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Nat Rothschild has declared himself the winner in the battle for Bumi plc. Investors will cast their votes on Thursday on Rothschild's plan to sack 12 of the 14 directors and install a new chairman and chief executive. The company has urged shareholders to reject his proposals. This weekend both sides were frantically courting the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, whose stake of more than 3% could be decisive. To win, Rothschild needs to secure just over half the voting shares. He and Tom Daniel, his cousin and a Bumi co-founder, have bought stock to increase their combined stake to 25%. A victory on Thursday for the British financier would mean more chaos, according to a Bakrie representative. "If Rothschild takes control, the Bakries will commence litigation, call a [shareholder] meeting to appoint new directors, and report to the regulator in Jakarta," he said, according to The Sunday Times.

One of Britain's richest hedge fund bosses has been ordered to fly to the Philippines to answer questions over his firm's links to a businessman at the centre of a corruption scandal. Mark Coombs, chief executive of the FTSE 250 investment firm Ashmore and ranked 59th in The Sunday Times Rich List, has been summoned to appear before an investigating committee of the Philippines senate. The senate wants to probe Ashmore's dealings with Roberto "Bobby" Ongpin, who has worked with the firm on deals in the Philippines for a number of years. Ongpin, a trade minister under President Ferdinand Marcos in the 1980s, has pleaded not guilty to corruption charges related to dealings with the Development Bank of the Philippines and insider trading. His assets were frozen in December, that same newspaper reports.

Legacy oil assets SeaEnergy retains an interest in a number of legacy oil and gas assets, including a 21.5% stake in separately listed Lansdowne Oil & Gas, a 40.21% holding in associate Mesopotamia Petroleum Company (MPC), 100% of Eagle HydroCarbons, a small royalty in some onshore Bulgarian acreage and a carried interest in Montenegrin offshore acreage. SeaEnergy’s stated strategy is to realise the value of these legacy oil and gas “over time” and in the absence of “compelling investment opportunities”, to return a proportion to shareholders.

The disposal of SeaEnergy Renewables Limited (SERL) in June 2011 not only transformed the financial position of SeaEnergy, but also ushered in a new strategic direction for the business. Post-SERL, SeaEnergy is focused on the development of an energy service business via a tripartite approach: the acquisition of expanding energy services businesses serving the offshore energy market; the provision of consulting services to the offshore market and the operation of offshore wind farm operations and maintenance vessels. Progress has been made on all three fronts. With the acquisition of R2S, SeaEnergy has made its first significant acquisition of a provider of services to the offshore market. We consider the acquisition in more detail later in this report. The consulting business has secured its first contracts and Donald Brown has been appointed as head of project delivery, effectively heading SeaEnergy’s business in this area. SeaEnergy has indicated that it expects to secure additional resources to further develop this business. At its interim results, SeaEnergy confirmed it had received a formal pre-tender request for information (RFI) for its offshore wind farm O&M vessel from a manufacturer of turbines and notification of another RFI to be issued ”imminently”.

Company description: Provider of services to the offshore market Based in Aberdeen, SeaEnergy is focused on building and acquiring complementary service businesses, including the provision of operations and services to offshore energy sector. In August 2012, SeaEnergy acquired R2S, a visual asset management business, and simultaneously set up a consultancy providing services to the offshore wind market. SeaEnergy is also active in developing a new generation of offshore wind farm operations and maintenance vessels. It retains some legacy oil and gas assets that will be disposed of in due course, with the potential for the profits to be shared with shareholders.

The three principal determinants of SeaEnergy’s value are its cash balance, R2S and the value of its holding in Lansdowne Oil and Gas. We value R2S at the cost to SeaEnergy of its recent acquisition, but ascribe no value to the recently established consulting business or the residual oil and gas holdings apart from Lansdowne. Employing this valuation approach indicates a value of 45p/share for SeaEnergy, significantly above current market values. Every 10p/share move in the price of Lansdowne Oil and Gas would equate to a c 5p/share change in SeaEnergy’s share price

R2S the key to short-term profitability In the short term, the visual asset management business, operated by the recently acquired R2S, will be the key profit contributor and the overall profitability of SeaEnergy will be largely dependent on its performance. The consulting business looks set to grow over time and SeaEnergy’s strategy of developing offshore wind farm support vessels could generate earnings after 2015. Failure of the offshore wind market to develop as we anticipate represents the biggest sensitivity to our forecasts.

