** EUROPEAN WRAP **
| ** EUROPEAN MARKETS ** | ||||||
| S&P future -0,06%; Bund future 0,02%; Crude future 68,29; �/$ 1,2106; Gold 562,16 | ||||||
** TRADING HEADLINES **
- Holcim Offers $1 Billion for Control of Gujarat Ambuja to Expand in India
- Mittal Surprises Dad With Arcelor Bid, Leaves Chinese Market Unconquered
- Deutsche Bank Leads Private Equity Advisers as Deals Soar to $246 Billion
- UPM, Stora May Report Fourth-Quarter Loss on Price Drop, Costs to Cut Jobs
- ECB May Keep Benchmark Rate Unchanged Next Month, Economists’ Survey Shows
- ABN Amro May Say Its Fourth-Quarter Profit Declined as U.S. Earnings Drop
- Dollar May Rise on Expectations Reports Will Signal Expansion, Higher Rate
- Gold May Rise for Second Week as Higher Oil Prices Spur Inflation Concerns
- Ericsson May Report Record Earnings on Network Demand in Russia, China
- European Growth Stocks May Start Beating Market as Profit Outlook Worsens
** IN PLAY TODAY **
- Arcelor rejected the hostile takeover bid by rival Mittal Steel, Le Monde reports Arcelor is turning to politicians and labor unions to help it fend off the bid. The state of Luxembourg owns a 5.6% stake in Arcelor. EU Commissionar Kroes said in Davos that the transaction is unlikely to be of concern to competition regulators. Both companies will hold press conferences today.
- According to The Independent, GlaxoSmithKline has emerged as thet favourite to buy Serono (Europe’s largest biotech firm) for $12bn as Novartis CEO signaled that he would be cautious about acquisitions.
- The Sunday Times said that private equity group Pemrira Advisors is planning a GBP 800m taekover bid for HMV (retailer of books, music & videos).
- ENI, Italy’s largest gas company, said that it was getting less natural gas than requested from Russian Gazprom for a 12th consecutive day amid freezing temperatures in Eastern Europe.
- The CEO of BOC Group said Germany’s Linde must raise its $13.4bn bid, guarantee funding and overcome regulation uncertainties, the CEO told The Observer stating that he has no idea if Linde would renew its bid.
- Deutsche Postbank beat its target of winning at least 600,000 new customers in 2005 the bank’s chief executive officer told German weekly magazine Euro am Sonntag in an interview.
- SBM Offshore is scheduled to report fourth- quarter and full-year 2005 earnings figures.
- Fiat may report fourth-quarter net income today of 124 million euros ($152.4 million), which compares with a loss of 374 million euros a year earlier, according to the median estimates of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
- Sales updates today from Vivendi (expected to increase to EUR 5.52bn in 4Q2005) and Sanofi-Aventis (expected 4Q sales increase to EUR 7.12bn )
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