Business news for Mon, 17 Dec 2007 & with word bid. 34 news.

AUSTRALIA'S largest retailer, Woolworths, says it will oppose the appeal by the New Zealand Commerce Commission (NZCC) against the NZ High Court's decision to allow the grocer to bid for The Warehouse Group.

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

(AP) -- An investment group that failed to complete its purchase of the Sparrows Point steel mill near Baltimore said Monday it expects to make another bid. E2 Acquisition Corp. has been encouraged by the United Steelworkers and the court-appointed trustee overseeing the Sparrows Point ...

Mike Ashley is engaged in talks with Nike as the US sportswear company tries to persuade the maverick entrepreneur not to block its agreed bid for Umbro, kit sponsor to the England football team

Scottish & Newcastle said it expected Carlsberg and Heineken to make a higher offer for the UK brewer as the UK's Takeover Panel told the continental consortium it had a month to launch a formal bid for S&N or walk away

AUCKLAND International Airport Ltd, New Zealand's busiest, told shareholders they should reject the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's NZ$1.8 billion (US$1.4 billion) bid for 40 percent of the company because it is too low. The offer, equivalent to NZ$3.66 a share and 34 percent more than the airport's stock price, doesn't fully reflect the value of the company, Chairman Tony Frankham said in a statement to the stock exchange yesterday, according to Bloomberg News. Canada Pension's bid follows the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan's purchase of four container terminals last year as fund managers seek infrastructure companies with stable earnings. Auckland Airport, with 70 percent of New Zealand's international tourist traffic, favors an investor that will pay more and has expertise in the industry. "There's still plenty of time until the offer closes and in the meantime there's the possibility they'll get a better cornerstone investor," said Alan Moore, who helps

AUSTRALIA'S competition watchdog said yesterday it had rejected a proposal led by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd to build a multi-billion-dollar high-speed broadband network in Australia. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission rejected the bid proposed by SingTel and eight other telecommunications groups, saying it did not have adequate audit mechanisms. "The undertaking gives the network owner a high degree of discretion in unilaterally determining non-price terms and conditions for the 15-year undertaking period, without independent regulatory review," ACCC Chairman Graeme Samuel said. "We could not accept so much discretion from a gas, electricity or rail firm. Access seekers would not know where they stood." The regulator, however, said it was generally comfortable with the pricing structured offered by the so-called "G9" consortium, and that it was open to receiving a revised proposal. David Tudehope, chief executive of

John McCain's bid for the Republican presidential nomination received a powerful endorsement from a former Democratic vice-presidential candidate

A consortium headed by Welsh entrepreneur Alfred Gooding met the Treasury to discuss whether it should re-enter the auction process for Northern Rock

BHP Billiton has suspended its $10bn on-market buy-back of its UK-listed shares until further notice, reflecting the fact that it is expected to make a bid for rival Rio Tinto

Chinese companies are increasingly using the country's influence and cash reserves to win lucrative supply contracts, often edging out local and western competitors

Treasury prices rallied Monday, as investors sought the safest available assets to stabilize portfolios ahead of a year-end that is likely to be turbulent for financial markets.

A former London cabbie and hotel cleaner who runs one of the largest retail chains in the Middle East may be plotting a bid for Debenhams

Biffa is set to bin any plans for continued independence, just over a year after it was floated

Bradford & Bingley has emerged as a surprise potential bidder for parts of Northern Rock

Texas may have lost out to Illinois in its bid to host the FutureGen power plant project, but Lone Star state officials may take some comfort in that they won't be stuck in an ongoing feud between government and industry participants.

The consortium of Carlsberg and Heineken is given a deadline of 21 January to bid for Scottish & Newcastle.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K.'s mergers and acquisition watchdog, the Takeover Panel, Monday set a deadline of Jan. 21. for a Heineken and Carlsberg-led bidding consortium to make an offer for U.K. brewer Scottish & Newcastle or walk away. All parties have accepted this ruling, the panel said. Shares in Scottish & Newcastle inched down 0.8% in London, Heineken shares declined 1.5% in Amsterdam and Carlsberg shares fell 2.4% in Copenhagen.

Owners representing more than 55 percent of shares in Swedish clothing retailer Gant have rejected a bid from Lacoste-brand owner Maus Freres, shareholder Ricon SGPS said on Monday. Switzerland’s Maus Freres earlier this month offered 310 Swedish crowns per share for the Sweden-based firm, valuing it at about 5.2 billion Swedish crowns ($801 million) Go to Article [...]

INVESTMENT GROUP Olivant has been told it will have to put an extra ?200-300 million (?280-420m) into its takeover bid for ailing bank Northern Rock, according to a report yesterday.