Playboy Enterprises said on Monday that it had agreed to be taken private by Icon Acquisition Holdings, a partnership run by Hugh Hefner, in a deal valuing the company at $177 million.
The offer price of $6.15 a share is 18 percent above Playboy’s closing price of $5.20 on Friday. Shares rose 17.31 percent, to $6.10, in premarket trading on Monday.
Mr. Hefner is currently the editor in chief and chief creative officer of the media company, which publishes Playboy magazine and produces television programs. He created the magazine in 1953, and took Playboy Enterprises public in 1971.
“With the completion of this transaction, Playboy will come full circle, returning to its roots as a private company,” Mr. Hefner said in a statement. “I believe this agreement will give us the resources and flexibility to return Playboy to its unique position and to further expand our business around the world.”
Mr. Hefner controls 69.5 percent of the company’s voting shares and 27.7 percent of its nonvoting shares. Plainfield Asset Management, which holds 19.05 percent of the company, has agreed to the deal.
Icon received equity backing for the deal from the private investment firm Rizvi Traverse Management, and a financing commitment from Jefferies & Company. The Playboy board unanimously approved the deal on Sunday, and it is expected to close Jan. 21.
“This would bring an end to a period of uncertainty for the company and provide the right ownership structure to develop the business,” said Ben Kohn, a Rizvi partner.
Scott Flanders, chief executive of Playboy, said that its “strategy is to transform Playboy into a brand management company.”
Playboy hired Lazard as financial adviser and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom as counsel. A committee of board directors hired Raine Securities as adviser and Kaye Scholer as counsel. Moelis served as financial adviser and Munger, Tolles & Olson as counsel to Mr. Hefner. Jefferies & Company and Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton advised and counseled Rizvi Traverse.
U.S. stock futures dropped following declines in Asian and European markets, with aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. set to kick off the fourth-quarter earnings season after the close of trading Monday.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 40 points to 11579 and S&P 500 index futures slipped 5.90 points to 1261.60. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 9.25 points to 2263.75.
The blue-chip Dow index gained 0.8% last week, finishing higher for a sixth straight week.
Most European and Asian stock markets posted losses on Monday, souring sentiment ahead of the Wall Street open.
The following is a selection of the most important news affecting the oil market.
Oil Rises for First Time in Three Days as Alaskan Pipeline Shuts
Oil climbed for the first time in three days after an Alaskan pipeline carrying about 15 percent of U.S. crude output was shut following a leak.
TOP OIL MARKET NEWS
Alaskan Pipe Shutdown Cuts Oil Output by 95 Percent (Update3)
BP Plc and its partners in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System that carries 15 percent of U.S. crude output can’t say when production will return to normal after a leak two days ago.
Morgan Stanley Says Oil to Remain High, Will Breach $100 in 2011
Crude oil will remain high this year and breach $100 a barrel because of shrinking spare capacity in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Morgan Stanley said in a research note today.
West Africa-to-India Crude Cargoes Rise 61%, Clarkson Data Show
Indian oil companies arranged to collect 61 percent more crude oil from West Africa last month, according to vessel charters collated by the research unit of Clarkson Plc, the world’s largest shipbroker.
Caspian BTC February Crude Loadings to Fall 9.8% From January
Exports of Azeri Light crude from a port in Turkey will tumble 9.8 percent next month, according to a loading program obtained by Bloomberg News.
China’s Net Crude Imports Climb After Diesel Shortage (Update1)
China, the world’s biggest energy user, increased net imports of crude oil by 1.4 percent in December from a month earlier as refineries maintained high operating rates to ease a diesel shortage.
Shale Oil Drillers Strike Rising Costs in Flight From Gas Slump
U.S. natural-gas companies are getting hit with the highest costs in four years as they shift more production to oil to escape low gas prices.
Aramco Cuts Crude Prices, Iraq Buys Gasoline: Persian Gulf Oil
Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest state-owned oil company, cut official prices for most of its crude for shipment next month, raising the formula only on Extra Light and Super Light grades to Asia. Iraq awarded gasoline and gasoil supply contracts for the first half of 2010. Refineries in Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain plan to shut for maintenance in the next several weeks.
Hedge Funds Raise Bullish Gas Bets Most in Year: Energy Markets
Hedge funds almost doubled bets on gains in natural gas as futures climbed to the highest level since August on forecasts for colder-than-normal weather.
