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Market Chatter — Corporate finance press digest
* El Paso Corp Chief Executive Douglas Foshee does not plan to stay at Kinder Morgan Inc after the pipeline company acquires his employer, a Wall Street Journal report said.* Mattel Inc , the world’s largest toy company, is in talks to buy Hit Entertainment, the British owner of Thomas the Tank Engine, for a little over 500 million pounds ($788.9 million), the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.* U.S. officials and big banks are working on a plan that would make refinancing available to some borrowers whose houses are worth less than their loans, so long as they are current on mortgage payments, the Wall Street Journal reported.* The Irish government has spoken to Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways and International Airlines Group (IAG) about the possibility of buying the state’s 25 percent stake in Aer Lingus , state broadcaster RTE reported on Monday.* Bank of America Corp is selling its 49 percent stake in 4 World Financial Center in Manhattan to Brookfield Office Properties Inc., Bloomberg News reported, citing a person with knowledge of the situation. -
Appeals court blocks parts of Alabama immigration law
But the ruling allows the state to continue authorizing police to detain people suspected of being in the country illegally if they cannot produce proper documentation when stopped for any reason.The law has led some illegal immigrants in Alabama to pull their children out of school and even flee the state. -
Mitsubishi to build two gas turbine plants in California
The combined output capacity of the two plants will be 1 million kilowatts, which is roughly equivalent to a single nuclear reactor, the Nikkei reported.One of the plants, a 200,000 KW facility, will be built solely by Mistubishi at a cost of about 20 billion yen and is expected to be operational in July 2012, the daily said.The other, a 800,000 KW facility, will be constructed jointly by Mitsubishi, General Electric Co and an American developer, the paper reported.Mitsubishi will hold a 50 percent stake in this plant, which is expected to go onstream in August 2013, the Nikkei said.Both plants are to supply power to a major California utility for 10 years, the daily said.($1 = 76.825 Japanese Yen) -
New head of UK press watchdog named
He takes over as politicians call for a complete overhaul or even abolition of the PCC, a self-regulatory body, following claims it had done nothing to address the hacking allegations at the now defunct News of the World newspaper.When the scandal engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp media empire in July, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the PCC was “busted” and needed to be replaced, while opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband has called it a “toothless poodle”.Former chairman Baroness Peta Buscombe announced her intention to resign during the outcry and Lord Hunt echoed her departing views that there should be independent, non-statutory self-regulation of the press.”I have no desire to live in a country where the legitimate, lawful investigative activities of the press are fettered at the whim of politicians,” he said in a statement.”There is a real appetite for change, however, and it is my intention to drive forward the creation of a reinvigorated and respected standards body, funded by the industry but operationally independent from both the industry and the state.”At an inquiry into press standards set up by Prime Minister David Cameron following growing outrage about phone-hacking, editors accused politicians of going too far in their response to the scandal.They said the government and Cameron, which had desperately sought in the past to win Murdoch’s approval, were now attempting to clamp down on the press to hide their own embarrassment. -
UPDATE 1-Slovak parties scramble for quick deal on EFSF
* Parliament reconvenes on Thursday, may vote againBy Jan Lopatka and Martin SantaBRATISLAVA, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Parties in Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radicova’s outgoing government will hold talks with the opposition on Wednesday to reach a quick agreement on ratifying a plan to strengthen the euro zone’s EFSF rescue fund, a party spokesman said.Lawmakers rejected a plan to bolster the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) in a vote on Tuesday, toppling the centre-right cabinet, but a second vote with opposition support is likely to approve the pact within days.Slovakia is the only euro zone member yet to ratify the plan that would give the EFSF bigger powers to fight the spreading debt crisis. Ratification by all 17 members is needed for the plan to take effect.Robert Fico, head of the leftist opposition party Smer, said on Tuesday he was ready for talks. His party supports the EFSF in principle but refused to support it on Tuesday because by abstaining it helped topple the government.”We want to vote on the EFSF as soon as possible, ideally on Thursday. Everything depends on whether an agreement with Smer is reached,” said Michal Lukac, spokesman for Radicova’s Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU).Radicova has asked SDKU leader Mikulas Dzurinda to lead the talks, which will also include two junior ruling partners.The coalition’s forth member, Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) will not take part. Its opposition to EFSF ratification brought down the government in Tuesday’s vote.It refused to vote in favour because its leader, free-market ideologue Richard Sulik, argued that as the euro zone’s second poorest members, Slovaks should not have to bail out higher-spending, richer countries like Greece.The cabinet, which remains in office until a new administration is formed, will meet at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) and a cabinet source told Reuters it would formally approve EFSF ratification again and resubmit it to parliament.Parliament is next due to sit on Thursday afternoon, which would be its first opportunity to hold a new vote on the EFSF.Its rejection of the plan on Tuesday rattled global markets frustrated at the euro zone’s lack of flexibility in decision making at a time when Europe’s debt crisis is worsening.President Ivan Gasparovic, responsible for appointing the next prime minister, cut short a visit to Asia to deal with the government collapse and was expected to return on Thursday.
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