Turning trash into dollars

Garbage? To David Steiner, it's "all good."

(Fortune)

There's more than a shred of truth to the phrase "one man's trash is another man's treasure." In this instance, the other man is Waste Management CEO David Steiner, whose company turns waste of all kinds into renewable energy and valuable recycled commodities. Waste Management operated 269 active landfills and 114 recycling facilities in 2012. It processes more than 12 million tons of recyclable materials alone. Fortune's Adam Lashinsky interviewed Steiner, who has been the CEO for nine years, to discuss the challenges of recycling, China's environmental footprint, renewable energy, and the future of garbage. A lightly edited transcript follows.

Fortune: Just to get things started, if you could give an overview of the company: Where are you, how big are you, who are you?
David Steiner: Yeah. So we do basic solid waste services throughout the United States and Canada. So when I say basic solid waste services, we're talking about recycling, we're talking about waste-to-energy, and then we're talking about all sorts of different types of collection and disposal for -- all the way from your household to big businesses to small businesses. We're covering them all, about 22 million customers throughout the United States and Canada.
And then about five years ago we went into waste-to-energy internationally. So what you've got is China has two problems: not enough electricity and a lot of garbage. What's the best solution? Burn the garbage to create electricity. So we have a joint venture in China where we're building waste-to-energy plants. And then we've got another joint venture in -- predominantly in England, but throughout Europe where we're building waste-to-energy plants.
So when you look at it, we're about 10% of our business is recycling, about 10% of it is waste-to-energy. Those two are growing faster than anything else we do in our business. We're seeing growth rates on recycling in our business at about 15 to 20% a year. We'll see that same kind of growth rate in waste-to-energy.

Nnmadi E. Armsrtong
23408162319833, 23408122735908
stone4sloane@gmail.com

World stock markets to grind higher

Major European indexes, including London's FTSE 100, have made significant gains over the past few months but have not pushed nearly as high as Japan's Nikkei or U.S. benchmarks.

LONDON (CNNMoney)

World stock markets look set to bump around awhile after Thursday's plunge in Japan before resuming a rally fueled by cheap central bank cash.

Investors had a rude awakening this week as the Nikkei index plunged by over 7% in its worst day for two years, leaving some wondering whether the surge in global equities was now over after such a significant pullback.

"This is a classic holiday market reversal," said Neil Shah, a director at London's Edison Investment.
When investors and traders return to their desks after the long weekend in the U.S. and the U.K., stocks would continue moving higher, he said.
Japan, where the benchmark Nikkei index has rallied by more than 70% in less than 12 months, could see a more substantial correction before turning higher again.
"I expect another 5% to 10% downside before another march upwards," said Nick Beecroft, senior market analyst at Saxo Capital Markets.
Central banks, including the Bank of Japan, have been a big driver of the bull market in stocks. With inflation under control and no sign of an acceleration in global growth, there's little chance they'll start turning off the easy money tap any time soon.
Related: Doomsday investors betting on market crash
Major European indexes have posted more muted rallies than Japan or the U.S. over the past few months as eurozone countries continue to struggle with recession, but some investors expect stocks to keep rising in the absence of shocks.
"It will require something fairly fundamental to derail this process," said Shah.
Shah said the odds of another eurozone disaster were low, and markets were likely to continue "grinding higher."
London's FTSE 100 index has surged ahead by nearly 25% in the last 12 months and is nearing its record high from 1999.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we saw another 5% to 7% upside in the market," said Shah, referring to the London benchmark.
City Index's chief global strategist, Ashraf Laidi, is also forecasting a "continuing uptrend" for European markets, even though he expect stocks will pull back in the near term.
Laidi forecasts that central banks in the U.K. and Europe will continue loosening monetary policy, which will help support the region's equity markets.
"The dynamics from the central banks that have been propping the markets up for the past eight to nine months are here to stay," he said.
Related: Eurozone business still going backwards
In Europe, Germany's DAX index hit an all-time record high this week as the eurozone's largest economy continues to avoid the recession gripping much of the rest of the region. But markets in Spain, Italy and France have been trailing, as those countries struggle with contracting economies and high unemployment.
"Investors are favoring quality over risk where they can find it, which has led them to Germany where they have a healthier economy than many of the Mediterannean countries," said Gary Thayer, chief macro strategist from Wells Fargo Advisors.
"There are still long term issues that need to be solved in Europe, so the better performing countries have better performing markets," said Thayer.

