ft notiser

Bertelsmann abandons efforts to take RTL private

Bertelsmann, the German media group, on Tuesday said it had abandoned plans to buy the shares it does not own in RTL, Europe’s largest television broadcaster, after its planned offer ran into regulatory obstacles. The group had hoped to consolidate its holding in publicly-listed RTL by buying out all remaining shareholders ahead of its own initial public offering in 2004 or 2005. But plans to launch a E44-per-share offer for RTL’s free float raised regulatory issues and opposition from Luxembourg-based shareholders who are suing Bertelsmann in relation to a previous deal. The principle of the offer was agreed on the request of Pearson, owner of the Financial Times, after it sold its 22 per cent stake in RTL to Bertelsmann last December, taking the German group’s stake to 89 per cent. Bertelsmann insiders said the capital market regulator in one of the three countries where RTL is listed had insisted the offer should include a step-up clause in case the Luxembourg shareholders won their lawsuit. The shareholders, led by BGL Investment Partners, Audiolux and Investas, argue Bertelsmann once put an implied value on their shares of up to E200 when it bought the 30 per cent stake owned by Albert Frère’s Groupe Bruxelles Lambert last year.

Deutsche Telekom makes 40% cut in dividend

Shares in Deutsche Telekom, the German telecommunications group, fell more than 2 per cent on Tuesday after it said it would cut its 2001 dividend by 40 per cent while admitting for the first time it was likely to miss its debt-reduction target for this year. The drop in the dividend from 62 cents to 37 cents will come as a surprise to investors although analysts, having grown sceptical about the group’s debt reduction plans, have been urging it to take such a step. The shares were 2.23 per cent lower at E16.66 by 1030 GMT, after falling as low as E16.40 in early trade. The move, announced late on Monday night after an extended meeting of the management board, comes only days after Ron Sommer, chief executive, said last year’s cashflow could cover a flat dividend from 2000.

Goldman beats expectations despite profit fall

Goldman Sachs beat market expectations despite reporting a 32 per cent fall in first-quarter net profits, as trading and asset management business compensated for the continuing weakness in investment banking. The bank, which kicked off the investment banking earnings season, made net profits of $524m in the three months to February 22, compared with $768m a year earlier and $497m in the prior quarter. Earnings per share dropped to $0.98 ($1.40) in the quarter, well ahead of the $0.89 consensus among analysts polled by First Call/Thomson. Net revenues fell to $3.7bn from $4.7bn a year earlier, but the $893m derived from the investment banking unit exceeded the $797m achieved in the prior quarter. Goldman was the top-ranked bank in global mergers and acquisitions and equity underwriting last year, and the two sectors remained weak despite the brief resurgence in equity business in December.

Andersen UK confident KPMG merger will succeed

The British arm of Andersen, the crisis-hit auditor of the collapsed energy trader Enron, on Tuesday insisted it could overcome legal and commercial obstacles to its proposed merger with its rival KPMG. John Ormerod, Andersen’s UK managing partner, attacked US government allegations of systematic document-shredding at the firm’s London office as an “outrageous smear”. His comments came after Monday’s announcement of a preliminary deal to merge KPMG’s non-US businesses with those of Andersen, which has suffered heavy client defections and faces massive shareholder lawsuits. “Today we start the process of putting the last few weeks behind us,” Mr Ormerod said. “KPMG offers us the size, stability and opportunities we need to drive forward in the UK and internationally.” BoJ expected to leave monetary policy unchanged

The deal, which would involve no payment from KPMG to Andersen, would create a business with estimated net revenues of about $16bn, making the firm the second-largest accountant after PwC. The Bank of Japan holds its monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday but it is unlikely to ease interest rates despite calls from domestic and US politicians to take more steps to tackle deflation. Glenn Hubbard, a top economic adviser to President George W. Bush, speaking in Tokyo on Tuesday, advised the Bank of Japan to maintain its policy of providing excess liquidity until signs of rising price levels emerge and expectations of a recovery improve.

Lotta Dinkelspiel