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’On the back of a (plain) fag packet
Attention, traders, brokers, entrepreneurs and financiers — there could soon be plenty more space to scribble things on the back of a fag packet.
Speculation is mounting that the coalition could announce – as soon as next week – plans for generic (or plain) packing for cigarette packs.
Peak smokes
Citigroup downgraded three large-cap tobacco stocks (Philip Morris, Imperial Tobacco, BAT) on Friday.
Some parts of their reasoning were… unusually existential for equity analysis. Historic, even.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- Telefónica strikes €7.5bn deal to buy Vivo from Portugal Telecom — reports.
- Apollo makes revised £10.75 offer per share for Brit Insurance — statement.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- Centrica to invest ₤725m to build offshore wind farms – statement.
- Nic Nicandrou joins Prudential as Chief Financial Officer from Aviva – statement.
- Astrazeneca says it has withdrawn regulatory submissions for certain uses of its Zactima treatment – statement.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- Richard Burrows appointed non-executive director at British American Tobacco – statement.
- Corporate: Ithaca Energy, Care, Electronic Data Processing, Venture Production,
CDS report: G20 fails to soothe sentiment
European credit spreads widened to their highest levels in two weeks on Monday after the G20 summit provided no balm for bruised credit investor sentiment.
Meanwhile, bankers at Citi and JP Morgan braced themselves for a further swing of the axe,
Snap news
The latest on Tuesday,
- Schroders funds under management fall by £15bn to £114.7bn – statement
- Lloyds of London says performance in line, central asset reserves increase slightly – statement
- British American Tobacco obtains permission for listing of shares on JSE South Africa – statement
- Bateman Litwin to breach banking covenants,
CDS report: Invensys tighter on takeover talk
The upbeat mood in the European credit derivatives markets quickly disappeared on Thursday morning, with indices moving slightly wider from opening levels.
The iTraxx Crossover index of junk-rated credits opened tighter at 195.5 basis points,
BAT in talks with private equity over Altadis bid
BAT is in talks with private equity firms over a possible bid for Altadis, reports The Times. The talks are thought to be with CVC Capital, Cinven and PAI, the French buyout group, all of which are known to be interested in all or part of Altadis’s business.
Private equity groups work on break-up plans for Altadis
Several private equity groups considering bids for Altadis, the Franco-Spanish tobacco company, are working on break-up plans which they hope will give them the edge over Imperial Tobacco, whose £8bn offer for Altadis two weeks ago was rebuffed,
Altadis told to accept Imperial’s offer in absence of other bids
Three of Altadis’s largest shareholders have instructed the board of the Spanish company to accept a revised offer from Imperial Tobacco if a rival bidder does not emerge soon, reports The Times. The US investment managers Franklin,
Markets Live at 11am — furious speculation over tobacco consolidation
The sun’s out and stocks are up in London. A strong, across-the-board rally on Thursday has taken the FTSE 100 comfortably away from the 6000 level that was very nearly broken at the close on Wednesday.
For Turkey’s Tekel tobacco, there’s smoke but no sale
For the third time since 2003, Turkey appears to have cancelled the sale of its state-run Tekel tobacco business, a move which could jeopardise a potential $1bn bid from British American Tobacco,
BAT mulls $1bn bid for Turkey’s Tekel tobacco
British American Tobacco is considering a bid for Turkey’s state-owned tobacco company, which could be put up for sale as early as next month, The Times reported on Monday.
A spokesman for BAT, the world’s second-largest tobacco company,