Thursday, November 30, 2006

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Stones roll by U2 for top-grossing tour ever

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Though they'll surely live to fight another day, U2's brief stint holding the title of top-grossing tour ever is over. That distinction returns to the Rolling Stones, whose A Bigger Bang tour is now the top-grossing tour in history.
Full article from Yahoo! UK& Ireland

Oil rallies towards $60 on Nigeria, dollar

Oil rallies towards $60 on Nigeria, dollar. Source Yahoo!UK&Ireland

Bank of Georgia IPO to raise 83 million pounds

LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of Georgia said on Friday it expected to raise $160 million (83 million pounds) in a share flotation that will make it the first ever company from the former Soviet Union country to list in London. Full article from Reuters UK

Friday, November 24, 2006

We won't chop up Gazporn:)

Russia' President Vladimir Putin denies EU proposal to unbundle Gazprom's upstream and downstream operations -- exploration and production from transportation and distribution. Article from Yahoo! Finance UK

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Kerkorian's Tracinda offers to buy 5% more of GM

Article from USA TODAY about Kerkorian's dances around troubled world biggest auto maker

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Oil back near $59

ArticleFrom Yahoo!Finance

World's fastest economy could speed to trouble

Article from Yahoo! Finance UK&Ireland about robust speed of Azeibardjan economy caused oil price increase along with the launch of the pipeline through Turkey that opens country's oil export direct access to the Western markets (bypassing Russia)

Is Porsche revving up to take over Volkswagen?


Article from Yahoo!Finance UK&Ireland

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Hertz IPO is latest private-equity flotation

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Less than a year after private equity funds bought Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTZ), the world's largest car rental company is on track for one of the largest U.S. stock flotations of the year.
Private equity investors, whose appetite for acquisitions is fueling a surge in overall M&A activity, have been shortening the time between leveraged buyouts and the initial public offerings they often use to cash out on the deals.

Companies are also boosting offering sizes after paying themselves larger dividends and loading up with debt.

"When you have so much money in these deals, it increases the pressure to an enormous degree to get liquidity," said Tom Taulli, founder of InvestorOffering.com. "Investors are pushing for faster turnarounds and the deals are becoming flips as opposed to investments."

ML Global Private Equity Fund LP, an affiliate of Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER), and buyout firms Carlyle Group and Clayton Dubilier & Rice bought Hertz from Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) last December for $5.6 billion, or $15 billion including debt.

Park Ridge, New Jersey-based Hertz, which also has one of the largest equipment rental businesses in the United States, is scheduled to float about 88 million shares on Wednesday, or about 27.5 percent of the company, according to a prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

COULD BE NO. 2 U.S. IPO

The company could raise more than $1.8 billion if the shares price at the top of a $16 to $18 forecast range and over-allotment options are exercised. The company would also be valued at about $5.8 billion.

At an $18 share price, Hertz would be the No. 2 U.S. IPO this year after the $2.6 billion float of credit card association MasterCard (NYSE:MA ).

At that price, Hertz would trade at 57 times annualized earnings, based on current earnings, which are depressed by debt service payments, according to Francis Gaskins president of IPO Desktop, a research firm based in Marina del Rey, California.

Actual earnings would be higher once the IPO proceeds are used to pay down debt, making for a smaller price-earnings ratio.

Still, Hertz's valuation looks lofty compared with rivals Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. (NYSE:DTG ) and Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NYSE:CAR ), which trade at about 17 and 16 times earnings respectively, according to Reuters Estimates.

The Hertz investors are set to reap a paper gain of nearly $4 billion on $2.3 billion they invested less than a year ago.

The three firms will also receive a special dividend of up to $642 million from Hertz if the deal prices at the midpoint of the range and the underwriters exercise their option to sell 13 million additional shares.

In June, the investors used a $1 billion loan and cash on hand to pay a $999.2 million dividend to current stockholders.

Source Yahoo! Finance

Sunday, November 12, 2006

accounting information

The objective of accounting information is to enable decision makers to improve the allocation of resources which they control and to assess the actual results of their decisions against forecasted results.