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InterContinental Hotels in 12 new China brand deals -China head

Earlier in the year, IHG signed a management deal with China's Poly Real Estate Group Co Ltd to cooperate on developing and managing hotels in China.IHG has said that one in four of the hotel rooms it opens over the next five years will be in China, highlighting the market's importance to the company. The firm has 154 hotels in China with about 140 more in the pipeline.

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TEXT: S&PCORRECT: Rtgs On Citigroup Unaffected By Good Q3 Results

NEW YORK (Standard & Poor's) Oct. 17, 2011--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on holding company Citigroup Inc. (Citi; A/Negative/A-1) are not immediately affected by the company's good third-quarter results, given the challenging operating conditions.Excluding Citi's $1.6 billion gain on its debt's fair value, the company generated Standard & Poor's-adjusted pretax earnings of $3.4 billion as of the third quarter, compared with $4.3 billion for third-quarter 2010. This year's result benefitted from $1.4 billion in reserve releases (versus the $2.0 billion in reserve releases last year) and was predominantly related to Citi's credit card business.Standard & Poor's adjusted revenue for Citicorp, which holds Citi's core assets, declined 2.3% year over year, largely due to weaker trading results. Nevertheless, Citicorp's loan balances increased 13.0% year over year, reflecting better growth prospects overseas. Excluding the gains on Citi's debt liability, Citicorp's return on assets (ROA) for the third quarter was basically flat from the same period last year, totaling 1.0%. We believe that Citicorp will be challenged to deliver on management's targeted ROA of 1.25% or higher in 2011, since returns have been below this level so far.Citi's total expenses declined 4% from second-quarter 2011, but the company's expenses increased 8.0% as of the third quarter. Management expects expenses to remain flat for the fourth quarter but may reduce expenses further if revenue declines next year.Citi's losses in Citi Holdings Inc., the unit that houses Citi's nonstrategic assets, continue to weigh down its returns. These losses increased to $1.3 billion (on a pretax Standard & Poor's-adjusted basis) in the third quarter from $0.3 billion in the previous quarter and $0.86 billion as of third-quarter 2010. Citi's assets declined to $289 billion as of third quarter 2011, a 6.2% decrease since the previous quarter. Citi plans to transfer its retail partner card assets to Citicorp because the assets are performing better than the company had expected. Excluding the partner card assets' transfer, we expect that the company will reduce its assets by roughly 30%-40% over the next two years.Although credit costs remain elevated, net credit losses were down 12.3% in the third quarter, compared with a loss of 17.9% in the second quarter. Delinquency trends continued to improve across most asset classes, except for the North American residential mortgage assets. We believe that charge-offs may increase in this asset class in the coming quarters, assuming further declines in home prices. However, Citi has lower exposure to mortgage-related issues than most of its peers.Citi's Tier 1 common capital ratio was 11.7% as of the third quarter, up 10 basis points from the previous quarter. We expect that this capital ratio will continue to improve in 2011 and 2012 due to a combination of positive earnings and further reduction of its balance sheet. Management has targeted a Tier 1 Basel III common capital ratio of 8%-9% by year-end 2012.Citi has disclosed that it had $20.6 billion of gross exposure to Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain as of the end of the third quarter and $7.1 billion net exposure after applying collateral and hedges. In addition, Citi has disclosed that it had $14.4 billion in gross exposure ($2.0 billion net) to France and Belgium. We believe these exposures are manageable based on Citi's capital levels.Our outlook on Citi is negative. We will continue to evaluate the potential impact regulatory reform could have on the company and the evolution of the company's stand-alone credit profile. We will also continue to monitor Citi's ability to shed an additional $90 billion to $100 billion of Citi Holding's assets over the next two years, which, if achieved, would help reduce Citi's risk exposure. However, the challenging macroeconomic conditions could make it difficult for Citi to further reduce its balance sheet.

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Liberian opposition mulls next move ahead of vote

* Runoff expected in early Nov.MONROVIA, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Two runner-up candidates in Liberia's presidential election were locked in backroom negotiations with other parties on Monday as they rushed to decide who to endorse in a Nov. 8 runoff vote, their parties said.Liberia's presidential election will be decided by a second-round vote after incumbent President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf failed to win a 50 percent outright majority in the first round.Observers have praised the peaceful manner in which Liberia's second post-war ballot was carried out. The vote is a test of progress towards stability and the country's readiness for investment in untapped mineral and agricultural resources.Results announced on Sunday showed the newly named Nobel Peace laureate scored 44 percent of the vote, ahead of Winston Tubman of the CDC party, who received 32.2 percent, with 96 percent of votes counted."As of now, we have not come out with any definite decision as to which party we will support," said Eric Gbernmie, press secretary of ex-rebel Prince Johnson's NUDP party, who garnered 11.8 percent of the votes in the first round."We are meeting with key actors in our party and holding consultations across the country on which party to support. ... We have been receiving calls from many political parties, both the CDC and UP (Johnson-Sirleaf's Unity Party). But no decision has been made yet."Johnson had said his party would want to play a strategic role in any government that will emerge with their backing."You can't be the kingmaker and then not have a part to play. You have to be a part of the government in a strategic area that will help take the system where it should go," Johnson told Reuters in an interview on Oct. 14Jacob Smith, Secretary-General of Charles Brumskine's Liberty Party, who came in fourth with 5.5 percent of the vote, said they had been inundated with calls from the ruling party and the CDC opposition, requesting meetings."They all want our support. However, this is a decision, which will not be made by one person. After it is reached, it will be announced through our presidential candidate," Smith told Reuters by telephone in Monrovia.Although the election was largely peaceful, sporadic incidents of violence are a reminder that the tense atmosphere around the vote could ignite a crisis.A private radio station owned by an opposition politician was fire-boomed early on Monday by unknown attackers, the station's manager told Reuters.A Liberian police spokesman said two people had been arrested in connection with a suspected arson attack on the ruling party's headquarters in Monrovia, while one person has been arrested in connection with the radio station assault.

