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American International Group (AIG) is expected to decide by early next week if he enters into formal negotiations with strategic investors for AIA, its Asian subsidiary life insurance, it was learned Wednesday from sources near process.

The establishment of a deadline for submission of bids by U.S. insurer AIG could finally shows consider introducing its Asian subsidiary of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in the fourth quarter of the year, but that an outside investor is entering the capital AIA ago.

Some Chinese investors have nevertheless expressed their interest in acquiring a stake in AIA before its IPO, which would allow it to recover about U.S. $ 15 billion (12 billion euros).

Given the short time remaining, it is unlikely that a significant agreement is reached before the start of the procedure prior to an IPO.

"The train ahead of the IPO rather quickly.This means that the possibility to stop it is limited to a strategic investor wishing to report to the Board, examine accounts and negotiate the price, "said one source familiar with the matter.

SEVERAL CHINESE GROUPS INTERESTED

AIG was not immediately available for comment.

Three to four consortia consisting of Chinese investors have approached AIG offering to take stakes in AIA before its IPO, said one source.

Some consortia have expressed interest to take between 10% and 30% stake in AIA, said the sources interviewed.

These have however said AIG is focused solely on an IPO while strategic investors do not constitute a decisive element of the process.

The press had previously cited the names of China Life Insurance, Ping An, Cinda Asset Management Fosun Group, Hony Capital and Alibaba.com among potential suitors for a strategic stake in AIA.

AIG should be mandated Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as international coordinators of the IPO of its subsidiary, had previously been learned from several sources.

Generally the interests sold before the IPO are priced downgraded which is then used to refer to that of the IPO.

Such a transaction could facilitate the sale of the remaining capital from traditional institutions and funds.

If the proposed IPO of AIA is realized, it could be the largest ever conducted on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and would allow AIG to repay a portion of public funds injected into the U.S. insurer in 2008.

Deutsche Postbank reported a pretax profit above expectations in the second quarter, supported by higher interest income and lower losses in subprime, but the banking group has increased its reserves for potential losses on credit.

The chief executive, Stefan Jutte said in a statement it expected that the result does not reach the second half than the first, while ensuring that the full year will be positive.

The action took 0.64% to 25.30 euros at 8:05 GMT.

The first German retail bank by number of customers has also abandoned its goal of profitability in the medium term due to uncertainties still hang on the evolution of banking regulation.

Deutsche Postbank posted a pretax profit of 94 million euros in the second quarter, against a loss of 29 million a year earlier.Analysts had expected a profit of 77.9 million.

These results echo those reported by other retail banks such as Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and HSBC, which illustrate the recovery of the banking sector.

Earlier this year, Deutsche Postbank had said it expected a return on equity after tax of 13% over the medium term, a goal well below that of some of its rivals such as Deutsche Bank.

Deutsche Postbank has narrowly passed the stress tests that have imposed the European authorities, showing a Tier 1 ratio by 0.6 percentage point higher than the 6% threshold required under the most brutal scenario imagined by the regulator .

RESERVES INCREASE

Postbank said Wednesday that this ratio showed late June to 7.3%, a level identical to the one she posted late March.

She reiterated that she would continue to undertake the necessary measures to achieve a ratio of 9.5% by end 2012.

The net interest emerged, up 18% to 671 million euros in the second quarter, while provisions for credit losses were recorded at 175 million euros against 120 million a year ago.

Asset write-downs related to subprime mortgages fell to 174 million euros in the second quarter against 431 million a year earlier.

In late July, the group said it had an exposure of 7.9 billion euros in sovereign debt.Postbank had an exhibition of 500 million euros in loans Portuguese, Italian loans to 4.6 billion, 300 million to the Irish debt, $ 1.3 billion to 1.2 billion debt to Greek and Spanish government bonds .

The German inflation accelerated as expected in July, as estimated by the Federal Office of Statistics, harbinger of higher prices across the euro area.

Inflation has emerged at 1.1% yoy against 0.9% in June, an acceleration due in large part to rising fuel prices and fruit and vegetables, said the Office.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast an average price increase of 1.1% over one year.

On a monthly basis, the national index of consumer prices was up 0.2% in July, against 0.1% in June

Calculated the European harmonized standards (HICP), inflation German spring up 0.3% in July and 1.2% over one year.

The first estimate of inflation over the past month is calculated on the basis of published data from six Länder. Final figures will be released August 10.

