2024-07-29 22:00
NEW YORK, July 29 (Reuters) - Hedge funds Nut Tree Capital Management and Caspian Capital have made a sweetened bid to acquire fuels storage and transporter Martin Midstream Partners (MMLP.O) , opens new tab, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Monday. The new offer would give unitholders of Martin Midstream $4.50 per unit in cash and value the company at nearly $176 million, up from the $4 per unit bid from the hedge funds on July 11. The offer is the latest attempt from the hedge funds to thwart a rival takeover bid from Martin Midstream's largest shareholder, Martin Resource Management Corporation (MRMC), which has offered $3.05 per unit in cash to acquire all common units it did not already own. MRMC is headed by Ruben S. Martin III, whose father in 1951 set up the business to which MRMC and Martin Midstream trace their roots. In the letter to the board committee of Martin Midstream set up to evaluate MRMC's proposal, Nut Tree and Caspian indicated they were open to submitting an even higher bid to buy Martin Midstream's common units, if they are granted access to the company's books and are allowed to enter into a confidentiality pact that allows the exchange of commercially sensitive information. Kilgore, Texas-based Martin Midstream's common units were trading at $3.42 on Monday, giving the company a market value of roughly $135 million. Including debt, the company is valued at about $518 million, according to LSEG data. Martin Midstream and MRMC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/hedge-funds-sweeten-takeover-bid-energy-firm-martin-midstream-letter-says-2024-07-29/
2024-07-29 21:47
July 30 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets. Stocks around the world on Monday continued from where they left off on Friday, stemming the tide of last week's selling as investors squared positions ahead of a wave of market-moving economic data, policy decisions and earnings reports later in the week. There doesn't appear to be much on the immediate horizon to give Asian assets a strong steer on Tuesday - Wall Street was mixed, the dollar climbed and Treasury yields dipped - suggesting regional markets will be relatively well-supported but range-bound. Japanese labor market data, housing and retail trade figures from Australia, and a sprinkling of earnings reports, including Standard Chartered, Nomura Holdings and Samsung are the main regional events that investors will be looking out for. Asian equities appear to have stopped the recent rot, with some benchmark indices on Monday chalking up their best day in two weeks - the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rose 0.7%, the Hang Seng rose 1.3%, and Japan's Nikkei jumped 2.1%. That was the Nikkei's best day since April - an impressive bounce from a three-month low, but it did follow eight straight down days, its worst run in almost three years. Can Asia take heart from U.S. and world stocks' performance on Monday? The recent rotation out of U.S. Big Tech into small caps stalled, with the Russell 2000 heavily underperforming tech and the Nasdaq more broadly. The S&P 500 barely rose 0.1% - a tiny gain, but the first time in two weeks that the index has risen two days in a row. The Bank of Japan's policy decision on Wednesday looms larger over Japanese assets. Sources have told Reuters that a rate hike will be discussed and policymakers may also unveil a plan to roughly halve its bond purchases in the coming years. Money market pricing on the BOJ's move on rates still leans toward a 10-basis point hike but tightening will be slow - barely 20 bps of rate hikes are priced in by year end. If policy 'normalization' in Japan is that gradual, the yen will struggle to get much upward traction from Tokyo. It might get more of a boost from the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks cutting rates more aggressively than markets currently expect. U.S. rates futures traders are betting that the Fed will stand pat on Wednesday, begin easing in September, and cut rates by around 65 bps before the year is out. The Bank of England meets on Thursday, and could cut rates. The dollar rose to a two-week high against a basket of major currencies on Monday, nudging through 154.00 yen as Wednesday's Fed and BOJ meetings draw closer. Asian FX markets are mostly subdued, while China's yuan is also taking a breather. Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Tuesday: - Japan unemployment rate (June) - Australia building approvals (June) - Samsung earnings (Q2) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/global-markets-view-asia-graphic-pix-2024-07-29/
2024-07-29 21:44
July 29 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) , opens new tab has hired a law firm and will seek compensation from Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab and CrowdStrike (CRWD.O) , opens new tab over a global cyber outage earlier this month that disrupted flights around the world, CNBC reported on Monday. The Atlanta-based airline has been the slowest among major U.S. carriers to recover following the tech failure that led to more than 2,200 flight cancellations on July 19. Delta has canceled more than 6,000 flights so far, leaving hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded. Analysts estimate that the impact on its bottom line could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. "We are aware of the reporting, but have no knowledge of a lawsuit and have no further comment," a CrowdStrike spokesperson said. Shares of the cybersecurity firm were down about 2% in after-hours trading. Microsoft, Delta and law firm Boies Schiller Flexner did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. The U.S. Transportation Department announced last week it would open an investigation into Delta following the outage-led flight cancellations. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/delta-air-lines-seek-compensation-over-cyber-outage-cnbc-reports-2024-07-29/
2024-07-29 21:02