Nnamdi Armstrong
+23408162319833, +23408122735908
Stone4sloane@gmail.com

Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions

May 20 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Monday:
** Yahoo Inc will buy blogging service Tumblr for $1.1 billion cash, giving the Internet pioneer a much-needed social media platform to reach a younger generation of users and breathe new life into its ailing brand.
** Tom Wheeler, nominated to become the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, pledged to divest stakes in AT&T Inc, Dish Network Corp, Google Inc and dozens of other tech and telecoms companies if he is confirmed.
** Softbank Corp is seeking to raise about 400 billion yen ($3.90 billion) through a sale of retail bonds to finance its bid for No.3 U.S. mobile phone carrier Sprint Nextel Corp, the Nikkei reported.
** The largest U.S. satellite video provider, DirecTV , is one of the companies considering a bid for online video website Hulu, according to a source familiar with the situation.
** After months of speculation, Vodafone's Vittorio Colao will be under pressure next week to set out whether he may sell its prized stake in Verizon Wireless in what would be one of the biggest deals ever.
** Greece's bank rescue fund will aim to sell Hellenic Postbank and Proton by mid-July with big banks continuing to absorb small lenders as part of plans to revive the battered sector, the country's foreign lenders said in an inspection review.
** Sudan, struggling with economic crisis and a budget deficit, plans to sell stakes in four state-owned sugar plants to attract partners, the official news agency SUNA said.
** New Zealand casino operator SkyCity Entertainment Group has bought Wharf Casino in the resort town of Queenstown for NZ$5 million ($4.04 million) as the company aims to expand its presence in the area, a growing tourist destination.
** France's Danone is aiming for a bigger slice of one of the world's fastest-growing dairy markets by investing 325 million euros ($417 million) in two deals with China Mengniu Dairy Co Ltd.
** Dutch specialist publisher Wolters Kluwer said on Monday it has acquired Brazil's Prosoft Tecnologia, a leading provider of tax and accounting software with 250 employees.
** Royalty Pharma raised its hostile bid for Elan to $12.50 per share and heaped pressure on shareholders, saying it will withdraw the bid if they approve a series of defensive transactions announced by the Irish drug firm
** Morgan Stanley said on Monday it has signed an agreement to sell its Indian wealth management unit to Standard Chartered. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
** Standard Chartered has agreed to buy the Indian wealth management unit of Morgan Stanley, helping the British bank expand its private banking business in Asia's third-largest economy.
** Billionaire American industrialist Leonard Blavatnik may buy a stake in Russian mobile phone retailer Svyaznoy for $200 million, Russia's business daily Vedomosti reported on Monday, citing a source close to one of the retailer's shareholders.
** Goldman Sachs Group Inc launched the sale of about $1.1 billion worth of Hong Kong-traded shares in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China 1398.HK on Monday, offering its entire remaining stake in the world's biggest bank by market value.
** U.S. investment management firm Tradewinds Global Investors cut its stake in Italian state-controlled defence group Finmeccanica to 1.85 percent last week from 4.98 percent it held since May 2012, Italian market regulator Consob said on Monday.
** Miner Kazakhmys, a top shareholder in ENRC , said it would consider a potential cash-and-share buyout bid for its rival, giving its first response to a potential offer from ENRC's trio of founders first signaled last month.
** Britain's Vodafone has withdrawn from the running to provide a mobile service to fixed-line operator BT, two industry sources told Reuters, bringing to an end a nine-year partnership.
** Russian state-controlled telecoms operator Rostelecom may sell more than $500 million worth of treasury shares to reduce debt, its newly appointed chief executive Sergei Kalugin said on Monday.
** Italian motorway operator Atlantia said on Monday no deal had been reached over a sale of its towers transmission business Towerco.
** Generic drugmaker Actavis Inc, itself a recent takeover target, said on Monday it would buy specialty pharmaceutical company Warner Chilcott Plc for $5 billion in stock to expand its branded drug portfolio, lower taxes and increase profits.
** Dell Inc said in a letter to suitors Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management that the company would not provide more information about itself unless the board determined that their proposal was "superior" to founder Michael Dell's.
** Plains Exploration & Production Co shareholders approved the oil company's takeover by mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc FCX.N, after both companies sweetened the more than $6 billion deal with two special dividends.
** Pactera Technology International Ltd said on Monday that Blackstone Group LP, together with the company's management, made a $680.3 million non-binding proposal to take China's largest technology outsourcing firm private.
** Websense Inc said it had agreed to be taken private by Vista Equity Partners in a deal that values the online security firm at about $907 million, a move that should come as a relief to investors after years of weak sales from its legacy business.
** GrubHub and Seamless, which allow consumers to easily order online from various restaurants, said they are merging in a deal that they hope will drive more orders, in more cities, through their platforms.
** The privatisation of five UK prisons has been delayed by the Ministry of Justice following an investigation into whether it was overcharged on two contracts with private-sector companies, the Financial Times reported.

Market Chatter-Corporate finance press digest

  The following corporate finance-related stories were reported by media on Tuesday:

* Charlie Ergen, the chairman of U.S. satellite company Dish Network Corp, has offered to buy bankrupt broadband company Light Squared Inc's wireless airwaves, a source close to Ergen told Reuters. Bloomberg reported the offer to be valued at $2 billion, citing people familiar with the bid.

* U.S. private equity firm Riverstone Holdings LLC is planning to invest as much as $1 billion in a new commodities venture run by Deutsche Bank AG former head of commodities David Silbert, the Financial Times reported.

* India's Essar Oil Ltd will sign a $1 billion loan deal with China on Tuesday that sources with knowledge of the matter said would be backed by supply of refined products to top state oil producer PetroChina Co Ltd.

* Specialty chemicals producer Rock wood Holdings Inc's pigments businesses have attracted offers from buyout firms including Blackstone Group LP and Advent International Corp, several people familiar with the matter said.

* Online design retailer Fab Inc is in advanced talks to raise $250 million to $300 million in venture capital in a deal that would value the fast-growing but unprofitable company at $1 billion not including the new capital, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

* Italian motorway operator Atlantia SpA is close to selling its transmission towers to U.S. investors for almost 100 million euros ($128.56 million), a source close to the matter said on Monday.

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