REFILE-UPDATE 1-SEC asks U.S. companies to disclose offshore cash-FT

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(Changes dateline to Sept 20 from 19)

Sept 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked companies such as Dow Chemical Co , Fortune Brands Inc , Caterpillar Inc and CIT Group Inc to disclose the amount of cash they hold offshore, the Financial Times reported.

The move comes amid increased attention towards the impact of tax rules that encourage U.S. companies to keep earnings overseas, the paper said.

The SEC decided to focus on the issue of overseas cash more broadly after disclosures at Microsoft Corp and Google Inc earlier this year prompted interest in the subject, people familiar with the matter told the FT.

The U.S. government taxes U.S. businesses on income earned worldwide, but allows them to defer taxes on the money until it is brought back to the United States. As a result, American corporations like to keep the money abroad, particularly as they increase investment overseas.

U.S. companies do not have to break out earnings in foreign subsidiaries, making it difficult to determine from financial filings the amount of tax they save through each jurisdiction.

The SEC, however, raises questions through its public comment letters when it believes further information may be relevant and material to understanding a company's liquidity, the paper said.

"Generating cash outside of the U.S. is the result of being a global company operating in a global economy," Jim Dugan, Caterpillar's chief corporate spokesman, said.

About 70 percent of Caterpillar's business last year came from outside the United States, Dugan said, adding that the cash generated offshore reflected normal business activities.

The remaining parties could not be reached immediately for comment outside regular business hours in the United States. (Reporting by Gowri Jayakumar in Bangalore; Editing by Matt Driskill and David Holmes)

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REFILE-UPDATE 1-Buyout fund PEP eyes sale of NZ Griffin's Foods - sources

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(Removes extraneous words from second paragraph)

* China Bright Food interested in Griffin's Foods

* Asian strategic buyers sounding PEP on asset- source

* Sale process at early stage - sources

* The deal could value Griffin's at up to $750 million-source

By Michael Smith and Stephen Aldred

HONG KONG/SYDNEY, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Private equity group Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) has appointed investment banks to advise on the potential sale of New Zealand snack food business Griffin's Foods, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The deal could value the company at up to $750 million including debt, one of the sources said.

PEP appointed UBS AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc to conduct a strategic review of the business earlier this year. It was unclear whether the Australasian buyout shop had retained both investment banks for the sale.

The company has annual sales of more than NZ$300 million ($247.2 million), according to its website.

Possible Asian strategic buyers had already been sounding PEP out directly about the asset, said another source, although the deal was at an early stage.

A successful sale would mark the latest exit for PEP, which last month agreed to the sale of New Zealand beverage group Independent Liquor for $1.3 billion to Asahi Group Holdings Ltd . PEP owned Independent Liquor along with Unitas. .

China's Bright Food Group said last month that Griffin's Foods was on its radar as it sought acquisitions to expand in Australia and New Zealand.

Chinese companies such as Bright Food are expanding rapidly as they seek to capitalise on demand from China's growing middle class for wine, dairy and other products previously mainly available in Western markets.

The sources were not authorised to speak to the media. PEP declined to comment.

PEP acquired Griffin's, which makes biscuits and crackers including Milk Arrowroot, Chocolate Chippes and Gingernuts, from Danone SA in 2006 for NZ$385 million, according to media reports. The company was started by John Griffin and his family in 1864. ($1 = 1.213 New Zealand dollars) (Editing by Chris Lewis)

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REFILE-UPDATE 1-Google says Chrome to power only notebooks for now

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(Removes extraneous word from headline)

* Chrome user numbers have doubled over past yr - exec

* No plan to merge Chrome with other OS - exec (Adds details, quotes)

By Lee Chyen Yee

TAIPEI, May 31 (Reuters) - Google Inc will keep the focus of its Chrome operating system on notebooks, and has no immediate plan to make it available on tablets or to merge with its popular Android software for smartphones, said a senior executive.

Google has been making aggressive inroads into the PC operating system arena dominated by Microsoft Corp , whose Windows operating system can be found on 90 percent of the world's PCs.

Google had seen Chrome user numbers double over the past year to about 160 million, Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president for Chrome, told a news conference on Tuesday during the Computex PC show in Taipei.

"Chrome OS is a computer model designed with various form factors in mind, but we are entirely focused on the notebook form factor for now. We have no other plans at this time," Pichai said in response to a question on whether Chrome would also be available for tablet PCs.

Web-centric PC laptops, made by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Acer Inc using Chrome will go on sale in June, challenging Microsoft and Apple Inc .

With the number of original equipment manufacturers still small, Google had set up a Chrome centre in Taiwan, hoping to engaging more partners in the region, Pichai said, declining to provide details.

The bare-bones operating system is essentially a web browser that steers users to applications such as email and spreadsheets directly on the web, instead of using software stored on the PCs.

Some analysts said it would be some time before Chrome could revolutionise the PC world in the same way that Google's Android operating system did for mobile devices.

