Τoday's top stories from Business and Finance:

Bloomberg Business and Finance Summary
2014-09-15

The following are today's top stories from Business and Finance:

1.  Alibaba Said to Plan Boosting IPO Amid Heavy Investor Interest
2.  European Banks Face Further Capital Crunch on Accounting Rules
3.  Asian Stocks Drop With Index Futures, Aussie on China; Oil Falls
4.  Danaher Agrees to Take Over Nobel Biocare for $2.2 Billion
5.  SABMiller Spurned by Heineken Family After Making Takeover Offer
6.  TDC Agrees to Buy Norway Cable Provider Get AS for $2.2 Billion
7.  Draghi’s $3.9 Trillion Ambition a Stretch as ECB Loans Start
8.  Phones 4u Files for Administration After Losing EE, Vodafone
9.  Iron Ore Rebound Seen by Morgan Stanley as Vale Targets $100
10. Mideast Battles for Sukuk as Buyer Pool Swells: Islamic Finance 11. Google Espousing Driverless Future at Odds With Automakers: Cars 12. Michael D. Robbins, Trusted NYSE Trader for 45 Years, Dies at 80

1)  Alibaba Said to Plan Boosting IPO Amid Heavy Investor Interest
    (Bloomberg) -- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is planning to increase the size of its initial public offering amid strong investor demand, people with knowledge of the matter said.
     The Chinese e-commerce company plans to increase the top end of a marketed price range for the sale to above $70, one of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. Alibaba was previously marketing the shares at $60 to $66, according to U.S. regulatory filings.
     Alibaba is embarking on the second week of its global tour to meet with investors in Asia and Europe as it seeks to convince funds to buy into what could be the largest IPO ever.
The company had already received enough interest for its deal that it plans to stop taking orders for the sale early, people with knowledge of the matter said last week.
     Alibaba and its advisers plan to announce the new price range as early as today, one of the people said. Florence Shih, a Hong Kong-based ...
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2)  European Banks Face Further Capital Crunch on Accounting Rules
    (Bloomberg) -- European banks already under pressure to strengthen capital ratios may have to hold off on distributing profit to shareholders because of new accounting rules on how loan losses are calculated.
     The new accounting standard, which goes into effect in 2018, would lower European banks’ capital levels by an average
2.7 percentage points, according to a study published last week by Standard & Poor’s. That’s based on a survey showing banks expect their loan-loss reserves to rise by 50 percent, S&P said.
     The new rules demand for the recognition of losses on loans when firms see early signs of trouble. Banks are nearing the end of a European Central Bank review of their books to see if they’re underreporting bad loans. Some firms increased reserves this year in expectation of the ECB’s findings.
     “This new model will be on top of the cleanup they’re in the middle of doing,” said Jonathan Nus, one of the S&P study’s authors. “The ECB ...
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3)  Asian Stocks Drop With Index Futures, Aussie on China; Oil Falls
    (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell with U.S. and European equity-index futures, Australia’s dollar weakened to a more-than five-month low and copper slid after Chinese factory and retail data added to evidence a slowdown is deepening. Brent crude oil dropped to the lowest since 2012.
     The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index lost 1 percent by 7:44 a.m. in London, as the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index dropped 1.5 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures fell
0.3 percent and contracts on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index slid 0.3 percent. The Aussie retreated a sixth day while Sweden’s krona weakened as the country faced a hung parliament. Russia’s ruble plunged to a fresh record as crude in London and New York sank at least 0.6 percent. Copper fell 0.6 percent. Gold climbed from an eight-month low.
     Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc cut its 2014 estimate for Chinese economic expansion to 7.2 percent from 7.6 percent after August industrial output ...
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4)  Danaher Agrees to Take Over Nobel Biocare for $2.2 Billion
    (Bloomberg) -- Danaher Corp., a U.S. medical- device maker, agreed to acquire Nobel Biocare Holding AG for
$2.2 billion after the Swiss maker of dental implants searched for a buyer amid a wave of consolidation in the health industry.
     Danaher will pay 17.10 Swiss francs ($18.30) a share in cash, 5.5 percent less than the closing price on Sept. 12, the Washington D.C.-based company said in a statement today. Danaher said the offer is about 23 percent higher than Nobel Biocare’s closing price on July 28, the day before speculation that the company would be sold.
     Nobel Biocare was initially approached by Swedish buyout firm EQT with an offer of about 17 francs a share, Bloomberg reported in August, citing people with knowledge of the matter who didn’t want to be identified. The offer prompted the company and its adviser Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to invite other bids as it sought a higher price, the people ...
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5)  SABMiller Spurned by Heineken Family After Making Takeover Offer
