Obbligazioni societarie Monitor bond Chimica Europa

[lorenzo63]

01 may 2009

NEW YORK --US major Dow Chemical would likely sell its Dow AgroSciences business only as a last resort or if it were offered a full valuation, Wall Street analysts said on Friday.

“We view the sale of the agricultural operations in whole or in part as about the last step that Dow would take,” said JPMorgan analyst Jeffrey Zekauskas in a research note.

“The whole point of the Rohm and Haas acquisition was to increase the specialty character of the company,” he added.

Divesting Dow AgroSciences would simply amount to exchanging one specialty business for another, Zekauskas said.

“Should Dow be unable to sell various commodity plastics, adhesives and latex assets, in our opinion, it would then look toward the sale of the agricultural asset as something of a last resort,” Zekauskas said.

Dow, which acquired US specialty chemical giant Rohm and Haas in April for around $19bn (€14bn), is seeking asset sales to pay down massive debt taken on to complete the deal, including a $12.5bn bridge loan.

Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris said in a conference call that the company is considering options for Dow AgroSciences, including a sale, an initial public offering (IPO) or a joint venture.

“This business is strategic to Dow. But ... we have launched a rigorous evaluation process underway here as well, as we continue to assist the right strategic outcome for this business,” he said on the call.

“We suspect that Dow will only let this business go if a full valuation is offered,” said BB&T Capital Markets analyst Frank Mitsch.

Credit Suisse analyst John McNulty estimates the potential value of Dow AgroSciences, plus other non-strategic stand-alone businesses for sale such as Rohm and Haas’ powder coatings unit, at over $15bn.

Liveris valued the non-strategic stand-alone businesses at $2bn-3bn.

Dow AgroSciences has been the star performer in the company’s portfolio. The unit’s first-quarter operating profits rose by 2% to a record $338m on 10% higher sales of $1.45bn, while all other Dow segments posted profit declines or losses.

Including Dow AgroSciences, the total value of potential divestitures for Dow is $25bn, according to Liveris.

“Any question of Dow falling into financial distress was mitigated, as even half that target would eliminate the bridge loan,” said Citigroup analyst PJ Juvekar.

Dow continues to talk with its Kuwaiti partners, despite the collapse late last year of the K-Dow commodity chemical joint venture deal that would have given Dow $7.5bn in cash.

“While outreach and dialogue continues with Kuwaiti partners, there are other parallel negotiations that are ongoing with two other state-owned resource owners, on an equivalent basis for the similar scope of the original K-Dow venture,” Liveris said.

The negotiations could lead to a deal valued at $4bn-6bn, he added.

Dow is also seeking to divest aromatic and derivatives assets, including styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and SB latex, with a value of $1bn-2bn, said Liveris.

Previously announced potential divestments include Dow’s stake in the TRN Belgian refinery venture, equity stakes in olefin derivatives businesses in Southeast Asia and its calcium chloride business.

 

[lorenzo63]

Anche Dsm ha ricvuto una offerta da K+S

Acquisition Targets

The German fertilizer company expects orders for potash to revive in the second half and to “normalize” in 2010 with demand growing 3 to 5 percent annually, Chief Executive Officer Norbert Steiner said at a press conference in Frankfurt.

K+S plans to increase capacity and expects the government to consider its bid for an abandoned mine in Rossleben in eastern Germany in the summer. The CEO said one other group also bid for the mine, which has now become a profitable prospect thanks to recent potash price gains.

Steiner aims to expand K+S’s salt business and will look at acquisition targets like de-icing salt supplier Compass Minerals International Inc. and Royal DSM NV’s fertilizer business, he said today. He declined to comment on whether the company is currently trying to acquire Compass

 

[cangiante]

link al grafico dell'azione:

http://it.finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?s=SDF.DE&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&p=,m200,m100&a=&c=

 

[lorenzo63]

link al grafico dell'azione:

http://it.finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?s=SDF.DE&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&p=,m200,m100&a=&c=

Caspita.
E' il classico ten bagger.

 

[cangiante]

cosa significa ten bagger?

 

[lorenzo63]

cosa significa ten bagger?

Buongiorno, Cangiante.

