Hat tip to Bryce Elder, the stock market reporter over at the Financial Times.
Bryce led on rumours about a bid for Catlin in his market report today and - surprise, surprise - the Lloyd's of London insurer later confirmed it had received a £2.6 billion approach from US-listed XL Group. Here is a link to a confirmation of Bryce's top tale: http://www.investegate.co.uk/Index.aspx?searchtype=2&words=Catlin
For anybody wondering why it took until 13:20 for Catlin to confirm it had received an approach, I am told it's because the company is registered in Bermuda so technically doesn't fall under the Takeover Panel's jurisdiction and therefore doesn't have to adhere to all Panel rules like most London-listed businesses.
On another note, Bloomberg reported this afternoon that Shire is weighing a fresh multi-billion pound takeover bid for US-based biopharmaceutical company NPS, sending the shares 20pc higher in afternoon trade. Here is a link to the Bloomberg piece: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-17/shire-said-to-weigh-offer-for-nps-as-it-revisits-deals.html
I think I mentioned in a piece for The Sunday Times in October that Shire would revisit plans to buy NPS and Cubist after the AbbVie deal fell through. Here is a link to that piece:
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/Companies/article1472664.ece
However, to be totally honest it was actually Bryce's colleagues on FT Alphaville (or possibly Bryce himself?) that first broke the story about the London-listed company's interest in NPS back in May before AbbVie's bid for Shire had became public. Here is a link to FT Alphaville's original piece:
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2014/05/30/1866232/nps-pharma-a-suitable-fit-for-shire/
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