAISES JARDINE LLOYD THOMPSON TO 'ADD' ('HOLD')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Swiss commodities trader and miner Glencore Xstrata has agreed to sell its interest in the Las Bambas copper project in Peru to a Chinese consortium including MMG, Guoxin International Investment Corp and CITIC Metal Co for USD5.85 billion in cash. The consortium will reimburse all capital expenditure and other costs incurred in developing Las Bambas during the period between January 1 and the closing of the deal. As of the end of March, the capital expenditure and other costs incurred since January 1 stood at about USD400 million. Glencore is selling the Las Bambas project as part of an agreement to win Chinese regulatory approval for its USD29 billion takeover of Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata in May last year.
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UK-based drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline is facing a criminal probe in Poland for allegedly paying bribes to doctors to promote its asthma drug Seretide, BBC Panorama reported on Sunday. According to the report, eleven doctors and one of Glaxo's regional managers have been charged over alleged corruption between 2010 and 2012. The doctors were reportedly bribed to promote Seretide.
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Japan-based Orix Corp is considering bidding for Asia-focused lender Standard Chartered's consumer credit unit in Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported citing two people familiar matter. Orix may seek to team up with another investor to acquire PrimeCredit Ltd. Standard Chartered wants to sell the unit for about USD700 million, almost three times book value, and plans to compile a shortlist of potential bidders this month, the report said quoting the people.
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COMPANIES - ALL-SHARE AND AIM
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Quintain Estates & Developments has created a joint venture with Keystone Developers SA, a subsidiary of Swiss private equity business Keystone Group Holdings, to deliver the next phase of its residential development at Wembley Park. Earlier this year, the London property investment and development specialists secured planning permission for 475 apartments near Wembley Park in North London.
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Punch Taverns has brought in an independent corporate restructuring expert to aid long-running discussions over its GBP2.3 billion debt mountain, The Sunday Telegraph reported without saying where it got the information. Dean Merritt, from Talbot Hughes McKillop, is representing the companies that issued Punch?s debt, amid hopes a deal that is agreeable to all lenders and shareholders can be thrashed out by the beginning of next month, the newspaper reports.
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Carr's Milling Industries H1 Pretax Profit GBP10.1M Vs GBP9.9M, H1 Revenue GBP214.7M Vs GBP231.6M, Interim Dividend 8.5p Vs 7.75p, To Meet FY Expectations, Says H2 Has Begun Well.
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Pentagon Protection is in talks with several parties about providing short term financing or other alternatives, to alleviate constraints on its working capital. Although it has a "relatively health sales pipeline" in each of its divisions, Pentagon said the timing of contract milestones and the conversion of new contracts has led to a deterioration in its cash.
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Iodine producer Iofina has started production at two more extraction plants after getting the necessary regulatory approval. In a statement, the company said it has started production at IO#4 and IO#5. The company is constructing a sixth plant based on its wellhead extraction IoSorb technology, IO#6, and expects it to be completed in the second quarter of 2014. However, last month it said that would be the last plant to be built until it has completed a review that it hopes will improve its construction methods and reduce build costs.
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32Red has signed a three-year sponsorship agreement with Rangers International Football Club starting from the 2014/2015 season. The deal includes shirt sponsorship, extensive visibility at the club's ground and on its media platforms.
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SCISYS has won an operations contract with GMV Aerospace and Defence to provide the mission operations facility of a new geostationary weather satellite. The company said the expected value of the contract is about EUR1.8 million over the next six years, starting in the current reporting period.
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MP Evans FY Profit USD22.9M Vs USD21.6M, Raises Dividend To 8.25P, Up 0.25P, Says Price Prospects For Palm Oil, Beef Cattle Remain Favourable
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Networkers Intl FY Adjusted Pretax Profit GBP7.1M Vs GBP7.0M, FY Pretax Profit GBP6.3M Vs GBP5.7M, Final Dividend Up 54% To 1.00P, Total Dividend 1.70P Vs 1.25P
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Brooks Macdonald Group has acquired Jersey-based DPZ Capital Ltd from DPZ Holdings Ltd for up to GBP13.0 million, including about GBP1.0 million of net current assets, in a move designed to bolster the wealth manager's discretionary funds under management and international presence. The AIM-listed wealth manager said the acquisition increases pro forma discretionary funds under management by GBP360.0 million to GBP6.04 billion.
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Real Estate Investors has acquired 33 Bennetts Hill in Birmingham city centre for GBP1.6 million in cash from commercial property consultants GVA, acting on behalf of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC. The West Midlands-based property group said the listed building comprises 8,127 square feet and was formerly the original branch of Midlands Bank.
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Omega Diagnostics Group says it met expectations for its last financial year, with revenues and adjusted pretax profit ahead of the previous year. The medical diagnostics company expects to post revenues of GBP11.6 million for the year to end-March, up from GBP11.3 million a year earlier, as a strong performance in its food intolerance division offset declines in its allergy and autoimmune division and its infectious disease division. It expects pretax profit, excluding acquisition costs, share based payments and amortisation, to be around GBP1.1 million, up from GBP276,224 in the previous year.
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StratMin Global Resources Has Repaid Its GBP750,000 Darwin Convertible Loan Instrument, Says It Wont Draw Down On Second Trache Of Its Darwin Convertible Loan Instrument
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Ortac Resources Says Rock Chip Sampling in Eritrea Shows Gold Up To 23 Grammes per Tonne
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Monday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs
Novae Group
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By Steve McGrath; steve.mcgrath@alliancenews.com; @stevemcgrath1
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