A round up of the top news and views on FT Alphaville and FT.com as at noon, London time.
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On FT Alphaville this morning,
- Arcelor-Mittal, Lakshmi Mittal’s steel empire, is understood to be eyeing AK Steel, its smaller Ohio-based rival. The deal is likely to value AK, which began life more than 100 years ago as American Rolling Mills Corporation, at as much as $40 per share, or just under $4.5bn, FT Alphaville understands.
- Takeover talks between Thomson Corporation and Reuters were clearly much more advanced than was generally realised on Friday. On Tuesday, while warning that this was a complex transaction that could yet fail to materialise, a joint statement from the two companies set out their plans in some detail.
- Those intrigued by news that Thomson and Reuters are discussing a dual listed structure for their planned merger were also treated to a handy little guide prepared by the FT’s Maggie Urry. FT Alphaville readers were also made privy to the message sent by Reuters CEO - and potential future Thomson-Reuters boss - Tom Glocer to his troops.
- Meanwhile, BAE Systems said on Tuesday it would help fund its $4.1bn purchase of Humvee maker Armor Holdings with a £750m share placing.
- Gotta healthy appetite for risk? Backers of Lord Jacob Rothschild and Richard Horlick, the former head of investments at Schroders, certainly have. Spencer House Capital Management, their asset management boutique set up last year, has seen rather better-than-expected demand for its new Kazakh quasi-hedge fund — formed as a joint venture with a local Kazakhstani manager called Visor Holdings.
On FT.com this morning,
- London equities eased back from a six-year high on Tuesday despite strong gains for Reuters. The news and information group added to Friday’s sharp rise after it revealed details of a planned deal with Thomson Financial of Canada. Having closed at its highest level since September 2000 on Friday, the FTSE 100 was down 36.3 points to 6,567.4 in late morning trade.
- Standard Life reported above consensus new business results for the first quarter and said second-quarter sales were maintaining the momentum. The pensions and insurance provider said worldwide life and pensions sales rose 40 per cent to some £3.9bn. Most of the group’s business is done in the UK where sales rose 52 per cent to over £3.2bn.
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