China’s Once-Subsidized Drivers Face Gasoline Hit: Chart of Day
China, the world’s biggest new-car market, may raise gasoline prices by 20 percent this year to promote energy efficiency, according to Mirae Asset Securities Co., straining once-subsidized drivers who paid less than Americans to fill their tanks barely two years ago.
Waste Heat as Clean as Wind Deserves U.S. Help, GE Group Says
The gray steam rising from the smokestacks of industrial plants is an energy resource as green as a wind turbine or a solar panel, according to General Electric Co., the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers union.
OPEC
Saudi Aramco to Supply Asia Full February Oil Volumes (Update1)
Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world’s largest state-owned oil company, will supply full contractual volumes of crude to China and South Korea for loading in February, according to refinery officials in the region.
REFINERIES Map global refinery outages
Reliance Said to Shut FCC at India Refinery This Month (Update1)
Reliance Industries, owner of the world’s largest refining complex, plans to shut a fluid catalytic cracker at its facility in western India at the end of this month, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Petroplus Reichstett Refinery Output Back to ‘Normal,’ Cgt Says
Petroplus Holding AG’s Reichstett oil refinery output is back to “normal” after workers ended a strike, according to a representative of the CGT union at the site.
Britain, France, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands called on Saturday for the EU budget to be frozen until at least 2020, in a joint letter to the European Commission.
The letter, addressed to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, said that the European Union's joint budget should not grow faster than the rate of inflation in the bloc's post-2013 long-term budget.
"European public spending cannot be exempted from member states' considerable efforts to get their public spending under control," the letter, which was released by the French presidency, said.
The EU's 27 countries will start talks in mid-2011 on the long-term budget, which runs from 2014 until 2020 or longer.
Next year's budget is worth 126.5 billion euros ($166.8 billion), with more than 40 percent of it going on agriculture and a third on aid to poor regions.
The joint letter was signed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Finnish Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi.
Cameron used an EU summit in Brussels on Friday to drum up support for a leaner budget, telling reporters that the bloc "needed real budgetary restraint."
However, efforts to agree a tighter budget are likely to run up against stiff opposition from poorer eastern European countries that currently benefit most from EU largesse and Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his country would resist cuts.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock benchmarks Friday extended gains to a third-straight week after a lackluster session highlighted by upbeat reports from Oracle Corp. and Research in Motion Ltd.
After brief forays into positive turf, the Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (DJIA 11,492, -7.34, -0.06%) closed off 7.34 points, or 0.1%, at 11,491.91, with its 17 of its 30 components lower. Disappointment over the outcome of a European Union summit, which bolstered the U.S. dollar, weighed on the index.
The S&P 500 /quotes/comstock/21z!i1:in\x (SPX 1,244, +1.04, +0.08%) ended up 1.04 points, or 0.1%, at 1,243.91, with materials the best performer and telecommunications the weakest of its 10 industry groups. It was the benchmark’s highest close since September 2008.
“The market is saying, ‘We’re going to wrap it up for the year,’ and today we’re meandering around zero,” said John Canally, an analyst at LPL Financial.
Friday’s quarterly options and futures expiration had the possibility of adding volatility to the market as traders closed out positions, analysts said, although as the afternoon progressed, that did not appear to be the case.
he Nasdaq Composite /quotes/comstock/10y!i:comp (COMP 2,643, +5.66, +0.21%) climbed 5.66 points, or 0.2%, to 2,642.97.
For the week, the Dow gained 0.7%, the S&P 500 added 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.2%. It was the third-straight week of gains for the Dow and the S&P 500 and the fourth for the Nasdaq Composite.
For every seven stocks on the decline, eight were rising on the New York Stock Exchange, where 2 billion shares traded hands.
Signaling the recovery should pick up steam early next year, the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators in November made its biggest jump in eight months. Read more about leading indicators.
The index, which tracks data including orders for new goods, climbed 1.1%, as economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected.
Moody's downgrades Irish debt
The ratings agency downgrades Ireland's sovereign debt, impacting markets and the euro.
Concerns from overseas were again in play after Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Ireland’s government-bond rating by five notches and said the country had a weak economic outlook.
Technology offered investors a bit of bullish momentum, with quarterly results from software giant Oracle /quotes/comstock/15*!orcl/quotes/nls/orcl (ORCL 31.46, +1.19, +3.94%) and Blackberry maker Research In Motion /quotes/comstock/15*!rimm/quotes/nls/rimm (RIMM 60.20, +0.96, +1.62%) topping Wall Street’s expectations late Thursday. Oracle shares ended up 3.9%, while Research in Motion’s U.S. shares gained 1.6%.
