Palangkaraya Post News

A private-equity firm says PPG portrayed its automotive glass division in too good of a light, and now it’s going to court to get out of a $500 million deal to purchase the unit.

Beverly Hills-based Platinum filed a lawsuit on Wednesday asking that a New York State court cancel the purchase agreement, claiming that PPG (nyse: PPG – news – people ) misrepresented the state of the business.

According to Platinum Equity, PPG failed to reveal forecasts showing that the unit would experience slower sales and higher costs than PPG’s executives led Platinum Equity to believe during negotiations. Read the rest of this entry →

By Grant Smith and Christian Schmollinger
Bloomberg

Crude oil was little changed in New York after gaining on an Energy Department report that showed U.S. inventories declined more than expected last week.

Stockpiles fell to the lowest since January 2005, and supplies of distillate fuel, including heating oil, dropped the most since February. Prices initially rose after yesterday’s assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s former prime minister, heightened concern violence would persist in the nuclear-armed nation.

“The U.S. stock data has been supportive for product prices,” said Robert Laughlin, a senior broker at MF Global Ltd. in London. “Whilst the Pakistan problems are not directly oil- related, Bhutto was such a high-profile figure her assassination has resurfaced the global terror alert.”
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By DAVID MCLAUGHLIN

Investors in a failed hedge fund run by Ritchie Capital Management LLC want to force the fund into bankruptcy and investigate possible mismanagement and fraud by Ritchie Capital.

The investors, themselves hedge funds, filed an involuntary Chapter 11 petition with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago, accusing Ritchie Capital of keeping them in the dark about the sale of the fund’s portfolio and use of the proceeds.

“[Ritchie Capital's] management activities have been conducted in complete secrecy,” they said in court papers. “The secrecy must now end.”

Once a Star Read the rest of this entry →

The automaker is introducing a concept compact hybrid pickup designed in America, for Americans

BusinessWeek – The design brain trust of the world’s most successful auto company is discreetly tucked away in a leafy suburb of Newport Beach, Calif. Toyota’s (TM) Calty design and research facility sits inconspicuously at the end of a sleepy Orange County cul-de-sac. Surrounded by fountains and gardens, the studio radiates a monastic calm broken only by the sound of children playing in the yard of a nearby grade school.

Despite the Zen-like atmosphere, designers here have been brewing up creative disruption on four wheels for decades. Since it was established in 1973, Calty has served as the Japanese giant’s crucial toe-hold in the American auto market. The studio has created some of the company’s boldest and best-selling vehicles, including the 2005 Scion xB and the 2001 Highlander SUV. Now, Toyota’s American designers are at it again.
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Exxon Mobil, BP May Lose Leases to Alaska Oil Field (Update2)

(Bloomberg) — Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc and other oil companies may have their leases for an Alaska oil and gas field revoked by the state because they took too long to develop it, a judge said.

Alaska Superior Court Judge Sharon Gleason ruled yesterday that the state was allowed in 2006 to revoke its agreement with the companies, which have held the leases for Point Thomson since the 1970s, because they failed to bring the field into production.

“This ruling represents another significant step forward in the state’s efforts to develop the valuable oil and gas resources in the Point Thomson reservoir and to hold the lessees to the commitments they made in the unit agreement,” Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said today in a statement.
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NEW YORK -

Moody’s Investors Service said Thursday it upgraded the long-term debt ratings of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and parent PG&E Corp., citing an improved regulatory environment in California.

Pacific Gas and Electric’s issuer rating and senior unsecured debt rating were raised one grade to “A3″ from “Baa1.” PG&E’s issuer rating and bank loan rating were raised two notches to “Baa1″ from “Baa3″ and its short-term rating for commercial paper was affirmed at “Prime-2.”

The outlook for the company’s investment-grade ratings is “Stable.”

“Today’s rating action is an acknowledgment of the continued demonstration of a more constructive regulatory environment in California which should lead to sustainable and predictable credit metrics for Pacific Gas and Electric and PG&E,” said Moody’s Vice President and Senior Credit Officer A.J. Sabatelle. Read the rest of this entry →

(Bloomberg) — Genesco Inc., the Nashville, Tennessee-based shoe and clothing retailer, won a bid to force competitor Finish Line Inc. to complete a $1.5 billion acquisition.

Finish Line was barred from walking away from the deal, Tennessee Chancery Court Judge Ellen Hobbs Lyle held yesterday as part of her ruling in state court in Nashville.

Finish Line said in a statement last night on PRNewswire it is disappointed with the ruling and is considering its options, including the possibility of an appeal.

Finish Line agreed in June to acquire Genesco for $54.50 a share in cash. The transaction didn’t close by its September deadline and Genesco sued to force Finish Line to complete the deal. The verdict follows other recently proposed deals that faltered as financial conditions worsened.

On Dec. 21, a Delaware judge threw out a bid by United Rentals Inc., the largest U.S. construction-equipment rental company, to force a $4 billion takeover by Cerberus Capital Read the rest of this entry →