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Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe touted the success of his economic policies on a visit to Brazil on Friday and said it was time for the two nations to expand their trade and investment partnership. On the first visit to Brazil in a decade by a Japanese prime minister, Japanese banks extended $700 million in loans to boost Brazilian soy and corn exports to Japan and help finance oil platform construction for Brazil's growing offshore oil industry. Abe told Brazilian business leaders that Japan has closed a 15-year deflation cycle since his stimulus policies began to kick in and there is great potential to expand trade and investment with Latin America's biggest economy. "With Japan growing again, we can grow with other nations," he said in comments to executives translated by an interpreter. "Japanese companies are eyeing Brazil with great expectations," he said later at a deal-signing meeting with President Dilma Rousseff. Brazil's state-run

Botox maker Allergan Inc on Friday accused rival Valeant Pharmaceuticals International and billionaire investor William Ackman of violating securities laws by using insider information as they prepared a takeover bid for the drug company. In a civil lawsuit filed in federal court in California, Allergan said Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management and Valeant "hatched" an "improper and illicit insider-trading scheme" that allowed the hedge fund to buy Allergan shares, knowing about Valeant's planned $51 billion takeover bid. Valeant and Pershing Square said the complaint was intended to prevent them from calling a special meeting of Allergan shareholders to vote on their board nominees. "This is a shameless attempt by Allergan to delay the shareholders' fundamental right to call a special meeting," Ackman said in a statement. "Allergan's determination to waste money on a baseless lawsuit against its largest shareholder further

Wall Street's worst week in two years was enough to get investors worried about whether a long-overdue correction is coming, but analysts are still leaning bullish. The S&P 500 ended the week down 2.7 percent, its biggest weekly loss since June 2012, a decline that had followed several weeks of selling. The market is undoubtedly ripe for a correction - the current rally has continued for nearly three years without a decline of more than 10 percent. The Fed looks closer to raising rates, and housing and auto sales figures suggest those markets may be softening, if only temporarily. "The summer has been just tough because there has been very little to buy," said Kathleen Gaffney, portfolio manager of the Eaton Vance Bond Fund. "But I think what is happening is we are seeing the markets adjusting from an environment of lower interest rates to higher interest rates – and that's producing volatility." The Federal Reserve's monetary policy has been f

Deutsche Bank will seek compensation from former chief executive Rolf Breuer for a costly out-of-court settlement reached earlier this year with the heirs of the Kirch media empire, according to a report in the newspaper Die Welt. _0"> The bank's supervisory board this week decided to seek compensation from Breuer, the newspaper reported, adding that the bank still expected to pay most of the settlement itself. "The large part of the settlement will definitely stay stuck with the bank," the paper said, quoting a person familiar with the supervisory board discussions. A Deutsche Bank spokesman declined to comment on the report. Attempts to contact a spokesman for Breuer were unsuccessful. Deutsche needs to seek compensation from Breuer before so-called directors and officers' liability insurance can play a role in covering some of the settlement charges, the paper said. In February, Deutsche Bank ended a 12-year battle with the heirs of media mogul Leo K

Trustees involved in JPMorgan Chase & Co's ( id="symbol_JPM.N_0"> JPM.N ) proposed $4.5 billion settlement with investors in money-losing mortgage bonds accepted the bank's offer on Friday for the vast majority of the trusts holding the securities. The trustees rejected the deal for six of about 330 trusts included in the offer, according to a notice posted on a website run by the trustees. Twenty seven trusts obtained an extension until Oct. 1 for one or more loan groups. JPMorgan reached the $4.5 billion agreement in November with 21 institutional investors in 330 residential mortgage-backed securities trusts issued by JPMorgan and Bear Stearns, which the bank took over during the financial crisis. One of the trusts was later excluded from the deal. The settlement would resolve claims over misrepresentations in the quality of mortgages packaged into securities before the collapse of the U.S. housing market. The trustees, who included Bank of New York M

Growth in China's services sector slipped to a six-month low in July as new orders rose at their weakest rate in at least a year, data showed, taking some of the shine off an industry that has been a bright spot in the Chinese economy this year. _0"> The official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the non-manufacturing sector slowed to 54.2 in July from June's 55, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday. That is the weakest reading since January. A reading above 50 in PMI surveys indicates an expansion in activity while one below the threshold points to a contraction. The slight retreat in the services sector came at a time when China's factories have started to recover, having earlier this year been one of the drags on growth in the world's second largest economy due to faltering demand at home and abroad. In contrast, China's services companies have held up through each slowdown since PMI records began in January 2007, with the index