Mica è mia: viene da qualche libro che ho letto, in cui taluni investitori nella costruzione dei loro portafogli mettono all' interno del medesimo, società che dopo analisi etctetc. presumibilmente potrebbero decuplicare (ten=10) il loro valore...migliorando e non di poco le performance del ptf...

 

[lorenzo63]

01 maggio

Syngenta Started At Buy By Gilford Securities --- il 22 Aprile Nomura: Raised to neutral from reduce.

 

[lorenzo63]

Ancora Dow.

01 may 2009

Dow Chemical in Talks to Sell Unit
Agriculture Business Stirs Interest; Company Reports a Surprise Profit

Dow Chemical Co. posted a small, but surprising, profit and said it has seen evidence that business conditions are improving. The company also said it is in talks about the possible sale of its agriculture unit.

Dow Chief Executive Andrew Liveris said Thursday that a sale, joint venture or initial public offering all are possibilities for Dow AgroSciences, although he also stressed that a deal may not take place.

He didn't cite a potential value for the unit but said Dow likely would decide its fate within the next 90 days. A sale would help pay for Dow's recent $16.3 billion acquisition of specialty-chemicals maker Rohm & Haas Co.

"There are very serious bidders on the business, [and] we are very seriously engaged with them," Mr. Liveris said in a conference call.

Dow credited the agriculture business, in which sales and volume increased 10%, as partly responsible for the profit.

Dow Chemical has been moving to shed assets to pay down debt from the Rohm deal.

While Dow AgroSciences had been mentioned before as a possible candidate to take on investors, Mr. Liveris recently told analysts he wasn't aggressively shopping the unit. He said Thursday that investor interest in the agriculture sector made it prudent to step up evaluation of a possible sale.

The Midland, Mich., chemicals giant reported that cost cutting and a steep drop in input costs helped offset slumping demand in the first quarter.

Dow posted net income of $35 million, or three cents a share, compared with $965 million, or 99 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding charges, Dow pegged its profit at 12 cents a share.

The 96% drop in net income was better than Wall Street's average forecast for a loss of 21 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters, and sent Dow Chemical's shares up 17% to $15.85 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Sales slumped 39%, to $9.09 billion, dragged down by a 19% slide in volume and a 20% drop in prices. Wall Street had forecast $11.69 billion in sales.

Dow said raw-material and energy costs fell by nearly half in the first quarter, partially offsetting weaker demand.

Mr. Liveris said customers no longer appear to be working off excess inventories, which had been suppressing sales. "We actually have seen a few bright spots and some moderation in the pace of decline in the industry," he said.

Nevertheless, it remains "prudent to expect that 2009 will still be a recessionary year globally," he said.

His comments echoed the recent views of executives at competitor DuPont Co., who said last week that they are beginning to see slight strengthening in some business lines.

The chemicals sector, which makes raw materials used in most consumer products, is seen as an economic bellwether. But it has been struggling with volatile commodities prices and plummeting demand, slashing production and jobs in response. Dow Chemical earlier announced plans to close 20 plants and eliminate 5,000 jobs. Some companies have filed for bankruptcy.

 

[lorenzo63]

Syngenta 21 Aprile

BASEL, Switzerland, April 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- At today's Annual General Meeting, Syngenta Chairman Martin Taylor and CEO Mike Mack highlighted the key global challenge of ensuring food security for a rapidly growing world population. To help address this critical challenge, they called for greater international collaboration and more coherent trade and regulatory policies that support farmers in producing sufficient, affordable food and, at the same time, help conserve the planet's limited natural resources.
"Innovation in agriculture has made an enormous contribution towards our ability to ensure food security for a world population that has tripled in the last 50 years. But population growth continues unabated and 9 billion people will populate our planet by 2050," said Martin Taylor. "Whilst further land is still available to be cultivated, doing so would reduce biodiversity and further deplete our natural resources, resources that are already under pressure. We need to grow more food from existing resources, and as those resources are diminishing, we actually need to grow more from less."
"This critical challenge of ensuring food security in the face of the continuing growth in demand coupled with the scarcity of natural resources means that the role of technology in agriculture has never been more important," said Mike Mack. "At Syngenta, our contribution is to develop innovations that help to unlock the full potential of plants. The immensity of the food security challenge can only be addressed through a new form of international collaboration and a coherent policy framework that stimulates innovation and puts the right technology in the hands of growers worldwide."

