“X Factor” snags Rihanna as guest mentor
The news confirms a report by TMZ last month that said the “Umbrella” singer would help mentor contestants.This week, the 32 acts that survived the show’s “Boot Camp” will visit a judge’s home or another location of his or her choice, where the judge will mentor them toward trying to earn a place on the live shows.Rihanna will help Reid, and “additional superstar guest mentors” will join the other judges, Fox said. The other mentors will be revealed tonight.
UPDATE 2-US candidate Romney reaps $14 mln in latest report
By Kim Dixon and Patricia ZengerleWASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Mitt Romney’s campaign
raised more than $14 million in the third quarter, signaling
the Republican presidential hopeful’s fund-raising remains
healthy despite big swings in opinion polls.Texas Governor Rick Perry, who hauled in $17 million in the
same period, is likely his only rival to top that figure. It
was Perry’s first reporting period after a late entry into the
race.The Republican race to take on President Barack Obama has
had wild swings, though Romney has stayed near the top
throughout. Perry’s entry caused a splash before a series of
missteps, while pizza executive Herman Cain is leading some
polls now.Still, Romney has taken on the mantle of front-runner in
many ways in recent weeks, solidifying support from a broad
array of the Republican establishment and big time donors.”Money is critical partly because it helps send voters a
signal about which candidates are viable,” said Costas
Panagopoulos, director of a politics center at Fordham
University. “One of the things that put Obama on the map in
2008 was his ability to raise formidable sums of money.”Romney’s campaign on Friday also said it had $14 million in
cash on hand, with 83 percent of the donations in increments of
$250 or less.Expectations had been that Romney and most other candidates
in the 2012 election would pull in less cash in the third
quarter than in the three months ended in June, when Romney
took in $18 million.The July through September fund-raising period is typically
weak, largely due to the summer vacation season.Obama’s campaign reported raising $70 million in the third
quarter, including funds raised for the Democratic National
Committee.The 2012 election is expected to be the priciest ever, with
Obama expected to raise more than his record-breaking $750
million from 2008.As a result of Supreme Court and other legal decisions
loosening campaign finance rules, the proliferation of outside
spending groups with no contribution limits is expected to add
hundreds of millions of dollars in new cash.Romney and Obama both have what are known as super
political action committees devoted solely to electing them.
Priorities USA, run by former Obama operatives, plans to raise
and spend $100 million during the election cycle.A group run by Romney’s former advisers, Restore Our
Future, has raised $12 million since opening a few months ago.Cain does not have a large fundraising operation and raised
only $2 million in the second quarter, but he could see a bump
as a result of his surprise win in a Florida straw poll and his
advancement in national polls.Ron Paul has said he raised $8 million in the third
quarter.Full reports are due to U.S. regulators by Oct. 15.
UPDATE 1-FDA reviewers unconvinced on Teva Parkinson’s drug
By Alina SelyukhOct 13 (Reuters) - Teva Neuroscience Inc’s
clinical trials of its Parkinson’s drug Azilect left U.S. drug
reviewers unconvinced that the treatment slows the disease’s
progression.In documents released on Thursday, Food and Drug
Administration researchers raised concerns about the design of
the studies, their analysis and results.They added, however, that, “it has not been clear what sort
of data would definitively establish” whether a drug modifies
the disease.”There is no demonstrated benefit of rasagiline (Azilect’s
generic name) for slowing the rate of progression of
Parkinson’s Disease,” one reviewer wrote.Azilect, which Teva markets alongside Danish partner
Lundbeck in a number of countries, is approved to
treat symptoms of the neurological disorder, such as trembling
limbs, stiffness, slow movement and impaired balance.The Israel-based drugmaker wants to expand the drug’s
indication to show that Azilect slows the clinical progression
of Parkinson’s.There is no existing cure or treatment that slows or
entirely stops the progression of Parkinson’s.The review was also complicated by the fact that it is hard
to draw a line between treating the symptoms of Parkinson’s and
treating the disease.Much is unknown about Parkinson’s, including the causes of
the neurogenetic disorder. Anywhere from 500,000 to 1.5 million
Americans are estimated have the disease, and nearly 60,000 are
diagnosed each year, according to Parkinson’s Action Network.Azilect received FDA approval in 2006 for use as a single
drug therapy in early Parkinson’s and, in more advanced
patients, as addition to levodopa, a standard treatment for the
disease that can mask symptoms of the disease, but does not
stop its progression.Teva’s drug works by blocking the breakdown of dopamine, a
chemical that sends information to the parts of the brain that
control muscle movement and coordination.FDA advisers will vote on Oct. 17 on whether Teva has
provided the drug regulator with enough evidence of Azilect
slowing down Parkinson’s.
