Investment Finance and Business: japan

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2012年2月21日星期二

Mazda to raise $2 billion in share issue, loans: sources

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan‘s Mazda Motor Corp plans to raise $2.1 billion to shore up its finances and invest in a new plant in Mexico, financial sources said on Tuesday — a bigger-than-expected fund raising that sent its shares tumbling 13 percent.
The loss-making automaker aims to raise 100 billion yen ($1.3 billion) through a public share offering and 70 billion yen through subordinated loans from banks, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Those loans would be provided by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group , the state-backed Development Bank of Japan and other banks, local media reported earlier.
Mazda said in a statement that no official decisions had been made.
Battered by a strong yen, the nation’s No.5 automaker is set to post its fourth straight annual net loss in the financial year to March. This month it predicted red ink of 100 billion yen, much worse than an earlier estimate of a 19 billion yen loss.
Mazda, which makes the Mazda2 subcompact and the Mazda3 compact car, is the most exposed among Japanese automakers to currency swings, building about 70 percent of its vehicles in Japan and exporting 90 percent of those last year.
Shares in Mazda fell 13 percent to 140 yen, and it was the most actively traded stock by volume.
“It was sudden and I think share reaction of this size is to be expected for such a large surprising fund-raising,” said Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities.
The Hiroshima-based automaker has announced several plans to strengthen its overseas production bases and reduce its reliance on exports.
In addition to plans to build a car factory in Mexico next year, it is considering a joint venture with Russian car maker Sollers to produce Mazda cars in Vladivostok.
Mazda CEO Takashi Yamanouchi said last week the car maker is in talks over project-based tie-ups but is not seeking a capital alliance.
($1 = 79.4700 Japanese yen)
(Additional reporting by Taro Fuse, Mayumi Negishi and Mari Saito; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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2012年2月20日星期一

2012年1月30日星期一

Cheap loans plan to help elderly keep independence

The work of the advisers, experts and charities on the panel will underpin a White Paper on the social care system expected in April.
The so-called “Prevention” group has told ministers to do much more to “support individuals to maintain their independence and well-being for as long as possible in their own homes”.
The group has called for “a programme of work to support future proofing and adaptation of accommodation to enable people to live independently at home for longer”.
Adaptation work can be costly, and the advisers suggest that ministers should provide direct financial help for people undertaking such projects.
The Government should offer older people a “loan guarantee scheme” similar to those recently offered to first-time homebuyers, the group said.
Such low-cost loans would be used for “property improvements” for older and disabled home owners, carried out by either charities or the private sector.
The group also told ministers that many people lack adequate information about the care system, meaning they do not plan properly for going into care and sometimes make the wrong choices.
In response, a “comprehensive national advice and information service” should be set up to allow people to take better-informed choices earlier in life about care.
Helping older people “feel less isolated and better connected to others” should be a central objective of social care policies, the panel said.
One approach is “timebanking” where people who spend time volunteering are awarded credits that they can exchange for services.
Such projects have been used in Japan for many years.
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Car loans coast down low-rate lane during 2012

