Financial News

(updates with analysts' reaction, background) LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Icelandic investment firm Baugur Group said it has "no current intention" to make an offer for Debenhams PLC or to acquire a stake in the company that would trigger an obligation to make an offer for the UK's second largest department store group. Baugur issued a statement following comments made by Jon Asgeir J ...

KETZIOT, Israel (Thomson Financial) - Israel was freeing more than 250 Palestinian prisoners on Friday in the largest release in recent years, making good on a pledge to president Mahmud Abbas in his standoff with radical Hamas. The first armoured buses filled with the male detainees pulled out of the Ketziot prison in southern Israel just before 0400 GMT. "We have began to free 256 prisone ...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - Macquarie Bank Ltd, Australia's largest investment bank, Thursday said it is on track to report a record annual profit for the 16th consecutive year after it achieved a substantially higher net profit in the first quarter compared to the same quarter a year earlier. "We're certainly hopeful of a 16th consecutive year, but we always qualify our outlook statements  ...

Hugo Duncan, Evening Standard18 July 2007, 10:10am Wall Street banking giant Bear Stearns today shocked investors by admitting that the meltdown in the US subprime mortgage market has left two of its f lagship hedge funds almost worthless - wiping out billions of dollars. OTHER STORIES £12bn Middle East fund bid for Sainsbury Market report: Wednesday latest Yesterday's trading ...

Evening Standard18 July 2007, 10:05am News group Dow Jones's board has given the nod to the $5bn (£2.5bn) takeover bid by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, leaving the fate of the deal in the hands of the controlling Bancroft family. OTHER STORIES £12bn Middle East fund bid for Sainsbury Market report: Wednesday latest Yesterday's trading: Sweet return for Tate & Lyle Im ...

Robert Lea, Evening Standard18 July 2007, 9:01am Imperial Tobacco today reversed the trend of great British companies falling to foreign raiders with a €16.2bn (£11bn) takeover of some of the world's most iconic cigarette and cigar brands. WANT TO KNOW MORE? Imperial Tobacco share price data OTHER STORIES £12bn Middle East fund bid for Sainsbury Market report: We ...

(adds full report) LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Leading European shares moved lower in opening deals this morning as gloomy after-market updates from Intel and Yahoo offset gains on Wall Street and as investors digested a mixed bag of European news. At 9.50 am, the Dow Jones STOXX 50 fell 56.34 points or 1.41 pct to 3,942.51, while the STOXX 600 dropped 5.32 points or 1.33 pct to 394.39. Las ...

WARSAW (Thomson Financial) - Poland's treasury ministry supports a merger of the country's two leading oil companies, state-controlled PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos, but faces opposition from the economy ministry, daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported, citing government sources. The paper said Deputy Economy Minister Piotr Naimski, responsible for the sector and the ministry's strategy for oil and gas, is r ...

This is Money18 July 2007, 8:21am Sainsbury's became a takeover target for the second time this year today after revealing an approach from a fund backed by the Qatari royal family. WANT TO KNOW MORE? Sainsbury's recovery continues J Sainsbury share price data Private equity: News, analysis and comment OTHER STORIES Market report: Wednesday preview Yesterday's trading: Sweet retu ...

Air France-KLM is eyeing a rival bid for Spanish airline, Iberia, which recently received a provisional offer from a British Airways-led consortium. Air France-KLM has reportedly partnered with private equity group Apax to buy Europe's fourth largest airline. BA and private equity groups TPG Capital, Vista Capital, Inversiones Ibersuizas and Quercus Equity have offered 3.4bn euros ($4.6bn; £2.3bn). BA already owns a 10% stake in Iberia and has an option for another 30%. Offer hopes Ap ...