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América Móvil’s $9.5 Billion Bid for KPN Faces Scrutiny

August 14, 2013 by

A Dutch foundation with the power to block the proposed 7.2 billion euro, or $9.5 billion, bid for the Dutch cellphone operator KPN by América Móvil, the Latin American telecommunications giant owned by Mr. Slim, has expressed concern about the deal.

América Móvil announced last Friday that it was offering to buy the 70 percent of KPN that it did not own.

Analysts said the deal, which will be put to a shareholder vote in September, may be an attempt to derail the proposed sale of KPN’s German subsidiary, E-Plus, to a Spanish rival, Telefónica, in a cash-and-stock deal worth 8.1 billion euros.

In a statement released late on Tuesday, the KPN Foundation, an independent entity in the Netherlands that has the right to veto hostile takeovers, said it was concerned that América Móvil had not made clear its plans for KPN or whether it would support the E-Plus sale.

“América Móvil didn’t provide enough meat on the bones about its plans,” Walter Samuels, a spokesman for the foundation, said on Wednesday. “We wanted to give a statement to the market so that people know we exist.”

Under Dutch law, the foundation, which was created when KPN was privatized starting in the mid-1990s, has the right to buy the outstanding so-called preference stock in the Dutch company, which carries voting rights. This form of call option would allow the foundation to block América Móvil’s proposed takeover.

Mr. Samuels said that it had not moved to block the $9.5 billion deal, though it had not discussed its concerns with América Móvil.

“That’s a bridge further down the road,” Mr. Samuels said. “América Móvil is obliged to disclose timely information to the market about their plans.”

Shares in KPN, which have fallen 44 percent in the last 12 months, dropped around 2 percent, to 2.29 euros, in afternoon trading in Amsterdam on Wednesday. América Móvil plans to offer investors 2.40 euros for each of their shares in KPN, a company statement said.

A crucial issue in the takeover of KPN is the future of E-Plus, which will be decided at the September meeting of KPN’s shareholders. KPN agreed in July to sell E-Plus to Telefónica, though analysts warned that América Móvil might look to keep the unit if it completes a takeover.

In a statement last week, América Móvil said it had not decided how to vote on the pending sale of E-Plus. Last Friday, KPN said it would continue with the shareholder meeting to decide the fate of E-Plus, despite the proposed takeover offer from América Móvil.

Alliances are shifting in the European telecommunications sector. This year, deals involving European telecommunications companies represent around 77 percent, or $81 billion, of the globally announced takeovers in the sector, according to the data provider Mergermarket.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/business/global/america-movils-bid-for-kpn-under-scrutiny.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: , ,

Bucks Blog: Spam Texts Vex Me and Make Me Feel Old

March 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Federal Trade Commission officials at a recent news conference about spam texts.John Gress for The New York Times Federal Trade Commission officials at a recent news conference about spam texts.

I haven’t lived in Atlanta for several years. But my cellphone, which still has an Atlanta phone number, apparently maintains a very active social life there. Every weekend it gets invitations to wild parties throughout the city, including a hip place called “The Mansion Elan.”

Here’s last Friday’s promo: “#1 Party in ATL #MansionElan TONIGHT!! [18+] EVERYBODY FREE ALL NIGHT!! FREE DRINKS TIL 12 Are you coming?”

Shortly afterward, another party center, Obsessions, chimed in, apparently from the same number. “College Ids free all night Long last week was crazy Are u coming?”

These were followed by an invitation to “Metro Lanes,” apparently a bowling alley and roller skating place that sounds downright retro. “U Comin,” was the only exhortation.

No, I’m not. And you probably don’t really want me to, anyway.

A video on the Mansion Elan’s Web site mostly shows attractive, young people dancing and drinking with abandon. I’m a mostly unhip working parent who writes about personal finance from the hinterlands. Even if I still lived in Atlanta, I would be fast asleep by the time things got rolling at these places. So not only are the texts annoying, they make me feel old and boring. They ding my phone, making me think I have an important message — from my husband, a friend or, more likely, my child’s dentist. But, no. It’s only another invitation.

