Austrian gaming operator Bwin plays down PartyGaming merger discussions December 14, 2009 AUSTRIAN online gaming firm Bwin Interactive Entertainment has quashed talk of a £2bn tie-up with rival PartyGaming, but said prospects for industry mergers were rising. Bwin said it was not in advanced merger talks with the UK firm or any other, although it did not rule out involvement in future deals. PartyGaming is said to have [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS December 14, 2009 BUNZL Accendo Markets said that international distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl still deserved a “buy” rating, and set a short-term target of 680p a share. It said Bunzl’s 11 per cent revenue growth compared to last year was in line with expectations and its pre-close statement provided assurance that progress is still on track. CARPETRIGHT [...]
Exxon moves into gas with £25bn deal December 14, 2009 EXXON Mobil, the world’s largest oil group, expanded in to the natural gas market yesterday, buying XTO Energy in an all-stock deal valued at about $41bn (£25bn). The purchase gives Exxon a major foothold in the US natural gas market, which is seen as an environmentally cleaner fuel than coal. “Natural gas is expected to [...]
The government should learn from entrepreneurs December 14, 2009 REGARDLESS of their social class, the thing that unites most of the people that I work with is the aspiration to use their lives to build something amazing. Many of the people I deal with have significantly improved their lives through sharp focus, incredible hard work, and the application of their intelligence, energy, personal charm [...]
City dwellers lead the move to online shopping December 14, 2009 LONDONERS are increasingly turning to online shopping even though they have major shops on their doorsteps, a survey by PayPal has revealed. A total of 45 per cent of shoppers from the capital said they had increased their web shopping in the last year. And across Britain City dwellers are more likely to surf for [...]
Russian oil explorer Exillon Energy to raise £62m in rare London flotation December 14, 2009 OIL explorer Exillon Energy is to raise about £62m in the first London stock market flotation by a Russian company since the financial crisis began. Exillon, which has operations in the Western Siberia and Komi regions of northern Russia, plans to place 40.5 million shares at 153p each. The IPO represents just under a third [...]
Hermes and Sourcecap join forces December 14, 2009 HERMES, the asset manager entirely owned by the BT Pension Scheme, has bought a controlling stake in European equity specialist Sourcecap for an undisclosed sum. The new business will be called Hermes Sourcecap and will give Hermes a core European equities team months after it poached a global equities operation from Fortis. Sourcecap bosses Andrew [...]
WAS MOUCHEL RIGHT TO SNUB VT GROUP’S APPROACH? December 14, 2009 ED WOOLFITT | GALVAN RESEARCH AND TRADING We expect Mouchel’s rebuttal to be the start of a somewhat protracted battle with VT. In the meantime, we suggest that clients who bought the shares at 160p last week should sit tight, as the final valuation, should a deal be agreed, could well be in excess of [...]
VT is spurned by Mouchel in takeover bid December 14, 2009 MOUCHEL, the highways and government services company, yesterday confirmed it had rejected two takeover approaches from its larger rival VT Group, but said the larger group was still interested in making a deal. Mouchel said the offers, which were understood to have been at around 250p per share, were “wholly inadequate”, undervalued the company, and [...]
Minerva seals deal for law firm’s London base December 14, 2009 DEVELOPER Minerva has secured a deal for a 20-year lease on one of its City projects with international law firm Clyde & Co. The move comes as Minerva fights a £84.5m takeover bid form South African shareholder Nathan Kirsh. Clyde & Co will base its new headquarters at the building in the 14-storey St Botolphs [...]