Syngenta (NYSE: SYT) is one of the world's leading companies with more than 24,000 employees in over 90 countries dedicated to our purpose: Bringing plant potential to life. Through world-class science, global reach and commitment to our customers we help to increase crop productivity, protect the environment and improve health and quality of life.

 

[lorenzo63]

Syngenta del 01 Aprile

Stipulo' un accordo non esclusivo con Dow AgroSciences.

INDIANAPOLIS, and BASEL, Switzerland, April 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Syngenta and Dow AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, today announced an agreement to cross license their respective corn traits for commercialization within their branded seed businesses. The agreement will allow both companies to maximize the value of their technologies and to bring greater choice and flexibility to growers.
Under the terms of the agreement, Syngenta will receive global non-exclusive licenses, with stacking rights, to Dow AgroSciences' Herculex(R) I Insect Protection for broad lepidopteran control and to Herculex(R) RW for corn rootworm control.
Additionally, Dow AgroSciences will receive global non-exclusive licenses with stacking rights to Syngenta's Agrisure(R) GT trait for glyphosate tolerance, and to its insect control traits Agrisure(R) CB/LL for corn borer and Agrisure(R) RW for corn rootworm. The licenses also include access to Syngenta's Agrisure Viptera(TM) trait for broad lepidoptera and to a second generation trait for corn rootworm control.
Davor Pisk, Chief Operating Officer of Syngenta Seeds, said, "We are very pleased to have reached this agreement which significantly expands the options available to growers while further demonstrating the value of our proprietary technology. The combination of Herculex(R) Insect Protection traits with our Agrisure(R) portfolio represents a major advance in insect control. From 2011 we plan to offer our U.S. customers multiple modes of action targeting refuge reduction and improved efficacy."
Jerome Peribere, President and CEO of Dow AgroSciences, said,
"With the combination of technologies, corn growers will benefit from increased flexibility through their preferred trait platforms, and we continue to be pleased that growers find the industry-leading Herculex(R) technology to be a valuable option to increase productivity due to improved pest protection."
Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
About Syngenta
Syngenta is one of the world's leading companies with more than 24,000 employees in over 90 countries dedicated to our purpose: Bringing plant potential to life. Through world-class science, global reach and commitment to our customers we help to increase crop productivity, protect the environment and improve health and quality of life. For more information about us please go to www.syngenta.com.
About Dow AgroSciences
Dow AgroSciences LLC, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, is a top-tier agricultural company that combines the power of science and technology with the "Human Element" to constantly improve what is essential to human progress. Dow AgroSciences provides innovative technologies for crop protection, pest and vegetation management, seeds, traits, and agricultural biotechnology to serve the world's growing population. Global sales for Dow AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, were $4.5 billion in 2008. Learn more at www.dowagro.com.
Herculex(R) is a trademark of Dow AgroSciences LLC.
Agrisure(R), Agrisure Viptera(TM) and the Syngenta logo are trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company.Agrisure Viptera(TM) is not currently approved for sale or use in the U.S. and is not being offered or promoted for sale. Agrisure Viptera(TM) will not be available for sale until all necessary regulatory approvals and authorizations have been granted.
Syngenta Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This document contains forward-looking statements, which can be identified by terminology such as 'expect', 'would', 'will', 'potential', 'plans', 'prospects', 'estimated', 'aiming', 'on track' and similar expressions. Such statements may be subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from these statements. We refer you to Syngenta's publicly available filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for information about these and other risks and uncertainties. Syngenta assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changed assumptions or other factors. This document does not constitute, or form part of, any offer or invitation to sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer, to purchase or subscribe for any ordinary shares in Syngenta AG, or Syngenta ADSs, nor shall it form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract therefore.
The Dow Chemical Company Forward-Looking Statement
Note: The following statements contained in this document involve risks and uncertainties that may affect the Company's operations, markets, products, services, prices and other factors as discussed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, economic, competitive, legal, governmental and technological factors. Accordingly, there is no assurance that the Company's expectations will be realized. The Company assumes no obligation to provide revisions to any forward-looking statements should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by securities and other applicable laws.