(Adds details, CEO quote)

JOHANNESBURG, June 7 (Reuters) - South African cement maker PPC reported a 93 percent plunge in full-year earnings on Wednesday due to a liquidity crisis following a cut in its credit rating to junk status by S&P; Global Ratings.

Shares in PPC have fallen more than 26 percent since May 2016, when S&P; cut the company’s long- and short-term South African national scale corporate credit ratings to zaBB- and zaB respectively and placed all credit ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications.

“PPC endured a challenging financial year, while still delivering on a number of key initiatives and projects during the year. Our results were impacted by a liquidity crisis precipitated by an unexpected S&P; debt downgrade,” said chief executive Darryll Castle.

The downgrade resulted in a higher interest charge and tax rate as well as “abnormal” finance costs related to a liquidity guarantee facility.

PPC, which is negotiating a possible merger with rival Afrisam, said headline earnings per share fell to 7 cents from 107 cents in the comparable period the year before.

Shares in PPC were down 2.9 percent to 5.43 rand at 0719 GMT.

Group revenue rose 5 percent to 9.6 billion rand ($748 million), supported by the “rest of Africa” cement business, while the group’s core profit or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization decreased 13 percent.

PPC, which makes 70 percent of its revenue from South Africa, said sales volumes rose by 2 percent in its local market.

In a challenging financial year, PPC completed a number of its projects as it looks to diversify its portfolio.

The company, which has pushed deeper into the rest of Africa as profit has slumped in its domestic market, said the commissioning of a Zimbabwe mill and projects in Ethiopia and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) increased its cement capacity by 33 percent to 11.4 million tonnes per annum.

“I believe we have reached the bottom of the pricing cycle in South Africa and am looking forward to the ramp up of our new operations in the DRC, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe which will grow our operating base and further diversify our earnings,” Castle said.

PPC said the group and Afrisam were currently “conducting due diligence work related to a possible merger of the two entities” and no definitive conclusions had been reached. </s> South Africa's Pretoria Portland Cement and a state investment body will together pay $21 million for almost half of Ethiopia's Habesha Cement Share Company, targeting demand for infrastructure in one of Africa's fastest growing countries.

The deal marks a rare investment by a South African company into Ethiopia, still a relatively closed economy.

PPC said in a statement on Wednesday it will pay $12 million in cash for a 27 percent stake in Habesha, while South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation will pay $9 million for another 20 percent.

Habesha, which has also secured $86 million in debt finance from the Development Bank of Ethiopia, is building a $130 million cement plant with an annual capacity of 1.4 million tonnes.

The deal is PPC's first investment in Ethiopia and east Africa. The company has said it aims to make as much as 50 percent of its revenue outside South Africa in the next few years.

Faced with slower growth and an industry-wide slump at home, South African construction companies are increasingly looking north for growth opportunities.

Home to 85 million people, Ethiopia is the second-most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa.

Shares of PPC were up 0.4 percent at 24.69 rand. (Reporting by David Dolan) </s> A Brazilian court orders Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) to suspend the sale of its stake in an exploratory block to Statoil (NYSE:STO) after the National Federation of Oil Workers argued that the state-controlled company is required to hold an open bid for any asset sale.

PBR says half of the $2.5B in proceeds were due when the deal for the stake in the Carcara field closed in November, and that it had used those funds to pay down debts.

The sale of the 66% stake in the offshore prospect was the first major pre-salt asset sold as part of PBR's divestment plan that seeks to raise $21B in two years to repay debts. </s> Debt-fuelled investment has underpinned China's rapid growth. — Reuters picBEIJING, Sept 21 —Standard & Poor’s slashed China’s credit rating today over warnings that its ballooning debt had raised “economic and financial risks”, marking the country’s second downgrade this year.

The decision by S&P, which downgraded China’s debt from AA-minus to A-plus, follows a similar decision in May by Moody’s, which had also raised concerns about the growing debt of the world’s second largest economy.

