Saudi Aramco IPO on track for 2018 – Saudi crown prince

RIYADH – Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering is on track for next year and the national oil giant could be valued at more than $2 trillion, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman told Reuters in an interview.

The sale of around 5 percent of Aramco next year is a centerpiece of Vision 2030, an ambitious reform plan to diversify the Saudi economy beyond oil which is championed by Prince Mohammad.

Saudi officials have said domestic and international exchanges such as New York, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong have been looked at for a partial listing of the state-run firm.

A decision on which exchange would secure the offering has still not been made, fuelling market speculation that the IPO could be delayed beyond 2018 or even shelved, amid growing concerns about the feasibility of an international listing.

“We are on track in 2018… but the listing (details) are still under discussion,” Prince Mohammad told Reuters in an exclusive interview on Wednesday in Riyadh for release on Thursday. “It will be IPO-ed in 2018.”

The crown prince declined to discuss specific details of the IPO, which could be the biggest in history and is expected to raise as much as $100 billion.

Prince Mohammad, 32, has sweeping powers over defense, energy and the economy and is expected to take the final decision about Aramco’s listing venue and the other reforms.

Investors have long debated whether Aramco could be valued anywhere close to $2 trillion, the figure announced by the crown prince, who wants to raise cash through the IPO to finance investments aimed at helping wean the world’s biggest oil exporting nation off its dependency on crude.

But Prince Mohammad reiterated that Aramco’s estimated valuation would be about $2 trillion.

“I know that there has been a lot of argument around this topic but at the end of the day the right say is that of the investor. Undoubtedly the biggest IPO in the world must be accompanied by a lot of rumors,” Prince Mohammad said.

“Aramco would prove itself on the ground on the day of the IPO. Actually when I talked about the valuation, I talk about $2 trillion, it could be more than $2 trillion.”

The timing of the IPO will depend on getting legal and regulatory approval from the jurisdictions it opts to list in, industry sources had said. It could also be influenced by the oil price – currently below $60 per barrel – a price Saudi officials have identified as a good level.

Asked whether the rift with Gulf OPEC producer Qatar has dented investors’ sentiment, ahead of the Aramco IPO, Prince Mohammad dismissed the impact of the political impasse. “Qatar is a very, very, very small issue,” he said.

Saudi Arabia and three other Arab states have cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Doha denies the accusations.

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia is leading OPEC and other oil producers such as Russia to restrict oil supplies under a global oil pact to drain global inventories and boost oil prices.

“We are committed to work with all producers, OPEC and non-OPEC countries, we have a great and historic deal… We will support anything to stabilize the oil demand and supply,” Prince Mohammad said when asked whether the kingdom would support extending the agreement until the end of 2018. The current pact expires in March.

“I think now the oil market swallowed the shale oil supply, now we are regaining things again.”

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told Reuters that the kingdom is determined to reduce inventories further through an OPEC-led deal to cut crude output and raised the prospect of prolonged restraint once the pact ends to prevent a build up in excess supplies.

source: interaksyon.com

Facebook goes express to mega-cap status — now valued more than AT&T, Coke

NEW YORK — In the days after its infamously mishandled initial public offering in May 2012, it looked as if Facebook would struggle to become a must-own for fund managers.

Now the company’s $190 billion market value makes it bigger than such bellwethers as Coca-Cola and AT&T. It’s not a member of the Dow industrials, but if it were, it would be larger than two-thirds of that index’s 30 members.

Shares of the world’s No. 1 social network touched a record high of $76.74 on Thursday after earnings and revenues easily topped analysts’ forecasts, boosting its market value to nearly $194 billion. That ranks it 15th in the Standard & Poor’s 500 benchmark index, just below the $196 billion market cap of International Business Machines Corp.

“A 100-year-old company with real assets versus a company admittedly with virtual assets and they are trading at the same market cap – crazy,” said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

The speed of Facebook’s rise to mega-cap status is what’s notable. It took Apple Inc nearly three decades to achieve such a market value; Google Inc needed five years.

Facebook has only been public for a little more than two years, and only joined the S&P 500 seven months ago. Since S&P Dow Jones Indices announced the addition on Dec. 11, Facebook shares have risen 54 percent.

The gains represent a reversal of fortune for the social media company. After a botched IPO that infuriated investors in May 2012, the stock slumped, underperforming for 15 months before finally eclipsing its offering price of $38 in August 2013. Since then, Facebook shares have been unstoppable, doubling in less than a year.

“People understand the world is moving to mobile, and when you look at the time spent on mobile, Facebook has the lion’s share,” said Walter Price, senior portfolio manager and managing director of the AllianzGI Global Technology fund, which owned more than a million shares as of June 30.