Ahead of Wall Street’s open, the Bank of Montreal said it would buy Wisconsin-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!mi/quotes/nls/mi (MI 6.85, +1.06, +18.31%) for $4.1 billion in stock, triggering a rally in regional bank stocks. Read more about M&I deal.
On Friday, President Barack Obama signed a bipartisan tax package, extending Bush-era tax cuts for virtually all American workers for another two years. The U.S. House passed the legislation Thursday nigh
The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks the bigger of China’s stock exchanges, rose 14.75, or 0.5 percent, to 2,857.18 at the 3 p.m. close. The CSI 300 Index gained 0.2 percent to 3,165.57. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names.
Carmakers: SAIC Motor Corp. (600104 CH), the Chinese partner of General Motors Co., dropped 1.3 percent to 16.38 yuan. FAW Car Co. (000800 CH), which makes passenger cars in China with Volkswagen AG, slid 2.6 percent to 17.85 yuan.
China will end a preferential purchase tax for vehicles with engines no larger than 1.6 liters next year, the China Securities Journal reported, citing an unidentified person at the National Development and Reform Commission.
China CAMC Engineering Co. (002051 CH), an engineering construction company, gained 4.3 percent to 67.46 yuan, a record high since its listing in 2006. The company said it won 7.15 billion yuan ($1.07 billion) of contracts from Venezuelan state firms on Dec. 3 to build infrastructure, plant crops, and supply agricultural machines.
Dalian Port Co. (601880 CH), a port operator, surged 38 percent from its offer price to 5.24 yuan on the first day of trading in Shanghai. The company raised 2.9 billion yuan in its first-time domestic stock sales.
PetroChina Co. (601857 CH), the nation’s biggest oil company, jumped 4.7 percent to 11.77 yuan, the biggest gain since Nov. 11. PetroChina is the top recommendation among Chinese oil stocks because its natural gas business may spur growth and the stock is cheaper than rival Cnooc Ltd., BNP Paribas analyst Bradley Way wrote in a note today. China’s top planning body may encourage PetroChina to supply natural gas to the northeast region by raising prices, it said. PetroChina spokesman Mao Zefeng declined to comment.
Ericsson AB Chairman Michael Treschow plans to step down from overseeing the world’s biggest maker of mobile-phone networks in the next two years, saying the manufacturer is “in good shape.”
Treschow, 67, will leave Stockholm-based Ericsson next year or in 2012, the company said today in a statement. A successor to Treschow, who became chairman in March 2002, will be appointed at one of the next two annual shareholders’ meetings, Ericsson said.
“This is something that has grown inside me since the latter part of the fall,” Treschow said today in a phone interview. “Nine years is a long time. The company is also very stable and in good shape. The combination probably makes for a good time to find somebody else.”
The executive took over after a decline in sales led to Ericsson’s first full-year loss in more than half a century in 2001, prompting the company to sell 30 billion kronor ($4.4 billion) in stock and cut its workforce to restore earnings. Ericsson said on Oct. 22 that third-quarter net income jumped almost fivefold from a year earlier.
“The best accomplishment was probably to navigate Ericsson out of the crisis in 2002,” Treschow said. “At that time we had to go from 110,000 employees to 40,000 employees in about two years time. To be able to do that without actually dying in the process was the biggest achievement in my time.”
Stock Declines
Ericsson fell as much as 0.9 krona, or 1.1 percent, to 73.8 kronor and was down 1 percent as of 11:32 a.m. in Stockholm trading. That pared the stock’s gain this year to 12 percent, valuing the company at 241 billion kronor.
Treschow, who is a member of Ericsson’s nomination committee, declined to comment on who may replace him. Treschow also said has no plans to leave the chairmanship of London- and Rotterdam-based Unilever Plc, the world’s second-largest consumer goods maker, a post he has held since 2007.
Immediately before joining Ericsson, Treschow was chief executive officer of Electrolux AB. He was CEO of Atlas Copco AB, the world’s largest maker of air compressor and rock drills, from 1991 until moving to the Electrolux post in 1997.
Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Gold fluctuated near a record in London on concern the U.S. economy may need more stimulus and as the dollar strengthened. Silver advanced to a 30-year high.