Asia Private Equity Weekly News, January 30, 2011

HONG KONG, Jan 30 (Reuters) – News and developments in
Asia private equity from Reuters News for Lunar New Year and the
week ending January 27.
JANUARY 27
INDIAN CONSUMER products maker Jyothy Laboratories
has raised 5.5 billion rupees ($110 million) through a 5-year
loan from Axis Bank to refinance part of the debt it
incurred to acquire a controlling stake in the Indian unit of
Henkel AG, Managing Director Ullas Kamath said.
SOUTH KOREAN regulators endorsed Hana Financial Group Inc’s
3.9 trillion won ($3.48 billion) acquisition of
Korea Exchange Bank, paving the way for U.S. private
equity firm Lone Star’s sale of the local lender and closing the
final chapter of a drawn out and acrimonious saga.
JANUARY 26
SHARES IN solar wafer maker Comtec Solar fell over
5 percent after the Shanghai-based company agreed to buy back
convertible bonds issued to TPG Capital, in a sign that
a glut in the industry is putting expansion plans on hold.
JANUARY 25
PT BANK Himpunan Saudara 1906, a small Indonesian
lender, plans to expand in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy by
bringing in a strategic investor through a rights issue next
year.
JANUARY 24
MOUNT KELLETT Capital Management has agreed to invest $225
million in Australia’s Lynas Corp through a convertible
bond, giving the rare earths miner a cheaper source of funding
to finish building its flagship plant in Malaysia, which is
awaiting a licence to open.
BC PARTNERS-owned health club operator Fitness First is set
to meet lenders to discuss a potentially looming covenant breach
as well as its debt maturities, Thomson Reuters LPC reported,
citing sources close to the company.
JANUARY 23
INDIA’S RED Fort Capital has raised $500 million for its
real estate private equity fund, aimed at tapping increasing
demand for housing and commercial spaces in Asia’s third largest
economy, its top official said.
JANUARY 20
BARING PRIVATE Equity Asia acquired 15 percent of Magic
Holdings, a unit of listed Huan Han Bio-Pharmaceutical Holdings
Ltd, for around HK$451 million ($58 million), Hua Han
said in a statement.
TPG and Singapore sovereign fund GIC will invest
around $115 million in China sportwear maker Li Ning Co Ltd
through a convertible bond, giving much needed capital
to a company whose stock fell more than 60 percent last year.
CARLYLE GROUP has sold 18 million shares in China
Pacific Insurance (Group) Co Ltd, taking its holding
below 5 percent, CPIC said.
PT ANCORA Indonesia Resources, a resources-focused
investment firm, aims to take advantage of the nation’s coal
boom by tripling its ammonium nitrate production, said the
firm’s chief executive.
ASIAN INVESTORS will account for over 20 percent of central
London office property deals this year, attracted by the British
capital’s safe-haven allure, transparency and high returns,
property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle said.
JANUARY 19
JAPAN’S UNISON Capital cut the size of one of the largest
private equity funds in Japan by around a quarter to 107 billion
yen ($1.4 billion) in October due to limited opportunities for
new deals, two sources familiar with the matter said.
BLACKSTONE GROUP LP said that it is actively pursuing
further property investments in China, after a fund it controls
turned a profit on the sale of its stake in a real-estate joint
venture with Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd.
INDIA’S KINGFISHER Airlines is in talks with Hong
Kong-based distressed debt firm SC Lowy Financial for a possible
investment, a sign the cash-strapped carrier may be running out
of more attractive traditional funding options.
JANUARY 18
OLYMPUS CAPITAL said it has invested 5 billion rupees (about
$98.7 million) for a significant minority stake in Indian
healthcare firm, DM Healthcare Pvt Ltd.
JANUARY 17
HEDGE FUNDS owning a large chunk of the $2.8 billion debt in
Australia’s Nine Entertainment, owned by buyout firm CVC
, have prepared a proposal to convert their debt into
equity in the TV network, a source told Reuters, in a plan that
would wipe out most of CVC’s equity.
NEW SILK Route Partners, an Asia-focused private equity
fund, said it picked a significant minority stake in educational
support services provider Varsity Education Management Pvt Ltd
for an undisclosed sum.
ANALYSIS-OLYMPUS Corp should be the easiest of
takeover targets: a profitable business with its share price in
tatters, its management in utter disgrace and its balance sheet
in need of fresh capital. But not in Japan.
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2012年1月23日星期一

Europe woes won’t stall trade finance in Asia

By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
HONG KONG(MarketWatch) — Lessons from the global financial crisis and relatively stronger U.S. banks will likely protect Asian businesses from a repeat of the 2008 horror show, even as European debt troubles make trade loans more expensive and difficult to access.
A full-blown euro-zone crisis could still hit demand for Asian products and services harder than it has so far. But unlike the turmoil they faced in the aftermath of Lehman Brothers’ collapse, the region’s exporters are unlikely to suffocate this time around, gasping for credit like fish out of water, say bankers and analysts.
“The importance of trade finance to the global economy is better understood now than in 2008,” said Mark Williams, chief economist for Asia at Capital Economics. “One of the factors that contributed to the recovery in 2009 was the $250 billion of trade-finance guarantees announced by the [Group of 20 major economies]. In the event of a second global financial crisis, future guarantees are likely to be forthcoming.”

Asia’s Week Ahead: Central banks in focus

Asia’s spotlight is on monetary policy, including decisions from the Reserve Bank of India, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of Thailand. MarketWatch’s Rex Crum reports. (Photo: Getty Images)

Trade finance is often compared to the oil that greases the moving parts of a machine. A simple and frequently used form of trade finance is a letter of credit, which is provided by an importer’s bank to pay for goods shipped by an exporter. As the U.S. dollar is the currency of transaction in most cases, trade is affected whenever there is a scarcity of dollars.
According to Dealogic figures, several European banks have consistently ranked among the top 30 providers of trade finance in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, between 2007 and 2011.
BBVA S.A.