The firm has leveraged its position by selling put options, or negative bets on the stock, and buying more call options, or bets on the shares rising further. “This is a momentum stock you can put a P/E on,” Price said.

Facebook’s rally has left e-commerce giant Amazon Inc in the dust. That company’s value peaked around $187 billion in January, but closed Thursday at $165 billion. Amazon reported disappointing results afterwards, which dragged down its stock by 7 percent, valuing the company around $153 billion.

Facebook’s market cap is still dwarfed by the roughly $403 billion in combined market cap for the two classes of Google shares, arguably the most similar in terms of revenue generation. However, Facebook tops The Coca-Cola Co by about $15 billion and Disney by more than $40 billion.

Shot, quick trip

Apple, the S&P 500′s most valuable company, needed nearly three decades before its market value finally rose to more than $190 billion, surpassing that level in late December 2009.

Google’s move was swifter. The company went public in August 2004, and posted a closing market value of more than $190 billion for the first time in October 2007, right around the S&P’s peak before the financial crisis.

That’s not to say there aren’t detractors. StarMine, a Thomson Reuters company, sees Facebook as more overvalued than 95 percent of the companies in its stock universe. Using expected growth rates over the next decade, StarMine puts an intrinsic value of $29 on the stock. It has a high price-to-earnings ratio of 42, more overvalued than 90 percent of the stocks StarMine tracks.

However, the stock’s relentless march has left few willing to stand in its way. Investors betting on the stock falling have dried up. In August 2012, more than 80 percent of shares available for short bets were being borrowed by investors expecting the stock to drop, according to Markit. Now, just 0.4 percent of shares available are being used for short bets.

Of the 43 analysts with recommendations on the stock, 37 are “strong buy” or “buy” ratings, with six “hold” ratings.

“If you were looking to short names that were ridiculously overvalued and people were not even thinking the growth was going to continue, I wouldn’t put Facebook in that category,” said Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Equity Management LLC in San Francisco.

“That being said, do I buy Facebook here? From my perspective, I am a value investor – I wouldn’t get anywhere near it with a 10-foot pole.”

That acceptance of Facebook’s legitimacy as a successful and viable company makes the comparison to the classic names that now surround it on the market cap list more palatable.

“In some respects, Facebook speaks to a demographic shift in the way retailing, social media and virtually every other component of people’s lives is being bundled,” said Peter Kenny, chief market strategist at Clearpool Group in New York.

“Investors are starting to see the brilliance of this platform in ways that haven’t to date really captured the imagination of many.”

source: interaksyon.com

Resorts World operator halves IPO price

MANILA - The operator of Resorts World Manila slashed by half the price at which it would sell its shares to the public, trimming the size of the equity fundraising to $430 million.

During Friday's domestic roadshow, UBS Philippines managing director Lauro Baja III said the maximum price for Travellers International Hotel Group Inc’s initial public offering (IPO) will be P11.88 per share, down from the original price of P23.38 per share.




UBS is one of the global coordinators, international book runners and lead managers of the IPO.

Proceeds from the primary offering will drop to $430 million, Baja said. Including the over-allotment option, the proceeds could reach $450 million.

The joint venture between Alliance Global Group Inc of Philippine billionaire Andrew Tan and Malaysia's Genting Hong Kong earlier planned to raise $842-million from the IPO before it was shelved in July in light of the volatility in financial markets worldwide.

Travellers will kick off its international roadshow on Monday, bringing the hotel and gaming firm to Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, London, New York and Boston.

The final offer price will be set on October 17 with offer period scheduled from October 22 to 29. Listing of the shares at the Philippine Stock Exchange is slated on November 5.

Travellers will use the proceeds from the offer to partly finance the $600-million expansion of Resorts World Manila, the country's first integrated tourism estate.

CIMB Securities (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Maybank Kim Eng Securities (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Merrill Lynch (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Religare Capital Markets Hong Kong Limited and UBS AG, Hong Kong Branch were tapped as joint global coordinators, international book runners and lead managers.

CLSA Limited, Credit Suisse (Singapore) Limited and Morgan Stanley & Company International PLC will act as joint international co-book runners.

Domestic lead underwriters are BDO Capital & Investment Corporation, Maybank ATR Kim Eng Capital Partners Inc and UBS Investments Philippines Inc.

Travellers operates Resorts World Manila and plans to build a second facility in the Entertainment City of state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor).

