freddieagblafre-blog

[freddieagblafre-blog]

RLPC-French banks sell global loan portfolios

* Some sales already completedBy Tessa WalshLONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - French banks have put global syndicated loan portfolios up for sale, including dollar loans to highly rated companies and project financings, in a bid to cut balance sheets and comply with the EU's compulsory recapitalisation plan.The European Commission's recapitalisation plan could result in billions of dollars of loan sales globally as banks try to sell assets rather than raise capital at depressed equity prices or through dislocated and expensive bond markets.BNP Paribas and Societe Generale are leading the drive to reduce balance sheets after recently announcing plans to offload a combined 150 billion euros of risk-weighted assets, banking sources said."BNP and SG have been selling out of three main locations -- London, New York and Hong Kong. They have had some success. I know they've made sales, but I don't know how much has been sold. The sales definitely include project finance assets," a banker said.Details of the recapitalisation plan have yet to be finalised, but capital ratios are expected to be raised to 9 percent of risk-weighed assets or more.BNP and SG were already deleveraging to enable the banks to be fully compliant with Basel III capital adequacy ratios by the end of 2012, but both banks have stepped up loan sales in the last two weeks, bankers said.Credit Agricole CIB and Natixis have also been making enquiries on selling loans, loan traders said.BNP's deleveraging is focusing on selling dollar assets, a process that the bank said on Friday was going well. Societe Generale declined to comment.A diverse range of loans have been put up for sale. Most are investment-grade credits for highly rated companies in the Middle East and Russia as well as Asia and the United States. Some leveraged loans for riskier non-investment grade companies have been included, the sources said.The loans for sale are performing near-par loans of good credit quality, which are being offered for sale at around 97-98 percent of face value, they added.Sales are being executed through the secondary loan trading markets or in bespoke sales direct to investors. The sellers are not under pressure and will only trade when they get good execution, the bankers said.BNP is also considering putting its U.S. project finance book up for sale, a banking source said, in a move that might be copied by other European banks, including UK, Italian and German lenders.Appetite for Middle Eastern loans, which include project financings, is said to be strong from regional and domestic bank buyers."We have simply accelerated a bit what we were going to do. This plan is not only dollars, it is to sell every kind of asset. It is not a fire sale, it's just to sell the good assets we have," a banker at a French bank said.

[freddieagblafre-blog]

GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, euro rise on crisis hopes, US retail data

* Brent rises toward $113 on optimism over debt crisis* Euro extends gains against dollar after U.S. sales data* Bonds succumb to rising equity markets, retail salesBy Herbert LashNEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Global stocks gained and the euro strengthened on Friday on growing optimism that Europe is on track to resolve its festering sovereign debt crisis and after data showed a surprising surge in U.S. retail sales.Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs began two days of talks in Paris on Friday. Although investors do not expect a comprehensive strategy to Europe's debt crisis to come out of the meetings, they hope it will provide a basis for a draft plan in time for a European Union summit on Oct. 23.Government data that U.S. retail sales grew by 1.1 percent in September, the fastest pace in seven months, boosted investor sentiment on the economy and the data was expected to help lift economic growth forecasts.The data, coupled with earnings from Google late Thursday that trounced analysts' expectations, led investors to shrug off a rating downgrade on Spain by Standard & Poor's and an unexpected slump in U.S. consumer confidence in October."The data hasn't mattered for a couple of months. It matters here and there, but most of what today is, is Europe," said John Canally, investment strategist for LPL Financial in Boston."Just getting the details of this plan out there and making the details work is the most important thing," Canally said of the plan to contain Europe's debt crisis.The benchmark S&P 500 was on track for back-to-back weekly gains for the first time since early July, and gold headed toward its strongest weekly rise in over a month.Stocks on Wall Street pared some gains, rising less than 1 percent, while shares in Europe closed up 0.8 percent.The euro also eased, rising 0.6 percent to $1.3858.The Dow Jones industrial average was up 70.39 points, or 0.61 percent, at 11,548.52. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 9.29 points, or 0.77 percent, at 1,212.95. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 18.86 points, or 0.72 percent, at 2,639.10.Google shares jumped 5.8 percent to $591.38 after the Internet search giant said robust growth at its mobile business and a strong emerging market lifted its third quarter, allaying worries that a slowing Europe was hurting business.In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top regional shares provisionally closed up 0.8 percent at 974.46 points, while MSCI's all-country world equity index also gained 0.8 percent.The increased appetite for risk on Friday also lifted the price of crude oil more than 2.0 percent and pushed down the U.S. dollar and government debt, which usually benefit when news is bearish."The outlook is good and getting better by the day. Risk is back on," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in New York.Brent crude rose above $114 a barrel, propelled by hopes that European leaders would soon agree on how to curtail the long festering euro zone debt crisis.Early hints that China may loosen credit as inflation cools also boosted gains while investors mostly ignored a preliminary reading of U.S. consumer sentiment that sagged to 57.5 from 59.4 in September, a Thomson Michigan survey showed.November Brent crude rose $3.18 to $114.29 a barrel on the day of its expiry, while U.S. crude was up $2.34 at $86.57 a barrel.U.S. Treasury debt prices fell.The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was down 14/32 in price to yield 2.23 percent.Spot gold prices rose $7.79 to $1,673.90 an ounce.