The dollar climbed against the euro as European officials voiced divisions over the steps needed to stop the sovereign- debt crisis. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the central bank may boost Treasury purchases to prop up the economy. Gold, which usually moves inversely to the dollar, traded within 1 percent of a record $1,424.60 an ounce set on Nov. 9.
“Without a stronger dollar, gold would probably trade higher,” Peter Fertig, owner of Quantitative Commodity Research Ltd. in Hainburg, Germany, said today by phone. “The Bernanke comments on quantitative easing are one of the factors supporting gold.”
Immediate-delivery bullion lost $2.18, or 0.2 percent, to $1,411.90 an ounce at 11:36 a.m. in London. Prices swung between a gain and a loss of 0.3 percent and reached as high as $1,418.80. The metal for February delivery was 0.4 percent higher at $1,412.50 on the Comex in New York.
Bullion rose to $1,411.50 an ounce in the morning “fixing” in London, used by some mining companies to sell output, from $1,403.50 at the afternoon fixing on Dec. 3. Spot prices reached a record 902.5109 British pounds, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Currency Debasement
Bernanke said unemployment may take five years to fall to a normal level and Fed buying of Treasury securities beyond the $600 billion announced last month is possible, according to a transcript of an interview for CBS Corp.’s “60 Minutes” program. Gold is set for a 10th annual gain after governments spent trillions of dollars and kept interest rates low to bolster economies. European finance ministers meet in Brussels today.
“Given that further debasing of fiat currencies is back on the agenda, it seems likely the precious metals, particularly gold and silver, are poised for fresh gains,” James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com in London, said in a report.
Gold will likely advance to $1,500 next year on demand from investors and central banks, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a report dated Dec. 3. Prices are up 29 percent this year.
Silver for immediate delivery in London added as much as 1.7 percent to $29.915 an ounce, the highest price since March 1980, and was last at $29.5825. The metal is up 75 percent this year and reached an all-time high of $50.35 in New York in 1980, a year after the Hunt brothers tried to corner the market.
Ratio Falls
One ounce of gold bought as little as 47.326 ounces of silver today, the least since February 2007, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Silver will average $29.50 next year as investors buy more metal and industrial growth spurs demand, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said.
“There is some substitution impact on silver as investors also see the metal as a store of value, just like gold,” Ben Westmore, an analyst at National Australia Bank Ltd., said today by phone from Melbourne.
Palladium fell 1.4 percent to $757.50 an ounce, after reaching $779.10 on Dec. 3, the highest price since April 2001. Platinum was 0.5 percent lower at $1,718.50 an ounce. Platinum will average $2,000 and palladium will average $775 next year, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Bank of Ireland Plc soared in Dublin trading as J. Christopher Flowers, founder of New York private- equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co, signaled he is continuing to look for Irish banking assets.
Bank of Ireland rose as much as 7.5 percent to 34.50 euro cents and was up 5.9 percent as of 9:09 a.m. Allied Irish Banks Plc was unchanged at 34.30 cents. Flowers said in a Bloomberg News interview on Dec. 3 that “if we can find the right opportunity to invest in Ireland, we would like to do that.” J.C. Flowers had been bidding for Irish lender EBS Building Society, two people with knowledge of the talks said on Sept. 8.
A stake in Allied Irish or Bank of Ireland, the country’s biggest lenders, may be attractive depending on government guarantees on potential losses from toxic assets, Flowers said in a Financial Times interview today. He also said that buying asset portfolios at discounts with government support might be a more appealing investment in the short-term.
Ireland’s government said on Nov. 28 that banks will be required to run down non-core assets, securitize or sell portfolios or divisions, with indemnities provided by the state if needed. The move is part of a bailout Ireland agreed with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan has said that some of the 10 billion euros ($13.3 billion) to be allocated to banks from the bailout will be in the form of “credit enhancements,” or loan-loss indemnities, to help banks dispose of assets.
“Potential acquirers are likely to want to purchase” Irish banking “assets at a discount to book value even with the loan loss guarantees, and this could drive up further capital requirements in Irish banks,” said Ken Darmody, an analyst with Goodbody Stockbrokers, in a note to clients today.
The chief executive of Pfizer, Jeffrey Kindler, has announced his surprise departure from the world's largest drugmaker to "recharge my batteries."
He is being replaced by Ian Read, 57, the global head of pharmaceuticals.
In his resignation statement, Mr Kindler, 55, acknowledged the personal toll of running a major organisation.
