Market Chatter-Corporate finance press digest

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PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Dec 15

n">Dec 15 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* Japanese authorities are set to announce Friday that they have brought the Fukushima Daiichi complex's reactors to a state called cold shutdown, a milestone in stabilizing the site.

* The SEC is heading on a collision course with the federal judge who rejected the proposed $285 million settlement between the agency and Citigroup Inc.

* Research In Motion's falling share price is ratcheting up pressure on directors to overhaul the company's management structure, which has allowed the firm's two chiefs to also serve as co-chairmen.

* Wall Street research analysts, who usually write rosy reports on companies their firms take public, gave surprisingly faint praise to the latest big Internet stock to hit the market, discount deal site Groupon Inc.

* With foreign investors calling for a management overhaul, scandal-hit Olympus Corp said Thursday it will aim to hold an extraordinary shareholder meeting in March or April.

* Hasbro Inc, the manufacturer of such classics as Monopoly, Scrabble and Operation, remains dogged by a disastrous Christmas last year, when sales fell and profits plunged by 15 percent for the quarter.

* Nokia Corp is getting back into the U.S. smartphone business with an entry-level model powered by Microsoft Corp.'s latest Windows software and sold by T-Mobile USA.

* Three years after Siemens AG reached a record foreign-bribery settlement with U.S. authorities, the German industrial conglomerate is capitalizing on business from an unexpected place-the U.S. government.

* Hewlett-Packard Co, still smarting from criticism over the exit packages it awarded to ousted chief executives Mark Hurd and Leo Apotheker, will limit severance payments it makes to senior executives who are pushed out.

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PRESS DIGEST - Financial Times - Dec 14

Financial Times

EU TREATY HOPES COME UNDER STRAIN

Franco-German hopes for a sweeping new treaty to bind the region's economies more closely came under strain on Tuesday as several European Union leaders warned of difficulties pushing a far-reaching pact through their national parliaments.

MORGAN STANLEY BOOKS HUGE LOSS

Morgan Stanley has resolved its legal conflicts with bond insurer MBIA, ending a long-running dispute tied to guarantees of mortgage securities that will result in the bank recording a $1.8 billion pre-tax loss.

GREEK HAIRCUT DISPUTE RISKS DELAYING RESCUE PACKAGE

Greece's new 130 billion euro rescue package could be delayed, after talks on a voluntary haircut for private sector bondholders ended without agreement on Tuesday, according to people involved in the discussions.

EON SECURES INTEREST IN PIPELINE SALE UNIT

German insurer Allianz and Belgian gas network group Fluxys are among five companies that have shown interest in a domestic gas pipeline operator being sold by Eon , the German utility.

CREDIT MARKETS FEAR CORPORATE DEFAULT

European credit markets are bracing for more defaults as a vital cog in the region's deal-making and corporate lending machinery begins winding down next year.

CITIGROUP TO SELL REMAINDER OF PRIMERICA

Citigroup is set to gain about $180 million by selling the remainder of its stake in Primerica, the life insurance company that was a crucial building block in Sandy Weill's attempt to create a financial supermarket in the 1990s.

UK TO BOOST TRANSPORT PROJECTS

More than 20 local transport projects with an overall value of 500 million pounds will receive fresh funding from the government as it tries to boost infrastructure spending, the Financial Times has learnt.

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PRESS DIGEST - British business - Dec 14

The Times

UK'S CAMERON FACES NEW EURO VOTE IN WEEKS

British Prime Minister David Cameron is facing a new year ambush over Europe as conservative MPs plan to force a further parliament vote on Britain's membership of the European Union.

REGULATOR CALLED TO GIVE ACCOUNT ON RBS

The two heads of Britain's financial regulator, the FSA, are to appear before MPs at the Treasury Select Committee to answer questions on the FSA's role in the collapse of Royal Bank of Scotland.

The Daily Telegraph

EU'S BARNIER SAYS UK SAFEGUARDS ARE NOT NECESSARY

British Prime Minister David Cameron's demands for the UK's financial district are "neither necessary nor desirable" and would introduce nationalistic protectionism into the single market, EU Commissioner for Internal Markets Michel Barnier has claimed.

FSA VERDICT COULD PUT FORMER RBS CHIEF IN DOCK

Former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Fred Goodwin could finally face criminal charges after the regulator's report into the collapse of RBS has suggested that the bank's directors broke Britain's accountancy laws.

The Guardian

IMF SLASHES GROWTH FORECAST FOR GREECE

The International Monetary Fund slashed its growth forecasts for Greece and warned that ever-deepening recession was making it harder for the debt-ridden country to meet the tough deficit reduction targets under its austerity programme.

The Independent

FRACKING COMPANY EYES ENGLISH DRILLING

Cuadrilla Resources, the fracking company which counts former BP chief executive Lord Browne as a director, has been granted a licence to drill for shale gas on a new site in West Sussex, in England.

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PRESS DIGEST - Hong Kong - Dec 14

HONG KONG | Tue Dec 13, 2011 9:08pm EST

HONG KONG Dec 14 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in Hong Kong newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

-- Beijing is expected to allow the listing of city commercial banks next year after delaying their planned initial public offerings for more than three years, offering hope to about 10 regional banks that meet listing requirements.

-- The number of government-related weibo accounts on Sina.com, mainland China's most popular microblogging service, increased threefold this year to reach nearly 20,000, according to a report released by the People's Daily Online's Public Opinion Monitoring Office. Analysts said officials have been urged to use microblogs to interact with the public and counter negative news.

-- Home price in Hong Kong and first-tier mainland cities will drop as much as 20 percent next year as austerity measures squeeze previously sizzling-hot property markets, said Raymond Ngai, head of Greater China property research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

HONG KONG ECONOMIC JOURNAL

-- Chinese property developer Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd said contract sales in November fell 86 percent from October to 1.24 billion yuan ($194.81 million).

APPLE DAILY

-- China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd , the China's No.2 mobile phone operator, expects to start selling Apple Inc's iPhone 4S before the Lunar New Year in January, according to a company executive.

WEN WEI PO

-- China Tianrui Group Cement Co, which opens its retail book on Wednesday, said it aims to raise HK$1.45 billion ($186.43 million) in its Hong Kong initial public offering.

For Chinese newspapers, see...............

For Taiwan newspapers, see................

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