Business news with words deal+shares. 60 or more news.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Workstream Inc. said Monday it received an unsolicited offer from a U.S.-based payroll business to determine the viability of a merger between the two companies. Any deal will be subject to the standard conditions including the completion of due diligence, regulatory approval, shareholder approval, board approval and the required valuations, Workstream said. Shares last traded at about 65 cents each.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Europe stocks weakened out of the gate on Monday, a half-day of trade ahead of the New Year's holiday. Air France-KLM shares rose 1% in early trading Monday, following Friday's news that it's the preferred bidder to buy Alitalia . Cairn Energy , the Scottish oil explorer that surged last week on the back of deal speculation, strong oil prices and its re-entry into the FTSE 100, slipped 1.6%. London Scottish Bank tumbled over 16% after taking a provision and warning it won't be able to pay its final dividend. The FTSE 100 slipped 0.2% to 6,462.70 in London and the CAC 40 dipped 0.2% to 5,616.79 in Paris. German and Swiss markets were shut.

Finish Line shares tumbled 25 percent to a down-at-the-heels $2.30 close, after a Tennessee judge ruled that the retailer must complete its $1.5 billion deal to buy Genesco. Finish Line's bank, UBS, tried to back out of financing the purchase...

CHINA'S securities watchdog has rejected Microsoft Corp's plan to acquire a stake in Sichuan Changhong Electric Co. Changhong, China's second-largest television set maker, told the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday that the China Securities Regulatory Commission had blocked its plan to sell new shares to investors, including Microsoft. The plan was submitted to the regulator on Thursday. Shanghai Daily's calls to Changhong for comment were not answered. Microsoft has agreed pay 94 million yuan (US$12.84 million) for a stake in Changhong after the Chinese company revealed the plan to sell 400 million shares at 6.27 yuan to 10 institutional investors in April. Under the deal, the world's biggest software maker will buy 15 million newly issued Changhong shares at 6.27 yuan for a one percent-stake in the TV maker in Sichuan Province. Both companies will join a Media Galaxy project to develop, produce and market TVs, computers, and other digital entertainment products that would

Japan Tobacco said Thursday its tender offer for shares of scandal-ridden Katokichi was successful in a deal worth 102.14 billion yen (US$894.4 million; euro621.2 million) that will create Japan's biggest frozen food maker.

CHINA Merchants Securities increased its stake in Bosera Asset Management to 73 percent in a 6.32-billion-yuan (US$854 million) deal, Bosera said in a statement late on Wednesday. China Merchants paid 130 yuan per share to buy an additional 48 percent of Bosera from Kinghing Trust & Investment Co Ltd. With the deal, China Merchants also set a record for the biggest purchase of a stake in the fund industry. The previous record was set in October by Shanxi Haixin Group when it paid 1.18 billion yuan, or 56.20 yuan per share, to buy a 21-percent stake in Yinhua Fund Management Co Ltd. Kinghing Trust & Investment Co Ltd was shut down in 2006 for violating rules and bad management. The securities regulator announced it would auction Kinghing's shares in Bosera on November 19. "The move shows the ambition of China Merchants to expand and its confidence on the prospect of China's fund industry," said Zhang Qi, an analyst with Haitong Securities Co. "The share price for

Taishin Financial proposed swapping 1.3 of its shares for each of Chang Hwa's to complete its takeover of the lender.

Sallie Mae said it plans to sell about $2.5 billion of stock and mandatory convertible securities to help pay off derivatives contracts that amounted to a bet that its share price would keep increasing. The deal will boost the number of shares the...

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Assured Guaranty Ltd., the Hamilton, Bermuda, financial-services provider, said it closed a public offering of 12.5 million shares at $25.50 each. The sale reflected nearly 11.8 million shares in the original offering plus 720,000 more shares on which the underwriters took an option. Net proceeds total $304 million. Banc of America Securities and Merrill Lynch jointly ran the books for the deal. A reinsurance subsidiary will use the funds to pursue opportunities, Assured Guaranty said.

DOMESTIC carriers are anxiously awaiting China Eastern Airlines' shareholder meeting on January 8, as the result will indicate the future direction of the aviation industry. China Eastern and Singapore Airlines have fallen in "bitter love" since they signed a cooperation deal last month. Under the terms of the deal, Singapore Airlines will spend HK$4.7 billion (US$602 million) to buy a 16-percent stake in China Eastern, and its parent Temasek Holdings Pte will buy an 8.3-percent stake for HK$2.5 billion at HK$3.80 a share. China Eastern's parent will buy 1.1 billion new shares for HK$4.18 billion to maintain a majority stake. However, the deal requires approval from minority shareholders, including Air China, once a bidder for China Eastern. Air China, the country's flagship international carrier, hasn't declared whether it will accept or veto the deal. Xia Fulu, analyst of Industrial Securities, said Air China dreams of becoming one of the top 10 carriers in the