After the Federal Reserve maintained its path towards raising U.S. interest rates next year, other major central banks will jostle for space on a crowded stage this week. The European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, Bank of England and the central banks of India and Australia all hold meetings. While imminent action is unlikely, the time when policy settings start pointing in different directions is nearing. U.S. growth rebounded in the second quarter and the Fed upgraded its assessment of the economy last week. It is on course to stop creating money in October but the expectation is that there will be no interest rate rise before mid-2015. That puts the Bank of England in pole position to be the first major central bank to push rates up from their record low 0.5 percent, perhaps before the year is out. Although the UK economy is expanding at an annualized clip in excess of 3 percent and unemployment is tumbling, the absence of wage pressure means there is no immediate reason to act

German regulators have intensified investigations into Deutsche Bank in an effort to resolve a long-running, industry-wide investigation into possible efforts to manipulate benchmark interest rates, magazine Der Spiegel said on Sunday. _0"> The latest initiative aims to determine when co-Chief Executive Anshu Jain first learned of possible attempts to manipulate benchmark rates such as Libor at Deutsche Bank and in the industry in general, the magazine reported. Investigators recently discovered that critical electronic records were destroyed in early 2012, including telephone conversations that took place around the time that Lehman Bros. collapsed in 2008, the magazine said. German regulator Bafin, which has hired auditors Ernst & Young to pursue new lines of query, declined to comment. Deutsche Bank said it was cooperating with regulators and conducting its own probe into possible manipulation of Libor (the London interbank offered rate), a benchmark against which

Early this year, a New York State Lottery winner in Brooklyn approached Morgan Stanley with a problem: he needed to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars before he collected his prize money. The man, a Russian immigrant, wanted money to help move his family to a secure location before he redeemed his ticket and possibly became famous, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. He also wanted advice about what to do with his prize money, which was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The bank's wealth management unit decided to make the loan to win a new customer, a step it is increasingly willing to make as it builds up its brokerage unit. Making unusual loans is critical for Morgan Stanley. The bank has bet its future in large part on its wealth management business, which produces more stable revenue than the trading unit that nearly wiped out Morgan Stanley during the financial crisis. Providing unconventional loans is a relia

Wall Street firms led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc are close to buying a stake in chat and instant messaging startup Perzo Inc in pursuit of an alternative to a similar application from Bloomberg LP, sources familiar with Goldman's plans said. Banks are trying to cut costs as sluggish trading volumes and higher regulation weigh on revenues. Bloomberg has dominated messaging on Wall Street for years, but its application is part of a data, trading and news terminal that costs about $20,000 a year. The Perzo applications are free. Several banks and asset managers are considering an investment in Perzo, including Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings PLC, BlackRock Inc and the hedge fund Maverick Capital Ltd, said two sources briefed on the matter who declined to comment publicly. The companies, which have received term sheets for the deal and signed non-disclosure agreements in recent days, either declined to comment or did n

McDonald's Corp CEO Don Thompson sure could use a break. The head of the world's biggest restaurant chain, who for much of his two years at the helm has been battling to spark sales growth in the United States and Europe, got battered by headline-grabbing bad news in late July. In the final days of the month, its China business was hit with a food-safety scare involving a key supplier; the chain got ensnared in the West's sanctions standoff with Russia; burger flippers at U.S. restaurants claimed an incremental win from the National Labor Relations Board in their fight to hold McDonald's responsible for the actions of franchisees; and, a Texas jury slapped the company with a $27 million verdict. Add to all that its results showed second-quarter profit dropped more than expected. "They're under siege on three continents," said Howard Penney, restaurant analyst at Hedgeye Risk Management, an investment research firm. To be sure, the company's famo

HSBC Holdings Plc ( id="symbol_HSBA.L_0"> HSBA.L ) is urging Britain to delay its deadline for new rules forcing lenders to separate routine retail operations from riskier investment banking activities, until the outcome of an industrywide probe, Sky News reported on Sunday citing sources. _0"> HSBC Chairman Douglas Flint has written a letter to UK Chancellor George Osborne and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney requesting a delay to the 2019 timetable for banks to ring-fence their business, Sky quoted sources familiar with the letter's content as saying. ( bit.ly/1o3jfH9 ) UK lawmakers in December gave their final approval to reforms aimed at tackling structural failings at banks, that came to light following the 2007/8 financial crisis and a series of mis-selling and rate-fixing scandals. The main feature of the bill was a rule to force banks to separate their retail and investment activities. Following the government's decision, Britain's co

