Financial News

Evening Standard6 October 2006 Hedge-fund buying pushed Aer Lingus to new highs today despite Ryanair's audacious £1 billion bid for the former state-owned carrier running into a full-scale political row and the opposition of unions. WANT TO KNOW MORE? Changing the flight path Aer Lingus rejects audacious Ryanair bid Aer Lingus soars as listings take off OTHER STORIES EasyJ ...

(Adds analyst comment, share price and detail) LONDON (AFX) - Media buying firm Aegis Group PLC said it will convene an extraordinary general meeting in response to a second attempt from its biggest investor, Vincent Bollore, to secure two seats on the board. In a statement, Aegis said a meeting of shareholders will be convened in due course. Under company law Aegis has to hold the EGM within se ...

LAS VEGAS (AFX) - Harrah's Entertainment Inc., the world's largest casino operator and the target of a $15.05 billion takeover offer, said Friday it won't submit a bid for the Sentosa Island casino resort project in Singapore. "We determined it would not be possible to deliver a development on the scale we envisioned for Sentosa Island while meeting our objectives for this project. According ...

PARIS (AFX) - Share prices were slightly lower at midday, drifting little from last night's close as investors awaited this afternoon's September jobs report in the US, which could bolster investor hopes that further interest rate hikes are now out of the picture, dealers said. At 1.01 pm, the CAC-40 index was down 6.42 points at 5,282.11, on volume of 1.7 bln euro. On the Matif, October CAC-40  ...

FORMER British Steel firm Corus is in was thrust into the bid spotlight today after Indian rival Tata Steel said it was considering a takeover approach. Tata Steel – part of the massive Indian conglomerate Tata Group, which owns Tetley Tea – said it was looking at takeover opportunities around the world, “including Corus”. Reports in India suggested Tata Steel was willing to pay around £5bn for  ...

HOUSTON (AFX) - Call phone tower company Crown Castle International Corp. agreed to buy smaller rival Global Signal Inc. for cash and stock worth $4 billion, the companies said Friday, creating a behemoth with more than 24,000 wireless sites. Including the assumption of $1.8 billion in debt, the deal is valued at $5.8 billion. Global Signal shareholders will have the choice to receive for each s ...

Northern Ireland electricity supplier Viridian has accepted a £1.6bn ($3bn) bid from ElectricInvest, a division of a Bahrain-based private equity company. ElectricInvest said Viridian, which owns Northern Ireland Electric (NIE), Energia and Powerteam, offered a chance for "stable returns". Viridian said it considered the bid terms to be "fair and reasonable". ElectricInvest is part of Arcapita, which already has a stake in several UK utility projects. These include a partnership with Np ...

This is Money6 October 2006 The sale of the UK's largest chain of estate agents was in doubt today after a report said takeover talks had stalled in a disagreement over price. WANT TO KNOW MORE? Countrywide management plan buy-out Countrywide in huge turnaround David vs Goliath internet homes row OTHER STORIES EasyJet predicts profits take-off Market report: Friday 10.30 Miners pro ...

Geoff Foster, Daily Mail6 October 2006 Miners have been riding their shiny metal supercycle for so long now it seems high time they toppled off. But Morgan Stanley reckons the fun is only just beginning. OTHER STORIES EasyJet predicts profits take-off Market report: Friday 10.30 Rolls-Royce hit by Airbus delays Energy firm agrees takeover terms Mittal accused of plundering liberi ...

LONDON (Dow Jones) -- EasyJet Plc, Europe's second-largest low-cost airline, on Friday raised its profit forecast for the year because of increased demand and higher ticket prices. Pre-tax profit for the year ended Sept. 30 was "slightly ahead" of previous guidance, which called for growth of 40% to 50%, easyJet said in a statement. Revenue rose 21% to 1.62 billion pounds ($3.04 billion), wh ...