BG Group agrees to £47bn takeover by Royal Dutch Shell in oil mega-merger April 8, 2015 Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has announced a takeover of BG Group, in a deal valuing gas producer BG at £47bn. Shell will pay a premium of around 50 per cent on BG’s shares, which closed up by 6.74 per cent at 910.40p yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of £31bn. BG’s board have recommended [...]
Yoox ties up with Net-A-Porter in €2.8bn merger March 31, 2015 ITALIAN Fashion retailer Yoox announced it would be merging with designer clothing website Net-A-Porter yesterday, in an all-share deal set to create the world’s largest online luxury clothing outlet. The new entity, Yoox Net-A-Porter will have combined sales of €1.3bn (£942m), with Net-A-Porter owner Richemont having a 50 per cent stake in the new firm. [...]
Tobacco firms take the puff out of FTSE amid merger talks – London Report March 31, 2015 WEAKER tobacco and commodity company stocks hit Britain’s leading share index yesterday – but the FTSE 100 still managed to make its biggest quarterly gain since 2013. The FTSE was down 118.39 points, or 1.7 per cent, at 6,773.04 by the close, but is up 3.2 per cent this year. Consumer staple stocks were responsible [...]
Richemont confirms talks with Yoox over Net-a-Porter takeover March 30, 2015 It turns out that Richemont, the private equity owner of Net-a-Porter, is in talks with Yoox, Net-a-Porter's Italian rival, over a possible "deal". The news follows rumours last week that Amazon was sniffing around the luxury shopping site, with a deal thought to be worth as much as €2bn (£1.47bn) on the cards. But today [...]
Shareholders just approved the Halliburton, Baker Hughes merger March 27, 2015 Shareholders of oil field services companies Halliburton and Baker Hughes have just approved the biggest tie-up to come out of the black stuff's decline. Shares in Halliburton were trading down 0.2 percent, while Baker Hughes' share price was up 0.1 per cent. Dave Lesar, chairman and chief executive officer of Halliburton: "We are extremely pleased Halliburton [...]
Kraft shares jump 30 per cent as Warren Buffett and 3G Capital confirm plans to merge it with Heinz in $40bn takeover March 25, 2015 Ketchup and cheese single sandwich, anyone? Warren Buffett has confirmed plans to merge processed cheese maker Kraft with Heinz, creating the Kraft Heinz Company, pushing shares in the company up more than 30 per cent in after-hours trading. Last night it was rumoured Brazilian private equity giant 3G Capital, which joint-owns Heinz with Buffett's Berkshire [...]
Bye-bye birdie: Canary Wharf owner Songbird Estates will de-list from AIM after Qatar Brookfield takeover March 24, 2015 Canary Wharf owner Songbird Estates will delist from the AIM after submitting to a hostile £2.6bn takeover by Qatari and Canadian funds. The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Canadian property firm Brookfield will take Songbird private, forcing a compulsory acquisition of the remaining minority shares from investors who have not agreed with the deal. Investors [...]
CityFibre asks watchdog to level playing field after BT-EE merger March 23, 2015 High speed fibre optic firm CityFibre has attacked BT, saying its planned acquisition of EE would “stifle innovation” and “deliver little tangible benefit for consumers”. CityFibre revealed the objection this morning, saying that it submitted a formal complaint to the Competition Markets Authority (CMA) on Friday. The company demanded Ofcom be allowed to enforce extra [...]
TSB share price opens higher as Lloyds accepts £1.7bn takeover offer from Banco de Sabadell March 20, 2015 Shares in TSB opened 1.6 per cent higher at 332.47p this morning after its majority owner, Lloyds, have accepted a £1.7bn takeover offer from Spanish rival Banco de Sabadell. Shares in the challenger bank leapt 27 per cent last week, after TSB issued an announcement suggesting it was "willing to recommend" Sabadell's 340p-per-share offer – [...]
Holcim-Lafarge merger on hold over price issue March 16, 2015 THE MEGA-MERGER planned between French cement manufacturer Lafarge and its Swiss rival Holcim has been put on hold while the two firms renegotiate the terms of the deal. Holcim confirmed yesterday that “the combination agreement can no longer be pursued in its present form”. When the deal was announced in April 2014, it was described [...]