President Barack Obama said corporate America has done well under his economic policies, telling the Economist magazine that chief executive officers should stop complaining about regulations and show greater social responsibility. "If you look at what's happened over the last four or five years, the folks who don't have a right to complain are the folks at the top," Obama said in an interview conducted last week and posted on the magazine's website late on Saturday. Republicans have sought to portray Obama as anti-business, and businesses have complained that Obama's signature healthcare law and the Dodd-Frank financial reforms have raised costs. Business groups are lobbying against his new plan to curb climate-changing carbon emissions from power plants. "I would take the complaints of the corporate community with a grain of salt," Obama said, arguing that his policies have been friendly to business. "They always complain about regulatio

Toyota Motor Corp ( id="symbol_7203.T_0"> 7203.T ) is hitching its future to green cars, investing billions of dollars in gasoline-electric hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles, but for now its record profit performance is being powered largely by a gas-guzzling U.S. market. In the United States, relatively cheap gasoline prices helped to spur brisk 9 percent growth in industry-wide light truck sales in the first half of the year, making that one of the fastest-growing major global market segments - accounting for about one-tenth of global vehicle sales. Toyota outperformed the overall U.S. market, moreover, with its fresh model line-up - the Highlander SUV was redesigned in February and the Tundra pick-up got a facelift last September - powering a 10 percent rise in its January-June U.S. light truck sales to nearly half a million vehicles. That success is feeding the nearly $40 billion cash pile that Toyota will tap for future green car investments. "The U.S. is one

French telecoms firm Iliad will be hard-pressed to meet its goal of generating $2 billion in additional annual operating profit at T-Mobile US Inc by cutting costs and slashing prices if its takeover bid is accepted, analysts said. Iliad, which in recent years has shaken up the French mobile market with cheap subscriber plans, bid $15 billion last week for a 56.6 percent stake in T-Mobile, the No. 4 U.S. mobile operator. The Paris-based company, majority owned by billionaire founder Xavier Niel, said a merger would result in $10 billion in synergies and an additional $2 billion in annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). It would hit those targets by running T-Mobile, majority owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, in an "Iliad-like" way, sources familiar with the takeover bid told Reuters. Even if successful in its takeover bid, Iliad faces significant obstacles in reaching those cost savings and negotiating better deals with U.S. cellula

Russia's second biggest mobile phone operator Megafon has finalised its 2012 deal to buy a stake in cellphone retailer Euroset, paying its key shareholder $657.3 million in shares, the company said on Wednesday. _0"> Megafon, controlled by Russia's richest man Alisher Usmanov, together with his acquisition vehicle Garsdale, bought 50 percent of Euroset for $1.07 billion nearly two years ago. The other 50 percent in Euroset belongs to Megafon's competitor, Vimpelcom. The initial deal envisaged Megafon gaining full control of the Euroset stake within a year, buying 25 percent from Garsdale within a year. The condition was later extended until 2015. The price paid in the deal corresponded to the $535 million initial investment plus $50 million in additional payments representing Garsdale's "earn out", as well as accumulated 8 percent interest, Megafon said. "Megafon has completed its commitment to Garsdale with respect to the Euroset transacti

Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper reached a tentative contract deal on Wednesday with the union representing its editorial, advertising sales and circulation workers, likely averting a work stoppage at the country's largest national daily. _0"> The two sides met for two days with an independent mediator before reaching the deal. No details of the agreement will be released before a ratification vote is held, the union, Unifor, said. "Good news. We have reached a tentative deal which the bargaining team unanimously recommends," Unifor said in a memo sent to workers. "The strike deadline is suspended until further notice. Continue to work normally." The strike deadline had been Wednesday at 4 p.m. (2000 GMT). The workers had rejected an earlier offer from management that the union said weakened job security and cut pay significantly for some advertising sales staff. Employees will likely vote on the deal on Thursday afternoon, the memo said. Th

Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim's plan to divest a chunk of his most valuable asset, phone company America Movil, could open Mexico's telecoms market as never before to rivals. After a generation of enjoying a near-monopoly that allowed Slim to become the world's richest man, he plans to sell parts of America Movil to a competitor to avoid new penalty measures to curb the company's dominance. Companies like AT&T, Telefonica, Virgin Mobile and Grupo Televisa which have varying degrees of interest in Mexico, could benefit from buying parts of America Movil, which has some 70 percent of Mexico's mobile market and is the strongest force in fixed line and Internet. To avoid penalties, the company must arrive at a share below 50 percent of the overall Mexican telecoms market, as calculated by regulator Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) using subscriber numbers and network capacity. "The trick will be in how they present the plan," Miguel Flores, a

Cogeco Cable Inc reported an 7 percent rise in quarterly revenue as the Canadian cable TV, internet and phone services provider continued to reap benefits from its expansion into data services and U.S. cable TV sectors. _0"> The Montreal-based company's net profit fell to C$35.5 million ($33.33 million), or 72 Canadian cents per share, in the quarter ended May 31, from C$48.1 million, or 98 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue increased $32 million to $496.4 million. ($1 = 1.10 Canadian dollars) (Reporting By Shubhankar Chakravorty and Ramkumar Iyer in Bangalore; Editing by Lisa Shumaker )

Cogeco Cable Inc, a Canadian cable TV, Internet and phone services provider, reported a lower third-quarter profit as its unit Cogeco Cable Canada booked impairment charges during the period. Net profit fell to C$35.5 million ($33.3 million) or C$0.72 per share, for the quarter ended May 31, from C$48.1 million, or C$0.98 per share, a year earlier. Cogeco Cable Canada recognized an impairment charge of $32.2 million related to an Internet Protocol Television project. The Montreal-based company's Canadian cable services unit lost 8,021 cable customers, while 1,433 telephone customers canceled their services in the quarter. The U.S. cable services unit of the company lost 1599 cable customers, while it added 733 new telephone customers during the quarter. Revenue rose by 6.9 percent to $496.4 million. Owned by media and telecommunications company Cogeco Inc , Cogeco Cable competes with Rogers Communications Inc , Telus Corp and BCE Inc. ($1 = 1.0648 Canadian Dollars) (Repor

Apple Inc acknowledged on Wednesday it needs to address manufacturing partners' carbon emissions and its own rising water consumption, though the iPhone maker said it had cut back sharply on greenhouse gas output. _0"> Apple last year hired former Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson to push cleaner initiatives, amid past criticism over its emissions and use of toxic materials. Observers say it has improved its practices and earned better scores from groups such as Greenpeace. On Wednesday, Apple released its 2014 environmental responsibility report, saying investments in renewable energy helped slash its carbon footprint from energy use by 31 percent from fiscal 2011 to fiscal 2013. That's despite power consumption soaring 44 percent over the same period. ( here ) But the company, which is building its future main campus not far from its current base in Silicon Valley, said water usage had spiked as a result of general construction and expansion. It

Cogeco Cable Inc, a Canadian cable TV, Internet and phone services provider, reported a lower third-quarter profit as its unit Cogeco Cable Canada booked impairment charges during the period. Net profit fell to C$35.5 million ($33.3 million) or C$0.72 per share, for the quarter ended May 31, from C$48.1 million, or C$0.98 per share, a year earlier. Cogeco Cable Canada recognized an impairment charge of $32.2 million related to an Internet Protocol Television project. The Montreal-based company's Canadian cable services unit lost 8,021 cable customers, while 1,433 telephone customers canceled their services in the quarter. The U.S. cable services unit of the company lost 1599 cable customers, while it added 733 new telephone customers during the quarter. Revenue rose by 6.9 percent to $496.4 million. Owned by media and telecommunications company Cogeco Inc , Cogeco Cable competes with Rogers Communications Inc , Telus Corp and BCE Inc. ($1 = 1.0648 Canadian Dollars) (Repor

Quanta Computer Inc _0"> * Says June revenue at T$71.8 billion ($2.40 billion), up 4.8 percent y/y Source text in Chinese: bit.ly/1oEDOWD Further company coverage: ($1 = 29.8850 Taiwan New Dollars) (Reporting by Hong Kong and Singapore newsrooms)

Orad Hi-Tec Systems Ltd : * Says estimates revenue growth of 22% to 26% in FY 2014 * Says expects FY 2014 revenues to be between USD 39.0 mln-USD 40.0 million * Sees operating profits between 6% to 8% of revenues in FY 2014 * Source text for Eikon * Further company coverage _0">