“The downgrade reflects our assessment that a prolonged period of strong credit growth has increased China’s economic and financial risks,” New York-based S&P said in a statement.

While the credit growth has fuelled China’s economic expansion and high asset prices in recent years, “we believe it has also diminished financial stability to some extent”, the agency said.

Debt-fuelled investment in infrastructure and property has underpinned China’s rapid growth, but there are widespread concerns that years of freewheeling credit could lead to a financial crisis with global implications.

Beijing has been clamping down on bank lending and property purchases, but those efforts are complicated by the government’s determination to meet its full-year growth target of around 6.5 per cent.

That compares with last year’s pace of 6.7 per cent, which was the slowest in around a quarter of a century.

Premier Li Keqiang said in June that China could meet its target.

“The recent intensification of government efforts to rein in corporate leverage could stabilise the trend of financial risk in the medium term,” S&P said.

“However, we foresee that credit growth in the next two to three years will remain at levels that will increase financial risks gradually.”

Mark Williams, chief China economist at Capital Economics, said S&P’s decision “won’t be news to anyone who has kept half an eye on China over recent years and shouldn’t change anyone’s thinking. S&P is playing catch-up.”

However, Williams said, the downgrade was “arguably questionable on the basis of recent economic and financial development.”

With credit growth now slowing and the latest tightening of liquidity appearing to have peaked, “the immediate risk of some form of credit event is probably lower now than a few quarters ago,” he said.

He noted that the timing was “awkward,” coming just ahead of the country’s important Communist Party congress next month, when President Xi Jinping is expected to be given a second five-year term as head of the party.

When Moody’s downgraded China to A1 in May, it was the first time in almost three decades that the country’s credit rating was cut.

But another major credit ratings agency, Fitch, maintained its A-plus score for China in July, though it warned that the growing debt could trigger “economic and financial shocks”.

China posted better-than-expected second quarter growth as the economy expanded by 6.9 per cent, but analysts have warned that the momentum may not last.

The economy revealed fresh signs of headwinds in August as data showed last week that industrial output and retail sales unexpectedly slowed for a second consecutive month. Fixed asset investment was also well below expectations.

S&P said it “may raise” its rating on China if debt growth slows significantly while the country maintains economic growth at “healthy levels”.

However, it warned that another downgrade “could ensue if we see a higher likelihood that China will ease its efforts to stem growing financial risk and allow credit growth to accelerate to support economic growth”. — AFP </s> * Provisions for unpaid bills more than doubled (Adds detail, background)

Greece's main electricity supplier Public Power Corp. (PPC) plunged to a loss last year as it set aside hundreds of millions of euros to cover the cost of bills left unpaid by customers hit by years of economic crisis.

PPC, which is 51 percent state owned, said on Tuesday it made a loss of 102.5 million euros ($114.6 million) last year, compared with a net profit of 91.3 million euros in 2014.

Provisions for unpaid bills and litigation more than doubled, reaching 950 million euros last year, as a protracted recession and capital controls imposed in June took a toll on households and businesses.

Overdue bills are estimated to have exceeded 2 billion euros since a debt crisis broke out in Greece in 2010.

PPC's Chief Executive Emmanuel Panagiotakis said bills in arrears was an issue of "strategic importance" which if not addressed would affect the company's investment plan.

In a bid to collect some of the unpaid bills, PPC announced last week a four-month payment scheme of 36 installments for households, businesses and industries, effective from next month.

Competition from smaller rivals also weighed on the utility, which lost market share and its sales dropped 2.2 percent to 5.73 billion euros as a result.

The company has said its share of the Greek electricity market fell to 94.5 percent last year from 98.5 percent.

Panagiotakis forecast sales will decrease further to 5.5 billion euros this year.

Under a third bailout Greece signed up with international lenders last summer, the country has committed to opening up its energy market to competition, with PPC's share expected to fall to below 50 percent by 2020. </s> SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A Brazilian court has ordered state-controlled oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA) to suspend the sale of its stake in an exploratory block to Norway’s Statoil ASA STL.OL after a union argued there should have been an open bidding process.

