Financial News

HONG KONG (Dow Jones) -- An investment fund run by Japanese shareholder activist Yoshiaki Murakami is being investigated for insider trading, according to media reports Friday. Japanese newspapers said prosecutors are looking into potential securities law violations in connection with the fund's purchase of shares in Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. in 2004, and their subsequent sale during a ta ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- NYSE Group Inc. and Euronext NV agreed to merge late Thursday in a deal that would create a transatlantic exchange behemoth, but German rival Deutsche Boerse stayed in the fray, saying it will continue its own attempts to partner with the pan-European exchange. The NYSE-Euronext deal would offer near round-the-clock trading in stocks, options and futures, The combin ...

LONDON (Dow Jones) -- Shares of Euronext advanced Friday as investors weighed the implications of the pan-European stock exchange's decision to accept a bid from U.S. peer NYSE Group Inc., and Deutsche Boerse's vow to break up the deal. Under the terms of the deal, Euronextshareholders will receive 0.98 shares of the new company, NYSE Euronext, as well as 21.32 euros ($27.24) in cash. The de ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- NYSE Group Inc. and Euronext NV agreed to merge late Thursday in a deal that would create a transatlantic exchange behemoth offering near round-the-clock trading in stocks, options and futures. The combination of what is already the world's largest stock exchange and the second-biggest European bourse operator would produce a business worth between $ 15 billion and  ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Severn Trent, Britain's second-biggest listed water utility, is expected to say its yearly profit jumped by more than a third on Thursday after it put up bills by 15 percent and slashed costs. Eleven analysts polled by Reuters predicted pretax profit before exceptional items of between 305 million pounds and 334 million pounds for 12 months to March 31. The average was 317 million pounds, up sharply from its previous yearly profit of 235 million pounds. Utility experts say  ...

By Chris Morris LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Longtime top Sony Music Label Group executives Don Ienner and Michele Anthony exited the company Thursday, in what may be yet another by-product of continuing internecine discord within the Sony BMG Music Entertainment empire. In the wake of the abrupt departures -- characterized as resignations in an internal memo to Sony BMG employees from CEO ...

By Matt Falloon LONDON (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Friday, heading for a flat performance this week after turbulent trading, with financial stocks such as Man Group (EMG.L: Quote, Profile, Research) recording gains and bid talk swirling through the market. Airports operator BAA (BAA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and steelmaker Corus (CS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) featured among stocks boosted by merger and acquisition speculation, but mid-cap London Stock Exchange (LSE.L: Quote, Profile, Re ...

By Michael Smith and Matt Falloon LONDON (Reuters) - A bank advising Spain's Grupo Ferrovial (FER.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) was spending up to 1.35 billion pounds on shares in takeover target BAA (BAA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) on Friday as it moved to secure its bid for the airports group, dealers and sources familiar with the situation said. Citigroup, which advises Ferrovial on its 9. ...

By Sudip Kar-Gupta and Mark Meadows PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) - Euronext's (ENXT.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) $10 billion (5 billion pounds) tie-up with NYSE Group Inc. (NYX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) puts pressure on other exchanges to seek partnerships to catch up with what will be the world's largest financial marketplace, analysts said on Friday. Under the deal -- which the companies presented as a merger of equals -- the NYSE will buy Euronext for about 7.8 billion euros (5 billion poun ...

By Lydia AdetunjiPublished: June 2 2006 10:11 | Last updated: June 2 2006 12:21BAA's share price rose to record levels on Friday, after it emerged that Citigroup was spending up to £1.35bn to buy a stake on behalf of the Spanish construction company Ferrovial, which is making a hostile bid for the UK airports operator. Separately, the UK's takeover regulator said that Goldman Sachs, the investmen ...