UPDATE 1-AFL-CIO seeks more disclosure for KKR, Och-Ziff

(Reuters) - In a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,
the AFL-CIO said KKR, a private equity firm, and Och-Ziff, a
hedge fund, clearly fall under the investment company act.




The firms have filed for IPOs after private equity firm
Blackstone Group LP successfully went public in late
June.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

ICI rejects improved $16 bln Akzo bid, talks continue

(Reuters) - ICI, the maker of Dulux paints, said on Monday that the two sides were still in talks after it rejected a 650 pence a share cash proposal from Akzo but it had not opened its books to the world's largest maker of industrial coatings.




Akzo, the maker of Crown paints, said it had teamed up with German consumer products group Henkel over its proposed bid, but there was no certainty it would make a better offer. Henkel would take on ICI's adhesives and electronics materials business if a deal went through, Akzo said.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Richemont Lures Investors With China Demand for Piaget Polo Luxury Watches

(Bloomberg) -- Xinhai Liao wants to splurge on a
status symbol: a new watch. Rather than buy an imitation out of a
suitcase on a Hong Kong street corner, the Chinese financial
adviser went two blocks away to check out genuine Piaget Polo
watches.

``It has to be perfect,'' Liao said. Piaget maker Cie.
Financiere Richemont SA's sales of luxury watches are surging in
China as consumers snub domestic timepieces to show they can
afford the real thing. Piaget Polo gold watches have a
recommended retail price of more than 15,000 euros ($20,000),
according to The Watch Quote's Web site.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

U.S. credit market sells off on pulled financings

(Reuters) - Spooked by pulled financings for the buyouts of DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler and Alliance Boots, investors scrambled out of riskier bonds, with the brokerage sector and junk bonds taking the worst hits, traders said.




In the junk bond market, buyers vanished and actively traded bonds went into free fall, with some benchmark auto bonds down five points on the day.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Political giving by private equity chiefs soars

(Reuters) - The so-called new kings of Wall Street are giving more money to Democrats than Republicans, but both parties are raking it in, according to campaign finance records collected by the Center for Responsive Politics.




Twenty senior managers have given about $360,000 to party campaign committees and individual candidates in the first half of 2007. At that rate, giving this year will easily top 2006's full-year level of $470,000; 2005's $260,000; and 2004's $560,00 donated during a presidential election year.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

ACA Shares Have Biggest Drop Since Going Public on Subprime Debt Holdings

(Bloomberg) -- ACA Capital Holdings Inc. shares had
the biggest drop since the seller of credit derivatives went
public in November, after the company disclosed that it could
lose money on contracts tied to $4.5 billion of subprime
mortgage securities from 2006 and 2007.

The shares fell $1.87, or 22 percent, to $6.59 in New York
Stock Exchange composite trading, taking the stock's drop to 33
percent since July 12, when New York-based ACA disclosed the
information on its Web site.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Rio Prostitutes Take Cue From Athletes, Shape Up to Win at Pan Am Games

(Bloomberg) -- Rosa Silva went into training before
the Pan American Games, running 40 minutes each day and doing
200 sit-ups. She also got a full-body waxing and had her hair
straightened and highlighted.

Silva, 26, isn't one of the athletes competing for gold
medals. She's a prostitute.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

Apple, AT&T lower after iPhone's first weekend

(Reuters) - "We believe initial demand may have been disappointing, but it's still early," Bill Shope, analyst at JP Morgan, said in a note to clients. "We don't believe supply was much better than expected, so demand could be a bit light."



Shope estimates that Apple sold about 312,000 iPhones on Friday and Saturday. The combined cell phone, music player and Web browser went on sale Friday evening.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

Visa hires president pre-IPO; Visa USA CEO resigns

(Reuters) - At Visa Inc., Morris will have responsibility for all income-generating businesses. Morris, 48, has spent his 27-year career at Citigroup and its predecessors. Since November 2002, he has been chief financial officer of Citi Markets & Banking, which includes investment and corporate banking operations.




The publicly traded entity to be known as Visa Inc. will combine Visa USA, Visa International and Visa Canada. Smaller rival MasterCard Inc. went public in May 2006.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

EU reopens review of Sony-BMG music venture

(Reuters) - The Commission, the European Union's highest antitrust regulator, lifted the suspension because the companies had provided information that they failed to give before.