The expansion of Resorts World Manila will double its current offerings in the next three years. This involves a convention cenetr that can accommodate 5,000 people, an additional 1,100 hotel rooms and gaming facilities.

source: interaksyon.com

FMIC eyes P50 billion worth of IPO deals in 2H

MANILA - The investment banking arm of Metrobank is participating in the initial public offering (IPO) of four companies that have a combined value of P50 billion.

On the sidelines of the PDS Annual Awards Night on Thursday, Roberto Juanchito Dispo, First Metro Investment Corp (FMIC) president, said the companies that intend to go public this year are in the financial, property, oil and petroleum sectors.

"We're the darling of the foreign investors. We have solid macroeconomic fundamentals. There is strong domestic liquidity. The market is liquid and investors are looking for yields and returns and the equity market is the best option," Dispo said.

He expects more maiden share sales and follow-on offerings to happen in the third and fourth quarters, contributing to another record year for the Philippine equity market.

This year, the Philippine Stock Exchange expects to match the record P219.07-billion raised in 2012 at the local bourse through IPOs, follow-on offerings, stock rights and private placements.

"As for bond issuances, there will be a lot of refinancing brought about by the new regulation of the Bureau of Internal Revenue taxing corporate notes structure. Most issuers are converting notes structure to bonds," Dispo said.

FMIC cornered 60.5 percent of the total capital market transactions amounting to P625.6 billion in 2012.

The investment bank grew its consolidated net income by 41 percent to hit P3.1 billion in 2012 from P2.2 billion a year ago, driven by higher contributions of its treasury, investment banking and investment advisory businesses.

It bagged the Cesar E.A. Virata Award for the Best Securities House for 2012-Investment House Category.

source: interaksyon.com

Tomorrow Is a Big Day for Facebook’s Stock

The New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ are both planning to re-open on Wednesday after having ceased all trading for two days as a result of Hurricane Sandy. For some employees at Facebook, Wednesday probably can’t come soon enough.





The first of three big lockups for Facebook stock expired on Monday, giving employees the option to sell off their shares in the company for the first time since Facebook went public in May. In total, 234 million shares of Facebook stock were freed up as part of the lockup expiration, but because the stock market was closed, employees and shareholders have been unable to trade that stock so far this week.

That all changes on Wednesday.

Facebook employees have spent more than five months watching as the company’s stock plummeted from its IPO price of $38 a share to as low as $17.55 in early September, without having the option to sell off any of their shares. CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly acknowledged to employees that the declining stock price was “painful” to watch for all.

On the day that the stock hit its all-time low, Facebook announced that it would bump up the first lockup expiration date for employees from Nov. 14 to Oct. 29, which some argued was an attempt by the company to boost employee morale. Since then, Facebook’s stock has staged a bit of resurgence and currently sits at $21.70 a share. While that’s well above the low point, it’s also still well below the IPO price — in fact, as of earlier this month, Facebook employees had lost an average of $2 million each since the IPO.

The big question going into Wednesday is how quickly Facebook employees will be to pull the trigger on cashing out their stock. If they flood the market by selling millions of shares, it could send a signal to investors that even Facebook employees are not confident in the company’s future, which could have a significantly negative impact on the company’s stock price.

A similar situation took place back in August, after the first lockup period expired for 271 millon shares held by Facebook insiders. Peter Thiel, one of Facebook’s first investors, quickly sold off nearly all the stock he owned in the company (about 22 million shares), a red flag for investors that hurt the price of the stock.

The average Facebook employee selling this time around certainly doesn’t have 22 million shares to sell, but if employees begin to sell off en masse, it could have a similarly damaging impact on the stock. What’s more, in two weeks, another lockup period will expire for a whopping 777 million shares, which could disrupt the stock’s performance even further.

source: mashable.com

Zuckerberg eyes mobile focus after Facebook IPO flop

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday he was steering the social network giant to focus more on mobile, saying it would help ease concerns after a “disappointing” stock market debut.

“The performance of the stock has obviously been disappointing,” Zuckerberg said during an on-stage interview at a TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco.

Facebook has made a priority of following its more than 900 million members onto smartphones and tablet computers, tailoring services and money-making ads for mobile devices.

“It is really clear from the stats and my own personal intuition that a lot of energy in the ecosystem is going to mobile, not desktop (computers),” Zuckerberg said.

“That is the future,” he continued. “We are going to be doing killer stuff there.”

Zuckerberg was adamant that the company was being underestimated and was on track to make “more money on mobile than we make on desktop.”

Zuckerberg’s appearance at the conference was his first public interview since the massive public offering on May 18 that was hotly anticipated—but ended up being a flop.

Facebook shares have lost around half their value since the IPO at $38 a share.

