23.12.2010

Nordic markets decided that blue is the new colour of Christmas as they managed to squeeze yet another plus day despite some less than stellar news. Durable goods orders and private consumption growth did not quite match expectations in the United States. Tension in Korean peninsula has increased once again with North Korea throwing out nuclear war card and South Korea saying a merciless counterattack will follow any further attacks from North. Two parcel bombs exploded in Rome at the Swiss and Chilean embassies. There was also some sort of a bomb threat on a train headed to Oslo airport which was found to be baseless.

M&A activity has continued very busy worldwide. Nordic markets will be closed tomorrow for Christmas Eve celebrations. The Nordic markets will reopen for Monday to Thursday next week for the final trading days of the year and close again for New Years Eve on 31.12.2010.

Novo Nordisk gained over 3% after the company announced positive clinical result from two phase 3a study with Degludec, ultra long-acting basal insulin, stating that it reduces risk of hypoglycaemia during the night compared to insulin glargine.

Meda claims damages for breach of agreement from 3M in connection with Meda’s acquisition of 3M’s European pharmaceutical division in 2007. Meda says there were undisclosed agreements which forced it to cut prices of Tambocor in France. Meda also announced some long term license agreements.

Swedish Orphan Biovitrium received an orphan drug designation for long-lasting, fully-recombinant Factor VIII Fc fusion protein (rFVIIIFc) for the treatment of hemophilia A. from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Topotarget has completed enrollment in Phase 2 trial for belinostat in cancer of unknown primary.

Lundbeck announced in a press release that it has hired Andreas Eggert as a vice president with responsibility for global product strategy and new product marketing. Eggert was previously working with Pfizer as Vice President & Global Business Manager. Eggert will work to prepare and market two products in final stage development, nalmefene for alcohol dependance and a new antidepressant currently called LUAA21004 for major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. Lundbeck called these products new flagships for the company and expects them to reach patients in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Nalmefene also received press from Bloomberg here. Lundbeck ended the day up 0.4% but as investors got hint of these news, Lundbeck’s small-cap partner for Nalmefene Biotie Therapies raced up more than 40%. LUAA21004 is partnered with Takeda.

Bergen Group has been awarded a new contract by Volstad Maritime for a 125 meter high end advanced Offshore Construction Vessel. The contract is valued around 725 million NOK and it is subject to final board approval and financing. Dolphin AS, a subsidiary of Fred. Olsen Energy received a 22.4 million USD contract from Premier Oil Norge AS for a one well drilling. Aker Solutions received a contract to supply a complete drilling equipment package worth 100 million USD.

Ratos AB has now acquired 91.89 % of Biolin Scientific and has extended the acceptance period for its offer to acquire the entire company. As you may remember, Swedish Shareholders Association Sveriges Aktiesparares Riksförbund was recommending members to reject the bid on 15.12.2010. Since Ratos now holds more than 90% of Biolin Scientific it can initiate compulsory acquisition of the remaining shares and plans to do so shortly and proceed to promote delisting of Biolin Scientific from NASDAQ OMX Stockholm.

On the day of Outokumpu profit warning (14.12.2010), there were investors who sold off SSAB because of having previously detected correlation between the companies’ earnings despite the two not exactly perfectly comparable as for as supplying for comparable customers goes. It turns out they were right as SSAB gave a profit warning today citing weak demand and production shortfalls (although SSAB still closed ever so slightly higher today than it had closed a day before the Outokumpu warning). The company said that toward the end of the fourth quarter demand in Europe has weakened faster than the company had expected. SSAB now expects earnings close to zero for Q4 2010.

SAS gained 14% on claims from an unnamed source cited by Bloomberg stating that Lufthansa could takeover SAS in 2011. A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S subsidiary Maersk Oil acquires SK do Brasil Ltda. from SK Energy Co., Ltd. for USD 2.4 billion.