July 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy said on Monday it had finalized a contract to purchase 4.65 million barrels of crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, for delivery to the Bayou Choctaw site in Louisiana during the last three months of the year. Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) , opens new tab will supply 3.9 million barrels of the contract, while Macquarie Commodities Trading US LLC will supply the rest, the DOE said. The average purchase price for the oil is about $76.92 per barrel, the DOE said. The purchase is the latest in a string of contracts intended to refill the nation’s emergency oil stockpile following a record release of 180 million barrels in 2022. That sale was an effort to control gasoline prices that spiked to more than $5.00 a gallon after President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But it also reduced the reserves to the lowest in 40 years. The DOE said it has since repurchased a total of 43.25 million barrels at an average price of around $77 a barrel, after having sold the oil at around $95 a barrel during the 2022 release, which it called a "good deal for taxpayers." U.S. crude futures were trading around $76 a barrel on Monday. The DOE has also worked with Congress to cancel a previously planned sale of 140 million barrels of oil from the reserve, something the department says should count toward the refilling of the stockpile. "As promised, we have secured the 180 million barrels back to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve released in response to Putin’s war in Ukraine – and we accomplished this while getting a good deal for taxpayers and maintaining the readiness of the world’s largest Strategic Petroleum Reserve," said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. The DOE said it was likely to continue buying oil for the reserve into next year, using the roughly $1.2 billion that it has remaining in its revenue account. At current prices, that fund could cover purchases of around 15 million barrels. The DOE has previously said that it wants to buy oil at $79 a barrel or less. As of July 19, the SPR contained about 374.4 million barrels , opens new tab of oil, the highest level since the end of 2022, but well below the typical 600-700 million level of the last decade when the United States relied more heavily on imports. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-buys-465-million-barrels-emergency-oil-stockpile-2024-07-29/
2024-07-29 21:01
July 29 (Reuters) - Natural gas producer Chesapeake Energy (CHK.O) , opens new tab on Monday reported a loss for the second quarter, compared to a year-ago profit, as production declined and prices remained under pressure. Total average realized price, including hedges, fell 6% amid lukewarm demand due to hotter-than-expected winter and a build-up in storage. In response to the declining prices, Chesapeake, along with rivals like EQT (EQT.N) , opens new tab and Coterra Energy (CTRA.N) , opens new tab, had curtailed their production earlier this year. Chesapeake, which is on the cusp of becoming the biggest natural gas producer pending its acquisition of Southwestern Energy (SWN.N) , opens new tab, said production during the April-June quarter fell 24.9% to 2.75 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d). The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects domestic natural gas production to decline for the remainder of 2024. If the agency's projection is right, 2024 would be the first time output declined since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic cut demand for the fuel. Chesapeake lowered its 2024 capital expenditure forecast by about 4% to the range of $1.2 to $1.3 billion, while it reduced its production expense expenditure by about 8%. The company, which became a pure-play natural gas producer in 2022, said it expects third-quarter production to range between 2.57 bcf/d and 2.67 bcf/d. Chesapeake's net loss was $227 million for the three months ended June 30, compared with a profit of $391 million, in the year-ago quarter. On an adjusted basis, it posted a net income of 1 cent per share, compared with analysts' average estimate of break-even, according to LSEG data. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chesapeake-reports-second-quarter-loss-amid-weak-prices-2024-07-29/
2024-07-29 20:39
BRASILIA, July 29 (Reuters) - Indigenous people who see a threat to their ancestral lands from the construction of a railway to carry grains to a port in the Amazon on Monday pulled out of a work group created by the government last year to advance the project. The Munduruku and Kayapo people, along with tribes from the Xingu reservation said in a letter to the Transport Ministry that the work group was not doing its job of discussing the 1,000-km (620-mile) Ferrograo railway with all parties. The ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment, nor did state infrastructure company Infra S.A. responsible for the project. The Ferrograo plan is backed by farmers and grain traders who say it would reduce reliance on roads and lower costs for transporting soy from the farm state of Mato Grosso to the river ports in the Amazon basin for export. Indigenous communities say they have not been consulted on a project that will affect their environment and lead to deforestation. Brazil's Supreme Court last year suspended the plan pending more studies on the impact of the controversial railway. "There is no respect. The government is not consulting us," said Alessandra Munduruku, winner of the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize for her efforts to stop mining development in the Amazon. "They just want to grow and export more soy," she told Reuters outside the ministry. In their letter to the transport minister, Indigenous communities said the studies were done with no discussion or involvement of the work group, and that transportation regulator ANTT was preparing to open bids for the construction of the railway. ANTT said there was currently no timing for an auction. "From today onwards, we will no longer participate in the work group. But we will spare no effort to stop this destructive project," the letter seen by Reuters said. The railway would lead to deforestation and affect the lands of 16 Indigenous peoples "all this to increase the profits of large transnational companies that export soybeans and corn." The government says the railway would help protect the region overall by reducing heavy traffic on a highway joining the same points, and cut the use of fossil fuels in trucks. Sydney Possuelo, Brazil's leading expert on isolated tribes, agreed the railway was "the lesser of two evils" as it would bring in less outsiders than an improved highway in a region already a hotbed for land grabbers, illegal miners and loggers. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/indigenous-groups-say-brazil-plans-amazon-grain-train-behind-their-backs-2024-07-29/