The Federal Trade Commission is supposedly cracking down on text spammers. The commission recently filed suit in eight courts to stop mass texts about fraudulent gift cards. The Mansion Elan is an actual location. It is not trying to trick me into anything, except a night out followed by a hangover. But that does not make it any less annoying.

When I tried calling the number on the text message, it said the voice mail account on the number had not been set up. (Go figure.) So I searched online and found the Mansion Elan’s Web site, which included a phone number. I called and a voice menu directed me to leave a message for the general manager. So I did, requesting that the Mansion Elan stop texting me. (I didn’t say I was a reporter.) So far I have not heard back.

A year or so ago, when I first started getting these texts, I put a block on the number through Verizon, my cellular carrier. That worked — for a while. But the block expired after six months. If I want the option to block specific numbers permanently, I have to pay an extra $4.99 a month, according to Verizon’s Web site.

I think my cellphone bill is high enough already, so I went online again to put another temporary block on the number. Of course I had forgotten my user ID and password, and the system would not accept the answer to my “secret question,” even though I’m pretty sure the name of my first elementary school has not changed. So I had to take another 10 minutes or so to reset my credentials and log on.

By the time I was finished, I was thoroughly annoyed with both Verizon and the Mansion Elan. But at least I’m free of the regular reminders about my dull nightlife — for the next six months, at least.

Have you received spam texts? How did you handle them?

Article source: http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/spam-texts-vex-me-and-make-me-feel-old/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Your Money Tagged With: , ,

Greece Extends Deadline for Debt Buyback by 2 Days

December 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

LONDON — Greece, on the verge of completing a crucial plan to reduce its debt burden, on Monday extended for another two days the deadline for foreign investors and Greek banks to sell their deeply discounted bonds back to the government.

Announced a week ago, the deadline for taking part in the buyback was to have been last Friday. But even though Greek banks and hedge funds have offered close to €26 billion, or $33.6 billion, in bonds, that amount falls short of the goal of €30 billion that the government’s troika of international creditors have set as a minimum for the program to be considered successful.

The new deadline is noon in London on Tuesday.

Having borrowed €10 billion from a European bailout fund to buy back the debt, the goal is for net relief of €20 billion — an amount the International Monetary Fund has said Greece must retire if the institution is to continue lending to the country.

The I.M.F., along with the European Commission and the European Central Bank, make up the troika that has bailed out Greece twice.

Bankers close to the bond buyback program say that hedge funds, which for weeks have been coy about whether they might agree to sell at what would be an average price of around 33 cents per euro, have participated in larger-than-expected numbers. And the bankers say they still expect the buyback to be completed. But with Greek banks reluctant to sell all of their bonds back to the government, the buyback’s success remains dependent on foreign investors selling the majority of their holdings.

Greek banks are believed to own €17 billion worth of bonds. Unlike foreign investors, many of whom bought the securities at knockdown prices, the Greek banks will not reap big profits if they sold their bonds — which were restructured earlier this year — at around 33 cents per euro. Bankers estimate that foreign investors, which own about €24 billion worth of bonds, have offered between €15 billion and €17 billion in debt so far.

At a time when blue-chip collateral is hard to find in Europe, the restructured bonds are seen by the Greek banks as a premium asset that can be used to borrowing much-needed funds from the European Central Bank.

“If the foreigners do not come in we are toast,” said one banker who was involved in the transaction but requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

The head of the Greek debt management agency, Stelios Papadopoulos, in a statement on Monday, made it clear to reluctant investors that they might never get another chance to sell their debt at prices as high as the government is offering. “Investors should bear in mind that even if Greece accepts all bonds tendered in the invitation, it will continue to engage with its official sector creditors in considering further steps to put its debt on a sustainable path,” he said. “Future measures may not involve an opportunity to exit investments in designated securities at the levels offered for this buyback.”