    (Bloomberg) -- SABMiller Plc was rebuffed in an attempt to buy smaller brewer Heineken NV, a deal that would have strengthened itself against a potential bid by Anheuser- Busch InBev NV, people with knowledge of the matter said.
     Heineken NV, the brewer of Amstel Light, confirmed in a statement that it turned down the offer and said it intends to remain independent. SABMiller’s preliminary offer was rejected by the family that controls Heineken, Bloomberg News reported yesterday, citing people who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The offer, made in the last two weeks, would have made the family one of the combined company’s largest holders, one of the people said.
     Heineken family members are resistant to any sale because they want to keep control of the 34 billion-euro ($44 billion) Amsterdam-based brewer, the people said. SABMiller, long the subject of speculation regarding a takeover by AB ...
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6)  TDC Agrees to Buy Norway Cable Provider Get AS for $2.2 Billion
    (Bloomberg) -- TDC A/S, Denmark’s largest telephone company, agreed to acquire cable-TV provider Get AS for 13.8 billion kroner ($2.2 billion) to gain half a million customers in Norway.
     TDC plans to finance the transaction by selling debt, the Copenhagen-based carrier said in a statement today. TDC will cut its dividend payout to maintain its investment grade rating, it said. Chief Executive Officer Gunnar Evensen will continue to lead Get after the deal, which is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter.
     Get has been owned by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s buyout unit GS Capital and Quadrangle since a 5.8 billion-kroner buyout from Candover Partners Ltd. in 2007. The cable provider competes with larger government-owned Telenor ASA for broadband and TV services.
     Buyout firms Charterhouse Capital Partners LLP and EQT Partners AB were among bidders for Get AS, people with knowledge of the situation said this month. BC Partners Holdings Ltd., the ...
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 7)  Draghi’s $3.9 Trillion Ambition a Stretch as ECB Loans Start
    (Bloomberg) -- Mario Draghi’s 3 trillion-euro
($3.9 trillion) ambition could be a stretch to achieve.
     New stimulus measures ranging from long-term loans to asset purchases probably aren’t enough to expand the European Central Bank’s balance sheet back to the size its president would like, Bloomberg’s monthly survey of economists shows. The first gauge of the ECB’s success will come this week when it issues the initial funds under a four-year lending program to banks.
     Draghi said this month he wants to boost the ECB’s assets to the level seen at the start of 2012, an increase of as much as 1 trillion euros from current levels. Investors are watching to see whether he’ll take the controversial step of large-scale quantitative easing to get there.
     “Draghi has put himself into a corner by announcing a quantitative target,” said Elwin de Groot, a senior market economist at Rabobank ...
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8)  Phones 4u Files for Administration After Losing EE, Vodafone
    (Bloomberg) -- Phones 4u Ltd. filed for administrator’s protection and will close its stores after failing to secure contract renewals with mobile carriers EE and Vodafone Group Plc.
     Phones 4u, which has 5,596 employees and 550 standalone stores, has asked PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP to act as its administrator and expects the appointment to happen later today, the closely held company said in a statement yesterday. Networks will continue to provide mobile services to customers who bought contracts through the chain.
     The retailer has 635 million pounds ($1.03 billion) in debt, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Vodafone and EE have been revamping their own-brand stores in the U.K., cutting their need for outside retailers. Vodafone announced in April it would open 150 of its own shops in the next 12 months.
     EE has been working to cut the number of outside stores it works with and to focus growth on “direct channels,” the company said in a separate ...
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9)  Iron Ore Rebound Seen by Morgan Stanley as Vale Targets $100
    (Bloomberg) -- Iron ore may extend declines to trade below $80 a metric ton before rallying into the end of the year as some high-cost supplies are shuttered and global steel demand picks up, according to Morgan Stanley.
     The steel-making raw material will drop into the $70s-a-ton range in the near term, then rally toward $90 a ton by the end of the year, analyst Joel Crane said in a report today. The commodity, which slumped to the lowest level in five years this month, last traded at less than $80 a ton in September 2009.
     Iron ore fell into a bear market this year as the biggest producers including Rio Tinto Group expanded low-cost output, betting higher volumes would more than offset falling prices while less-competitive mines were forced to close. Morgan Stanley’s forecast for a rally in the final quarter follows a similar prediction last week from Vale SA, the world’s largest supplier, which said prices ...
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10) Mideast Battles for Sukuk as Buyer Pool Swells: Islamic Finance

