GERMANY DAYBOOK: Siemens to Return $927 Million to Areva

Siemens AG (SIE) will pay France’s Areva SA 648 million euros ($927 million) after an arbitration tribunal found the German company failed to meet contractual obligations in a nuclear joint venture that it exited earlier this year.

The payment, plus interest, will be booked in Siemens’s fiscal third quarter ending June, the Munich-based company said in a statement late yesterday. Siemens had sold its stake in the joint venture to Areva in March for a pretax gain of 1.52 billion euros. The tribunal also cut in half the term of the non-compete clause of the former joint venture to four years.

EQUITIES: *ElringKlinger (ZIL2 GR) sees its 2011 sales and earnings at the higher end of its forecast. *Stada Arzneimittel (SAZ GR) is in “concrete” talks with Spirig Pharma to buy its Swiss generic drugs business and plans to make a decision in the next three months. *Terex (TEX US) won’t raise its offer price for Demag Cranes (D9C GR), CEO Ronald DeFeo told WAZ Group newspapers. *Gagfah (BFJ GR) won’t pay an interim dividend in the first quarter as it aims for “additional flexibility” and bolsters the company’s property investments and financing. *Sprint Nextel (S US) is asking state agencies in California and West Virginia to follow Louisiana in scrutinizing AT&T’s (T US) proposed purchase of Deutsche Telekom’s (DTE GR) T-Mobile USA.

WHAT TO WATCH: *Federal Statistics Office releases Germany producer prices data for April at 8 a.m. *German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble speaks at the DIHK trade chambers at 9 a.m. *ECB’s Mersch, EFSF head Regling, Luxembourg’s Juncker and Frieden speak at the European Jurists Forum in Luxembourg at 9:30 a.m. Forum runs until May 21. *European Central Bank releases euro-zone balance of payments current account data for March, at 10 a.m. *European Commission releases preliminary euro-zone consumer confidence indicator for May at 11 a.m. *Bundesbank President Weidmann speaks at an event in Hamburg at 3:45 p.m. *European Commission releases euro-zone consumer confidence indicator for May at 4 p.m. *Deutsche Bank’s corporate conference continues in Frankfurt.

GOVERNMENT: *Chancellor Merkel will meet with Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, briefing reporters at 11:15 a.m. *Polish, French and German foreign ministers meet together with Moldovan foreign minister in Bydgoszcz.

ECONOMY: *French Finance Minister Lagarde emerged as the leading contender to replace Strauss-Kahn at the IMF as developing nations failed to unite behind a candidate. Strauss-Kahn was granted bail yesterday after his fifth night in custody. His lawyer said he thought Strauss-Kahn may be able to leave the prison today. *ECB’s Tumpel-Gugerell said policy makers should continue to withdraw unconventional tools designed to bolster bank lending as financial markets recover. *The pace of Germany’s economic growth will probably slow by mid-year after jumping 1.5% in 1Q, the Finance Ministry said in its monthly report.

MARKETS: *The DAX Index rose 0.8%, to 7,358.23. *The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was unchanged at 134.69 points as of 6:58 a.m. Frankfurt time. *The Stoxx Europe 600 climbed 0.7%, to 280. *German 10YR bond yield: 3.114% *Euro -- U.S. $1.4316.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net