He said that the "24/7 nature of my responsibilities" had been "extremely demanding", especially after last year's $67bn (£42bn) takeover of Wyeth.
Mr Kindler, chief executive for five years, has overseen a 26% fall in Pfizer's share price, far stripping the 10% fall in the Arca Pharmaceutical index of major drugmakers.
He was formerly the company's legal counsel, and was seen as a surprise choice because of his relative lack of pharmaceuticals experience.
Analysts said Pfizer needed an injection of new blood, especially as it approaches a major challenge - the expiry in the US of its bestselling Lipitor cholesterol drug.
"The departure is sudden, but I doubt there was one event per se" that led to his resignation, said Tim Anderson, analyst at Sanford Bernstein.
* Dollar recovers from Friday losses
* Euro on back foot as finance ministers meet
* Stocks underpinned by Bernanke remarks
* Oil, commodities cling on to gains
By Mike Peacock
LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The dollar recouped some losses on Monday, having a taken a knock after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it was open to injecting more funds into the economy, while the euro weakened and world shares were flat.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Sunday the central bank could end up buying more than the $600 billion in U.S. government bonds it has committed to purchase, if the economy fails to respond. [ID:nN05271909]
European shares were flat .FTEU3, supported by the belief that the Fed would do what it took to keep the U.S. economic recovery ticking along but still concerned about the spreading euro zone debt crisis.
"Markets have a clear message from the (U.S.) policymakers that they are in the business to ensure a sustained recovery," Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin, said.
The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS was down 0.1 percent at 321.78. Japan's Nikkei .N225 closed the day down 0.1 percent or 11.09 points at 10,167.23.
The prospect, following weak U.S. jobless figures, of more money sloshing around the U.S. economy had taken its toll on the dollar, but having shed more than 1 percent against a basket of currencies on Friday, it had scope for a bounce.
The dollar index .DXY was up 0.32 percent at 79.628, with the greenback pulling away from a three-week low against the yen JPY=.
"Friday's moves were so rapid that it is natural to have a bit of position unwinding," said Keiji Matsumoto, strategist at Nikko Cordial Securities. "There's also a feeling that there could be more bad news from the euro zone."
DHAKA: Bangladesh will introduce three-carriage trains called railcars between the national capital and its adjoining districts next year, using a part of the $1 billion Indian line of credit extended in January this year.
Bangladesh Railway recently submitted a proposal to the planning commission to buy 10 diesel-electric multiple units (DEMU), also called railcars or railmotors, in the first phase of this effort.
The railcars are to cost Taka 210 million ($29 million), The Daily Star said Monday.
A DEMU is a three-carriage train and it is capable of carrying 300 passengers at a time. They have engines at both ends.
"We have proposed purchasing 10 railcars with an estimated Tk 210 million from the Indian state credit," Railway Director General T A Chowdhury told The Daily Star that 21 more railcars will be bought with government funds in the second phase to increase the frequency of trains.
Besides purchasing railcars, Bangladesh is engaged with India in modernising its rail network and both neighbours are working to match the rail gauges to be able to join the Trans-Asian rail network that will connect Europe with Southeast Asia.
"We will replace the conventional trains with the railcars and use those on long-distance routes," said Chowdhury adding that they are planning to run commuter trains on the routes every 30 minutes to meet the huge demand.
Transport sector expert M Rahmatullah said railcars are very useful for transporting a large number of passengers from one place to another in a short time.
"The big advantage of a railcar is that it has small engines on both sides and number of bogies can be adjusted depending on the demand of the passengers," he told The Daily Star.
MUMBAI: The Indian rupee slid to more than a 10-week low after having traded firm through most of the session on Monday as late losses in the euro and month-end dollar demand from oil refiners and importers weighed.
The partially convertible rupee closed at 45.93/94 per dollar, after touching 45.94, its lowest since Sept. 17 and 0.2 percent below its 45.84/85 close last Friday.
"The euro crashed in late trade, and along with that, the broad dollar strength versus majors further pushed rupee to fresh lows. A lot of dollar short-covering was triggered by the euro's fall," said Vikas Chittiprolu, a senior forex dealer with state-run Andhra Bank .
"There was good two-way interest through the day. Exporters came out to sell, but good month-end bids from oil and other importers hurt. I expect the rupee to hold in 45.50-46.10 range this week," Chittiprolu added.
