Martin Marietta bids for Vulcan December 12, 2011 Construction aggregates maker Martin Marietta Materials has made an unsolicited $5bn offer to buy larger rival Vulcan Materials in stock, in a bid to create the global leader in the industry. The companies began considering a deal more than a year and a half ago, but Vulcan broke off talks in recent months. CJS Securities [...]
Thyssen sells superyacht business December 12, 2011 ThyssenKrupp has sold its Blohm + Voss superyacht and two other marine units to British buyout firm Star Capital, in a deal worth up to €150m, as the German steelmaker focuses instead on building military vessels. The sale is part of the company’s €10bn divestment plan begun this year to lower its debt, including a [...]
OFT tobacco fines overturned December 12, 2011 Imperial Tobacco and several leading retailers have won a court battle to overturn record fines imposed by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) over allegations of unlawful pricing. A fine of £112.3m handed down to Imperial Tobacco last year was reversed, while Morrisons, Asda, Co-Op and Shell also had cases against them overturned by the [...]
Areva halts trading over nuclear loss December 12, 2011 SHARES in Areva France’s state-owned nuclear energy company were suspended in Paris yesterday after losses associated with the Fukushima crisis in Japan took their toll. The nuclear reactor maker had been expected to take heavy writedowns related to cancellation of orders. The declining value of UraMin, a Canadian uranium miner bought by Areva in 2007 [...]
Svanberg plans to keep BP chair as he takes on new role at Volvo December 12, 2011 BP is over the worst phase of its problems after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg (right) claimed yesterday, clearing the way for him to lead the board at world number two truck maker Volvo. The Volvo nomination committee said in a statement it had backed Svanberg to head the board at [...]
Gulfsands shuts down its Syria project amid unrest December 12, 2011 UK-LISTED explorer Gulfsands Petroleum and Chinese company Sinochem have shut down their oil operations in Syria following European Union sanctions related to the crackdown on the uprising against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, Gulfsands said. Although China has resisted sanctions on Syria, Sinochem is bound by EU sanctions since it bought its interest in [...]
E.ON lowers profit range on charges December 12, 2011 GERMAN utility group E.ON will bear a €3bn (£2.6bn) charge in its 2011 accounts as large Eurozone countries such as Spain and Italy intervened to lower prices, it said yesterday. E.ON, the world’s biggest utility company by sales, said the charge would damage its overall net profits, and lowered the top end of its profit [...]
Cosalt chair talks up his offer December 12, 2011 Cosalt chairman David Ross has written to investors urging them to accept his offer to buy their shares in the embattled firm. Ross, who wants to de-list the company, has made a £400,000 offer for the marine safety equipment provider Cosalt. Carphone Warehouse founder Ross said in the letter, published yesterday: “Without a sufficient inflow [...]
Xcite looks to appease investors December 12, 2011 Xcite Energy said yesterday a “viable and more financially efficient” means of commercialising the Bentley North Sea oil field was being investigated, after shareholders had expressed concerns over an apparent lack of progress. The department of energy and climate change must first sign-off the Bentley field development plan. Xcite’s shares fell 4.8 per cent.
Essar execs charged with fraud December 12, 2011 India’s federal police yesterday filed fraud charges against five executives at Essar Group – the parent company of London-listed Essar Energy – and Loop Telecom, as part of a sprawling probe into a multi-billion-dollar telecoms case. Fraud and criminal conspiracy charges have been filed against billionaire Ravi Ruia, vice chairman of Essar Energy, and his [...]
