Analysts undecided on GAP CEO with no apparel ties

(Reuters) - Concerns that incoming chief executive Glenn Murphy lacks apparel experience were high in the minds of apparel analysts on Friday. Still, shares of Gap rose nearly 5 percent in afternoon trade, helped by Citigroup raising the company's stock rating to "buy" from "hold."




On Thursday, Gap said it had appointed Murphy, a 45-year-old Canadian who most recently served as CEO of Toronto-based Shoppers Drug Mart to lead the operator of the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic clothing chains.


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Brooks Automation says indictment filed against former CEO

(Reuters) - The company said it is cooperating with both the agencies
and that it has not been charged in either the SEC complaint or
the indictment. Therrien retired as CEO of Brooks in 2004.





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Wall Street CEOs See `No Clear Signs' of Crisis as Subprime Woes Intensify

(Bloomberg) -- On Wall Street, where the most
lucrative credit markets are barely limping thanks to the worst
housing slump in a decade, there isn't a chief executive officer
who will tell you there is a crisis.

A few weeks after Merrill Lynch & Co. CEO Stanley O'Neal
said he saw ``no clear signs'' that rising delinquencies on
subprime U.S. mortgages were hurting the rest of the debt
markets, borrowing costs for non-investment grade companies rose
to the highest in eight months. ServiceMaster Co., US
Foodservice and 19 other companies have canceled bond sales
because nobody wants to buy them.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Algeco parent to buy Williams Scotsman for $1.24 bln

(Reuters) - Including debt, the company said the deal was worth $2.2 billion.




Gerry Holthaus, currently chairman and chief executive of Williams Scotsman, is expected to remain CEO and become chairman and CEO of Ristretto, Algeco's parent company.


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Polyus Delays Target to Triple Gold Production by Three Years to 2015

(Bloomberg) -- OAO Polyus Gold, Russia's biggest
producer of the metal, expects a three-year delay in meeting
its target to triple output, with the 4 million-ounce figure
more realistic by 2015, Chief Executive Officer Pavel Skitovich
said.

The goal set last December by former CEO Evgeny Ivanov,
who said Polyus would produce almost 4 million ounces of gold a
year by 2012, is more feasible by 2015, Skitovich said today in
an interview in Siberia's Severo-Yeniseisk, without giving
details.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Sun Valley no longer refuge for media industry

(Reuters) - Conceived as a refuge for the Hollywood elite and their
families to discuss the future, hatch merger plans and go
white-water rafting, the conference this year features a more
diverse cast that includes New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.




"It used to be people, CEOs of companies that were more or
less the same size and have the same business," Sony Corp.
Chief Executive Howard Stringer told reporters. "Now
it's very widespread. Allen's conference has caught the wave
like everybody else."


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Murdoch to be talk of Sun Valley media festival

(Reuters) - Participants will watch closely for any move by the 76-year-old chief executive of News Corp., including a sudden departure from the event, as a sign of a deal that would give him control of The Wall Street Journal, one of the world's most influential business media outlets.




News Corp. hired Allen & Co., the media industry's go-to bankers, to advise on the bid. Perhaps that is one reason why Dow Jones CEO Richard Zannino, a fixture at last year's Sun Valley but who hired Goldman Sachs, is not on the invitation list this year.


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UBS shake-up renews investment bank sale talk

(Reuters) - UBS abruptly replaced its CEO on Thursday night for unclear reasons, but the move followed the shut-down of its hedge fund business and the defection of dozens of top U.S. and European bankers who complained about the bank's unwillingness to commit more capital to leveraged finance.




UBS share gains over the past 18 months have also lagged those of European peers Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank .


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U.S. SEC's country watch list draws fire

(Reuters) - Both business and humanitarian groups say the list,
available on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Web
site, is ill-conceived. The tool provides links to companies
whose annual reports contain "some reference" to business
related to Sudan, Syria, North Korea, Iran and Cuba.




"Not only has the SEC named and shamed the wrong companies,
it's missed many with significant operations in countries like
Sudan," Adam Sterling, director of the Sudan Divestment Task
Force, and Todd Malan, president and CEO of the Organization
for International Investment, wrote in an opinion piece in
Thursday's Wall Street Journal.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

ABN, ING merger talks broke down on price-report

(Reuters) - ING said in April that it looked at buying ABN in November
and had hired advisors, but decided not to pursue a merger with
its Dutch rival. At the time ABN's shares traded at around 23
euros.




In an interview with Dutch magazine Forum, ABN CEO Rijkman
Groenink said that ABN's share price had risen about 20 percent
during talks with ING, while ING's shares declined 10 percent,
making a merger less attractive.


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Randgold to upgrade Ivorian mine, seeks output rise

(Reuters) - African miner Randgold Resources expects to upgrade planned production at its new mine in Ivory Coast, helping the firm to boost output by over 50 percent by 2011, its chief executive said on Thursday.

The firm, currently operating two mines in Mali, plans to ramp up production to around 650,000 ounces a year by 2011 from 400,000 ounces currently, CEO Mark Bristow told a presentation.


Read more at Reuters Africa

UPDATE 1-Fannie former execs to get bonus payouts -source

(Reuters) - WASHINGTON, July 3 - Former Fannie Mae top
executives Franklin Raines and Timothy Howard are set to
receive bonus payouts under the mortgage finance company's
recently announced compensation plan, sources familiar with the
deal said on Tuesday.




Raines, the former CEO, and former chief financial officer
Howard, who resigned in December 2004 as an accounting scandal
was breaking, are eligible for bonuses under a long-term
incentive program, the sources said.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Quotes, views on Indian property market

(Reuters) - "We are trying to invest in India as well, but relatively small at the moment. "We only pick the markets where we can do significant deals and India certainly has huge potential."




LIEW MUN LEONG, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CAPITALAND


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-RedZone pays $175 mln for Dick Clark Productions

(Reuters) - The deal includes nearly 900 one-hour broadcasts of
American Bandstand, which aired from 1957 to 1989. Also
included are The American Music Awards, the Golden Globes, the
Academy of Country Music Awards, and Dick Clark's "New Year's
Rockin' Eve."




Red Zone said Terry Bateman would become CEO of Dick Clark
Productions, replacing Allen Shapiro, who is stepping down.
Bateman was formerly the marketing chief of the Washington
Redskins football team, which Snyder owns.


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