Scuppered Pfizer-AstraZeneca deal leaves UK M&A at an all-time low September 2, 2014 Pfizer's thwarted acquisition of AstraZeneca may have kept proponents of British business happy – but it also helped push the number of mergers and acquisitions taking place in the UK to a historic low in the second quarter of 2014, official figures published this morning showed. The number of mergers and acquisitions involving UK companies [...]
Fyffes share price up as markets go bananas for Chiquita merger shipping savings August 27, 2014 Shares in London-listed fruit giant Fyffes jumped yesterday, after a joint announcement with banana colossus Chiquita that the firms identified another $20m (£12.06m) in synergy savings to be made by their merger. Fyffe’s shares rose to 78.5p during the day, up by 4.67 per cent from Tuesday’s close. The companies had already announced $40m in [...]
Carillion and Balfour Beatty deal off as deadline passes ending mega-merger – for now August 21, 2014 The 5pm deadline for Carillion to make an offer for Balfour Beatty passed yesterday not with a bang and barely a whisper. However, while the £3bn deal is dead for now, some analysts say it may not be buried. Commenting on BBC Radio Five Live’s Wake up to Money programme yesterday, Colin McLean of SVM Asset [...]
Carillion calls off Balfour Beatty merger bid August 20, 2014 Building giant Carillion has backed away from its bid for rival Balfour Beatty after three unsuccessful attempts. Ahead of tomorrow's "put up or shut up" 5pm, Carillion this afternoon issued a statement saying it was "no longer proposing a merger". Balfour Beatty shares opened 5.7 per cent lower per cent this morning after its board [...]
Third time not lucky: Balfour Beatty shares open 5.7% lower as it rejects another Carillion merger offer August 20, 2014 Balfour Beatty has rejected a third merger offer from Carillion, as they remain unwilling to end the planned sale of US design consultancy Parsons Brinkerhoff. Construction services group Carillion yesterday offered a sweetened merger proposal to Balfour in the hope of finally coming to an agreement that has failed to materialise since Carillion first approached [...]
Balfour Beatty share price jumps as Carillion raises merger bid August 19, 2014 Carillion, the construction services group, yesterday sweetened its takeover offer for Balfour Beatty in the hope it would break through the wall of resistance from its rival and convince an intransigent chairman and his team of advisers to return to the negotiating table. The raised bid, which values Balfour Beatty at £2.1bn, comes as the [...]
Huge demerger as BHP Billiton spins off assets to create new mining company August 19, 2014 Global mining giant BHP Billiton yesterday confirmed it was spinning off a range of assets across five countries to create a new mining company. The major demerger will see the as-yet-unnamed NewCo take on aluminium, coal, manganese, nickel and silver assets, and will have current BHP Billiton chief financial officer Graham Kerr as its [...]
BHP Billiton demerger share price drop: Worth digging past the disappointment – Bottom Line August 19, 2014 Plans for a leaner, meaner and more profitable mining giant drew little love from investors yesterday. It was easy to see why – but that doesn’t mean the prospects for a slimmed-down BHP Billiton aren’t shiny. The air of disappointment that saw BHP’s shares fall nearly five per cent over the day was down largely [...]
Balfour Beatty share price leaps as Carillion raises merger offer August 19, 2014 Carillion has upped its offer for Balfour Beatty for a third time as the deadline looms for a potential mega-merger between the two construction firms. The renewed offer values Balfour Beatty at more than £2bn and offers shareholders a 58.27 per cent share in the new company, up on the previous offer of 56.5 per [...]
Balfour Beatty looks to sell US arm Parsons Brinckerhoff in latest Carillion merger battle twist August 18, 2014 The long battle over a possible £3bn mega-merger between Carillion and Balfour Beatty took another turn last night, as Balfour was believed to be in advanced negotiations to sell its US business Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) to a Canadian bidder, adding to the pressure facing Carillion as it has been considering its options for another offer [...]