, which has a major presence in Spain and Latin American markets, was the largest provider of such loans in 4 of the last 5 years. BBVA lost the top spot to China Development Bank Corp. only in 2009, when mainland Chinese banks opened their lending taps to fashion a recovery from the financial crisis.
/quotes/zigman/254684/quotes/nls/bbva BBVA
+1.03%

European banks’ exposure to trade finance in Asia is disproportionately large to their overall loans in the region.
But Capital Economics’ Williams cited the latest data from Bank of International Settlements as showing that euro-zone banks account for only 2.3% of total credit in emerging Asia. That is meager compared to their 47.3% share of lending in emerging Europe and 17.1% in Latin America.
One consequence of the ongoing sovereign-debt crisis in Europe is that it has effectively shut out several major European banks from U.S. money markets. Many of the European lenders that have historically been the big providers of trade finance in Asia are now scaling back their dollar-loan books.

Increased funding costs

That is in turn forcing an increase in the interest rates banks charge on trade finance.

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“The reality is spreads have gone up fairly significantly — almost to the 2008 peak levels — over the last six weeks. I think that, in general, there will be some tapering off, but the higher spreads are here to stay,” said Ravi Saxena, managing director and Asia trade head at Citibank

.
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+1.06%

Saxena said that in the past, exporters could easily convert a letter of credit into money on presentation at a bank. But a scarcity of dollars is making that more difficult.
Edward George, a London-based soft-commodities specialist at Africa-focused Ecobank, said the cost of trade finance has risen by as much as 5 percentage points in some cases over the past year.
“Short-term trade finance has been the worst affected, whereas project finance is mostly protected by long-term agreements,” said George.
The impact is being felt, even after the U.S. Federal Reserve agreed late last year to lower the interest rates on currency swaps with five other major central banks from around the world.
Under such swaps, the Fed provides dollar liquidity to its counterparts, including the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan. Those central banks can then inject dollars into their respective jurisdictions, when required.
Read full story on the currency swaps.

Dollar hoarding

The situation is aggravated by hoarding of U.S. dollars, even when they are available.
“Demand for U.S. dollars remains high, but the supply has dried up, and many banks are hoarding U.S. dollars for their preferred clients,” said George.

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Volume: 634,167
Jan. 20, 2012 4:01p

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Volume: 55.97M
Jan. 20, 2012 4:00p
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2012年1月17日星期二