The Commission approved the deal in 2004 and the companies went ahead and created their joint venture. But a European court annulled that decision and the EU executive now has to reexamine the deal.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Credit Flows Into Emerging Markets Up 47 Percent, led by Europe, BIS Says

(Bloomberg) -- Emerging markets received $341
billion of new credit inflows in 2006, up 47 percent from a year
earlier as borrowing increased to a record in developing Europe,
according to the Bank for International Settlements.

Investment and lending have boomed in eastern Europe,
pushing up wages and spurring consumer spending, as eight nations
joined the European Union in 2004 and a further two followed this
year. More than 60 percent of new credit to emerging markets went
to European countries in the last three months of 2006, the BIS
said today in a quarterly report.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

New Credit Flow to Emerging Markets Gained 47 Percent in 2006, BIS Says

(Bloomberg) -- Emerging markets received $341
billion of new credit inflows in 2006, up 47 percent from a year
earlier as borrowing increased to a record in developing Europe,
according to the Bank for International Settlements.

Investment and lending have boomed in eastern Europe,
pushing up wages and spurring consumer spending, as eight nations
joined the European Union in 2004 and a further two followed this
year. More than 60 percent of new credit to emerging markets went
to European countries in the last three months of 2006, the BIS
said today in a quarterly report.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

South Africa Raises Key Rate to 9.5 Percent as Inflation Exceeds Target

(Bloomberg) -- South Africa's central bank increased
its benchmark rate by half a point on concern that rising energy
and food prices will push up other costs, threatening to keep
inflation above the target range.

The Reserve Bank raised the repurchase rate to 9.5 percent,
the first increase since Dec. 7, Governor Tito Mboweni said in a
televised speech from Pretoria today. That was in line with the
forecasts of 20 of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Colony Capital to Buy Libya's Tamoil for $5.4 Billion, Defeating Carlyle

(Bloomberg) -- Colony Capital LLC, the property
buyout firm led by billionaire Thomas Barrack, agreed to acquire
control of Libya's Tamoil SA for 4 billion euros ($5.4 billion),
beating out other suitors including Carlyle Group.

The Libyan government will retain a 35 percent stake in the
refiner and gas-station operator, Los Angeles-based Colony said
in a statement today. Owen Blicksilver, a spokesman for Colony,
declined to comment beyond the statement.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

UPDATE 1-Feldman Mall to explore strategic alternatives

(Reuters) - In a statement, the real estate investment trust, which
went public in December 2004, said it has retained Friedman
Billings Ramsey & Co. Inc. to assist it in exploring these
alternatives to enhance shareholder value.




Shares of the Great Neck, New York-based company rose
almost 7 percent to $12.15 in morning trade on the New York
Stock Exchange.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

UPDATE 1-US violent crime up again, more murders, robberies

(Reuters) - WASHINGTON, June 4 - More murders and robberies
in 2006 sent U.S. violent crimes higher for the second straight
year, the FBI said on Monday, with the increase blamed on
gangs, youth violence, gun crimes and fewer police on beats.




The FBI reported that the number of violent crimes
nationwide went up by 1.3 percent last year, following a 2.3
percent increase in 2005. That had been the first rise in four
years and the biggest percentage gain in 15 years.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Texas Instruments says Q2 improvements on track

(Reuters) - "I think you're going to find things tracking pretty much in line with that," Templeton told a Cowen & Co technology investment conference.




Texas Instruments is scheduled to release its mid-quarter update on June 11.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

U.S. attracts bulk of Gulf oil windfall surplus-IIF

(Reuters) - The Institute of International Finance estimated total
export earnings of the six states of the Gulf Cooperation
Council -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and
the United Arab Emirates -- were more than $1.5 trillion in 2002
to 2006.




"About $1 trillion went towards imports. The remainder of
the earnings -- some $542 billion -- represented surplus funds
that entered global capital markets and contributed to an
increase in GCC foreign asset holdings," it said.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Business software maker Lawson may rise: Barron's

(Reuters) - It also noted that the company has also recently boosted its sales force and shifted some of its work offshore.




Cowen analyst Peter Goldmacher has a price target of $14 for the shares, Barron's said. They closed on Friday at $8.71.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News