Belgian medical supplies group Arseus will sell its IT unit Corilus to fully concentrate on medical compounds, Belgian business unit De Tijd wrote on Thursday. _0"> The group has made a string of divestments in recent quarters and has focused spending on its medical compounding unit Fagron, which supplies materials to pharmacies to make bespoke medicines. While the revenues of Corilus, which makes software for doctors and pharmacists, was still growing in the first quarter of 2014, Fagron grew at more than twice the pace, even corrected for acquisitions. The process of selling Corilus was still at an early stage and could take months, De Tijd wrote. Arseus was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek)

U.S. security software maker Symantec Corp said it is holding discussions with authorities in Beijing after a state-controlled Chinese newspaper reported that the Ministry of Public Security had banned the use of one of its products. _0"> The China Daily reported on July 4 that the ministry had issued an order to branches across the nation telling them to uninstall Symantec's data loss prevention, or DLP, products from their systems, saying the software "could pose information risks." The newspaper also said Chinese news site Sohu.com had reported that the public security bureau had banned Symantec's DLP products from future procurement projects. ( bit.ly/1okVF3v ) Symantec spokeswoman Colleen Lacter told Reuters that her company was in discussions with the Chinese government about the matter, though she declined to confirm or deny the newspaper's account of what had happened. "The discussions are ongoing and it's premature to go into detail

(The following statement was released by the rating agency) Fitch Ratings has affirmed France-based Vivendi SA's (Vivendi) Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and senior unsecured rating at 'BBB'. The Outlook on the Long-term IDR is Stable. The affirmation reflects the completion of Vivendi's significant disposals (stakes in Activision Blizzard AB and Maroc Telecom) and its plans to sell SFR, the 2nd largest French telecoms operator, as part of their plan to move away from telecoms and become an international media group. After returning EUR4.8bn to shareholders, this should leave Vivendi with a net cash position to fund future investments and acquisitions in the media sector. Maintaining the 'BBB' rating will depend on the strategic plan that Vivendi adopts, the acquisitions made, coupled with management's ability to balance financial leverage with an operating profile that could be less predictable than when Vivendi had owned more telecoms as

Britain said on Thursday it would rush through emergency legislation to force telecoms companies to retain the data of users for a year, saying the move was vital to protect national security following a decision by Europe's top court. _0"> Communication companies had been required to retain data for 12 months under a 2006 European Union directive which was thrown out by the European Court of Justice in April. The scrapping of the directive could deprive police and intelligence agencies of access to information about who customers contacted by phone, text or email, and where and when, the British government said. British Prime Minister David Cameron said the emergency legislation would restore this capability and enshrine it in law, ensuring investigations would not be hampered and giving protection to the telecom firms from possible legal challenges. However, he stated the measure would not give the authorities any new powers to access Britons' personal data or t

Russian state oil companies Rosneft and Zarubezhneft plan to sign an agreement with Cuban state oil company Cubanpetroleo to develop an offshore block 37, a senior Russian official said. _0"> Yuri Ushakov, an aide to President Vladimir Putin who plans to visit Cuba on July 11, told reporters the companies were aiming to agree on the deal during his visit. He did not provide any other details. A number of factors are working against Cuba's oil hopes, among them the political and logistical difficulties imposed by the long-standing U.S. trade embargo against the island. (Reporting by Dasha Korsunskaya; writing by Katya Golubkova, editing by Elizabeth Piper)

Congressional Republicans asked the Obama administration on Wednesday to provide documents related to last month's anthrax scare at a U.S. lab facility, where more than 80 people were initially feared to be exposed to the deadly pathogen. In a series of letters, top Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee asked for the results of several Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lab inspections and audits of potential weaknesses in biosecurity protocols dating back to October 2007. "How many suspected exposures to select agents and/or toxins have been reported at CDC since October 2007? How many actual exposures have been reported," said the July 9 letter to CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden signed by three Republican panel members including Chairman Fred Upton of Michigan. The lawmakers, who also requested information from the inspector general of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said they were gathering information for a July 16 hear

The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. _0"> Headlines AbbVie retraction shows panel has teeth ( on.ft.com/1r99c1T ) Citi to pay $7 bln to resolve U.S. probe ( on.ft.com/1rU46Ju ) Lufthansa considers launching low-cost long-haul service ( on.ft.com/1qKUlLN ) European regulators fine Servier of France ( on.ft.com/1jqRFT7 ) UK's Financial Conduct Authority sets sights on high-frequency traders _0"> ( on.ft.com/VLE8L3 ) _1"> _2"> Aldi and Lidl lead charge of discount supermarkets _3"> ( on.ft.com/1rU3l2Z ) _4"> _5"> Peer-to-peer lender wins landmark rating _6"> ( on.ft.com/1oCSLIL ) _7"> _8"> Overview _9"> _10"> AbbVie Chief Executive Richard Gonzalez was on Wednesday forced to retract comments made by him while discussing shareholder support for the U.S. drugmaker

