Business news with words analyst+billion+phone. 5 news.

VIVENDI'S SA's SFR phone unit has offered to buy the rest of Neuf Cegetel for 4.5 billion euros (US$6.5 billion) to challenge France Telecom SA in the market for combined fixed-line, Internet and mobile services. SFR, which owns 40.5 percent of Neuf, will pay 34.50 euros a share for the 29.5 percent stake held by Louis Dreyfus & Cie, the commodities firm that helped found Neuf a decade ago, Bloomberg News reported. SFR will bid 36.50 euros for the remaining shares in the market. The prices include the 2007 dividend. The acquisition of Neuf Cegetel, France's second-largest fixed-line phone company, adds 3.1 million high-speed Internet customers for SFR and more than 3 billion euros in annual revenue. SFR, Vivendi's largest business, has about 34 percent of the French mobile market, compared with France Telecom's 45 percent. "This would create a more formidable competitor," Jerry Bellman, analyst at Kepler Equities in Paris, said. "For SFR this is a defensive move,

DEUTSCHE Telekom AG, Europe's biggest phone company, rose in German trading yesterday after the former monopoly unexpectedly said it will increase its dividend for the first time in two years. Deutsche Telekom gained 1.7 percent on the Frankfurt exchange. The payout will jump to 3.4 billion euros (US$5 billion), or 78 cents a share, for 2007, from 3.1 billion euros, or 72 cents, a year earlier, Chief Financial Officer Karl-Gerhard Eick told Bloomberg News late Thursday. The increase underscores Chief Executive Officer Rene Obermann's efforts to boost the attractiveness of Bonn-based Deutsche Telekom's stock, which has lagged behind Telefonica SA and Vodafone Group Plc. This week, France Telecom SA said it won't raise the portion of cash flow budgeted as dividends, and its stock fell 4.2 percent in one day. Dexia Bank NV analyst Rob Goyens said he will keep his "add" rating on Deutsche Telekom stock and increase his price estimate. "It's a nice

Are potential suitors burning up the phone lines at Sprint Nextel? At least one analyst doesn’t think so, and investors seem to have their doubts as well. Just a few months ago, when deal-making was rampant, reports that SK Telecom and Providence Equity Partners had offered to invest $5 billion in Sprint Nextel could easily have [...]

SHARES in ZTE Corp surged by the 10 percent daily cap yesterday after it announced shareholders' approval to sell four billion yuan (US$526.3 million) in bonds to finance third-generation telephony development. Shenzhen-listed ZTE jumped 10 percent to 58.19 yuan, although the Shenzhen Composite Index dropped by 0.45 percent yesterday. "The big-cap 3G-related shares, such as China Unicom and ZTE, are expected to benefit from the coming 3G, and they are favored by investors," Yue Congzhong, an analyst at Zhongshan Securities, said in a recent note, who set ZTE's price target above 60 yuan. ZTE will raise four billion yuan through the sale of five-year convertible bonds to finance research, manufacture and construction of 11 projects, including a home-grown TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) phone and a new handset platform. ZTE, the biggest public telecommunications equipment vendor in China, got the lion's share of China Mobile's

CITIGROUP Inc and Merrill Lynch & Co yesterday bought five percent stakes in the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd to tap the threefold growth in trade last year on the world's third-largest gold bourse. The exchange, known as MCX, sold smaller stakes to Passport Capital and GLG Partners LP, Joseph Massey, deputy managing director of the Mumbai-based company, said yesterday. The total sale is worth about 6.45 billion rupees (US$162 million), according to Bloomberg News. Overseas investors including Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Fidelity International Ltd have invested in Indian markets as the fastest pace of economic growth since independence in 1947 spurs demand for commodities in the world's second-largest sugar and rice producer. "The foreign companies will bring in their expertise from overseas and help enhance the Indian commodity market," Amol Tilak, an analyst at Kotak Commodity Services Ltd, said by phone from Mumbai. "It's a good time to be in." The value of trading on MCX, which also trades commodities such as mentha oil, jute and turmeric, surged to 20.25 trillion rupees in the year ending 2006 from 6.3 trillion rupees in 2005. Domestic traders and companies are the main participants on Indian commodity exchanges, compared with the 13 million individual investors - three times the population of Singapore - who invest in stocks. The South Asian nation opened up its stock markets to foreigners in 1993. MCX was inaugurated in November 2003, according to its Website. Jignesh Shah, managing director of MCX, said in January that overseas capital was essential for Indian commodity markets to become globally competitive. "Overseas participants are exuberant over the prospects for commodity exchanges in India," said Avinash Raheja, senior vice president at Mumbai-based Commtrendz Risk Management Services Pvt. "The market has done well in a very short period and for the next phase of growth we need the market to open up." Passport Capital bought a three percent stake in MCX and GLG Partners LP purchased three percent. Goldman acquired a seven percent holding in the National Commodities & Derivatives Exchange Ltd last year and Fidelity owns nine percent of MCX. Fidelity, a unit of Boston-based Fidelity Investments, the world's largest mutual-fund company, paid US$49 million for its stake in MCX and Goldman paid US$21 million for its holding.