Buyers are scrambling to find anything with the slightest chance of being bid for after Reckitt Benckiser snapped up SSL this morning for Ł2.5bn.
Footsie is up by nearly 80 points so far with only Lonmin and Smith & Nephew in red numbers.
Reckitt’s bid for SSL is a deal that had been rumoured for years, but with the bid for Tomkins and International Power deal on Monday, even the hoariest of takeover chestnuts are being dusted off and given an airing this morning. Invensys seems to be favourite at present.
Reckitt will pay SSL shareholders 1,163p per share with a final dividend taking the total up to 1,171p per share. The bid values SSL in total at Ł2.54bn. The offer price is a premium of a third to the closing price yesterday of SSL, which is known globally for its Durex and Scholl brands.
TUI Travel is another on the up on takeover talk, with TUI Ag said to be interested in tidying up its holdings in the travel operator.
Ocado has slashed the price at which shares grocery delivery group will be floated following widespread criticism of its initial flotation plans.
Shares in the company, which delivers groceries from the supermarket Waitrose, will be floated at 180p, right at the bottom end of the 180p to 200p range Ocado outlined yesterday. It had previously indicated a price range of 200p to 275p.
Embattled oil giant BP has done a deal to sell $7bn of upstream assets in the United States, Canada and Egypt to Apache Corporation. Assets include its Permian Basin assets in Texas and south-east New Mexico. BP said the sales are part of its plan to raise $10bn by offloading non-core assets to cover claims made following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
US authorities have told British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia they are free to run a joint business on transatlantic flights after granting the trio anti-trust immunity. Regulatory approval from the US Department of Transportation following the green light from Europe last week, paves the way for the launch of the transatlantic tripartite this autumn.
Platinum refiner Johnson Matthey has had a strong start to the financial year, but the company, which sells catalysts for cars, warned that second quarter results may be affected by reduced consumer confidence. Shares in kitchen and joinery group Galiform rallied as sales bounced back strongly from the cold spell at the start of the year. Profits in the half year to June jumped from Ł4.7m to Ł21.6m, on sales of Ł325m up from Ł317m.
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