Financial News

European equity markets shrugged off record oil prices and reached fresh 4½ year highs this week, finding encouragement from strong corporate earnings. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 rose 2 per cent over the holiday-shortened period to 1,397.07. // Fortum led the week’s gainers with a rise of 12.7 per cent to €23.13 with high electricity prices expected to boost earnings by 20 per cent when the Finnish  ...

WYEVALE Garden Centres has given its backing to a £310.9m takeover by Scottish retail entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter and Icelandic acquisition group Baugur. Wyevale, the UK’s largest garden centre operator, agreed the 555p-a-share deal with a consortium led by Sir Tom’s investment group West Coast Capital and Baugur. It follows months of takeover interest sparked by an unsuccessful approach by  ...

By Jonathan Cable LONDON (Reuters) - Wyevale Garden Centres has agreed to a 310.9 million pounds cash bid from a consortium including Icelandic investment group Baugur. Britain's biggest garden centres group said on Friday it was recommending shareholders accept a 555 pence a share offer from the consortium, called WCC Hortis, pitched at an 11 percent premium to Wyevale's closing price on Januar ...

CEO: Mark TuckerPRUDENTIAL added weight to its recent rejection of a takeover approach from Aviva by reporting a better than expected 27 per cent rise in new business sales. The performance for the first three months of the year included a 17 per cent gain in business in the United Kingdom, although the company added that its home region continued to face competitive trading conditions. Prudential's life insurance operations in Asia were the driving force of the group's improvement, following  ...

Evening Standard21 April 2006 WEST Coast Capital Hortis, an investment vehicle led by entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter, has launched a friendly 555p-a-share cash offer for struggling Wyevale Garden Centres. GREEN FINGERED: Pop star and talented gardener Kim Wilde is the face of Wyevale WANT TO KNOW MORE? REPORT: Wyevale in £325m takeover bid TIPS & TACTICS: Midas' stock picks FREE SERVICE: Free company reports OTHER STORIES Oil price fuels double scare Market re ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Wyevale Garden Centres (WGC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday it had agreed to be bought for 310.9 million pounds cash by a consortium including Iceland's Baugur and retail entrepreneur Tom Hunter. Britain's biggest garden centres group said the 555-pence a share offer from the consortium, called WCC Hortis, was an 11 percent premium to Wyevale's closing price on Jan ...

By Dan Lalor LONDON (Reuters) - ICAP (IAP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) , the world's largest money and futures broker, unveiled a deal to buy interbank foreign exchange and commodities platform EBS for $775 million (435 million pounds) cash on Friday, extending recent industry consolidation. EBS is co-owned by 13 banks, including major currency dealers UBS, Citigroup, HSBC and JP Morgan Chase. ICAP had said on January 26 it was in talks to buy EBS which hired Citigroup last year to look at its ...

Wyevale Garden Centres has been agreed to be taken over by WCC Hortis, a consortium including the acquisitive Icelandic investment firm Baugur. The 555p pence per share offer values Hereford-based Wyevale, the UK's largest garden centre group, at £311m. It is just the latest in a string of UK investments by Baugur, whose British interests include Whittard of Chelsea and a 40% stake in Woolworth's. The takeover consortium also includes retail entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter. Wyevale has more ...

By Dan Lalor LONDON (Reuters) - ICAP, the world's largest money and futures broker, unveiled a deal to buy interbank foreign exchange and commodities platform EBS for $775 million (436 million pounds) cash on Friday, extending recent industry consolidation. EBS is co-owned by 13 banks, including major currency dealers UBS, Citigroup, HSBC and JP Morgan Chase. ICAP had said on January 26 it was i ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Wyevale Garden Centres said on Friday it had agreed to be bought for 310.9 million pounds cash by a consortium including Iceland's Baugur and retail entrepreneur Tom Hunter. Britain's biggest garden centres group (WGC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said the 555-pence a share offer from the consortium, called WCC Hortis, was an 11 percent premium to Wyevale's closing price on January 16, the day before the firm said it might receive a bid. WCC Hortis includes Baugur, which has ...