SHANGHAI Automotive Industry Corp (Group) today signed a deal to buy Nanjing Automobile Group Corp's auto-assembly and component-making businesses and become China's biggest auto maker. SAIC Motor Corp, the listed unit of Shanghai Auto, gave 320 million shares of SAIC Motor and 2.1 billion yuan (US$286 million) to buy the assets, the two companies said in a signing ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The 320 million shares account for 4.88 percent of SAIC's total shares. The duo also agreed to set up a joint venture to oversee other businesses of Nanjing Auto, including services, trade and assets, the two companies said in a statement. Nanjing Auto will own 25 percent of the joint venture Dong Hua Co, according to the statement. "Both sides will complement each other as well as share their resources in terms of funding, research and development, marketing, manufacturing and procurement,'' the statement said. The deal will boost the combined sales of

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Kansai Electric Power Co. and Sumitomo Corp. will join forces with Kazakhstan's state-owned Kazatomprom to process uranium ore into nuclear fuel for power generation, according to reports. Japanese firm Nuclear Fuel Industries Ltd. will also be involved in the project, which is due to be formally announced in Kazakhstan later Wednesday, the Nikkei business daily reported. Under the agreement, Kanasai Electric and Sumitomo will provide funding to help cover the 70 billion yen ($613 million) to 80 billion yen needed to upgrade a Soviet-era facility in Kazakhstan to enrich uranium ore into a form that can be used in commercial reactors. Kansai Electric and Sumitomo are also to provide expertise in modifying the facility for its new role, the report said. Shares of Sumitomo climbed 1.2% and Kansai Electric Power fell 1.5%.

Shares rose on Monday after an investment deal raised hopes that wealthy foreign investors would come to the rescue of America's ailing investment firms.

FRENCH cookware producer Groupe SEB has completed a partial tender offer for Zhejiang Supor Cookware Co, China's largest producer of kitchen appliances. The two companies will finish the settlement within this week, Supor said. Under the deal, SEB paid 2.3 billion yuan (US$312 million) to buy a maximum of 49.1 million shares at 47 yuan per share from the public to boost its stake in Supor from 30 percent to 52.74 percent. Seb's investment in Supor, worth a total of 327 million euros (US$469.8 million), will give it access to a sales network across China and localize its production to increase price competitiveness. SEB, which makes Tefal cookware, announced plans to buy 61 percent of Supor last year but the acquisition drew opposition from China's cookware industry amid worries of a monopoly being created. In April, the Ministry of Commerce gave a green light to SEB's plan after a public hearing for more open competition in China's non-strategic industry. Construction on

CHINA Oilfield Services Ltd, a unit of the nation's third-largest oil producer, won a contract to supply four drilling rigs to Libya for about US$100 million. China Oilfield will deliver two 7,000-meter and two 5,000-meter drilling rigs over three years starting in March, the Beijing-based company said on its Website today. The oil and gas services company, whose main customer is CNOOC Ltd, aims to expand both at home and abroad to benefit from increased exploration spending after oil prices surged. "This is the company's first overseas onshore drilling contract," Yuan Guangyu, vice chairman of China Oilfield, said. "We see Libya as the starting point to expand our broad range of oil field services to overseas markets such as the Middle East and north Africa." China Oilfield shares rose 6.7 percent to HK$17.92 at the Hong Kong stock exchange's close at 12:30pm.

SICHUAN Changhong Electric Co, China's second-biggest TV maker, has grabbed the lion's share of government-financed home appliance sales in rural areas. China promised to give farmers subsidies, about 13 percent, for buying household electrical appliances, in a bid to stimulate sluggish rural consumption and reduce the rising trade surplus, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Commerce said over the weekend. "We are a major player in the deal and we occupy at least 50 percent shares of the TV sales (in the subsided sales in the rural areas)," Chen Ning, Changhong's vice president, told Shanghai Daily yesterday. Changhong will provide TVs, which costs less than 1,500 yuan (US$202) each, and some mobile phones for the subsidized purchase program. The pilot program will be launched in Shandong, Henan and Sichuan, the three major agricultural provinces, according to Chen. Farmers in the provinces can buy color TV sets, refrigerators and mobile phones with

European markets ended slightly higher the day before Christmas, as miners and deal speculation buoyed shares.

FRENCH cookware producer Groupe SEB has completed a partial tender offer for Zhejiang Supor Cookware Co, China's biggest producer of kitchen appliances. The two companies will settle the deal this week, Supor said. Under the deal, SEB will pay 2.3 billion yuan for a maximum of 49.1 million shares at 47 yuan a share from the public to boost its stake in Supor from 30 percent to 52.74 percent. Seb's investment in Supor, worth a total of 327 million euros, will give it access to a sales network across China and localize its production to increase price competitiveness. SEB, which makes Tefal cookware, announced plans to buy 61 percent of Supor last year but the acquisition drew opposition from China's cookware industry amid worries of a monopoly being created. In April, the Ministry of Commerce gave a green light to SEB's plan after a public hearing for more open competition in China's non-strategic industry. Supor's US$15-million factory in Vietnam, designed to produce 7.9

Analysts predict that next year’s initial public offerings will include a steady stream of activity, including credit card issuer Visa’s $10 billion I.P.O., Reuters reported. Visa, the biggest deal so far in 2008, is coming to market after MasterCard’s stellar $2.4 billion 2006 I.P.O. The company said late on Friday its plans to list the shares [...]

European markets rose slightly the morning before Christmas, as miners and deal speculation buoyed shares.