The shares gained 3.30% on Wall Street on Tuesday to close at $19.43. In after-hours trading following Zuckerberg’s remarks, the stock gained 3.14% to $20.06.

Zuckerberg said that despite the early stock market disappointment, “we’re going to execute this mission about making the world more connected.”

Zuckerberg also rejected criticism that the company is ill-prepared for a shift to mobile devices, where Facebook has only begun to get ad revenues. “Now, we are a mobile company,” he said.

He said the company would pursue its “mission” while seeking to make money for shareholders.

“We are a mission driven company,” Zuckerberg said. “Building a mission and building a business go hand in hand. From the beginning we’ve had this understanding we’ve had to do both.”

Zuckerberg has stated repeatedly, even in pre-IPO paperwork with US regulators, that Facebook did not build great services to make money but made money to build great services.

When pressed on the point, in the context of the California-based company losing more than $50 billion in value based on the stock price drop, Zuckerberg was quick to add that making money was a component of its broader mission.

“People who want to work on a great mission also want to make a bunch of money,” he contended.

Zuckerberg conceded that the stock price plummet has taken a toll on the morale of workers compensated with shares but that Facebook staff are accustomed to criticism and “have a pretty good compass” pointing to better days.

Stock compensation for Facebook employees is made based on cash value of shares, meaning that workers are awarded more shares at lower prices, according to the chief executive.

“I actually think it is a great time for people to join and a great time for people to stay and double-down,” Zuckerberg said of the Facebook team. “I think we are seeing that.”

Zuckerberg rejected suggestions that Facebook would make its own smartphone, adamant that the company had no intention of stepping into the fiercely competitive handset hardware arena.

“Apple, Google, everyone builds phones; we are going in the opposite direction,” Zuckerberg said. “We want to build a system deeply integrated in every device people want to use.”

Zuckerberg’s strategy to have Facebook on every smartphone instead of making a “Facebook phone” makes sense, according to technology analyst Jeff Kagan.

Zuckerberg said Facebook did not plan to go head-to-head with Google in the online search market but that the social network already handles one billion queries a day from people looking for friends, apps, brand pages and more.

“Facebook is uniquely positioned to answer a lot of questions people have,” Zuckerberg said, giving examples such as finding out restaurants friends have eaten at or who has connections at particular companies for jobs.

“At some point we will do it,” he continued. “We have a team working on search.”

Kagan said the Zuckerberg talk at the conference rekindled some of Facebook’s pre-IPO excitement but did not make up for the fact that the company’s stock has been a loser and it remained unclear how profitable it would become.

“Bottom line, Zuckerberg sounded good,” Kagan said. “However this does not solve the investment problem the company still faces every day.”

source: japantoday.com

Facebook shares edge up after hitting new low

Shares of Facebook (FB.O) edged up 2.3 percent to $19.48 on Monday after hitting a new low of $18.75, more than 50 percent below the price they were issued at three months ago.

The stock briefly traded at $19 late on Friday, 50 percent below its issue price of $38 on May 18. The stock has been hit by worries about the company's ability to grow revenue. Also, last week, some early investors were given the go ahead to sell for the first time since the social network company's initial public offering.

"It seems to be down around levels that people who didn't like the deal thought it was really worth. And now it seems to have stabilized," said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer, North Star Investment Management Corp. in Chicago.

It may have "found a level which seems more of a better price for people valuing the company in terms of the future," he said. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Facebook completes global rollout of its own app store

MANILA, Philippines — Social networking giant Facebook on Thursday lifted the lid off of its own app store, called App Center, for all of its more than 900 million active monthly users worldwide — including the Philippines — as it attempts to become more relevant to mobile users.

Announced in early June, Facebook’s App Center collates all of the Web, mobile, and social applications created by developers for the social network platform. Through the App Center, users would know which games or apps their friends are using, as well as which apps are garnering popularity among users worldwide.

“The App Center is now available to people worldwide! Discover new and fun apps you can enjoy with friends today,” said the official announcement on Facebook.

But the apps available on Facebook’s store extend beyond apps developed specifically for the network, as they extend to mobile apps on the iOS and Android platforms that interact with the social network through what is known as Facebook Connect.

These apps include mobile food social network Foodspotting, mobile music streaming app Spotify, and mobile photo-sharing network Instagram, which Facebook bought for $1 billion in April, among others.

“The App Center will become the new, central place to find great apps like Draw Something, Pinterest, Spotify, Battle Pirates, Viddy, and Bubble Witch Saga,” said Facebook’s Aaron Brady.

Facebook’s recent App Center move dovetails to its widely publicized struggle with the mobile space, where Facebook currently doesn’t have any form of revenue-generating implementation.