S&P downgrades euro zone rescue fund

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – U.S. rating agency Standard & Poor’s cut its credit rating of the euro zone’s EFSF rescue fund on Monday, and Greece was under pressure to break a deadlock in debt swap talks if it is to avoid an unruly default.
French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said there was no need to shore up the European Financial Stability Facility after S&P downgraded it by one notch to AA+ from triple-A, echoing the view of Germany, the only major euro zone member to retain a top-notch credit rating.
S&P said in a statement the decision was all but inevitable following identical cuts three days earlier to the creditworthiness of France and Austria, two of the EFSF’s guarantors.
“We consider that credit enhancements that would offset what we view as the now-reduced creditworthiness of the EFSF’s guarantors and securities backing the EFSF’s issues are currently not in place,” the agency said in a statement.
“We have therefore lowered to AA+ the issuer credit rating of the EFSF, as well as the issue ratings on its long-term debt securities.”
Financial markets, which had fallen after the mass downgrades of euro zone members on Friday, showed little reaction to the latest blow — which had been expected — and Japan, a major buyer of EFSF bonds, said they remained an “attractive” investment.
A growing number of experts, including a Standard & Poor’s official, warned that a Greek default was on the cards, after Greece’s talks with creditors broke down on Friday.
Greece was under growing pressure to secure a last-ditch agreement with its private creditors to accept voluntary losses on their holdings of Greek bonds.
Athens risks going bankrupt when 14.5 billion euros of bond redemptions fall due in late March. Without a private sector bond swap involving a voluntary writedown, a 130 billion euro second international bailout for Greece could fall apart.
The talks with creditor banks broke down because of different views on what interest rate is acceptable, the head of the group leading private sector talks said.
Charles Dallara, managing director of the Institute of International Financial, said the banks were “very surprised” at the stance taken by some officials representing both governments and multilateral institutions, without naming them.
The EFSF was set up by the 17 governments that share the European single currency in May 2010 and has so far been used to provide emergency loans to Ireland and Portugal. It is also expected to contribute to a second bailout of Greece.
The fund has an effective lending capacity of 440 billion euros, which depends on guarantees, mainly from the euro zone’s AAA countries, only four of which now remain: Germany, Luxembourg, Finland and the Netherlands.
LENDING CAPACITY UNAFFECTED
In a statement, the EFSF said the downgrade would not affect its lending capacity, and emphasized that its short-term rating remained at S&P’s top level.
“The downgrade to ‘AA+’ by only one credit agency will not reduce EFSF’s lending capacity of 440 billion euros,” said the fund’s chief executive, Klaus Regling.
“EFSF has sufficient means to fulfill its commitments under current and potential future adjustment programs until the ESM becomes operational in July 2012,” he added.
The ESM — the European Stability Mechanism — is a permanent rescue fund that is expected to have an effective capacity of 500 billion euros, based on paid-in capital of 80 billion euros and callable capital of 620 billion euros.
French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said there was no need to shore up the EFSF despite the S&P rating downgrade.
“The EFSF has kept intact its ability to lend, with enough means and guarantees to fulfill the full range of its present and future commitments,” he said in a statement. “There is therefore no need to act on the EFSF at the moment.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert told reporters: “The government has no reason to believe that the volume of guarantees that the EFSF has now should not be sufficient to fulfill its current obligations.
“We should not forget that it has been decided to significantly move forward the ESM and to have it in place in mid-2012, one year earlier than planned.”
There was also support from Japan, with Finance Minister Jun Azumi saying Tokyo’s trust in EFSF bonds, in which it has so far invested 21 billion euros, had not been shaken.
“Japan has bought them by certain amounts and our stance will not immediately change just because of the downgrade,” Azumi told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
The euro hovered just above a 17-month trough against the dollar early in Asia on Tuesday, but reaction to the S&P downgrade was muted. Trading overnight was subdued as U.S. markets were shut for the Martin Luther King holiday.
The head of Austria’s debt office told Reuters the loss of Vienna’s AAA status had also been priced into the market already, and Austria was able to sell treasury bills on Monday at rates very close to zero.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy brushed off the historic loss of Paris’ top credit rating for the first time since 1975, a blow to his campaign for re-election in May, saying France’s policy would not be dictated by rating agencies.
Contrasting S&P’s move with a statement by rival watchdog Moody’s, which still has France on an Aaa rating, he said: “My deep belief is that it changes nothing. We must reduce the deficit, we must reduce our spending and we must improve the competitiveness of our economy to return to a path of growth.”
LOSERS TO PAY?
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, whose debt-laden country was downgraded by two notches along with Spain, called last week during a visit to Berlin for the EFSF to be increased to ward off attacks on his country’s bonds.
But a senior politician in Merkel’s conservative CDU party, Michael Meister, said it was the downgraded countries that should increase their guarantees for the fund.
“Germany was not downgraded so our contribution should not be changed. Countries that were affected must contribute more to the guarantees,” Meister told Reuters.
Sources familiar with Greece’s talks with its private creditors said EU paymaster Germany was pressing for new bonds to be given to banks in the planned swap to carry a low coupon of less than four percent that would increase the banks’ effective losses to 75 percent.
The IMF was also weighing on the talks by warning that the Greek economy and the euro zone’s economic outlook have worsened since the bailout package was agreed in October, raising Athens’ funding needs to make its debt sustainable by 2020, they said.
Greece put a brave face on the standoff. “There is a little pause in these discussions,” Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos told CNBC television. “But I am confident they will continue and we will reach an agreement that is mutually acceptable in time.”
(Additional reporting by Lefteris Papadimos in Athens, Steve Slater and Richard Hubbard in London, Jan Strupczewski in Brussels and Fiona Ortiz in Madrid; Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Tim Pearce and Alex Richardson)
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2012年1月16日星期一