eBay and Facebook unveil e-commerce partnership
SAN FRANCISCO Oct 12 (Reuters) - Facebook executive and
eBay Inc board member Katie Mitic unveiled a
partnership between the two companies designed to create a new
crop of e-commerce applications with social networking
features.Mitic said on Wednesday that Facebook’s so-called Open
Graph — the map of connections that Facebook users create with
friends and online content — will be integrated “seamlessly”
into applications developed with certain eBay services and
technologies.EBay is trying to encourage outside developers to create
applications for its e-commerce platforms and is making a
particularly strong push in mobile commerce.The company launched X.commerce, its new division aimed at
software developers, at a conference in San Francisco on
Wednesday.Weaving Facebook features into e-commerce products has the
potential to make online shopping a more personalized
experience, by displaying people’s thoughts about products on
the virtual store shelves.Speaking at the conference, Mitic said Facebook’s Open
Graph would be integrated into applications developed with eBay
services such as Magento, a service for building online
storefronts, and GSI, which handles order fulfillment.Some analysts and e-commerce experts had expected a deeper
partnership, possibly focusing on PayPal, eBay’s electronic
payment system.Mitic’s announcement was met with little applause from the
3,000 strong crowd in the conference hall.Shares of eBay were up 1 percent at $33.17 late Wednesday
afternoon, in line with the broader market.EBay and Facebook have an existing partnership the allows
the purchase of Facebook self-serve ads and Facebook Credits
using PayPal, eBay’s electronic payments system.At the end of September, Katie Mitic, head of Platform and
Mobile Marketing at Facebook, joined eBay’s board of directors,
sparking speculation that the two companies were working on new
partnerships.
eBay and Facebook unveil e-commerce partnership
SAN FRANCISCO Oct 12 (Reuters) - Facebook executive and
eBay Inc board member Katie Mitic unveiled a
partnership between the two companies designed to create a new
crop of e-commerce applications with social networking
features.Mitic said on Wednesday that Facebook’s so-called Open
Graph — the map of connections that Facebook users create with
friends and online content — will be integrated “seamlessly”
into applications developed with certain eBay services and
technologies.EBay is trying to encourage outside developers to create
applications for its e-commerce platforms and is making a
particularly strong push in mobile commerce.The company launched X.commerce, its new division aimed at
software developers, at a conference in San Francisco on
Wednesday.Weaving Facebook features into e-commerce products has the
potential to make online shopping a more personalized
experience, by displaying people’s thoughts about products on
the virtual store shelves.Speaking at the conference, Mitic said Facebook’s Open
Graph would be integrated into applications developed with eBay
services such as Magento, a service for building online
storefronts, and GSI, which handles order fulfillment.Some analysts and e-commerce experts had expected a deeper
partnership, possibly focusing on PayPal, eBay’s electronic
payment system.Mitic’s announcement was met with little applause from the
3,000 strong crowd in the conference hall.Shares of eBay were up 1 percent at $33.17 late Wednesday
afternoon, in line with the broader market.EBay and Facebook have an existing partnership the allows
the purchase of Facebook self-serve ads and Facebook Credits
using PayPal, eBay’s electronic payments system.At the end of September, Katie Mitic, head of Platform and
Mobile Marketing at Facebook, joined eBay’s board of directors,
sparking speculation that the two companies were working on new
partnerships.
BoA-ML, TerraPass in California CO2 offset deal
LONDON Oct 11 (Reuters) - Bank of America Merrill Lynch
has joined forces with U.S.-based carbon portfolio
manager TerraPass Inc in a bid to enter the nascent Californian
emissions market, the bank said on Tuesday.Under the deal, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global
Commodities Group has the option to purchase and bring to market
several million California carbon offsets from TerraPass through
2020, which will be compliant with the California Air Resources
Board’s standards.The value of the deal was not disclosed.The offsets will be generated from agricultural methane
projects located throughout the United States, the bank said.In the absence of federal U.S. climate legislation,
California’s fledgling emissions market could grow to one of the
largest in the world.California is expected to approve the final design of its
cap-and-trade rules this month, which should boost liquidity.”By acting as a first mover in California, we are
positioning ourselves as the offset provider of choice for
companies that will need to become compliant under these new
regulations,” said Abyd Karmali, global head of carbon markets
at the bank’s global commodities group.
