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By Manya Saini and Arasu Kannagi Basil (Reuters) -Fair Isaac Corp's shares surged in Thursday morning trading after the U.S. data analytics company said it would license its credit scores directly to mortgage resellers, raising concerns of margin pressure for major credit bureaus.  Shares of Experian, Equifax and TransUnion tumbled on fears that the move could curtail the intermediary role of the credit reporting companies. FICO score, created by Fair Isaac, is a U.S. credit scoring system used by nearly 90% of lenders to evaluate a borrower's creditworthiness. The higher the number, the lower the risk of default. Fair Isaac said direct access to FICO scores for lenders and mortgage resellers would increase competition and bring price transparency.    "This new distribution model will allow lenders to avoid paying the current about 100% markup the credit bureaus currently charge for the FICO score," analysts at brokerage Raymond James said.   Fair Isaac's latest move was lauded by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, who said in a post on social media platform X that the company has generated "creative solutions" to help the American consumer. Pulte had earlier this year criticized the company over its pricing as he pushed to broaden the use of rival scoring models in mortgage lending. Following his comment, FICO shares extended gains and was last up 26%. If the gains hold, it would erase all the losses for the year. Citigroup analysts said direct licensing would cut out the margin that companies such as Experian and Equifax make on the FICO credit score. "Our initial reaction is this is negative for Experian and Equifax," they wrote in a note. Experian shares were down 4.8% in London. U.S.-listed Equifax fell 7%, while TransUnion was last down 11%.  Experian, Equifax and the Consumer Data Industry Association did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while TransUnion declined to comment. INDUSTRY SHIFT  The stock had taken a hit when Pulte allowed lenders to use VantageScore for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages. VantageScore, founded in 2006, is a joint venture between credit bureaus Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The agency's decision introduced direct competition for FICO in the mortgage market, sparking doubts about its ability to continue increasing its prices. "This is likely an FHFA-friendly outcome," brokerage Needham said, and could help lift the "FHFA overhang" on the stock. Fair Isaac said its direct mortgage score licensing plan would bring immediate cost savings to lenders, brokers and other industry participants, while noting that firms opting to work through the credit bureaus can continue to do so. "This change eliminates unnecessary mark-ups on the FICO Score and puts pricing model choice in the hands of those who use FICO scores to drive mortgage decisions," CEO Will Lansing said.  The change could intensify competition in the credit scoring business as it gives lenders more direct access to FICO scores. "By introducing a licensing program for tri-merge resellers, FICO is effectively taking away the ability of the credit bureaus to mark up the FICO score," Jefferies analysts said in a note.  The new model could hit credit bureau earnings by an average of 10% to 15%, it warned. "For the bureaus to take price, they will now have to directly negotiate with the lenders, as well as compete with each other."  (Reporting by Manya Saini and Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru and Samuel Indyk in London; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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By Pooja Menon and Sheila Dang (Reuters) -Occidental Petroleum will sell its chemicals arm OxyChem to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway for $9.7 billion, the company said on Thursday, marking its biggest divestment yet to slash debt after years of costly acquisitions. Shares of the U.S. oil and gas producer, however, fell more than 4% in morning trading. Roth MKM analysts said in a note the sale of OxyChem could weigh on free cash flow growth in coming years, as the unit was expected to contribute significantly to expansion. OxyChem, which produces chemicals used for treating swimming pools and vinyl products used for water supply piping and medical supplies, generated combined revenue of $2.42 billion in the first two quarters of this year. If the deal closes, it would be the biggest purchase for Berkshire since its $11.6 billion buyout of insurance firm Alleghany Corporation in 2022, and expand its chemical portfolio beyond Lubrizol. Berkshire is Occidental's largest shareholder and it began acquiring stake in the company in February 2022, around the time when Russia invaded Ukraine. The divestment highlights the close ties between the two. In a 2019 meeting with Buffett, Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub secured a $10 billion investment that allowed her to make an offer for oil producer Anadarko Petroleum, outbidding rival Chevron to secure some of the richest shale oilfields in Texas. But the $55 billion purchase of Anadarko left Occidental saddled with debt. The burden exacerbated after the company closed its $12 billion acquisition of privately held U.S. shale oil producer CrownRock last year. To reduce its massive debt load, which stood at $23.34 billion by the end of June, Occidental been steadily divesting assets in recent years. The company had disclosed in August $950 million of additional divestitures since the start of the second quarter, of which $370 million already closed and it repaid $3 billion of debt year-to-date. Occidental said on Thursday it would use $6.5 billion of the proceeds to reduce debt, bringing the total principal debt below the $15 billion target set after the CrownRock deal. The latest deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter, also indicates that Occidental is refocusing on its oil and gas business, which formed 75% of its total earnings last year. CEO Hollub said OxyChem's sale would allow Occidental to "unlock 20-plus years of low-cost resource runway" in oil and gas. (Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru and Sheila Dang in Houston; Editing by Nathan Crooks, Nia Williams and Shilpi Majumdar)

