Shire share price falls again as AbbVie board recommends shareholders reject takeover bid October 16, 2014 The billion-pound deal between AbbVie and Shire could be over. AbbVie has recommended shareholders vote against the proposed $54bn (£32bn) deal to buy UK drugmaker Shire, essentially ending the takeover bid and sending Shire shares down an initial 12 per cent when markets opened this morning. The US pharmaceutical firm AbbVie said it was rethinking the [...]
Expedia takeover of Wotif faces New Zealand competition hurdle October 14, 2014 The takeover of Australian travel firm Wotif by US-listed Expedia hit a snag yesterday after regulators in New Zealand delayed a green light for the deal. Shares in Wotif, listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, fell more than seven per cent after the New Zealand Commerce Commission put the announcement on ice. US travel group [...]
New Britain Palm Oil share price up 75pc as Sime Darby Plantation announce $1.1bn takeover bid October 9, 2014 London-listed New Britain Palm Oil (NBPOL) saw its share price shoot up by almost 75 per cent yesterday after Malaysian company Sime Darby Plantation announced a £1.1bn (£682m) takeover bid. NBPOL, which opened a refinery in Liverpool in 2010, is based in Papua New Guinea. Sime Darby stated last week that it would not [...]
Rio Tinto rejects Glencore’s £60bn mega-merger bid October 6, 2014 Merger would create world’s biggest mining group Giant mining group Rio Tinto last night revealed it had firmly rejected an approach from Glencore, in the opening salvo of a new mega-merger bid in the sector. The estimated £60bn offer would have created a £100bn titan by market capitalisation, with the combined group leapfrogging BHP Billiton [...]
Aim-listed firms bouncing back: Alternative Investment Market companies have biggest quarter of takeover activity October 5, 2014 The London Stock Exchange’s market for smaller growing companies, the Alternative Investment Market, had its biggest quarter of takeover activity in over two years as Aim-listed firms become attractive takeover targets. According to the accountancy group UHY Hacker Young, the three months to the end of September saw 13 merger and acquisition deals involving Aim [...]
Rupert’s girl to step down after big TV merger September 30, 2014 ELISABETH Murdoch is to walk out on the TV production empire she built when the planned merger between her Shine Group and two other companies – Endemol and Core Media – is completed. Rupert Murdoch’s 46-year-old daughter launched Shine in 2001 and has remained in charge over the last two years following its acquisition by [...]
AOL share price jumps as activist investor Starboard tells Yahoo chief exec Marissa Mayer to consider merger September 26, 2014 AOL's share price jumped six per cent today after an activist investor told Yahoo chief Marissa Mayer that the troubled US media company should buy it. In a letter to Mayer, Starboard, which specialises in investing in undervalued and under-performing companies, and is a significant shareholder in Yahoo, said combining with AOL offered opportunities that [...]
Chiquita shareholders get larger stake in revised merger deal with Fyffes September 26, 2014 Chiquita shareholders have come out winners after revisions to its billion dollar deal with Fyffes. In the merger between the two fruit companies, Chiquita shareholders will hold a 59.6 per cent stake in the combined business, an increase on the previous proposal of 50.7 per cent. Both banana companies have also agreed to increase fees [...]
US data storage colossus EMC looking to rivals HP and Dell as possible merger targets September 22, 2014 EMC, the biggest maker of corporate data storage equipment, reportedly held merger talks with rivals Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell. Under pressure from an activist shareholder and the expected retirement of its longtime chief executive, the company is exploring options including a sale, according to the Wall Street Journal. Merger talks between HP and EMC, which [...]
Laying down the law on M&A and sell offs September 22, 2014 LAW FIRM of the year The past year has seen law firms work with the government and banks on the selling of shares and on the investigations into alleged failings at big companies. Against that backdrop lawyers have also started to benefit from the upturn in the M&A and financing markets, beefing up their private [...]