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Friday newspaper round-up: Dana Petroleum, Datacash, Ocado
Thu, 09 Feb, 2012
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Friday newspaper round-up: Dana Petroleum, Datacash, Ocado
Fri, 20 Aug 2010, 05:52:00
South Korea's national oil company was on Thursday night on the brink of launching a £1.67bn hostile takeover bid for
Dana Petroleum
that could be announced as early as Friday, reports the FT. The move would mark the first time an Asian state-owned oil company has made a hostile approach in the UK, and signals an unexpected shift in the battle for overseas reserves by the region's national oil companies. The chairman of the
DataCash
payment processors is almost £144m better off today after his company bowed to a £333m takeover by MasterCard. Besides Ashley Head, who has a 43.3 per cent holding in the business, other winners from the deal include Gavin Breeze, the company's co-founder and business development director, whose holding is valued at £28.5m, writes the Times. Asda will take on
Ocado
in its own backyard on Monday when it opens a warehouse dedicated to internet orders that will provide a bridgehead for expansion in the South of England. The so-called dark store in Enfield, North London, will help Asda to gain market share within the M25, where only 27 of its 377 stores are located, reports the Times. A £1.3bn tax incentive designed to foster pioneering research in Britain could be scrapped by the Government, The Times has learnt. The so-called patent box, which was introduced to encourage research, is being questioned in the Treasury. Abandoning the patent box would alienate pharmaceutical giants including
GlaxoSmithKline
(GSK), which is understood to be lobbying intensively for the scheme to proceed. The boss of another company that has attracted the interest of a predator,
PotashCorp
, stands to make at least $370m (€288.7m) if
BHP Billiton
succeeds in taking over the company for $130 a share and possibly more if market expectations of a rising offer price prove accurate. Bill Doyle, chief executive since 1999, has amassed ordinary shares and options that are worth $372m at BHP Billiton's opening bid, according to a calculation by the Financial Times. Canadian investors yesterday pressed BHP Billiton to increase its now hostile offer for PotashCorp, warning that the mining giant's $130-a-share bid for the fertiliser company would be insufficient. Shares in PotashCorp climbed as high as $147 yesterday as investors bet on the Anglo-Australian group raising its bid, the Independent writes. UK
wheat
stocks are 19pc lower than last year, but still far higher than in June 2008, when food prices last peaked. Stocks of home-grown wheat held in Britain's ports, merchants and co-ops fell to 719,000 tonnes at the end of June, from 885,000 tonnes last year, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Telegraph reports. The European Commission has approved the next €9bn (£7.4bn) tranche of loans for
Greece
but the underlying economy continues to deteriorate as Greek banks suffer a record loss of deposits and output contracts at a quickening pace, according to the Telegraph. A report by HSBC said banks had lost 8pc of their entire deposit base in the five months to May. "The Greek market has never, since the first data in 2001, experienced such attrition," said banking analyst Joanna Telioudi. Britain was given four reasons to cheer on Thursday as a slew of upbeat
economic data
raised hopes that the recovery is here to stay. Figures on retail sales, public debt, business confidence and mortgage lending all beat expectations - reducing fears of a double-dip recession. "This and other evidence suggest GDP growth got off to a good start in the third quarter," said Investec chief economist Philip Shaw, according to the Telegraph. Accountancy issues at
Connaught
are expected to have affected more than just the beleaguered property service group's social housing maintenance division, according to people familiar with the matter. The development may affect the ability of Connaught to sell off parts of its business, which is one of the potential options under consideration as part of the FTSE 250 company's talks with lenders over its debts, the FT reports. Climate change protesters set up camp close to the
Royal Bank of Scotland
headquarters yesterday, accusing the state-owned bank of using taxpayers' money to finance the fossil fuel industry. Activists expect up to a thousand protesters to join the camp just outside Edinburgh ahead of a planned day of mass action against RBS on Monday, the Independent says.
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