Swiss stocks were expected to open steady on Thursday, in line with European factors seen unchanged after the Federal Reserve showed no rush to end its easy money policy. _0"> The Swiss blue-chip SMI was seen flat at 8,540 points, according to premarket indications from bank Julius Baer . The following are some of the main factors expected to affect Swiss stocks on Thursday: CREDIT SUISSE Banca Generali said on Thursday it had reached an agreement to buy the Italian affluent and upper affluent private banking operations of Credit Suisse Italy. For more, click on COMPANY STATEMENTS * Addex Therapeutics announced positive results with ADX71441 in preclinical models of nicotine addiction. * Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank said first-half net income increased by 3.6 percent to 49.3 million Swiss francs. * Basilea's said its partner Astellas submitted isavuconazole U.S. NDA for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis and invasive mucormycosis. * Schindler will in

Apeloa Pharmaceutical Co Ltd _0"> * Says expects h1 net profit up 167-174 percent y/y at 216-222 million yuan ($34.83-$35.79 million) Source text in Chinese: bit.ly/1na9y39 Further company coverage: ($1 = 6.2023 Chinese Yuan Renminbi) (Reporting by Hong Kong and Singapore newsrooms)

India's Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd is in talks with foreign companies for a partnership on two of its biological drugs being tested for the treatment of chronic pain and autoimmune disorders, a senior executive said on Thursday. Glenmark is looking for companies whose research pipelines would complement its experimental drugs, GBR830 and GBR900, which are both in phase 1, or early stage clinical trials on humans, Chairman and Managing Director Glenn Saldanha said. He declined to give names, but said he expects to find partners by the time the two drugs complete phase 2 clinical trials, which will be "anywhere from a year to two years." "It will depend on whether the companies are therapeutically focused on that area and whether they have a conflicting molecule in their pipeline," Saldanha said in an interview at Glenmark's headquarters in Mumbai. While India's $15 billion pharmaceutical industry is mainly engaged in the development and sale of g

Chinese pork producer WH Group Ltd is seeking to raise up to $3 billion as early as this month in a revived Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) which saw the deal size cut by nearly two-thirds, Thomson Reuters publication IFR reported on Thursday. The offer would be the second attempt this year by the world's biggest pork company to go public, as it seeks funds to repay part of the debt it took to foot last year's $7.1 billion purchase of U.S. pork producer Smithfield International. In April, WH Group pulled an Hong Kong IPO it had hoped would raise up to $5.3 billion after investors baulked at the high valuation. The 29 banks - a record number - hired to manage the offer also sent confusing signals to institutional investors, while the negative publicity surrounding sky-high executive compensation raised corporate governance issues. The new IPO would only comprise primary shares, meaning existing shareholders including CDH Investments, New Horizon, Goldman Sachs and Te

Credit costs for securities financing and derivatives transactions were little changed in the three months to the end of May, a European Central Bank survey released on Thursday showed. _0"> The ECB's June survey of credit terms and conditions in euro-denominated securities financing and over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets showed that: * Price terms remained almost unchanged for most counter-party types except hedge funds. * Non-price credit terms eased for banks, dealers and hedge funds, but on balance remained basically unchanged for other counterparty types. * Credit terms for funding that is collateralised by euro-denominated securities eased further for many types of collateral, albeit to a lesser extent than during the previous reference period. "The survey suggests that, across the entire range of securities financing and over-the-counter derivatives transactions, offered price terms (such as financing rates/spreads) on balance remained almost unch

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the level of suspicious share price moves ahead of the announcement of takeover bids or mergers rose slightly to 15.1 percent in the last financial year, up from 14.9 percent in the prior period. _0"> The FCA, launched in 2013 to take a harder line on financial crime, said on Thursday this was still well down on the nearly 30 percent level seen back in 2010. Unexplained moves are defined as anything outside a stock's normal movement, which usually refers to volume and frequency of trading. The FCA published its update on "market cleanliness" in its annual report. (Reporting by Huw Jones ; Editing by David Holmes )