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European shares gain on earnings news

"People are talking about a good start to the U.S. earnings season, but I am a bit worried about the market at these levels. It feels a little bit high," Joe Rundle, head of trading at ETX Capital, said."They still not have resolved the euro zone debt problem and the U.S. economy is still floundering. Nothing has been solved."By 0710 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was up 0.3 percent at 968.81 points after falling 1.1 percent in the previous session following weaker-than-expected Chinese trade data.

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RHJ in talks with General Atlantic over BHF -paper

RHJ needs to get a deal done by November, by which time its rights to exclusive negotiations with Deutsche Bank expire, FTD said.Deutsche Bank and RHJ declined to comment.Earlier this month Germany's markets regulator BaFin told RHJ that it believed the private equity house was unable to fund the deal and therefore needed to withdraw its application to buy BHF.In July, RHJ International said it was in exclusive negotiations to acquire BHF, adding that it planned to finance the purchase with the support of co-investors.The costs of funding BHF once it is split from Deutsche Bank have risen due to strains in the inter-bank lending market, a factor that has deterred potential partners for co-investor Kleinwort Benson.Deutsche Bank has been on the lookout for a buyer ever since it inherited BHF through the 1 billion-euro purchase of Sal. Oppenheim in March 2010.Deutsche Bank's initial plan to sell BHF to LGT, owned by the royal family of Liechtenstein, was scuppered in April after the deal was blocked by German regulator BaFin.BHF is a 150-year-old institution with roughly 1,500 employees and 40 billion euros ($53 billion) in client assets under management.

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UPDATE 2-ASML sees slowdown for electronic chip makers

* Q3 revenues 1.459 bln euros, above forecast 1.397 bln euros* Q4 bookings seen above Q3 level of 514 mln euros* Semi sector slowdown evident in order book -CFOBy Roberta CowanAMSTERDAM, OCT 12 (Reuters) - Dutch chip equipment maker ASML said it sees slowing growth in most of the semiconductor industry, except in the technology needed to produce tablets and smartphones, and held back from giving any targets or expectations for 2012.A bellwether for Europe's technology sector, ASML is the world's largest maker of semiconductor lithography machines which map out electronic circuits on silicon wafers, competing with Japanese groups Canon and Nikon ."I think 2012 will be a difficult year to say anything about right now; this is because we are listening to our customers," said Chief Financial Officer Peter Wennink in a company video released with the third-quarter results.Wennink added that the slowdown in the semiconductor industry is evident from ASML's fourth-quarter order book.ASML said fourth-quarter orders are currently valued above the third-quarter level of 514 million euros, but declined to be more specific.Analysts surveyed by Reuters had expected fourth-quarter bookings of between 500 and 700 million euros.The chip industry is expected to have suffered because of the weak U.S. economy and Europe's financial crisis.ASML's order book development serves as a barometer for the expectations of big chip makers such as Intel Corp , the world's largest, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing , the world's biggest contract chip maker.Wennink said that unlike this time last year when bookings for technology upgrades and capacity expansion reached record levels, now "customers aren't certain about what the future will bring, which isn't giving us any confidence to say anything about 2012."However, he said the semiconductor equipment used for producing chips in smartphones and tablet computers will continue to see demand."It is too early to understand how overall demand for semiconductors will contribute to our business in 2012 but we believe that a sustained need for leading-edge systems ... will likely result in increased fourth-quarter bookings, compared with Q3," Chief Executive Eric Meurice said in a statement.ASML said it expects fourth-quarter sales to be above 1.1 billion euros. In the third quarter it made a net profit of 355 million euros, up 32 percent from a year ago, on sales up 24 percent at 1.459 billion euros."Despite the current turbulent macro-economic environment, ASML's strong business model and the industry need for the latest lithography technologies enable us to reiterate our expectation of 2011 revenues of about 5.5 billion euros," Meurice added.Wennink said that if necessary, ASML is able to cut its cost base by up to 20 percent within six months.ASML has a global market share of about 70 percent and counts Samsung Electronics , Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Intel among its customers.Intel reports third-quarter earnings on Tuesday October 18 and is expected to report revenue at the low end of its forecast range.