Financial News

LONDON (AFX) - Former Asda chiefs Allan Leighton and Archie Norman have been approached to lead a multi-billion pound takeover bid for J Sainsbury PLC, the UK's third-biggest supermarket chain, according to the Mail on Sunday. The report says the pair, who engineered a spectacular revival at Asda in the late nineties, are being lined up by a private equity consortium to spearhead a possible offer ...

Laruen Mills, Mail on Sunday4 February 2007 She is an unlikely kingmaker in retail Britain. A secretive American mother of four young children, Amelia Morris gives the impression that she likes nothing more than curling up with a company's balance sheet. Yet she once again finds herself in the spotlight with the power to make or break a multi-billion pound takeover of one of Britain's biggest  ...

PHILADELPHIA (AFX) - The first time Joseph Neubauer took Aramark Corp. private in 1984, the deal was worth $889 million. When he and other managers led a leveraged buyout of the nation's largest food services company a second time, the price tag zoomed to $6.24 billion. And the biggest winner among shareholders at Aramark, which Friday completed its first week as a newly private company? Neub ...

Shares in Sainsbury leapt on the announcement at first, valuing the supermarket company at some £9.7bn. But some analysts urged caution and said a conservative value would be nearer £7.5bn. Sainsbury issued a statement saying it noted the private equity announcement but "no proposal has been received". Private equity is flush with cash that is dying for a home. Retail companies are attractive beca ...

PARIS (AFX) - Paris shares remained up midafternoon as a positive opening on Wall St, following solid US job figures, helped preserve earlier gains, fuelled by speculation on retailers. At 4.09 pm the CAC-40 index was up 22.65 points or 0.40 pct at 5,684.90 on volume of 4.0 bln eur. On the Matif, February CAC-40 futures were trading up 21.5 or 0.38 pct at 5,691.5 while the euro was at 1.2976 usd ...

FRANKFURT (AFX) - German shares were higher in midafternoon trade, advancing towards their highest levels in six years, tracking early gains on Wall Street that were helped by data showing positive job creation in the US over the last three months, despite a turndown in January, dealers said. At 3.32 pm, the DAX was up 32.64 points or 0.48 pct at 6,883.92 after trading between 6,848.17 and 6,892. ...

NEW YORK (AFX) - The New York Stock Exchange, the world's biggest financial market, said Friday that its fourth quarter showed a profit following its acquisition of electronic market Archipelago. NYSE Group Inc., the exchange's parent company, said net income totaled $45.5 million, or 29 cents per share. This compared to a year-ago loss of $20.3 million, or 18 cents per share, when the exchange w ...

Shares in Sainsbury's have risen by 18% after a group of private equity investors said they were considering a takeover bid for the supermarket chain. CVC, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Blackstone said they were in the preliminary stages of assessing a possible bid for the UK firm. The speculation pushed Sainsbury's shares up to 526.5 pence, valuing the firm at about £9.7bn ($19bn). Sainsbury's is Britain's third-biggest grocery chain, after Tesco and Asda. The company is close to compl ...

This is Money2 February 2007 Supermarket group Sainsbury's emerged as a takeover target today after three private equity firms confirmed they were mulling a possible offer. TARGET: The supermarket could be ripe for a takeover. WANT TO KNOW MORE? MORE: Quality drive spurs Sainsbury's REPORT: Profits surge at Sainsbury's OTHER STORIES BA 'sorry'as profits dive Market report: Friday latest Yesterday's Trading: Fed chases the FTSE Bellway upbeat on strong order bo ...

CHIEF EXEC: Alwin ThompsonALWIN Thompson, the colourful executive chairman of north west cake maker Inter Link Foods, has been forced to quit on health grounds. It follows a steady decline in his health over the past 12 months, the AIM-listed company said in a statement. His deputy, Jeremy Hamer, has replaced him and he has resigned as a director of the business he co-founded in 1994. Advertisement your story continues below Mr Hamer said: "This is a very sad day for Inter Link Foods, but ...