"The big issue is whether Google has the marketing nous and focus to position the Chrome PC to compete head on with the established full-OS laptop and tablet players in the consumer computing market," said Steve Hodgkinson, IT research director for Asia Pacific at research firm Ovum. "This will take a lot of investment in software development and marketing, and the danger is that the Chrome PC just kind of falls between the cracks - not quite a smartphone/tablet and not quite a full OS laptop."

The fast-growing market for smartphones and tablets using Google's Android operating system has quickly taken center stage for the Internet heavyweight, and some observers say Google should reconcile or merge it with Chrome.

But Pichai dismissed such speculation.

"We think it's distinctive of all other operating systems out there, so there are no current plan to converge this with anything else," he said.

Pichai's comments came before the U.S. market opened.

Google's shares ended up 0.5 percent on Monday, roughly in line with the Dow . (Editing by Chris Lewis)

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(Removes extraneous word from headline)

* Chrome user numbers have doubled over past yr - exec

* No plan to merge Chrome with other OS - exec (Adds details, quotes)

By Lee Chyen Yee

TAIPEI, May 31 (Reuters) - Google Inc will keep the focus of its Chrome operating system on notebooks, and has no immediate plan to make it available on tablets or to merge with its popular Android software for smartphones, said a senior executive.

Google has been making aggressive inroads into the PC operating system arena dominated by Microsoft Corp , whose Windows operating system can be found on 90 percent of the world's PCs.

Google had seen Chrome user numbers double over the past year to about 160 million, Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president for Chrome, told a news conference on Tuesday during the Computex PC show in Taipei.

"Chrome OS is a computer model designed with various form factors in mind, but we are entirely focused on the notebook form factor for now. We have no other plans at this time," Pichai said in response to a question on whether Chrome would also be available for tablet PCs.

Web-centric PC laptops, made by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Acer Inc using Chrome will go on sale in June, challenging Microsoft and Apple Inc .

With the number of original equipment manufacturers still small, Google had set up a Chrome centre in Taiwan, hoping to engaging more partners in the region, Pichai said, declining to provide details.

The bare-bones operating system is essentially a web browser that steers users to applications such as email and spreadsheets directly on the web, instead of using software stored on the PCs.

Some analysts said it would be some time before Chrome could revolutionise the PC world in the same way that Google's Android operating system did for mobile devices.

"The big issue is whether Google has the marketing nous and focus to position the Chrome PC to compete head on with the established full-OS laptop and tablet players in the consumer computing market," said Steve Hodgkinson, IT research director for Asia Pacific at research firm Ovum. "This will take a lot of investment in software development and marketing, and the danger is that the Chrome PC just kind of falls between the cracks - not quite a smartphone/tablet and not quite a full OS laptop."

The fast-growing market for smartphones and tablets using Google's Android operating system has quickly taken center stage for the Internet heavyweight, and some observers say Google should reconcile or merge it with Chrome.

But Pichai dismissed such speculation.

"We think it's distinctive of all other operating systems out there, so there are no current plan to converge this with anything else," he said.

Pichai's comments came before the U.S. market opened.

Google's shares ended up 0.5 percent on Monday, roughly in line with the Dow . (Editing by Chris Lewis)

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(Removes extraneous word from headline)

* Chrome user numbers have doubled over past yr - exec

* No plan to merge Chrome with other OS - exec (Adds details, quotes)

By Lee Chyen Yee

TAIPEI, May 31 (Reuters) - Google Inc will keep the focus of its Chrome operating system on notebooks, and has no immediate plan to make it available on tablets or to merge with its popular Android software for smartphones, said a senior executive.

Google has been making aggressive inroads into the PC operating system arena dominated by Microsoft Corp , whose Windows operating system can be found on 90 percent of the world's PCs.

Google had seen Chrome user numbers double over the past year to about 160 million, Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president for Chrome, told a news conference on Tuesday during the Computex PC show in Taipei.

"Chrome OS is a computer model designed with various form factors in mind, but we are entirely focused on the notebook form factor for now. We have no other plans at this time," Pichai said in response to a question on whether Chrome would also be available for tablet PCs.

Web-centric PC laptops, made by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Acer Inc using Chrome will go on sale in June, challenging Microsoft and Apple Inc .

With the number of original equipment manufacturers still small, Google had set up a Chrome centre in Taiwan, hoping to engaging more partners in the region, Pichai said, declining to provide details.

The bare-bones operating system is essentially a web browser that steers users to applications such as email and spreadsheets directly on the web, instead of using software stored on the PCs.

Some analysts said it would be some time before Chrome could revolutionise the PC world in the same way that Google's Android operating system did for mobile devices.

"The big issue is whether Google has the marketing nous and focus to position the Chrome PC to compete head on with the established full-OS laptop and tablet players in the consumer computing market," said Steve Hodgkinson, IT research director for Asia Pacific at research firm Ovum. "This will take a lot of investment in software development and marketing, and the danger is that the Chrome PC just kind of falls between the cracks - not quite a smartphone/tablet and not quite a full OS laptop."

The fast-growing market for smartphones and tablets using Google's Android operating system has quickly taken center stage for the Internet heavyweight, and some observers say Google should reconcile or merge it with Chrome.

But Pichai dismissed such speculation.