Asia Private Equity Weekly News, January 16, 2011

HONG KONG, December 26 (Reuters) – News and
developments in Asia private equity from Reuters News for the
holiday period, and the week ending Jan. 13.
JANUARY 13
TPG Capital LP is willing to invest about $1
billion in Japan’s Olympus Corp in a joint deal with
Sony Corp or another suitor circling the scandal-hit
company, a person familiar with TPG’s thinking said.
INVESTORS HAVE approved a year-long extension of a $4.7
billion property megafund from Morgan Stanley, a company
spokesman told Reuters on Friday.
JANUARY 12
HONY CAPITAL, one of China’s most successful private equity
funds, said on Thursday that it had raised nearly $4 billion
from investors, defying the increasingly tight fundraising
climate.
THE SALE of Indian developer DLF Ltd’s luxury hotel
chain, Amanresorts International, has stalled due to
lower-than-expected bids by shortlisted companies, two sources
with direct knowledge of the matter said.
JANUARY 11
ALIBABA GROUP has reduced the size of its debut
loan to $3 billion, three sources told Reuters.
LUNAR CAPITAL, a China-focused private equity fund, will pay
close to $100 million to buy a controlling stake in China’s
Yeehoo Group Ltd, a baby products maker, a source familiar with
the matter told Reuters.
AUSTRALIA’S BRAMBLES Ltd, the world’s top pallet
supplier, received first offers from private equity groups for
its U.S. document management business valued at more than $2
billion, three sources said.
JANUARY 10
JAPANESE STATE-sponsored fund, Innovation Network of Japan,
said its investment in overseas acquisitions by Japanese
companies is likely to increase this year, helped by a stronger
yen and an increase in asset sales abroad.
MALAYSIA-BASED private equity firm Navis Capital Partners
said it has completed the sale of its Dunkin’ Donuts and Au Bon
Pain businesses in Thailand to Sub Sri TPC Pcl for 1.32
billion baht ($41.56 million).
AUSTRALIAN PRIVATE equity firm Pacific Equity Partners
baulked at sweetening its A$711 million ($730 million) offer for
cleaning services company Spotless Group Ltd, raising
the prospect it could walk away from the bid.
KKR & Co has made a buyout approach to Australian
underwear manufacturer Pacific Brands Ltd that a
newspaper said could be worth $614 million, boosting its shares
20 percent and sparking talk other firms could attract similar
offers.
INDIA’S ASK Property Investment Advisors is close to raising
10 billion rupees ($192 million) for a fund that will invest in
property projects in five Indian cities, Chief Executive Amit
Bhagat said.
AMSTERDAM-BASED law firm Loyens & Loeff said it is opening a
Hong Kong office to capitalise on increased Asian interest in
investing in Benelux countries.
JANUARY 5
BLACKSTONE GROUP LP will conclude fundraising for its
latest buyout fund in January, raising just over $16 billion,
three people familiar with the matter said.
NEWQUEST CAPITAL Partners said it plans to invest up to $200
million in the next 12-18 months to acquire private equity
portfolios in Asia.
JANUARY 4
JAPAN’S RECRUIT Co has paid $410 million to buy two
temporary staffing agencies in the U.S. and Europe from buyout
firm Cerberus Capital Management, the human resources
company said, as it seeks to expand overseas.
JANUARY 3
TEMASEK HOLDINGS Pte Ltd said it has set up a new
subsidiary called Pavilion Capital Pte Ltd that will invest
primarily in privately owned firms in North Asia.
RED FORT Capital, an India-focussed real estate private
equity firm, is set to raise a $500 million fund that will
invest in commercial and residential assets, two sources told
Reuters.
DECEMBER 30
NATURAL GAS fuel firm Clean Energy Fuels Corp,
whose investors include Chesapeake Energy Corp,
Temasek’s Seatown Holdings and Asia private equity fund RRJ
Capital, said it has received $150 million from investors
including Boone Pickens.
DECEMBER 29
CHINESE WIRE maker Fushi Copperweld Inc said it
received a revised proposal from co-chief executive Li Fu, Abax
Global Capital and TPG Growth Asia Inc to take the company
private for $9.50 per share in cash.
DEALTALK – TOUGH IPO conditions in India are driving
secondary deals between private equity investors.
CHINA NO longer wants foreign-funded automobile factories or
polysilicon plants, but would welcome overseas investment in
hospitals and financial leasing firms, according to updated
inward investment guidelines.
ALIBABA has hired a Washington lobbying firm in a sign that
the Chinese e-commerce company would be willing to make a bid
for all of Yahoo Inc in the event that talks to unwind
their Asian partnership fail.
DECEMBER 28
AN AFFILIATE of U.S. private equity giant Blackstone has
bought a company that owns a special economic zone in India from
the country’s top listed developer DLF Ltd and its partner for
8.1 billion rupees ($153 million).
JAPANESE PRIVATE equity firm Unison Capital said it will buy
Asahi Tec, a maker of iron castings used in automobiles
that is majority owned by Belgian private equity investor RHJ
International SA, for $310 million excluding debt.
BANKRUPT JAPANESE consumer lender Takefuji Corp
gained a new lifeline when financial group J Trust Co Ltd
said it would invest $325 million after a previous
agreement with struggling A&P Financial of South Korea fell
through.
NOMURA HOLDINGS Inc said it would become the first
Japanese financial group to be allowed to make private equity
investments in China and would invest in a private equity fund
managed by Jiu You Equity Investment Management LLP.
DECEMBER 26
CARLYLE GROUP said it has named Kazuhiro Yamada as
co-head of its Japanese operations, replacing Masao Hirano, who
will resign from the private equity firm.
DECEMBER 23
DEALTALK-ASIA’S private equity firms face a shrinking pool
of bank loans as European lenders pull back from the region,
crimping both investments and re-financings for buyout-backed
companies and adding to the list of challenges the industry will
meet in 2012.
AUSTRALIAN PAPER manufacturer PaperlinX Ltd said it
has received an incomplete and conditional proposal from an
unnamed private equity firm for its business, while it predicted
a loss for the first half as European markets weakened.
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2012年1月6日星期五

