Financial News

BOSTON (Dow Jones) -- Tuesday's news that Bristol-Myers Squibb's drug Plavix may not have any serious generic competition until 2011 has lifted a cloud of uncertainty that has haunted the stock in recent months, according to analysts. Late Tuesday, Bristol (BMY) and partner Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) said that they had reached an agreement with Canadian drugmaker Apotex whereby Apotex will refrain fr ...

By David Cullen LONDON (Reuters) - The government said on Wednesday it was prepared to sell part of its majority stake in British Energy Group, the country's biggest power producer, boosting the shares of the once-penniless company after an initial fall. In his 2006 budget speech, Chancellor Gordon Brown said a decision on the government's 65 percent shareholding would be made after the six-month-long energy review concludes later this year. The Department for Trade and Industry gained the st ...

DUBAI (Reuters) - A Dubai firm has delayed its $1.24 billion (709 million pounds) takeover of engineering company Doncasters Group while U.S. authorities study the security implications of the deal, a senior company official said on Wednesday. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States is reviewing state-owned Dubai International Capital's acquisition of Doncasters, which operates U ...

Nick Goodway , Evening Standard22 March 2006 FORMER BBC director general Greg Dyke could end up running Britain's biggest commercial broadcaster, ITV, as the result of a complicated proposal from the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs, Blackstone and Apax Partners. WANT TO KNOW MORE? POLL: Which is your favourite TV channel? OTHER STORIES Budget 2006: The speech live Special report: ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Biggest shares fell on Wednesday, heading lower for a third straight session as British Airways was hit by a broker downgrade and as banking giant HSBC traded ex-dividend. But continued takeover speculation propelled selected stocks higher, with ITV surging 9 percent higher on a report of a bid approach from private equity group Apax and Goldman Sachs. GUS also featured on the blue-chip leaderboard, up 3 percent on talk it rejected a 7 billion pound bid approach for its Exper ...

Thirty years ago, the prospect of British Steel falling into Russian hands would have been as alarming as Soviet troops storming into Downing Street. With the Berlin Wall gone, the former Communist state is like any other trading partner. Yesterday, steel maker Corus was reported to have held merger talks with a Russian rival – a move that would catapult it into the top six in the industry by volu ...

Ross Tieman, Evening Standard22 March 2006 A MOVE by two corporate raiders to push for a break-up of French media and telecoms group Vivendi Universal could open the door for Vodafone to make a e10bn (£6.9bn) bid to seize control of SFR, France's second-largest mobile phones operator. OTHER STORIES Budget 2006: Five to watch Brown's growth gamble Market report: Wednesday preview  ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Boots Group (BOOT.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Alliance Unichem (AUN.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday they expected their proposed merger, which has conditional approval, to proceed despite a challenge from Germany's Celesio (CLSG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) . The two companies also said in a statement they would support Britain's consumer watchdog, whose  ...

Bank Mandiri, Indonesia's largest lender, on Tuesday reported an 88.5 per cent fall in net profits for 2005 due to an increase in non-performing loans and "worsening macroeconomic" conditions. Mandiri's net profit last year fell from Rp5,256bn in 2004 to Rp604bn ($65.7m), with its gross non-performing loans ratio rising to 25.3 per cent at the end of last year from a reported 7.1 per cent in the  ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- Video game stocks rose Tuesday, led higher by Electronic Arts Inc., after shares of the largest game publisher were upgraded and a spate of bullish developments stoked optimism that the sector may be turning a corner. In midday trading, Electronic Arts (ERTS) shares were up nearly 4% to $54.70, while Activision Inc. (ATVI) , Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) ...