    (Bloomberg) -- Middle Eastern money managers are receiving a smaller slice of Islamic bond sales as more global investors access the market, lured by new sovereign borrowers.
     A $750 million debut sale last week from Sharjah, the third-biggest of seven sheikhdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates, received more than $7.8 billion in bids, with 31 percent of the notes allocated to Europe and 50 percent to the Middle East. That compares with Ras Al Khaimah’s $500 million issue in October 2013, 56 percent of which went to the Middle East, 20 percent to Europe.
     “Issue after issue, we’re seeing more allocation going towards Europe,” Ahmed Shehada, the Abu Dhabi-based head of advisory and institutions at NBAD Securities LLC, said by phone yesterday. “It’s been growing at a fast pace,” and the trend may continue, he said.
     Debut sales from borrowers including the U.K., ...
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11) Google Espousing Driverless Future at Odds With Automakers: Cars
    (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc., with its vision for a future where cars drive themselves, is putting itself at odds with an auto industry that shares its desire for safer, less- congested roads -- yet won’t abide the “driverless” part.
     The clash pits the Internet giant, public for barely a decade, against companies that spent a century building the machines that put people behind the wheel of autos. As Google works to perfect a system in research labs and road tests to minimize the involvement of drivers, automakers spend billions of dollars annually on ads to do the opposite. Think BMW and its claims to the Ultimate Driving Machine, or Volkswagen and its Drivers Wanted sales pitch.
     The differences are more than philosophical.
     Google is sweeping up top talent and research, powered by an almost $400 billion stock-market value that tops those of Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co.
combined. It’s also keeping a tight grip ...
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12) Michael D. Robbins, Trusted NYSE Trader for 45 Years, Dies at 80
    (Bloomberg) -- Michael D. Robbins, who combined a gregarious nature with ironclad discretion to become a prominent floor trader at the New York Stock Exchange and champion of its history and traditions, has died. He was 80.
     He died on the evening of Sept. 13 at his home in Manhattan, said his daughter, Jil Robbins Pollock. “He died at 7:18, which happened to be his number on the stock exchange floor,” she said. The cause was a brain tumor.
     During 45 years as a member of the NYSE, Robbins was a walking encyclopedia of names and numbers and redefined the role of the independent floor broker.
     He won the trust, and the business, of major clients such as Fidelity Management & Research Co., Putnam Investments Inc.
and General Electric Investment Corp., which began turning to him, rather than Wall Street’s big-name firms, with trades they needed done efficiently and quietly.
    Backed by his mutual-fund clientele, Robbins won election to three terms on the ...
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