4th Jun 2018 11:07
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Monday.----------COMPANIES----------DS Smith Group said it is set to acquire Spanish-listed packaging business Papeles y Cartones de Europa, funding the acquisition through a rights issue. The acquisition prices the Spanish company, also known as Europac, at EUR16.80 per share, valuing it at a total of EUR1.67 billion. For 2017, Europac reported revenue of EUR868 million and earnings before interest, tax, deprecation and amortisation of EUR158 million. To fund the acquisition, DS Smith plans to raise GBP1.00 billion through a rights issue to be launched this month, and a new debt facility of EUR740 million. The rights issue is fully underwritten by Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan and has not yet been priced.----------Clydesdale & Yorkshire Bank owner CYBG confirmed it has upped its offer for rival lender Virgin Money Holdings. The revised offer will increase Virgin Money shareholders' interest in the combined company to 38%, up from 36.5%. The new offer was upped to 1.2125 CYBG shares for each Virgin Money share from 1.1297 CYBG shares for each Virgin Money share. As a result, the Panel on Takeovers & Mergers has granted an extension to June 18 for CYBG to announce a firm intention to make an offer. The two companies said "discussions are ongoing regarding other terms and conditions of the proposed combination". ----------Rolls-Royce Holdings said it completed the sale of its fuel injector business, L'Orange, to US-based Woodward. Net proceeds from the sale totalled EUR673 million after transaction costs and other adjustments, the jet engine and power turbine company said. In announcing the agreement back in April, Rolls-Royce had said the deal gave L'Orange an enterprise value of EUR700 million.----------Italian bank UniCredit is considering a merger with France's Societe Generale, the Financial Times reported. While no formal offer has yet been made, officials from both banks are in the early stages of talks, the newspaper said. UniCredit CEO Jean-Pierre Mustier, who is French and a former SocGen executive, has been developing the plan for months, the FT said. UniCredit and SocGen are among Europe's biggest banks, each with a market cap of around EUR32 billion.----------MARKETS----------London shares were higher with DS Smith leading the blue chip risers up 3.3%. The pound was firm against the dollar following positive UK construction PMI data. Wall Street was pointed to a higher open following upbeat US unemployment data on Friday and as US President Donald Trump revealed that his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is back on.----------FTSE 100: up 0.7% at 7,753.06FTSE 250: up 0.4% at 21,074.06AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 1,086.30GBP: firm at USD1.3395 (USD1.3350)EUR: up at USD1.1727 (USD1.1672)GOLD: soft at USD1,294.43 per ounce (USD1,296.86)OIL (Brent): flat at USD76.47 a barrel (USD76.43)(changes since previous London equities close)----------ECONOMICS AND GENERAL----------UK construction activity growth remained stable in May, survey data from IHS Markit and Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply showed. The construction Purchasing Managers' Index held steady at 52.5 in May. A score above 50 indicates expansion. Economists had forecast the index to drop to 51.8. Some firms suggested that unusually good weather conditions had supported activity and enabled them to continue catching up after prior months' weather related disruptions.----------Eurozone investor sentiment deteriorated sharply in June largely reflecting political uncertainties in Italy, survey data from think tank Sentix showed. The investor confidence index slid to 9.3 in June from 19.2 in May. This was the lowest score since October 2016 and below the expected level of 19.0. The current situation index declined to 34.5, the weakest since April 2017, from 42.8 a month ago. At the same time, the expectations index came in at -13.3, the lowest since August 2012, versus -2 in May. Investors still hope that the world's trade dispute with the US will not get out of hand, data showed.----------US President Donald Trump still has time to avoid a trade war over tariff hikes aimed at Canada, the EU and Mexico, G7 finance ministers said at a meeting in the Canadian ski resort town of Whistler. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was clearly told that it is now up to the US to smooth things over and avoid a trade war, diplomats said after the meetings ahead of the main G7 summit in Canada next week. "We still have a few days to take the necessary steps to avoid a trade war between the EU and the US, and to avoid a trade war among G7 members," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters. Canada and the EU have both filed cases at the World Trade Organization challenging tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium imports to the US announced by Trump on Thursday. Mexico is also affected by the tariffs. Canada has threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs on the US on items including agricultural products, which could hit rural areas of the US, where Trump has many supporters. The EU has said the bloc will also apply tariffs in retaliation.----------China warned at the end of a top-level meeting with US trade officials Sunday that deals will not take effect if Washington goes ahead and enacts tariffs on Chinese imports. The statement came an hour after a meeting between US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He aimed at finding ways to narrow the countries' trade deficit. Ross, who arrived Saturday in Beijing for two days of talks, said at the beginning of the meeting he had had "friendly and frank" discussions about specific export items with Chinese officials. But after the two teams wrapped up discussions at the Diaoyutai state guesthouse, they left without making any statements to journalists. China's state-run Xinhua news agency later published a Chinese government statement that the two sides had made "positive and concrete progress" and had had "good communication" in areas such as agriculture and energy. Nevertheless, the deals negotiated by the two teams "will not take effect" if the US enacts threatened tariffs on Chinese imports, Xinhua said.----------North Korea should not be rewarded simply for agreeing to participate in dialogue about its nuclear weapons programme, the Japanese defence minister said on Saturday. "In light of how North Korea behaved in the past, it is important not to reward it solely for agreeing to have dialogue," Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said. Onodera made the comments during a plenary session at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an international security forum in Singapore. After days of back and forth, US President Trump announced on Friday that he would meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12 to discuss nuclear disarmament. Just eight days earlier, Trump abruptly withdrew from the meeting, citing Pyongyang's "open hostility".----------
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