Such measures might include a second buyback offer at a lower price, with the government invoking collective action clauses to force holdout investors to accept the terms. The government could also try to use provisions in the bond contracts that might allow Greece to keep paying its European creditors while forcing private-sector bondholders to take losses.

Such steps are aggressive, though, and would surely be challenged in courts by foreign investors. Given the recent successes that hedge funds have had in suing Argentina and Ireland with regard to past bond restructurings, Greece — and Europe — would think long and hard before taking this type of action.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/business/global/greece-extends-deadline-for-debt-buyback.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Economy News Tagged With: , ,

Explosion at Apple Supplier Caused by Dust, China Says

May 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment

SHANGHAI — An explosion that killed 3 workers and injured 15 others last week at a Chinese factory that supplies products to Apple was caused by combustible dust, according to a preliminary investigation by the local authorities.

The explosion, which occurred Friday in the southwestern city of Chengdu, has led to the partial shutdown of a facility operated by Foxconn, one of the world’s biggest contract electronics makers and a major supplier to companies like Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Sony and Apple.

The shutdown has created worries about supply disruptions for some Apple products, including the iPad, which experts say was being produced at the Chengdu facility. The aftermath of the explosion is also the latest problem facing Foxconn, which was hit last year by a rash of worker suicides at several of its Chinese facilities.

Apple and Foxconn, a division of Hon Hai Group, based in Taiwan, issued statements after the explosion last Friday saying that they regretted the tragic accident and that the cause of the blast was under investigation.

City officials in Chengdu said the explosion had been caused by combustible dust in an air duct at a polishing workshop.

Foxconn and Apple each declined to say which products were being produced at the Chengdu facility. Foxconn is one of Apple’s biggest suppliers, and the Chengdu complex is a relatively new facility, with 80,000 employees.

IHS iSuppli, a research group, said Monday that the explosion at the Chengdu facility could result in the loss of production of 500,000 Apple iPad 2 tablet computers during the second quarter of this year. IHS iSuppli said that while most of the iPad 2 production was taking place at another Foxconn facility, in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, that facility might not be able to compensate for the disruption in Chengdu.

Foxconn has been moving aggressively over the past year to expand its operations in central and western China to keep up with production demands and to recruit more workers from the poorer, inland provinces.

Apple has a longstanding relationship with Foxconn, which struggled last year to cope with a rash of worker suicides. Some labor rights groups say they believe the suicides were the result of harsh working conditions at Foxconn.

Foxconn, however, insists it treats its workers well. Following the suicides, it hired counselors and put large nets up on some buildings to prevent suicides.

Apple later praised Foxconn’s efforts, saying the company had “definitely saved lives.” But Apple, like other global companies, has to deal with continuing problems that crop up in China’s massive factory zones. Apple has a strict code of conduct for its global suppliers, audits facilities every year and publishes its findings.

Last year, Apple said its audits found that nine supplier factories in China had hired workers below the age of 16, the legal working age, and that other facilities had falsified audit materials and even coached workers on how to respond to questions from auditors. Apple also said in its report that at a supplier factory in the city of Suzhou, 137 workers were exposed last year to the toxic chemical n-hexane, causing adverse health effects.

Some labor rights activists say Foxconn’s working conditions are poor and that Apple and Foxconn have failed to address complaints by workers.

On Monday, a Hong Kong-based labor rights group called Students Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior said that it had noted a problem with “aluminum dust” in Foxconn’s Chengdu facility last March, when it issued a report on the company’s working conditions there.

The group said workers at the Chengdu facility had complained earlier this year that “the ventilation of the department is poor. Workers polish the iPad cases to make them shiny. In the process, there is lots of aluminum dust floating in the air. Workers always breathe in aluminum dust even thought they put on masks. When workers take off their cotton gloves, their hands are covered with aluminum dust.”

After the statement was released by the group, Foxconn issued its own statement saying it was “unfortunate” that the Hong Kong group was seeking to “capitalize on the tragic accident” with a statement that misrepresented “Foxconn’s commitment to the health and safety of our employees.”

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=ddb61a3500ed80c5fd00ea792e9559cb

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: , ,