Financial News

ROME (Reuters) - Italian utility Enel (ENEI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Saturday it had again spelled out to the European Commission its objections to the proposed merger of French utility Suez (LYOE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and state-owned Gaz de France (GAZ.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) (GDF). The all-French deal was promoted by the country's government earlier this year to ward off a potential hostile bid by Enel for Suez, or some of its assets. It will create an energy gro ...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The head of Mittal Steel (ISPA.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) was quoted on Saturday as saying he would not share takeover target Arcelor (CELR.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) which is trying to escape his 25 billion euro ($32 billion) bid by lining up a "white knight." The International Herald Tribune reported Lakshmi Mittal had dismissed the idea of taking a minority stake in Arcelor alongside Russian steel magnate Alexei Mordashov. A combination of Mittal Steel and Arcel ...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Having conquered Europe, don't expect NYSE Group Inc. Chief Executive John Thain to be satisfied with only two of the world's seven continents. The NYSE on Friday announced a nearly $10 billion merger with Euronextthat creates the world's first cross-continent system of exchanges. Should it proceed -- the Deutsche Boerse looms as a spoiler to the agreement -- the deal wo ...

LONDON (Dow Jones) -- Deutsche Boerse Friday tried to upstage rival Euronext's press conference detailing plans to merge with the NYSE Group, adamantly saying it will pursue its own attempts to do a deal with the pan-European exchange. Deutsche Boersesaid in a statement that it's still open to a transaction and believes in the "substance and value" of such a deal. "A combination of the two orga ...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Consolidation of global securities exchanges heated up Friday as pan-European stock exchange Euronext and The NYSE Group publicly exchanged wedding vows in Paris, sparking a vocal objection from a jilted German rival and overshadowing the Nasdaq's aggressive courtship of the U.K.'s top trading venue. Executives from Euronext and the NYSE outlined an ambitious plan on Fri ...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Arcelor (CELR.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) , the world's second largest steelmaker, which is fighting an unsolicited bid from rival Mittal Steel (ISPA.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) , confirmed on Friday that it had received the business plan of its unwanted suitor. Arcelor has said that it would not resume contacts with Mittal to try to arrange a friendly takeover as long as it had not received the document.

By Marie Maitre and Megan Davies PARIS/NEW YORK - (Reuters) - NYSE (NYX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) unveiled plans to buy Euronext (ENXT.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) for $10 billion (5 billion pounds), putting pressure on other exchanges to seek partnerships to catch up with what will be the world's largest financial marketplace. Under the deal -- which the companies presented as a merger of equals -- the NYSE Group Inc. will buy Euronext for about 7.8 billion euros and create the first tr ...

The UK doesn’t really have a market guru to match Warren Buffett, the so-called Sage of Omaha, but Anthony Bolton, Fidelity’s star fund manager, has as good a claim as any to the title. So we should take seriously his view that the recent fall in the market could last “months”. // The FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 had their worst monthly performances since January 2003 in May. The peak-to-trough fall in the market as a whole – as measured by the All Share index – was 10 per cent between May 9 and May 2 ...

Computer games developer SCi Entertainment was in demand on Friday amid positive feedback from a series of investor presentations. // Shares in the group climbed 7.2 per cent to 552p – their highest level since January – as management toured City institutions to talk-up its story. The company’s Eidos division boasts four titles in the UK gaming top 10 including Hitman: Blood Money, which has rea ...

By Keiron Henderson LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 closed higher on Friday but finished the week with a moderate loss as the market's recent choppy trading pattern, sparked by inflation and interest rate jitters, persisted. Bid talk, a factor which helped to fuel the rise to April's five-year FTSE 100 index highs, re-emerged, pushing up airport operator BAA (BAA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and steel maker Corus (CS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) , while health and beauty retailer Boots (BOOT ...