Quid Pro Quo: IMF Cash For Europe In Exchange for Iran Oil Ban?

By Ian Talley

Europe may have just traded a U.S.-pushed Iranian oil embargo in exchange for Washington’s support of International Monetary Fund bailout loans to Italy and Spain, if one economist’s speculation is right.
Jacob Kirkegaard, a fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, speculates the timing Europe’s newly-proposed ban on Iranian oil imports is too fortuitous to be purely coincidental.
Greece, Spain and Italy–in that order–heavily depend on Iranian crude and have been the most resistant to an embargo. They are now no longer fighting a ban–Italy has stated it would support it in principle while the others have signaled they wouldn’t stand in the way. [The agreement in principle is subject to substantial negotiations on timing or exemptions for long-term deals.]
Each of those countries are also the current epicenters of Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. Athens is in the middle of negotiating an agreement with bondholders on a debt deal that will pave the way for a near doubling of emergency loans, including from the IMF. Italy has to roll over nearly $340 billion in debt this year, but the cost of borrowing has soared beyond levels economists say is sustainable. Rome late last year turned down an offer for an IMF loan, but many economists say Italy will need IMF credit to pull itself out of its financial mire. And Spain’s banks are facing a housing bubble that could very well mean Madrid must soon ask for IMF assistance.
Meanwhile, each time the possibility of new IMF loans to Italy or Spain has been raised among members of the Group of 20 nations, Washington has pushed back. U.S. Treasury officials have so far insisted that Europe use its own resources to build a firewall against the contagion engulfing Italy and Spain. Any further lending to Europe from the IMF, the officials have said, would be purely supplementary.
Europe said it planned to lend EUR150 billion to EUR200 billion to the IMF as seed money for a bigger fund. Europe expects that cash to be matched by China, Japan and perhaps sovereign wealth funds such as that owned by oil-rich Saudi Arabia, which would ostensibly provide alternative crude supplies to Europe.
If that plan gains traction–and so far it hasn’t–it could create a new funding pool at the IMF worth roughly EUR500 billion.
Washington has largely been opposed to boosting IMF coffers for big European bailouts.
But rather than maintaining such opposition, Kirkegaard said he sees it as entirely rational horse-trading for U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to now give reluctant consent for the fund to help play savior in Europe in exchange for Europe supporting an oil embargo. [The U.S. is the only country with veto power on the IMF's executive board.]
The European Central Bank has already oiled the gears. The ECB has stepped up its liquidity provision to banks and bond buying for beleaguered euro zone members to levels that, if maintained through the year, top more than the EUR1 trillion Washington says is an effective firewall.
That will make it much easier for the U.S. to back IMF loans that give its lending members protected seniority while requiring the structural and fiscal reforms needed to return the euro zone back to health.
Spokesmen from the U.S. Treasury and International Monetary Fund weren’t immediately able to comment.
(Benoit Faucon in London contributed to this piece)

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2012年1月2日星期一

Nomura to invest in Shanghai private-equity fund

By Atsuko Fukase
TOKYO (MarketWatch) — Nomura Holdings Inc. said Wednesday it has agreed to invest in Shanghai-based private equity fund as part of efforts to enhance its local business platform in China.
Japan’s largest brokerage firm will invest in a fund managed by Jiu You Equity Investment Management LLP, a fund management firm that invests in the high tech and biopharmaceutical industries, Nomura said.
Nomura didn’t say how much it would

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Wanted: Private equity high-flyers in growth areas

