NEW YORK, May 20 (Reuters) – Specialty chemicals producer
Rockwood 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.

The auction for the assets, in which Apollo Global
Management LLC, Bain Capital LLC, Golden Gate Capital
LLC and Rhone Group LLC are also participating, is now in its
second round, with meetings with management taking place, the
people said.

NEW YORK, May 20 (Reuters) – Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold
Inc and Plains Exploration have offered to pay two
special dividends to win approval of the miner’s bid for the
energy company, providing Plains shareholders with about $470
million in cash and stock on top of the $6 billion deal already
on the table.

News of the dividends sent the target company’s stock more
than 7 percent higher on Monday. Plains shareholders are set to
vote on the deal at a special meeting later in the day.

By Michael Erman and Julie Gordon

(Reuters) – Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) appears to be in a win-win situation as Plains Exploration shareholders prepare for Monday’s vote on the miner’s nearly $6 billion takeover bid, part of its strategy to expand into energy.

Plains Exploration & Production Co’s (PXP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) share price, now hovering below the bid price, suggests that investors feel Freeport’s current offer could fall short. Analysts and investors see a razor-thin margin no matter which side carries the vote.

By Michael Erman

(Reuters) – Hess Corp (HES.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will put three directors backed by hedge fund Elliott Management onto its board, settling a months-long feud over the oil company’s governance and long-term strategy.

In exchange, Elliott said it will support the election of five independent directors nominated by Hess. Shareholders were set to vote on competing slates of directors at the Hess annual meeting later on Thursday.

May 13 (Reuters) – Hess Corp offered hedge fund
Elliott Management two seats on its board on Monday, but the
activist investor rejected the proposal, calling it a “PR
stunt.”

The oil and gas company is scrambling to avoid an
embarrassing defeat to Elliott at its annual meeting on
Thursday. Elliott, which owns a 4.5 percent stake in Hess, is
running a slate of five directors against Hess’ nominees.

May 10 (Reuters) – John Hess is being stripped of his
chairman duties at Hess Corp, as the oil and gas company
scrambles to avoid an embarrassing defeat by an activist
investor.
Hess Corp said on Friday that it will separate the roles of
chairman and chief executive immediately following its annual
meeting next week.
John Hess — the son of Hess Corp founder Leon Hess — has
held both roles since 1995. He will remain CEO and a director at
the company.
In addition to the slate of board nominees backed by hedge
fund Elliott Management, shareholders were also set to vote on a
proposal to break up the two positions at next week’s annual
meeting. Hess had recommended shareholders vote against the
split.
“We understand our shareholders` views, and recognize that
our corporate governance structure should have been improved
sooner,” John Mullin, Hess`s lead director said in a statement.
“Separating the roles of Chairman and CEO and declassifying our
Board reflects our commitment to shareholders.”
Elliott Management, which owns a 4.5 percent stake in Hess,
has been clamoring for change at the company since January, when
it launched its campaign to seat the new directors and pitched a
plan to break up the company. The hedge fund has railed against
the current board, alleging that directors are too closely tied
to Hess Chief Executive John Hess and that poor oversight has
led to underperformance.
Elliott said in a statement that it didn’t view the move as
a concession by Hess.
“A resolution to split the Chairman & CEO roles at Hess is
on this year’s proxy,” the hedge fund said. “It is significant
to note that Hess’s Board recommended against this split only a
few weeks ago.”

BOARD VOTE
As the company has mounted its defense against Elliott’s
arguments, Hess has announced plans to exit its retail gasoline,
marketing and trading businesses and assembled its own slate of
new independent directors for its board.
Shareholders will vote on whether to seat the Hess nominees
or Elliott’s slate on May 16.
Should Hess prevail, it plans to appoint former General
Electric executive John Krenicki, to head its board.
The company said that John Hess supported the decision to
break up the CEO and chairman roles.
Analysts said pressure from investors had accelerated the
company’s long-term plan to focus on exploration and production.
Proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis have recommended
that Hess shareholders elect the board members nominated by
Elliott Management. Another advisory firm, Egan Jones, has
backed Hess’s nominees.
“Regardless of whether Elliott wins the bid for their
proposed board seats, Hess has become more Street-friendly in
the midst of the proxy fight,” analysts at investment bank
Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co said.
Also on Friday, Hess said it would start a “board renewal
process” through which the majority of the board would comprise
new directors by the end of 2013, in addition to the six new
directors slated for election at the May 16 annual meeting.
Another U.S. oil company, Occidental Petroleum Corp,
bowed to shareholder pressure last month and changed its
policies to prevent former CEOs from serving on the board.

By Michael Erman and Swetha Gopinath

(Reuters) – John Hess is being stripped of his chairman duties at Hess Corp (HES.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), as the oil and gas company scrambles to avoid an embarrassing defeat by an activist investor.

Hess Corp said on Friday that it will separate the roles of chairman and chief executive immediately following its annual meeting next week.

LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) – Bankers are looking towards the
U.S. debt market to raise 900 million euros ($1.18 billion) for
a buyout of industrial ceramics firm CeramTec, spurning Europe
where risky debt is in shorter supply, bankers said on Thursday.

U.S. specialty chemicals company Rockwood Holdings Inc
has put Germany-based CeramTec up for sale in an auction
process run by Lazard. CeramTec has a price tag of
around 1.4 billion euros, bankers said.

May 7 (Reuters) – Proxy advisory firm ISS said Plains
Exploration & Production Co. shareholders should vote
against the more than $6 billion proposed takeover of the oil
and gas company by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.,
dealing a blow to the miner as shareholder resistance to the
deal intensifies.

Hedge fund Arrowgrass Capital Partners said in a letter to
Plains on Tuesday that it plans to vote its roughly 3.6 percent
stake against Freeport’s bid, arguing that Plains shares are
worth more. It joins shareholder CR Intrinsic — which has a
roughly 3.8 percent stake in Plains — in opposing the bid.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Antero Resources, an oil and natural gas company controlled by Warburg Pincus LLC, is preparing for an initial public offering that could value it at as much as $10 billion (6.4 billion pounds), three people familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The Denver, Colorado-based company has hired Barclays Plc (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research), JP Morgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to lead the deal, two of the people said on condition of anonymity because the plans are private. The company could come to the stock market later this year, they added.