"We think it's distinctive of all other operating systems out there, so there are no current plan to converge this with anything else," he said.

Pichai's comments came before the U.S. market opened.

Google's shares ended up 0.5 percent on Monday, roughly in line with the Dow . (Editing by Chris Lewis)

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REFILE-UPDATE 1-Goldman Sachs raises 2011, 2012 Brent crude price forecast

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(Fixes typo in third paragraph)

* Goldman raises yr-end Brent forecast to $120/bbl from $105

* Recommends buying Brent Dec 2012 contract

* Only matter of time before OPEC spare capacity exhausted (Adds outlook on metals, details)

SINGAPORE, May 24 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs has raised its Brent crude price forecast for 2011 and 2012 on expectations that fuel demand growth will draw on global inventories and strain OPEC's spare oil output capacity.

The Wall Street bank said it was "structurally bullish" on oil and raised its year-end Brent forecast to $120 per barrel from $105 a barrel, and its 2012 forecast to $140 from $120.

"It is only a matter of time until inventories and OPEC spare capacity will become effectively exhausted, requiring higher oil prices to restrain demand, keeping it in line with available supplies," Goldman analysts led by David Greely said in a report dated Monday.

Goldman predicted in April a correction in oil prices, ahead of the asset-wide rout earlier this month. It said the recent pull back provides a good entry point to buy oil and recommended going long on the December 2012 ICE Brent crude contract.

"We expect that the ongoing loss of Libyan production and disappointing non-OPEC production will continue to tighten the oil market to critically tight levels in early 2012," the report said.

Goldman also said that the current pause in economic growth is nearing a trough and creating upside potential for metal prices.

"While a sharp decline in world economic growth remains a downside risk to commodity prices, we see the current slowdown in economic growth as part of a normal mid-cycle pause, partially driven by higher commodity prices, and therefore not a reason to expect commodity prices to decline substantially," the report said. (Reporting by Francis Kan; Editing by Manash Goswami)

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(Fixes typo in third paragraph)

* Goldman raises yr-end Brent forecast to $120/bbl from $105

* Recommends buying Brent Dec 2012 contract

* Only matter of time before OPEC spare capacity exhausted (Adds outlook on metals, details)

SINGAPORE, May 24 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs has raised its Brent crude price forecast for 2011 and 2012 on expectations that fuel demand growth will draw on global inventories and strain OPEC's spare oil output capacity.

The Wall Street bank said it was "structurally bullish" on oil and raised its year-end Brent forecast to $120 per barrel from $105 a barrel, and its 2012 forecast to $140 from $120.

"It is only a matter of time until inventories and OPEC spare capacity will become effectively exhausted, requiring higher oil prices to restrain demand, keeping it in line with available supplies," Goldman analysts led by David Greely said in a report dated Monday.

Goldman predicted in April a correction in oil prices, ahead of the asset-wide rout earlier this month. It said the recent pull back provides a good entry point to buy oil and recommended going long on the December 2012 ICE Brent crude contract.

"We expect that the ongoing loss of Libyan production and disappointing non-OPEC production will continue to tighten the oil market to critically tight levels in early 2012," the report said.

Goldman also said that the current pause in economic growth is nearing a trough and creating upside potential for metal prices.

"While a sharp decline in world economic growth remains a downside risk to commodity prices, we see the current slowdown in economic growth as part of a normal mid-cycle pause, partially driven by higher commodity prices, and therefore not a reason to expect commodity prices to decline substantially," the report said. (Reporting by Francis Kan; Editing by Manash Goswami)

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(Fixes typo in third paragraph)

* Goldman raises yr-end Brent forecast to $120/bbl from $105

* Recommends buying Brent Dec 2012 contract

* Only matter of time before OPEC spare capacity exhausted (Adds outlook on metals, details)

SINGAPORE, May 24 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs has raised its Brent crude price forecast for 2011 and 2012 on expectations that fuel demand growth will draw on global inventories and strain OPEC's spare oil output capacity.

The Wall Street bank said it was "structurally bullish" on oil and raised its year-end Brent forecast to $120 per barrel from $105 a barrel, and its 2012 forecast to $140 from $120.

"It is only a matter of time until inventories and OPEC spare capacity will become effectively exhausted, requiring higher oil prices to restrain demand, keeping it in line with available supplies," Goldman analysts led by David Greely said in a report dated Monday.

Goldman predicted in April a correction in oil prices, ahead of the asset-wide rout earlier this month. It said the recent pull back provides a good entry point to buy oil and recommended going long on the December 2012 ICE Brent crude contract.

"We expect that the ongoing loss of Libyan production and disappointing non-OPEC production will continue to tighten the oil market to critically tight levels in early 2012," the report said.

Goldman also said that the current pause in economic growth is nearing a trough and creating upside potential for metal prices.

"While a sharp decline in world economic growth remains a downside risk to commodity prices, we see the current slowdown in economic growth as part of a normal mid-cycle pause, partially driven by higher commodity prices, and therefore not a reason to expect commodity prices to decline substantially," the report said. (Reporting by Francis Kan; Editing by Manash Goswami)

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