NEW YORK/LONDON/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Private equity firms, facing shrinking asset values and tough financing conditions, are trimming staff in mature markets, but are also looking to hire in growth areas so that they deliver the returns investors seek.
Shrinking fund sizes, crisis in the euro zone and hopes for emerging markets growth are all redrawing the global private equity map, determining the locations and sectors in which buyout firms hire and fire staff.
The industry boomed last decade as investor appetite created ever larger pools of capital, allowing firms to expand and cast their nets further and wider for deals. But in the financial turmoil, many buyout groups are now retrenching.
“This is still an active jobs market, the industry is focusing on niche businesses and smaller transactions and looking for senior advisors to succeed where the deals are,” said Todd Monti, who manages the global private equity and venture capital practice of headhunting firm Heidrick & Struggles.
The total capital garnered by private equity funds globally that have reached final close so far this year is about $240 billion, compared with $275 billion raised last year, according to market research firm Preqin.
The crunch has been most obvious in Europe, where a brief renaissance in private equity deals in the first half has stalled and the gloomy outlook is forcing some to reassess their approach.
Among the highest profile changes, TPG reshuffled its senior team in Europe, with co-head Philippe Costeletos taking a step back from daily duties and partner Matthias Calice leaving the firm by the end of the year.
But it is likely to be the satellite offices in European cities that come under the greatest pressure to close down.
“I think people are going to rein in on that if fund sizes shrink,” said one private equity managing partner.
Vestar Capital recently closed offices in Munich and Paris as part of a plan to focus back on the United States. And struggling mid-market group Cognetas has shut its office in Frankfurt and will close its London office later this year.
MOVING EAST
In line with the wider finance sector, the private equity jobs market has been more robust in Asia, where firms are actively hiring even as they shed tens of thousands of jobs in other regions, thanks to the continent’s economic resilience.
Buyouts in Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan and Central Asia, total $33 billion so far this year, up 54 percent from a year ago, compared with 9 percent growth in Europe and 36 percent in the Americas, Thomson Reuters data shows.
But there is a caveat. Language and cultural skills are key to new hires in Asia, as global and local private equity funds build teams to invest the capital flowing into the region.
“Limited partners are allocating a larger percentage of funds to Asia, and with that (private equity firms)are opening offices in the region,” said Julian Buckeridge, managing director for Strategic Executive Search based in China.
In contrast with Europe, where satellite offices are coming under pressure, the capital flowing to Asia is allowing firms to create new bases in places such as Singapore to provide a springboard into Southeast Asia.
In October, KKR appointed former Singapore government minister Lim Hwee Hua as a senior adviser [ID:nL3E7LA05L] and the firm is expected to locate a deal team of three in the region early in 2012 – KKR previously covered Southeast Asia from Hong Kong.
With firms such as TPG Capital and CVC Capital Partners already well established in the region, Blackstone Group LP is also mulling an expansion.
“We are seriously thinking of expanding our presence in the Southeast Asia region in terms of people on the ground and investment focus,” Michael Chae, Blackstone’s regional head, told the Reuters 2012 Investment Summit this week.
DIVERSIFICATION IS KING
The global shakeout will also create winners in the west. Buyout houses that have grown into private asset managers, such as Blackstone, KKR and Carlyle Group, are actively recruiting in areas such as credit investment and real estate.
This diversification, combined with the fee-based remuneration structure of private equity funds, has helped shield the pay of dealmakers from the economic headwinds battering the financial industry.
Incentive compensation in the U.S. private equity industry excluding carried interest is expected to fall between 0 and 5 percent in 2011, compared with plunges of up to 30 percent in investment banking and 45 percent in fixed income, according to compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates.
With competition for capital from institutional investors intensifying, major private equity firms are also ramping up their fundraising, increasingly bringing operations inhouse instead of relying on others for their marketing.
“Private equity firms used to raise money every five years, now they fundraise everyday. Good capital raising professionals are in strong demand,” said Joseph Healy, who co-heads the private equity recruiting operations of Korn/Ferry International Inc.
For those unfortunate enough to find themselves out of work, or just looking for more job security, there are options.
Sovereign wealth funds and pension funds, with aspirations to do more deals directly and cut out the private equity middlemen, could gain as firms shed experienced staff.
“Some of those people may well be happy to be employed by a sovereign wealth fund and have a more conventional salary, knowing that there is oodles of money to invest into deals,” said David Currie, chief executive of Standard Life Capital Partners. (Editing by Andre Grenon)

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Analysis: Wanted: Private equity high-flyers in growth areas