[freddieagblafre-blog]

ACÇÕES PORTUGAL-PSI20 sobe c/ JM e Galp, banca penaliza Europa

* Os principais índices na Europa seguem com variações entre uma queda de 0,5 pct e uma subida de 0,8 pct, com o sector da extração de minérios a beneficiar da subida do preço dos metais, mas com os títulos financeiros a ressentirem-se do downgrade da Standard & Poor's (S&P) à Espanha.Ontem ao final do dia, a S&P cortou o rating de crédito de Espanha em um nível pra AA-, devido aos riscos para o seu cerscimento económico, ao perfil do seu sistema bancário e à improbabilidade de cumprirem as metas orçamentais em 2011.Esta manhã, a Fitch cortou o rating do suiço UBS e colocou outros sete bancos norte-americanos e europeus sob análise para possível 'downgrade'.* O índice PSI20 sobe 0,84 pct para 6.071,53 pontos, com nove títulos em alta, oito em queda e três inalterados, tendo-se negociado 7,3 milhões de acções ou 7,9 ME, na NYSE Euronext Lisbon .Os analistas técnicos do BPI assinalam os 6.175 pontos como próximo nível de resistência e o próximo suporte nos 5.921 pontos, explicando que "o recente dinamismo comprador de curto prazo levou à aproximação de uma importante zona de resistência"."Perante sinais de tomada de proveitos nos actuais níveis, seja vendedor se os valores de resistência apontados não forem postos em causa", acrescentaram.* A Jerónimo Martins está em forte alta pela terceira sessão consecutiva, tendo sido alvo de notas de research muito favoráveis da JP Morgan e do Citi e segue a valorizar 3,2 pct para 12,97 euros e a Galp Energia avança 1,87 pct para ct para 14,70 euros.Esta manhã, a Galp, que divulga os seus resultados doterceiro trimestre no dia 28 de Outubro, anunciou que as suas vendas de produtos petrolíferos refinados caíram 2,4 pct para 4,3 milhões de toneladas, entre Julho e Setembro últimos.* O contrato do barril de brent para Novembro LCOc1 sobe 0,78 pct para 111,98 dólares e o de crude CLc1 ganha 1,21 pct para 85,25 dólares, suportados na expectativa que o abrandamento da inflação na China impulsione a procura no segundo maior consumidor de crude do mundo.* Na banca, o Banco Espírito Santo (BES) perde 1,42 pct para 1,873 euros, o Millennium bcp cai 0,4 pct para 0,16 euros, o BPI desce 0,6 pct para 0,659 euros e o Banif segue 'flat' em 0,377 euros.O índice europeu DJ Stoxx para o sector cede 0,24 pct.* O euro ganha 0,28 pct para 1,3809 dólares, suportado na expectativa que os líderes europeus estejam prestes a acordar um plano de combate à crise da dívida.* Os futuros do Nasdaq NDc1 sobem 0,7 pct e os do Dow Jones DJc1 ganham 0,56 pct, com os investidores a aguardarem a balança comercial e as vendas a retalho, em Setembro, bem como os dados da Universidade de Michigan sobre a confiança dos cosnumidores, relativos a Outubro. (Por Filipa Cunha Lima)

[freddieagblafre-blog]

RLPC-Polkomtel mulls more loans to replace bond

Raising new loans would take further pressure off the banks to sell the 1.75 billion zloty ($562 million) bond as credit market conditions for high-yield issuers remain difficult.Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Societe Generale and PKO BP underwrote the bridge to bond in July to back Polkomtel's buyout by Polish billionaire Zygmunt Solorz-Zak.The bookrunners are sounding out other banks to see how much in term loans they can raise in addition to the 1.9 billion euro ($2.6 billion) equivalent they already raised in August, the sources said.At the time, the loan attracted strong demand from Polish and other international banks, despite the difficult market conditions over the summer due to worsening euro zone sovereign debt crisis.The loan was twice oversubscribed, with almost 25 other banks joining the transaction, following an upsize of 300 million euros, according to Thomson Reuters LPC data.In addition to the 1.75 billion zloty secured bridge to bond and the 1.9 billion euro senior term loans, the total debt package also includes a 900 million euro subordinated bridge to high-yield bond and a 352 million euro Payment-in-Kind (PIK) note, according to Thomson Reuters LPC.The PIK could be reduced by around 125 million euros after an investment from The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which is pending approval.Polkomtel couldn't immediately be reached for comment. ($1 = 3.112 zlotys) ($1 = 0.725 Euros)