Financial News

By Caroline Drees, Security Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House welcomed on Friday the temporary delay in a deal allowing a state-owned Arab company to run U.S. port terminals, but senators called for a law to put the deal on hold pending a security review. President George W. Bush backs the deal, but is under fierce pressure to cancel it from lawmakers and other critics who fear the Dubai-based port operator could be a Trojan horse for militants wanting to attack the United S ...

By Kevin Done in LondonPublished: February 24 2006 21:39 | Last updated: February 24 2006 21:56The UK Civil Aviation Authority, the economic regulator for UK airports, on Friday fired a warning shot across the bows of potential bidders for BAA and the group itself ahead of a looming takeover battle for the world's biggest airports operator. The CAA statement, issued ahead of an expected early cas ...

By Peggy Hollinger in ParisPublished: February 24 2006 22:13 | Last updated: February 24 2006 22:13The pressure was growing on the French government on Friday to allow a full merger of Suez and Gaz de France after several shareholders voiced their support for a combined group. The heads of Suez and GdF yesterday met French finance minister Thierry Breton in a bid to convince the government that a merger was preferable to a simple alliance and that trade union opposition could be overcome.

By Frank Pingue TORONTO (Reuters) - European steelmaker Arcelor (CELR.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) will succeed in fighting off Mittal Steel's (MT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) $23-billion (13 billion pounds) hostile takeover bid and will be able to hold on to its recent acquisition of Canada's Dofasco Inc. (DFS.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) , Arcelor's deputy chief executive said on Friday. If Mittal's play for Arcelor is successful, Mittal would flip Dofasco, Canada's No. 2 steelmaker, to  ...

By Keiron Henderson LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 index closed higher on Friday after strong results from advertiser WPP and bank group Lloyds TSB, although miners fell after Lonmin said offer talks had ended. Midcap 250 stock Lonmin slid 7.9 percent after it said it was no longer in negotiations about a possible takeover, news which knocked Rio Tinto back 1.5 percent and took a similar amount off Anglo American. The miners had risen on speculation of further consolidation in the sector afte ...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Marquee jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. is eying an initial public offering as the latest in a series of name-brand firms fueling a continued recovery in the IPO market in 2006. While Levi's Chief Executive Phil Marineau has said publicly that there's no decision to pursue an IPO at this time, he's held out the possibility of using a stock-market sale to reduce the co ...

LONDON (Dow Jones) -- Two French utilities are considering joining forces as they seek to stave off an approach from Italian rival Enel. Suez (SZE) , the Franco-Belgian group coveted by Enel, and gas monopoly Gaz de France are understood to have been exploring a possible alliance in the last few days as the French government seeks to protect its "national champions," the Financial Times reporte ...

Feb 23rd 2006 From The Economist print edition IT IS the biggest takeover bid in the history of the utilities industry—and it may be just the beginning. On February 21st Germany's biggest power group, E.ON, bid &#8 ...

The group said the £87m investment in two major projects at the Port of Immingham were on schedule to open this Spring and the group has received government approval to build a £30m-£35m shortsea riverside container terminal at the Port of Hull.Matthew Kennerley, port director for Hull and Goole, said the new Hull terminal would double the number of containers the port can handle."This is brillian ...

Robert Lea, Evening Standard22 February 2006 SCOTTISH Power and Scottish and Southern Energy could be on the verge of a £20bn defensive merger to create a new British power champion. MERGER: Scottish Power and Scottish & Southern could join forces WANT TO KNOW MORE? SWITCH & SAVE: Cut your energy bills BLOG: Its takes energy to switch OTHER STORIES Lloyds writes off £1bn bad debts Upbeat WPP shrugs off legal worry Market report: Friday 15.00 Or ...