Petrobras, as the company is known, said in a securities filing on Monday that the deal for its stake in the BM-S-8 region known as the Carcara field was approved by regulators.

Half of the $2.5 billion in proceeds were due when the deal closed in November, and the company said it had used those funds to repay debts. Petrobras said it would take legal measures to defend its interests.

The sale of the 66 percent stake in the offshore prospect was the first major pre-salt asset sold as part of a divestment plan that now aims to raise $21 billion in two years for Petrobras to pay down its debts.

The National Federation of Oil Workers said it had filed the lawsuit because Petrobras, as a state-controlled enterprise, is required to hold an open bid for any asset sale.

A Statoil representative said the Norwegian firm would not comment on the matter because it had not received an official notice of the decision. </s> The Standard & Poor's rating agency cut China's credit rating Thursday due to its rising debts, highlighting challenges faced by the country’s leaders as they cope with slowing economic growth.

The downgrade added to mounting warnings about the dangers of increasing Chinese debt, which has fueled fears of a banking crisis or a drag on economic growth. Moody's Investors Service cut its rating for China in May.

S&P lowered its rating on China's sovereign debt by one notch from AA- to A+, still among its highest ratings. The agency had given a warning sign of a possible downgrade in March 2016 when it changed China's outlook to negative.

“A prolonged period of strong credit growth has increased China's economic and financial risks,” S&P said in a statement. “Although this credit growth had contributed to strong real GDP growth and higher asset prices, we believe it has also diminished financial stability to some extent.”

The ratings cut, announced after Chinese financial markets closed for the day, could raise Beijing's borrowing costs slightly, but the more significant impact is on investor sentiment.

Phone calls to the Chinese Finance Ministry were not answered. After the Moody's downgrade in May, the ministry said the agency had used improper methods and misunderstood China's economic difficulties and financial strength.

The country’s leaders have cited reducing financial risk as a priority this year. They have launched initiatives to reduce debts owed by state companies, including by allowing banks to accept stock as repayment on loans. But private-sector analysts say they are moving too slowly.

Beijing relied on repeated infusions of credit to prop up growth after the 2008 global financial crisis.

That helped propel total non-government debt to the equivalent of 257% of annual economic output by the end of last year, according to the Bank for International Settlements. That is unusually high for a developing country and up from 143% in 2008.

Chinese economic growth fell from 14.2% in 2007 to 6.7% last year, though that still was among the world's strongest.

The government is trying to make the economy more productive by giving market forces a bigger role. It is trying to shrink bloated industries such as steel and cement in which supply exceeds demand, which has depressed prices and led to financial losses.

Beijing is trying to steer the economy to slower, more sustainable growth based on domestic consumption instead of investment and exports. But growth has dipped faster than planners wanted, raising the risk of politically dangerous job losses. Beijing has responded by flooding the economy with credit.

Official efforts to rein in debt “could stabilize the trend of financial risk in the medium term,” S&P said. “However, we foresee that credit growth in the next two to three years will remain at levels that will increase financial risks gradually.”

S&P kept its outlook for China stable. It said that reflected expectations the country will “maintain robust economic performance over the next three to four years.”

“We may raise our ratings on China if credit growth slows significantly and is sustained well below the current rates while maintaining real GDP growth at healthy levels,” S&P said. “A downgrade could ensue if we see a higher likelihood that China will ease its efforts to stem growing financial risk and allow credit growth to accelerate to support economic growth.” </s> (Adds HNA Airport Holding and Dynasty Financial Partners; Updates Ant Financial, Wal-Mart, Williams Partners and EagleClaw Midstream Ventures)

April 17 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Monday:

** China’s Ant Financial has sweetened its bid for MoneyGram International Inc by over a third, beating a rival offer to gain approval from the U.S. electronic payment firm’s board, although it still faces regulatory hurdles.

** Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s bid for clothing retailer Bonobos, which surfaced last week, is the latest step in the company’s attempt to recover lost ground against Amazon.com Inc and others in the rapidly growing online fashion world, analysts and retail consultants said.

** Apple Inc is considering teaming up with its supplier Foxconn to bid for Toshiba Corp’s semiconductor business, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported on Friday - the latest twist in the sale of the world’s second-biggest flash memory chipmaker.

** Diversified healthcare company Abbott Laboratories on Friday agreed to buy Alere Inc at a lower price than it had previously offered, after raising concerns about the accuracy of various representations, warranties and covenants made by Alere in the earlier agreement.

** Chrysler Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne rowed back on his search for a merger on Friday, saying the car maker was not in a position to seek deals for now and would focus instead on following its business plan.

** U.S. video streaming service provider Netflix is in talks with Indonesia’s top telecom firm PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (Telkom) to roll out its service in the country, a spokesman at the Indonesian company said.

** Williams Partners LP said it would sell its stake in a unit that owns 88.46 percent of an olefins plant in Louisiana to Nova Chemicals for $2.1 billion in cash, as part of the pipeline operator’s efforts to focus on natural gas.

** EagleClaw Midstream Ventures LLC, the largest privately held operator of pipelines and processing facilities in West Texas’ Delaware Basin, said it agreed to be bought by funds managed by Blackstone Group LP for about $2 billion.

** U.S. buyout firm Leonard Green & Partners LP has prevailed in an auction to acquire Charter NEX Films Inc, a U.S. manufacturer of specialty films for the food and medical industries, for $1.5 billion, including debt, people familiar with the matter said.

** China’s Anbang Insurance Group will let its agreement to acquire U.S. annuities and life insurer Fidelity & Guaranty Life for $1.6 billion lapse, after failing to secure all the necessary regulatory approvals, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

** German lighting company Osram is on the lookout for acquisitions worth up to 500 million euros ($530 million), although there are no specific plans for a deal as yet, its finance chief told a German newspaper.

** Malaysian property developer S P Setia Bhd said on Friday it will buy privately held rival I&P; Group for over 3.5 billion ringgit ($794.55 million) to create one of the country’s largest real estate firms.

** Taiwan’s Powertech Technology said on Friday it had bought two of Micron Technology’s interests in Japan in deals worth up to $132 million, part of its efforts to expand its presence in Japanese chip technology.

** Chinese stadium builder Lander Sports said late on Sunday it was terminating plans to buy a stake in English soccer club Southampton, citing uncertain factors wrought by changes in China’s securities market and policies.

** U.S. private equity group Carlyle Group has gained full control of Italian fashion brand TWINSET by buying the remaining 10 percent stake from founder Simona Barbieri, who will step down as the affordable luxury label’s creative director.

** HNA Airport Holding Group Co Ltd is close to buying out the stake that engineering conglomerate Odebrecht SA has in Brazil’s second-busiest international airport, a person briefed on the matter said, partly solving an impasse with a government agency over licensing rights.

** Dynasty Financial Partners LLC, which provides back-end support services to independent wealth management firms, said it had added Next Capital Management to its network of investment advisors. (Compiled by Ahmed Farhatha and Divya Grover in Bengaluru) </s> Construction giant Carillion has said it has “no choice but to take steps to enter into compulsory liquidation with immediate effect” after talks failed to find another way to deal with the company’s debts.

Construction giant Carillion has said it has “no choice but to take steps to enter into compulsory liquidation with immediate effect” after talks failed to find another way to deal with the company’s debts.

The stricken firm, which employs 20,000 workers across Britain, said crunch talks over the weekend aimed at driving down debt and shoring up its balance sheet had failed to result in the “short-term financial support” it needed to continue trading while a deal was reached.

Carillion, which has been struggling under £900 million of debt and a £590 million pension deficit, has seen its shares price plunge more than 70% in the past six months after making a string of profit warnings and breaching its financial covenants. Its collapse poses questions as to why the group continued to receive Government contracts despite issuing a number of profit warnings.

