KKR May Increase Interest on Alliance Boots LBO Debt, Default Swaps Show

(Bloomberg) -- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. may be
forced to offer higher interest to investors on 9 billion pounds
($18.5 billion) of loans to finance the buyout of U.K. pharmacist
Alliance Boots Plc, according to traders of credit-default swaps.

Investors are shunning high-yield debt as losses in U.S.
subprime mortgages roil corporate bonds and loans. The tougher
conditions forced KKR to cancel this week a 1 billion-euro ($1.4
billion) financing for Dutch retailer Maxeda NV. The New York-
based buyout firm delayed a $3 billion sale of debt last month to
acquire catering company U.S. Foodservice in Columbia, Maryland.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Lead Rises to Record for 6th Straight Day on Supply Concern; Nickel Gains

(Bloomberg) -- Lead rose to a record in London for
a sixth consecutive session on speculation that production will
fail to meet demand after a U.S. smelter was damaged by an
explosion. Nickel also climbed.

Doe Run Resources Corp., the world's second-largest lead
refiner, said yesterday that a blast at its Herculaneum smelter
in Missouri cut the plant's output by half. Lead's advance this
year has outpaced other industrial metals traded on the London
Metal Exchange as supplies from Australia were disrupted by a
pollution investigation.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Iliad Africa shares surge after private equity bid

(Reuters) - Shares in South African building supplies firm Iliad Africa surged over 14 percent on Wednesday after the firm said it had received a 24 rand per share initial buyout bid from a private equity consortium.

Iliad Africa said the 24 rand per share indicative price represented a 37 percent premium to the 30-day volume weighted average price of the company's stock on June 7, when it first announced it was in talks. By 0952 GMT, shares in the group were 13.71 percent firmer at 22.81 rand.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Hungarian Forint Falls as Wage Data Spurs Interest-Rate Cut Expectations

(Bloomberg) -- Hungary's forint fell against the
euro after a report showing wages grew less than expected buoyed
expectations the central bank will lower the European Union's
highest interest rates.

The forint slid to its lowest in a week after Hungary's
Statistics office said gross wages grew 7.4 percent in May on the
year, compared with the 8 percent forecast in a Bloomberg News
survey. Slower earnings growth may prompt the central bank to cut
its base rate for a second time in two months.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

European shares take a hit on subprime concerns

(Reuters) - European stock markets suffered sharp losses across-the-board on Wednesday, extending the previous session's falls, on subprime worries and ahead of Fed chief Ben Bernanke's semi-annual testimony to Congress.

Technology shares led a decline in Asia as Intel missed its profit margin target. Shares in Franco-Italian chipmaker STMicroelectronics and German rival Infineon both lost 1.3 percent.


Read more at Reuters Africa

European Emission Permits Prices Fall as U.K. Natural-Gas Costs Decline

(Bloomberg) -- European Union carbon dioxide
permits declined as the cost of U.K. natural gas fell, making
the fuel more profitable for power generators. Natural gas emits
half the carbon dioxide produced by burning coal.

Permits for December 2008 fell 2.3 percent to 18.80 euros
($26.06) a metric ton at 10:49 a.m. local time on the European
Climate Exchange in Amsterdam. They traded at an 11-week low of
18.65 euros a ton on July 16.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Yen Rebounds as Bear Stearns Hedge-Fund Losses Restrain Carry Trades

(Bloomberg) -- The yen rose against the dollar and
the euro as losses on Bear Stearns Cos. hedge funds caused
investors to scale back purchases of riskier assets with money
borrowed in Japan.

The Japanese yen rose against all 16 most-actively traded
currencies as investors pared so-called carry trades. The dollar
touched a record low against the euro earlier after Bear Stearns
told investors in two of its hedge funds they will get little if
any money back after losses related to subprime mortgages.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News