NEW YORK/LONDON/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Private equity firms, facing shrinking asset values and tough financing conditions, are trimming staff in mature markets, but are also looking to hire in growth areas so that they deliver the returns investors seek.
Shrinking fund sizes, crisis in the euro zone and hopes for emerging markets growth are all redrawing the global private equity map, determining the locations and sectors in which buyout firms hire and fire staff.
The industry boomed last decade as investor appetite created ever larger pools of capital, allowing firms to expand and cast their nets further and wider for deals. But in the financial turmoil, many buyout groups are now retrenching.
“This is still an active jobs market, the industry is focusing on niche businesses and smaller transactions and looking for senior advisors to succeed where the deals are,” said Todd Monti, who manages the global private equity and venture capital practice of headhunting firm Heidrick & Struggles.
The total capital garnered by private equity funds globally that have reached final close so far this year is about $240 billion, compared with $275 billion raised last year, according to market research firm Preqin.
The crunch has been most obvious in Europe, where a brief renaissance in private equity deals in the first half has stalled and the gloomy outlook is forcing some to reassess their approach.
Among the highest profile changes, TPG reshuffled its senior team in Europe, with co-head Philippe Costeletos taking a step back from daily duties and partner Matthias Calice leaving the firm by the end of the year.
But it is likely to be the satellite offices in European cities that come under the greatest pressure to close down.
“I think people are going to rein in on that if fund sizes shrink,” said one private equity managing partner.
Vestar Capital recently closed offices in Munich and Paris as part of a plan to focus back on the United States. And struggling mid-market group Cognetas has shut its office in Frankfurt and will close its London office later this year.
MOVING EAST
In line with the wider finance sector, the private equity jobs market has been more robust in Asia, where firms are actively hiring even as they shed tens of thousands of jobs in other regions, thanks to the continent’s economic resilience.
Buyouts in Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan and Central Asia, total $33 billion so far this year, up 54 percent from a year ago, compared with 9 percent growth in Europe and 36 percent in the Americas, Thomson Reuters data shows.
But there is a caveat. Language and cultural skills are key to new hires in Asia, as global and local private equity funds build teams to invest the capital flowing into the region.
“Limited partners are allocating a larger percentage of funds to Asia, and with that (private equity firms)are opening offices in the region,” said Julian Buckeridge, managing director for Strategic Executive Search based in China.
In contrast with Europe, where satellite offices are coming under pressure, the capital flowing to Asia is allowing firms to create new bases in places such as Singapore to provide a springboard into Southeast Asia.
In October, KKR appointed former Singapore government minister Lim Hwee Hua as a senior adviser and the firm is expected to locate a deal team of three in the region early in 2012 – KKR previously covered Southeast Asia from Hong Kong.
With firms such as TPG Capital and CVC Capital Partners already well established in the region, Blackstone Group LP is also mulling an expansion.
“We are seriously thinking of expanding our presence in the Southeast Asia region in terms of people on the ground and investment focus,” Michael Chae, Blackstone’s regional head, told the Reuters 2012 Investment Summit this week.
DIVERSIFICATION IS KING
The global shakeout will also create winners in the west. Buyout houses that have grown into private asset managers, such as Blackstone, KKR and Carlyle Group, are actively recruiting in areas such as credit investment and real estate.
This diversification, combined with the fee-based remuneration structure of private equity funds, has helped shield the pay of dealmakers from the economic headwinds battering the financial industry.
Incentive compensation in the U.S. private equity industry excluding carried interest is expected to fall between 0 and 5 percent in 2011, compared with plunges of up to 30 percent in investment banking and 45 percent in fixed income, according to compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates.
With competition for capital from institutional investors intensifying, major private equity firms are also ramping up their fundraising, increasingly bringing operations in-house instead of relying on others for their marketing.
“Private equity firms used to raise money every five years, now they fundraise everyday. Good capital raising professionals are in strong demand,” said Joseph Healy, who co-heads the private equity recruiting operations of Korn/Ferry International Inc.
For those unfortunate enough to find themselves out of work, or just looking for more job security, there are options.
Sovereign wealth funds and pension funds, with aspirations to do more deals directly and cut out the private equity middlemen, could gain as firms shed experienced staff.
“Some of those people may well be happy to be employed by a sovereign wealth fund and have a more conventional salary, knowing that there is oodles of money to invest into deals,” said David Currie, chief executive of Standard Life Capital Partners. (Editing by Andre Grenon)

http://tourism9.com/

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