The Government has urged staff to keep going to work and said “those already receiving their pensions will continue to receive payment”. Britain’s second biggest construction firm is understood to have public sector or public/private partnership contracts worth £1.7 billion, including providing school dinners, cleaning and catering at NHS hospitals, construction work on rail projects such as HS2 and maintaining 50,000 Army base homes for the Ministry of Defence.

Carillion chairman Philip Green said: “This is a very sad day for Carillion, for our colleagues, suppliers and customers that we have been proud to serve over many years. “Over recent months huge efforts have been made to restructure Carillion to deliver its sustainable future and the board is very grateful for the huge efforts made by Keith Cochrane, our executive team and many others who have worked tirelessly over this period.

“In recent days, however, we have been unable to secure the funding to support our business plan and it is therefore with the deepest regret that we have arrived at this decision. “We understand that HM Government will be providing the necessary funding required by the Official Receiver to maintain the public services carried on by Carillion staff, subcontractors and suppliers.”

However, the company denied the plan had been rejected, adding that any restructuring of the business could result in a debt-for-equity swap. The Government, pension authorities and stakeholders also met on Friday in an attempt to thrash out a rescue package, with talks spilling over into the weekend.

HMG has big questions to answer. Why were they awarding contracts to Carillion after the exposure of its problems in July? What contingency planning did they do for the collapse? 20,000 jobs & huge projects at stake! More Brexit-induced Whitehall paralysis & incompetence. https://t.co/dYZ4XUUWgn — Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) January 15, 2018 The Official Receiver has now been appointed alongside partners at accountancy giant PwC to oversee the liquidation of the company Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington said: “It is regrettable that Carillion has not been able to find suitable financing options with its lenders but taxpayers cannot be expected to bail out a private sector company.

“Since profit warnings were first issued in July, the Government has been closely monitoring the situation and has been in constructive discussion with Carillion while it sought to refinance its business. “We remained hopeful that a solution could be found while putting robust contingency plans in place to prepare for every eventuality. Breaking news saying Carillion have gone into liquidation. It is VITAL for govt to ensure the firm's public service contracts, employees and public money are protected first. The govt need to outline the contingency plan they promised in the House, when I question them on weds. — Jon Trickett (@jon_trickett) January 15, 2018 “It is of course disappointing that Carillion has become insolvent, but our primary responsibility has always been keep our essential public services running safely.

“We understand that some members of the public will be concerned by recent news reports. For clarity – all employees should keep coming to work, you will continue to get paid. Staff that are engaged on public sector contracts still have important work to do.” Unions have called for urgent reassurances over the jobs, pay and pensions of thousands of workers following the “disastrous” news. Officials from several unions representing workers on the railways, construction sites, prisons, hospitals and schools are seeking information from the company and ministers.

#Carillion: Tens of thousands of jobs at risk, along with public services and major infrastructure projects. Govt must step in.



TUC statement: https://t.co/y84m4fD1GR — TUC Press Office (@TUCnews) January 14, 2018 Rail, Maritime and Transport union general secretary Mick Cash said: “This is disastrous news for the workforce and disastrous news for transport and public services in Britain. “We have been warning since Thursday night that we thought the collapse of the company was imminent. “The blame for this lies squarely with the Government who are obsessed with outsourcing key works to these high-risk private enterprises.”

Jim Kennedy, the Unite union’s national officer for local government, said a public inquiry was needed to answer questions about Carillion’s conduct and the Government’s decision to award it contracts. Nicola Parish, executive director at The Pensions Regulator, said: “It is too early to comment on possible outcomes for the various pension schemes connected to Carillion. “In the meantime, I would like to assure scheme members that the government set up the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) to support members of workplace pensions in precisely these circumstances.”
The giant South Africa based cement company, PPC Ltd., presents its first quarter results, dominated by the "impact of a liquidity crisis precipitated by an unexpected S&P debt downgrade."