Bank capital woes may delay distressed debt boom
Over the past 18 months, investors have snapped up assets
sold mainly by bailed-out banks, including RBS and Lloyds in the
UK, WestLB and Commerzbank in Germany and Irish banks.Some of the best deals came in the fourth quarter when a
number of better quality banks in core countries such as France,
the Netherlands and Scandinavia, sold non-performing and
performing loans at 60-70 percent of face value.”Those banks that received capital were given a mandate to
sell assets, but they were only able to sell at the market price
because of that,” said one senior leveraged loan trader at a
U.S. investment bank.”All the banks trying to sell assets today, and there are
hundred of billions for sale, cannot do so because the price
that they can afford to sell at is nowhere near where the market
is pricing those assets.”That’s a kick in the teeth for those out fundraising. Ten
European-focused distressed funds are on the road seeking to
raise a combined USD8.5bn — more than double the USD3.9bn
raised in 2010, the best year on record — alternative asset
research firm Preqin said.Fears of a Greek default have made matters worse. Banks’
concerns that writedowns will make it even harder for them to
take significant losses on other assets have already prompted
them to hold back on loan sales, investors said.”Since the Greek sovereign crisis really came to a head in
the summer, we have found that banks have frozen up. That’s
likely to push back the distressed opportunity,” said Iain
Burnett, head of distressed debt at BlueBay Asset Management.”Some banks were in a better position earlier this year to
start selling some of their more difficult assets at bigger
discounts, but they now seem to be in a state of confusion
because they don’t know what sort of exposure they have on their
Greek sovereign debt holdings.”Banks in peripheral euro zone countries like Portugal, for
example, have focused on selling loans valued close to par so as
not to erode their capital further.PUSHBACK TO 2012Fund activity has been dominated by existing players such as
Oaktree raising cash for further investment, while new funds are
appearing and others have merged. Last week, Blackstone’s GSO
Capital Partners, which invests in mezzanine, distressed
investing, leveraged loans and other special situation
strategies, announced the acquisition of Harbourmaster Capital.”The best opportunities are in the bank loan market,” said
Victor Khosla, founder of Strategic Value Partners, a global
investment firm that has been focused on distressed, event
driven and turnaround investments for the past 10 years.SVP has bought USD6bn of bank loans in Europe over the years
and has invested and been involved in about 100 restructuring
deals. It has been very active during the summer, and expects to
put more cash to work in the next nine to twelve months.”In the next 60-90 days, there is a possibility of a real
crisis in Europe. The economic backdrop and increasing amount of
systemic risk, coupled with the deleveraging process of banks,
is only going to pick up steam and create more opportunities.”But a deluge of deals is unlikely, some argue. Societe
Generale, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole have all recently
announced asset sales as a way to shore up their balance sheets.BNP Paribas said in mid-September that it would cut its
balance sheet by 10% and sell EUR70bn of assets as it aims to
achieve a Basel 3 common equity Tier 1 ratio of 9% by January 1
2013 .Under the new global rules to be phased in from 2013 to
2019, banks’ core Tier 1 ratios have been set at a minimum of
7%.No mean feat say experts.”That’s like saying I am going to sell those assets at a
higher price than where I have those assets marked on my book,
and at a higher price than where they are today. It’s madness. I
want a pony for Christmas too,” the trader said.SPECIAL SITUATIONS EYEDIf asset sales are pushed back, investors may look more
closely at turnaround investments — where they buy equity in
companies in distress and turn them back into profitability.
Special situations investments — focused on event-driven or
complex situations such as restructurings — may also pick up
despite complex legal jurisdictions in Europe.SVP has led a number of restructurings this year, notably
for German wood processor Pfleiderer and building materials
business Quinn Group.The restructuring for the latter business, founded by Sean
Quinn, one of Ireland’s richest men, and which was one of the
biggest beneficiaries of the Irish property boom, is expected to
be completed by the end of the year, said Khosla.”You can buy in countries such as UK, Germany and Ireland
without getting caught up in complex bankruptcy codes. We have
bought and completed the bulk of the restructuring of both
companies within nine months,” he said.Gina Germano, co-founder of BlueBay’s European distressed
debt and special situations group in 2002 has returned to the
market to co-lead Goldbridge Capital Partners, a new European
credit asset management company backed by Northill Capital.
BlueBay’s Recovery Fund, run by Germano, was restructured after
assets slumped in 2008 and 2009.”In the last couple of years we have seen some short-term
solutions to difficult or stressed capital structures, but we
expect many of the leveraged buyouts that were fixed temporarily
from the 2006-2007 period will restructure in the near future,”
said Germano.