The problem was compounded with a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing by Facebook saying that some 102 million of its users accessed the service through their mobile phones alone in June, suggesting that the company’s revenues may be affected if it doesn’t act fast on its mobile versions.

The company is reported to be planning an overhaul its mobile apps for the iOS and Android platforms soon, with an initial update that will improve the app’s responsiveness on mobile devices, a common gripe expressed by Facebook users on smartphones.

Following the release of its first financial report following its initial public offering in May, Facebook’s stock fell to a record low of $23.97 last week, or 37 percent below its IPO price of $38. While revenue continues to grow for the company, growth has been slowing down this year.

source: interaksyon.com

'Angry Birds' IPO in late 2013 says Finnish app maker

STOCKHOLM - Rovio, the Finnish makers of the world's most-downloaded mobile app "Angry Birds", will seek a stock market listing by the end of 2013, chief financial officer Mikko Setala said in an interview published Thursday.

"We have prepared a stock market entry for 2013. But the shareholders have not decided when or whether it would even happen," Setala told Swedish economic newspaper Dagens Industrii.

"If we go to the stock market, it would most likely be in the second half of next year. We do not need to raise any more funds at the moment," he said.

Founded in 2003, Rovio had first mentioned its public listing plans in 2011, citing New York and Hong Kong as possible exchanges for the IPO.

Expectations for a listing grew after the company published net profits of 48 million euros on sales of 75.4 million euros for 2011, prompting financial analysts to forecast astronomical valuations for the firm.

When asked to comment on a valuation of 7 billion euros put forward by some, Setala told the newspaper that the figure was pure "speculation".

"We have not come up with any figures. It would a mistake to do so," he said.

Rovio is mainly owned by the three founders of the company -- including one of the shareholders' father who had remortgaged his house to keep the company alive. Other stakes are held by various venture capitalists such as the founder of internet telephone giant Skype, Niklas Zennstroem.

"Angry Birds" reached more than one billion downloads in May, according to Rovio.

source: interaksyon.com

Nasdaq hikes payout figure for botched Facebook IPO

SAN FRANCISCO — Nasdaq has raised to $62 million the amount of money it will set aside to cover trading losses due to computer glitches that disrupted the launch of Facebook shares onto the market.

The huge electronic market’s foul-up marred the $16 billion Facebook share issue on May 18, the most hotly awaited initial public offering on the U.S. markets in years.

“We deeply regret the problems encountered during the initial public offering of Facebook,” Nasdaq OMX Group chief executive Robert Greifeld said in a statement.

“We have learned from this experience and we will continue to improve our trading platforms.”

Nasdaq in June proposed setting aside $40 million to cover brokers’ losses caused by the botched IPO but the compensation plan immediately ran into criticism as being inadequate.

“After careful analysis, the program has broadened the eligibility by adding a new class of orders to be accommodated in addition to the three classes that were announced in June,” Nasdaq said.

Modifications to the program included priority accommodation for customers of Nasdaq members and making payouts in cash instead of trading credits as originally proposed.

The filing of the proposed plan with US regulators marked the start of a seven-day comment period during which traders can express their views.

Nasdaq said it expected all claims covered by the plan to be paid out within six months.

The stock hit a high of $45 on the first day, but since then has lost nearly 30% from the IPO, slipping to $28.71 in after-hours trading Friday.

The plan requires the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the independent Financial Industry Regulatory Authority will evaluate claims from the brokers, Nasdaq said.

Facebook’s IPO overwhelmed Nasdaq’s systems when it hit the market, forcing a half-hour delay in opening trading and leaving investors and brokers in the dark for hours over the results of orders involving millions of shares.

Claims of losses related to the market’s computer problems are estimated above $100 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The glitch dealt a black eye to the exchange, which trades some of the world’s largest companies, including Apple and Microsoft.

It also sparked reports that the NYSE was trying to woo Facebook away from Nasdaq.

source: japantoday.com

Facebook shares plunge below IPO price

NEW YORK - Facebook shares plunged more than eight percent below the IPO price of $38 in opening trade Monday, after fizzling in their debut Friday.

Ten minutes into opening trade, the shares were changing hands at $35.01, down 8.43 percent, while the markets generally rose.



After Friday's much-anticipated $16 billion initial public offering, the second largest ever of any US company, underwriters were forced to prop up the shares to keep them from falling below the issue price.

"I think that the underwriters convinced Facebook to offer too much stock," said analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities after Friday's flat opening.

"The market didn't have sufficient appetite for the number of shares offered."

article source: interaksyon.com