The French consumer sentiment has stabilized at a low level in July after five months of degradation, according to the monthly survey of consumer confidence survey released Thursday by the INSEE.

The summary indicator of households' opinion on the economic situation remained unchanged at -39, its lowest level since May 2009.Seventeen economists polled by Reuters on average expected a further deterioration to -40.

The survey, conducted at the time of the announcement of the proposed pension reform and measures to reduce public deficits, shows that concerns about the future national fade a bit while still fears about the labor market.

"The impact of pension reform was probably fully integrated in the June survey," Judge Dominique Barbet, economist at BNP Paribas.

The index had dropped one point to -39 in June fell to their lowest level since May 2009, bringing to nine points to fall since the beginning of the year.

CONCERNS ON UNEMPLOYMENT

In July, households' opinion on their past personal financial situation has lost two points, with a balance cons -26 to -28 in June

Their opinion about their personal financial future (-20) remained stable, as well as their views on the advisability of making major purchases (-24).

However, the outlook for living standards in France, in decline since the beginning of the year, edged with a net increase of two points

-52.

The households' opinion on the level of past life in France remained stable at a very low level, with the balance to -71 compared to an average of -40 from the inception of the survey in January 1987.

Among the balances do not count in calculating the summary indicator, that the prospects of unemployment has stabilized at a high level (69), reflecting concerns still alive.

This balance, said Insee, was increased from eight to 89 points between January 2008 and June 2009 and then fell until October. He has since remained around 65 points, well above its long-term average is 33.

The balance measures the opportunity to spare jumped eight points to 19 in July, near its historical average (20), but opinion on the ability to save has the same time lost three points to -14.

Officers at INSEE interviewed approximately 2,000 households from June 29 to July 19.The survey did not take place in August, the next issue will be published in late September.

Alstom reported a sharp drop in orders received during the first quarter of the year, major projects that are difficult to find in the electrical field, but its sales came out slightly beyond expectations over the period.

The specialist in energy infrastructure and transportation have made the April-June quarter sales of 4.74 billion euros, down 1% from one year to another as reported and down 5 % as organic.

The nine analysts polled by Reuters expected the drafting of an average AC4.67 billion.

"The turnover (the division) Transportation progresses, while the (Energy Division) Power began, as expected, lower following a sharp drop in orders during the last year," said CEO of Alstom, Patrick Kron, in a statement.

If he observes a good place new orders for medium and small sizes on the three "major projects are difficult to reach because (…) customers continue to shift their investments in new power stations," Has added.

Orders received by Alstom have dropped by 36% to 3.07 billion euros in the first quarter on a reported basis and 38% as organic.

The group added that its backlog was still unchanged at 42 billion euros at June 30, thanks to a positive currency effect of 1.3 billion euros and represented 27 months of turnover business.

It also confirmed its forecast for an operating margin of between 7 and 8% for the year 2010/2011 and the next one, "based on a performance contract and a gradual recovery in demand. "

The action Alstom closed Monday at 36.85 euros, giving a market capitalization of nearly 11 billion euros. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has lost about 25% of its value, after a gain of nearly 17% throughout 2009.

The Paris Bourse falls even slightly up in early trading Wednesday, after six sessions of consecutive increase, buoyed by better than expected results from Intel in a market trough for a public holiday.

The better than expected start to the season results should stimulate the market this morning, pending the release of retail sales in June in the United States at 14:30.

Around 9:25, the CAC 40 index posted a gain of 0.21% to 3645.29 points, after taking 1.96% yesterday.

Technology stocks are leading the gains, including the semiconductor sector, with a gain of 2.9% from STMicroelectronics, the largest increase in ACC, and 5.2% of Soitec, the largest increase DTH.

Computer services such as Cap Gemini (+2.3%), Steria (+1.7%) and Altran (+1.4%) also benefit from the optimism that followed the results of Intel, and that Alcatel-Lucent, which is 1.6%.

Other major European markets are slightly higher: 0.16% ahead of London and Frankfurt 0.5%. As for the European indices, the EuroStoxx 50 wins 0.3% and 0.23% Eurofirst 300.

The euro is maintained around 1.27 dollars while U.S. light crude was steady at 77.13 dollars a barrel.

U.S. stocks opened lower Monday as investors remain concerned about budget problems and the situation of banks in Europe, but activity in the area of mergers and acquisitions limit their decline.

