NEWS TICKER October 24th: The board of FirstRand Limited has confirmed that it has made an approach to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Aldermore at 313p per ordinary share. The parent company of South African-based FirstRand Bank said it had been assessing opportunities to build a sustainable long-term deposit franchise to fund its strategy to grow and diversify the revenue of its current UK business. Aldermore and FirstRand are in preliminary discussions about the details of the possible offer, which is subject to a number of standard conditions -- According to Moody’s the 90-plus day delinquencies of UK buy-to-let residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) slightly decreased to 0.3% of current balance in the three month period ended June from 0.4% in the three month period ended March this year. Cumulative losses remained stable at 0.3% of original pool balance between March and June. The total redemption rate increased to 20.3% from 18.4% in the same period. As of the end of the second quarter, the total outstanding pool balance of the 43 UK BTL RMBS transactions rated by Moody's was £26bn, compared with £21.9bn at the end of the first quarter. One new transaction has been added to the performance update: Oat Hill No.1 plc – According to state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL), the supply of coal to the Indian power sector in the first half this year rose by 6.7% to 204.5m tonnes even as power producers complained about low levels of coal stock at their plants. CIL's dispatch to the power sector in April-September 2016-17 was 191.5m tonnes (MT), according to government data. In September too, the fuel supply increased 17% to 32 MT against 27.4 MT in the same month of the previous fiscal, the data said. India’s coal secretary Susheel Kumar recently said there was no shortage of coal and blamed power producers for low fuel stocks at plants. "The sentiment that is being created by some people is just to meet their own ends ... so as to get more and more coal. This is not right. This sentiment should not be created. There is no shortage of coal," Kumar told Indian journalists. "The root cause of all this problem is that many power plants have not followed the CEA (Central Electricity Authority) guidelines of stocking coal for 22 days. This is not the coal ministry's instruction. This is the instruction by ministry of power," he explained -- The securitisation scheme established by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has rapidly gained ground. In a new report, S&P Global Ratings shares its observations about the scheme and its legal foundations. "We believe the regulatory intention is to position the CSRC securitisation scheme as a derivative of traditional asset management operations," says S&P Global Ratings' credit analyst Aaron Lei - Media, technology and brands law firm Wiggin has acquired boutique intellectual property law firm Redd. The transaction will complete on November 6th. The combined team comprises 20 specialist IP lawyers working across Wiggin's offices. Wiggin CEO, John Banister, said: 'Wiggin devised an assertive growth strategy a few years ago that was focused on our key markets ... Redd is an immensely capable boutique and has an enviable reputation in IP law. We are delighted to be working together.” -- In its website blog, LedgerX, the new bitcoin-trading platform, has confirmed it has begun regulated trading of cryptocurrency derivatives. The platform reports 176 swaps and options contracts with a notional value of more than $1m traded during launch week. “As a new exchange and clearing house with technology built entirely from scratch, we were hoping for a quiet first week with minimal volumes to test the pipes. No press, no fanfare,” the blog notes -- Intercontinental Exchange is set to buy a 4% stake in Euroclear from Royal Bank of Scotland for an estimated £200m, say press reports in a deal expected to be announced later this week -- The UK government’s Crown Commercial Service has unveiled proposals to create a marketplace for government bodies across the board to procure commercial legal advice. Users of the vehicle or vehicles could include central Government departments and their associated bodies including devolved administrations, the wider public sector including health and education bodies, local and regional government organisations, emergency services and third sector organisations. The marketplace for legal services to UK public sector contracting bodies is expected, in aggregate, to be worth £650m a year. CCS also says market engagement will be managed electronically via its eSourcing Suite. Moreover, a contract notice in relation to the marketplace is expected to be published at the end of next month. In March this year the CCS named 18 law firms to a £320m, two-tier panel for the supply of general legal advice to crown bodies and other permitted users. Three months later is also launched a new panel agreement for finance and complex legal services worth an estimated £90m over a four-year period -- Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to lift a ban on imports of Egyptian agricultural products, Egypt's agriculture ministry said in a statement on Sunday The decision came after a productive series of meetings between officials from the three Gulf countries and an Egyptian delegation over the past few weeks, according to Minister of Agriculture Abdel-Moneim El-Banna. The Gulf countries banned Egyptian agricultural imports over the past year, citing concerns of harmful pesticide residue in produce. In exchange for increased Egyptian inspection of produce destined for the Gulf, the countries have agreed to allow the import of certain products, including organic ones, given proper testing – Private equity maven KKR has announced the appointment of David Lang as a member in the Sydney office, effective early 2018. Lang joins KKR from Pamplona Capital Management, a $10bn global private equity fund where he was a partner and founding member. With 20 years of industry experience, he has successfully invested across a diverse range of sectors - from consumer staples and retail, to industrials and infrastructure. Scott Bookmyer, member & head of KKR Australia, says, "After spending the past 15 years in Europe and the United States, he brings back a wealth of relationships and best practices to his home market. David personifies the global & local nature of KKR's strengths and enables us to offer an even greater array of flexible capital solutions to local institutions and entrepreneurs. David's arrival, and appointment as a fellow Member to help me lead the team, reinforces KKR's long-term commitment to the vibrant Australian market -