Financial News

FRANKFURT (AFX) - Volkswagen AG and MAN AG's supervisory board chairmen are to hold talks with a key shareholder of Scania AB to discuss MAN's takeover bid for its Swedish rival, according to a German press report. VW's Ferdinand Piech and MAN's Ekkehard Schulz will meet next week with Sweden's Wallenberg family to find a solution for a merger of MAN and Scania, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ...

LONDON (AFX) - Arla Foods UK PLC, the UK's largest supplier of milk to supermarkets, is expected to announce details of a 430 mln stg takeover by 51 pct shareholder Arla Foods amba as early as this week, reports the Sunday Times citing "insiders". The UK company, whose products include Cravendale milk and Anchor butter, is expected to agree a takeover at about 71 pence a share, the repo ...

LONDON (AFX) - A management buyout of UK music publisher EMI Group PLC is "a million miles away" a source close to the company told AFX News. That's despite a report in today's Observer which claimed executive chairman Eric Nicoli, who also took on the role of chief executive following the group's profit warning last week, could be planning such a move. "It's a million miles away  ...

This is Money14 January 2007 Department store chain John Lewis appointed Andy Street as its new managing director today. WANT TO KNOW MORE? REPORT: John Lewis enjoys sparkling Christmas REPORT: M&S wipes floor with rivals OTHER STORIES Betting merger mania on cards Market report: Friday close Yesterday's trading: Wall St to the rescue ITN to renew ITN deal LSE ready to reveal  ...

14 January 2007 For many of us, January is the most miserable month of the year. But some people can at least look back contentedly to a Christmas or New Year that they spent in sunnier spots. WANT TO KNOW MORE? MIDAS: Share tips archive TIPS & TACTICS: Share tips TIPS: Midas' top picks for 2007 OTHER STORIES Betting merger mania on cards Market report: Friday close Yester ...

Andrew Leach, Mail on Sunday14 January 2007 Tony Hayward, who will be the new boss of BP, will face his first major challenge this week with the publication of what is expected to be a devastatingly critical report into last year's fatal Texas City oil refinery fire. WANT TO KNOW MORE? REPORT: Lord Browne quits BP early READER SERVICE: Company reports OTHER STORIES Betting merger ...

Helia Ebrahimi, Mail on Sunday14 January 2007 Ladbrokes could start a wave of consolidation across the online gambling sector with an innovative £440m takeover plan for internet gaming site 888.com designed to avoid legal action in America. REVOLUTIONARY DEAL: Ladbrokes could spark major mergers in online gambling with a bid to dodge American legal action WANT TO KNOW MORE? REPORT: William Hill boosted by Chelsea draws TIPS & TACTICS: Share tips READER SERVICE:  ...

MEXICO CITY (AFX) - Soaring international demand for corn has caused a spike in prices for Mexico's humble tortilla, hitting the poor and forcing President Felipe Calderon's business-friendly government into an uncomfortable confrontation with powerful monopolies. Tortilla prices jumped nearly 14 percent over the past year, a move Mexico's Central Bank Gov. Guillermo Ortiz called "unjustifia ...

BOGOTA, Colombia (AFX) - Hugo Chavez loves incendiary rhetoric and risk-averse investors understandably rushed to sell shares in Venezuela's biggest telecommunications and power companies after he announced this week that he would nationalize them. But it later emerged that the Venezuelan president -- whose "21st-century socialism" has managed to co-exist with a vibrant private sect ...

The OFT inquiry will decide whether the recent £940m investment by Rupert Murdoch's satellite firm in ITV represents a merger which could threaten competition in broadcasting across Britain.The shock move by Sky in November scuppered NTL's £5bn bid for ITV and sparked a furious reaction from Sir Richard Branson, NTL's biggest shareholder.Sir Richard branded Sky's investment "a blatant attempt to d ...