Business news with words plans+rival. 60 or more news.

NEW YORK -- While mutual funds are a staple of many 401(k) and other retirement plans, exchange-traded funds are likely to become serious competitors in the coming years.

Royal Dutch Shell is to shed thousands of jobs as Europe's largest oil company joins rival BP in trying to cut costs and simplify its structure

AUCKLAND International Airport Ltd, fighting a takeover offer from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, said a second group is considering a bid, sending shares of New Zealand's transport hub higher. The potential bidder indicated its interest in November and will have access to the airport's accounts, Chairman Tony Frankham said in a statement yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. The board opposes Canada Pension's US$1.4 billion offer for a 40-percent stake, which includes putting the airport's assets into a holding company and issuing new stock and convertible notes. The prospect of a rival bid may be enough to slow acceptances of the Canadian offer, which closes March 13. The board is seeking proposals from investors with more aviation experience than the Toronto-based fund manager and plans to begin assessing alternatives early in 2008, Frankham said. "You wonder if this is more a tactic from the airport board just trying to make the CPP bid seem less

It's official: Concert promotion behemoth Live Nation is ditching Barry Diller's Ticketmaster at the end of next year to start its own rival ticketing service. The company yesterday said it plans to start directly selling tickets to many of the...

SFR, the French mobile operator jointly owned by Vodafone and Vivendi, has agreed to increase its stake in its fixed-line rival Neuf Cegetel to 70 per cent and plans to buy out the company as it looks to strengthen its position to better compete with France Telecom.

YORKSHIRE residential letting specialist Linley & Simpson (L&S) has made an acquisition as it looks to drive its expansion plans forward.

LEADING Philippine food maker JG Summit Holdings Inc has invested up to US$30 million to build a biscuit plant in Shanghai, part of an aggressive plan to take on Nestle and Nabisco in China. The plant will begin production at the end of this month, making 10,000 tons of biscuits a year under the name Aces it acquired from a local rival in 2005, according to John Gokongwei Jr, the founder and chairman emeritus of JG Summit, yesterday. JG Summit also plans to make snack foods, cereals and instant coffee in China. "China's biscuits industry is very fragmented. There are really no global or nationally known brands and products," the 81-year old Chinese Filipino said. "But that will change. Big conglomerates will dominate the whole country in the coming years." The move extends JG Summit's competition against Nestle, Nabisco and Danone. Kraft, which has just acquired the biscuits business of Groupe Danone, also plans to step up efforts such as strengthening

South African media group Naspers has agreed to buy former dotcom darling QXL Ricardo, now known as Tradus, for £946m, as part of its strategy for internet expansion. Tradus, an online auctioneer which is principally based in Switzerland and Poland, first revealed it was in takeover talks on November 7, with US rival eBay and Chinese giant Alibaba.com tipped as mystery bidders. Naspers announced today that it plans to pay £18 a share for Tradus - a premium of just over 19pc to the group's closing share price on November 6. Tradus' shares jumped more than 9pc in early trading this morning,

Rexel, the French electrical equipment distributor, is expected to press ahead with its proposed ?3.1bn ($4.46bn) takeover offer for Dutch rival Hagemeyer

Japanese car giant Toyota Motor Corp. plans to raise its global output to near 10 million units next year, out-distancing its rival General Motors Corp. of the United States, a news report said Sunday.

JAPAN'S top car maker Toyota Motor Corp will raise its projected global production to almost 10 million vehicles next year and could soon outpace US rival General Motors Corp to become the world's biggest auto maker, a newspaper reported yesterday. Toyota plans to raise its output projection for 2008 to 9.95 million vehicles worldwide from 9.9 million projected for the current year, the Nikkei business newspaper said. It did not say where it got the information. The production increase reflects booming sales in China, the Middle East and other emerging economies, the Nikkei said. Toyota officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the report. Toyota reported in November its worldwide production totaled 7.05 million vehicles in the first nine months of this year, just short of 7.06 million vehicles sold by GM for the same period. Analysts expect Toyota to soon overtake GM as the world's biggest car maker, however, as the Japanese company gains global popularity

Virgin Money edged ahead in the race to secure stricken bank Northern Rock after rival bidder Olivant was told its rescue plans are up to £300m short

Yum Brands plans to emulate rival McDonald's in an effort to revive sales at its U.S. restaurants, including Taco Bell and Pizza Hut.

In search of life raft AMD, Intel's on-again, off-again rival, has given another example how it's mostly been off again over the past year, disclosing plans to take a "material" goodwill impairment charge for its $5.6bn acquisition of ATI Technologies.…

Rio Tinto calls for rival BHP Billiton to be forced to formalise its offer for the firm or withdraw its bid plans.

AIR China Ltd has no plans to acquire China Eastern Airlines Corp and its recent stake increase in the domestic rival doesn't reflect such a move, company secretary Huang Bin said yesterday. Air China's parent recently increased its holding in China Eastern's H-shares, which triggered speculation that the country's flagship international carrier hasn't given up its plan to trump the deal between China Eastern and Singapore Airlines. China National Aviation Holding Co raised its stake in China Eastern to 12.07 percent from 11.02 percent on November 29 at HK$7.585 a share for 4.28 million shares. Huang said a Hong Kong-based investment arm under the parent company increased the shares on its own initiative. China Eastern's board secretary, Luo Zhuping, said they have no worries about Air China's share increase and will operate normally. Luo said in another report that Air China can hold as much as five percent of China Eastern's shares in the secondary market, which means

The US private equity giant is in the middle of putting together a consortium - believed to include a Chinese sovereign wealth fund - to mount the bid for Rio, currently the target of an unwelcome approach by rival mining giant BHP Billiton.

Chairman Osamu Suzuki questions whether Tata's $3,000 car can meet standards, vowing to keep his Maruti brand working on more profitable models

China's biggest steel maker may be set to gatecrash BHP Billiton's $125bn (£61bn) bid for rival Rio Tinto.