Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with words plc+shares. 3 news.

UK Coal Plc, Britain's largest supplier of the fuel, advanced the most in more than seven years in London trading after it received an approach for its mining and power generation assets. Austria's Meinl International Power Ltd asked for a meeting with UK Coal or its advisers next year, the Sunday Times said, citing a letter Meinl sent to the mining company. Discussions aren't expected, Doncaster, England-based UK Coal said yesterday in a statement distributed by the Regulatory News Service, according to Bloomberg News. It didn't identify who made the approach. The shares jumped as much as 23 percent. "There's a lot of value to be had from the mining business and I'm not certain an offer would reflect that potential," Charles Kernot, an analyst at Seymour Pierce in London, said in an interview. "UK Coal has looked into splitting the property and mining businesses and concluded that it's not in the best interests of shareholders." Coal prices have risen to

CARPETRIGHT Plc, the UK's largest carpet retailer, dropped to a four-year low in London trading after managers led by Chairman Philip Harris scrapped their 630 million-pound (US$1.2 billion) plan to buy the company. The shares fell as much as 11 percent to 785 pence in London, heading for the lowest close since December 15, 2003. They slid 18 percent on December 21 after the Rainham, England-based company said discussions had ceased, citing deteriorating credit markets. The announcement was made about two minutes before trading ended. Turmoil in the credit markets hampered the executives' ability to secure funding, Harris said. Bloomberg News reported the pace of takeovers worldwide had fallen by about a third since the end of the second quarter, with companies such as Virgin Media Inc and Cadbury Schweppes Plc delaying asset sales amid signs economic growth in countries from the US to Britain is ebbing. "The prospects for the group are undiminished given its market leading

TEMASEK Holdings Pte, the biggest shareholder in Standard Chartered Plc, increased its stake in the UK bank by one percentage point to 18 percent, helping it boost banking investments in its US$100 billion portfolio. The Singapore sovereign wealth fund has been raising its stake in Standard Chartered since it first bought a 12 percent holding more than a year ago, Bloomberg News reported. Temasek bought 12 million shares to lift its stake to 253.7 million shares, the bank said in a filing on December 21. The additional shares are worth 220 million pounds (US$437 million) at that day's closing price of 1,835 pence. Set up in 1974 to run state assets, Temasek's financial services investments now include India's ICICI Bank Ltd and Bank of China Ltd, as well as a controlling stake in DBS Group Holdings Ltd, Southeast Asia's biggest bank. It may also invest US$5 billion in Merrill Lynch & Co, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. "Most of Temasek's investments in the