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(Refiles to clarify in Sept. 30 story that Wise moved its primary listing from London to New York in paragraph 12) By Charlie Conchie LONDON (Reuters) -AstraZeneca’s move to upgrade its listing in the U.S. risks pulling liquidity away from London’s stock market and could pave the way for other large companies to follow suit, analysts, investors and advisers said. The British drugmaker, one of London’s most valuable listed companies, said on Monday it would retain its listings in London and Stockholm but also plans to offer its shares directly on the New York Stock Exchange, moving away from the current depositary receipt structure, from next February. AstraZeneca Chair Michel Demare cited the fact that U.S. shareholders represent the drugmaker's largest single investor group while its U.S. business accounted for 43% of total revenue last year and is expected to represent 50% of revenue by 2030. Some analysts and policymakers expressed relief after some media reports had suggested the company was considering ditching its London listing altogether. That would have been another rebuke to the UK after AstraZeneca recently paused a 200 million pound ($268.80 million) investment plan in Cambridge and earlier this year scrapped plans to invest in a vaccine manufacturing facility in Liverpool. A UK government spokesperson said AstraZeneca’s decision that it will stay listed, headquartered and paying tax in the UK brought clarity and was positive for employment, growth and innovation. "The decision signals clear confidence in the UK economy," the spokesperson said. "It shows British companies can scale globally, attract international investment – including from U.S. markets – and remain rooted in the UK." A person familiar with AstraZeneca's plans said the company, which has a market capitalisation of $230 billion as of Monday's close, had no current plans to scrap its London listing. Yet some people flag risks that not only could trading of AstraZeneca shares now drift towards New York, but that other large London-listed firms will be watching to see if they should follow in its wake. "A large proportion of large UK-listed companies have a big U.S. investor base," said Charles Hall, head of research at London investment bank Peel Hunt. "All companies look at what others do, and today this will be on the boardroom paper of a lot of other FTSE firms as they assess what the implications are.” Around 22.5% of AstraZeneca's shareholders are based in North America, similar to FTSE 100 companies such as HSBC, Shell, Rolls Royce, BAT and Rio Tinto, which range at 20.5-24.7%, according to LSEG data. "The risk to London will be if liquidity in AZ shares moves more to the U.S. than London as a result," said Alasdair Steele, a partner at law firm CMS. VALUATION GAP A number of London-listed firms have come under pressure from shareholders to consider swapping their primary listing to other markets due to a perceived valuation gap and the bumper performance of indices in other jurisdictions. The FTSE 100 is up 58% over the past decade, compared to the S&P 500, which is up 250%. "The wider point is that Astra is just too big a company for the London market now," said Mark Kelly, chief executive of advisory firm MKP Advisors. "Big companies like AstraZeneca should be part of big indices, where billions of dollars are being traded every day, and the reality is that in London you miss out on some of that," he said. Fintech firm Wise revealed plans to move its primary listing from London to New York this year, while mining companies Rio Tinto  and Glencore have both rejected calls to exit the market. Publisher Pearson has faced similar calls from investors to shift its listing.  Ian Pyle, senior investment director at Aberdeen, an AstraZeneca shareholder, pointed to a risk that the drugmaker may make a full exit in future. “The risk for the UK market is if this triple listing doesn’t deliver the desired outcome, then it may be a pathway to a primary listing in the U.S. and de-listing from the UK,” he said. Pyle and Hall at Peel Hunt both said AstraZeneca's recommitment to London was a positive for the market in the immediate term. The London Stock Exchange group, which has been campaigning for companies to choose the City for new listings, emphasized in a statement that AstraZeneca's decision represented "no change to their continued commitment to the UK, our capital markets and their important place as a key constituent of the FTSE100.” Still, AstraZeneca Chair Demare, in his letter to shareholders about the move on Monday, highlighted New York's advantages: "The U.S. has the world’s largest and most liquid public markets by capitalisation, and the largest pool of innovative biopharma companies and investors,” he wrote. Mark Austin, a partner at Latham & Watkins who has been involved in the overhaul of the UK's listing rules, remained confident of London's appeal.  "This should not be seen as a negative (for London)," Austin said. "It is about a UK-headquartered and UK and Swedish listed global company giving global investors easier access to its shares while keeping all the benefits of London." ($1 = 0.7440 pounds) (Reporting by Charlie Conchie; Additional reporting by Alistair Smout and Danilo; Editing by Anousha Sakoui and Susan Fenton)

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