Oil is India's biggest import and refiners are the largest buyers of dollars in the domestic currency market with their demand tending to peak at the end of each month, when they are required to make payments.
The euro fell to two-month lows against the dollar on Monday as investors looked past a rescue package for Ireland to debt problems in other peripheral euro zone economies and sold the currency on any bounce.
The index of the dollar against six major currencies was up 0.4 percent when the rupee market closed.
Traders said some inflows were also seen towards the Manganese Ore India's initial share sale, currently under way.
The country's largest producer of manganese ore has fixed an indicative price band at 340 to 375 rupees a share for its initial public offering, to raise up to $276 million, which opened last Friday and will close on Wednesday.
Gains in shares, however, prevented a further sharp slide in the rupee, dealers said.
Shares rose for the first time in five sessions and gained 1.4 percent, tracking world equities, while traders opted for large-cap bets as some of the companies under federal investigation in the bribes-for-loan scandal fell.
Foreign funds have sold $263.5 million worth of shares in the last two trading sessions until Friday, but are still net investors of a record $28.7 billion in shares so far in 2010, on top of the $17.5 billion purchased last year.
One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were at 46.23, weaker than the onshore spot rate, suggesting a bearish near-term outlook.
The one-year onshore dollar premium was marginally higher at 207.50 points, compared with 206.50 points on Friday.
"Not much action in the forwards today, very quiet there," a senior forwards dealer with a foreign bank said.
In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contract on the National Stock Exchange, MCX-SX and United Stock Exchange closed at 46.1825, 46.1875 and 46.19 respectively, with total traded volume on the three exchanges at a low $5.5 billion.
In the year-ago period, the company had a net earning of $2.42 billion, HP said in a statement.
The company's net revenue rose to $33.27 billion in the fourth quarter ended October 31, from $30.77 billion in the same quarter of last financial year, clocking a gain of eight per cent.
The company has attributed its decent quarter numbers to demand in personal computers, server and storage business and good performance in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries.
"HP continued to execute in the fourth quarter, delivering growth, expanding margins and increasing earnings per share in double digits. We continue to invest in the business, in sales and in R&D, while driving further efficiencies," Executive Vice-president and CFO Cathie Lesjak said.
During the quarter, BRIC countries have emerged as the best performers with revenue increasing 12 per cent and accounting 10 per cent of the overall company's revenue.
While revenue from Asia Pacific operations swelled 8 per cent to $5.8 billion, revenues rose 10 per cent in the Americas to $15.1 billion and it surged 6 per cent in Europe, the West Asia and Africa to $12.4 billion.
Looking ahead, the company said it has raised its revenue forecast to $126 billion for 2010-11.
HP said its revenue from Enterprise Storage and Servers (ESS) reported total revenue of $5.3 billion in the fourth quarter, up 25 per cent from year-earlier.
Besides, the company said its services revenue increased 0.4 per cent to $9 billion in the fourth quarter, while software revenue climbed roughly 1 per cent to $974 million.
Personal Systems Group revenue increased 4 per cent to $10.3 billion in the quarter under review. HP maintained its leading market share position in PCs worldwide, with a two per cent growth in unit shipments.
The firm's Rs 300 crore IPO, which opened on November 24, originally had a price band of Rs 278-Rs 293 per share and was due to close today, sources said. However, the price band has now been brought down and the offer has been extended till December 2, they said.
The company's share sale programme got a lukewarm response from investors and was subscribed only 0.53 times. It has attracted bids worth 47.15 lakh shares till date, as against 88.48 lakh shares on offer, according to information available with the National Stock Exchange.
Analysts said the price band was slashed on account of poor market conditions and unresolved regulatory issues that put a question mark over future drug approvals in the US.
"The downward revision of price band is due to the poor market condition and on concerns that some of the company's products could not get USFDA approvals," SMC Capital Equity Head Jagannadham Thunuguntla said.
The USFDA issued a warning letter to Claris Lifesciences on November 1 to address deficiencies in manufacturing practices at its Ahmedabad facility.
Company officials could not be reached for comments. Proceeds from the IPO will be used for capacity expansion, as well as to set up a research and development facility and to retire debt, a company official had said earlier.
The Ahmedabad-based company has appointed Enam Securities, Edelweiss Capital , JM Financial Consultants and ICICI Securities as the book running lead managers to the issue.
Claris Lifesciences is one of the largest sterile injectables pharmaceutical companies in the country, with a presence in 76 markets worldwide.