A few minutes after opening, the Dow Jones gives 31.15 points, or 0.3%, to 10,166.88 points. The S & P 500 was down 3.77 points (0.3%) to 1074.19 points while the Nasdaq went up into the green and gained 0.3% to 2203.37 points.

Wall Street took a breather after the biggest weekly increase recorded by the S & P this year and before the start of the season results will be given after the closure of Alcoa.

The questions also persist about the strength tests conducted on the European banks.The magazine Der Spiegel reported this weekend that the test included a discount on the German debt, a hypothesis that several sources had previously rejected.

"There is a risk that banks are not doing that well in these tests," said Dan McMahon of Raymond James Financial."We do not know how likely it is but there is a certain pessimism.

Aon Corp., the first global insurance broker, announced that it would buy services company Hewitt Associates human resources for about 4.9 billion dollars (3.9 billion euros) in cash and stock.

The action Hewitt burns 33% to 47.05 dollars while Aon was down 7.4% to $ 35.50.

"This new (fusion) is very positive when we start to earnings season," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer Hugh Johnson Advisors. "It's very positive when we see money flowing into this market."

Title Playboy Enterprises also jumped 34.3% to 5.29 dollars.The eponymous magazine founder Hugh Hefner has presented an agreement to leave the company of NYSE, proposing to buy all shares it does not already own for $ 5.50 in cash.

Air Liquide announces it has completed the acquisition of South Korea's H-Plus SMS.

This company provides carbon monoxide and hydrogen by pipeline to Yeosu in the south. It has a total capacity of 60,000 m3 of hydrogen and carbon monoxide per hour, said in a statement Air Liquide, which does not specify the amount of the acquisition.

Sanofi-Aventis is planning acquisitions in the United States, including one or two that could cost him at least $ 15 billion, told Reuters a source familiar with the matter.

Speculation that laboratories such as Biogen, Genzyme and Allergan may be targets of the French pharmaceutical group drove up the price of these companies at the NYSE.

In the afternoon in New York, the action took 4.4% Biogen, Genzyme 5% and 6% with Allergan stock market valuations of approximately 13 billion, 13.5 billion and 18 billion dollars respectively.

The Board of Directors of Sanofi met in Paris this week and discussed several options for acquisitions, but no decision has been taken on potential targets, said the source told Reuters.

The latter, which is not authorized to speak to reporters, spoke on condition of anonymity.

In turn, a spokesman for Sanofi, the world number six from the pharmacy, simply stated that "the group's policy is to not comment on market rumors."

The Bloomberg had initially reported that Sanofi was preparing to acquire a U.S. company worth at least $ 20 billion.

GOOD STRATEGIC DECISION

Faced with competition from generic drugs, the group is actively looking for potential targets, which should enable it to find new sources of growth.

"In the big pharmaceutical companies, everyone is watching and there are whole departments that work on potential acquisitions," says Thierry Verrecchia, analyst at Raymond James.

The acquisition of a U.S. biotech is an excellent strategic decision, observed Fabian Wenner, an analyst at UBS.

"They need essentially biological expertise in antibodies," he says, adding that, therefore, Biogen and Allergan may be on the radar screen of Sanofi, while Amgen Bristol-Myers Squibb or appear to be too large pieces to swallow for French.

Sanofi announced Wednesday the acquisition of American TargeGen for some 560 million dollars (458.5 million euros), an operation designed to strengthen the group's positions in oncology.

The title Sanofi closed Friday at 47.06 euros, down 2.42%, giving a market capitalization of nearly 61.7 billion euros. The action has underperformed the DJ Stoxx sector index (-1.17%) and the CAC 40 (+0.25%). She has lost 12% since the beginning of the year.

"The share price decline as investors worried about the price. But if the acquisition was accretive, it would not be that bad," observes Fabian Wenner.

Pernod Ricard announces the distribution of an interim dividend for FY 2009-2010 far exceeds the total dividend distributed during the 2008-2009 fiscal year, a year when the group had to make savings because of the crisis.

Its board of directors decided to pay an interim dividend of 0.61 euro per share against a total dividend of 0.50 euro for the previous year.

The deposit will be posted Friday, July 2 and payable Wednesday, July 7, 2010.

A spokesman for the group declined to given any indication on the total dividend which shareholders could expect for the year 2009-2010.

The producer of Pastis has already announced to shareholders that he wanted to resume his practice before the crisis, which was to distribute a cash dividend representing one third of its net current.

Ricard Pernod has reported a significant rebound from its sales for the first three months of 2010 and will announce its annual results on September 2nd.