Service business focus SeaEnergy is engaged in building and acquiring complementary service businesses, focused on the provision of operations and maintenance services to offshore wind farms and other offshore energy installations. We believe the market for offshore wind is poised for a period of sustained growth, offering SeaEnergy the opportunity to develop its business model. SeaEnergy has already made progress, acquiring Return to Scene (R2S), and establishing a nascent consultancy business, both of which provide services to the offshore energy market and will allow SeaEnergy to generate a more visible and predictable earnings stream in the future.

SeaEnergy’s strategy of establishing a business to service the needs of the offshore energy industry is well placed to exploit the growth we expect in this market and at the same time deliver a less-volatile earnings profile than the company has experienced in the past. Delivery of a recurring earnings stream could enable the company to close the significant gap that exists between the current share price and our SOTP valuation of 45p/share.

deadline has now passed. Cash resulting from successful tenders is due from 20 February 2013.

Holders of Fidelity Japanese Values Subscription Shares have one final opportunity to exercise their Subscription Shares. A holder wishing to convert a Subscription Share into an Ordinary Share will be required to pay the Conversion Price in order to do so. The Conversion Price is 55 pence per Subscription Share.

As you may be aware, Emulex Corporation recently made a Recommended Cash Offer for Endace Ltd at 500p per Share. Emulex Corporation has announced that the Offer will close for acceptances on 26th February 2013. Any acceptance must be received by noon Monday 25th February 2013.

deadline 22-02-2013

BH Global has announced details of a Partial Capital Return. Sterling Shareholders have a Basic Entitlement to redeem 4.356% of their holding at the close of business on 31 January 2013 at a price of £12.6485 per Share. Shareholders may elect to redeem any number of Shares however elections in excess of a Shareholders Basic Entitlement may be subject to pro rata scaling back.

Sector: Food Producers Sub-sector: Farming & Fishing Market value: £107 million

Takeover target With FFB production set to rise consistently as the estates mature over the coming decade, the shares should power towards Panmure's 380p price target, which implies 65% upside. With the bulk of the heavy lifting already done in developing a mid-sized palm company, the business could also become as a bid target before too long. Larger palm oil players, new industry entrants or even Malaysian pension funds could be prepared to pay a blockbuster price to get their hands on Asian Plantations' prized assets.

Upside risks With global vegetable oil stocks forecast to tighten, an expected recovery in crude palm oil (CPO) prices should benefit the company. Late last year (7 December), Asian Plantations cheered with news it expected to produce and sell over 45,000 tonnes of CPO in 2013, ahead of earlier projections. Besides upgrades to in-house fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production estimates, this reflects purchase deals signed with smaller, neighbouring estates keen to sell their crop to the group's new efficient mill. Additional third-party production wins in the coming months could yet drive further upgrades to revenue estimates. In a landmark announcement (9 January) the firm buoyed spirits with news of the completion of the 60 tonne-per-hour FFB crushing mill as it went operational. Broker Panmure Gordon forecasts the new mill will crush over 200,000 tonnes of FFB in 2013 and therefore generate a ten-fold leap in Asian Plantations' revenues.

Attracted by these compelling fundamentals, Singapore-headquartered Asian Plantations is pursuing its strategy to acquire increasingly scarce palm oil development land in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia's last region with undeveloped agricultural land parcels up for grabs. Floated on Aim in 2009 with a small plot of mostly unplanted land, the deal-hungry plantation developer now boasts four existing estates expected to be both yielding and fully planted by the end of 2013. This should bolster the loss-making company's cashflow, while the acquisition (28 September) of a fifth estate consisting of 7,000 hectares is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2013. The deal will swell the landbank to almost 28,000 hectares.

Rapid development A tropical soft commodity and the most consumed vegetable oil in the world, palm oil can only be cultivated in the equatorial regions of Latin America, West Africa and Southeast Asia. Ever more popular across developing markets such as India and China, the health benefits of palm oil are also driving demand in developed arenas such as the United States, while the commodity also accounts for a tiny percentage of bio-fuels usage too............

palm oil play Asian Plantations (PALM) ahead of potential upgrades to both production and revenue estimates which should foster fruitful share price gains. With an increase in revenues expected for 2013, the £107 million cap is strongly geared into a recovery in the crude palm oil (CPO) price while its attractive agricultural land-bank in Malaysia could even draw a bidder before too long............