European Indexes Gain; AkzoNobel to Buy Schramm

Arthi Gupta
30 Jun, 2011
New York City

The European indexes extended gains after the Greek parliament approved the austerity measures. AkzoNobel planned to acquire Schramm Holding for

[R]1:30 PM Frankfurt – The European indexes extended gains after the Greek parliament approved the austerity measures. AkzoNobel planned to acquire Schramm Holding for €142 million. Barclays agreed to sell private equity fund interests worth €520 million to AXA Private Equity.[/R]

World stocks edged higher after the Greek parliament approved the unpopular austerity measures yesterday and of the second vote to authorize privatization.

Euro-zone annual inflation remained at 2.7% in June, a flash estimate released by Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union said today.

German retail sales fell 2.8% on a seasonally and inflation adjusted basis in May after showing no change in April.

In Paris CAC-40 Index gained 5.29 or 0.14% to 3,929.56 and in Frankfurt DAX index edged lower 0.37 to 7,293.77. For the year, the DAX index is up 4.4% and in CAC 40 gained 0.7%.

AkzoNobel to Acquire Schramm Holding

AkzoNobel NV, the Dutch specialty chemicals firm said it intends to acquire coatings manufacturer Schramm Holding AG and the coatings activities operated by Schramm''s largest shareholder, Korean company SSCP.

Under the terms of the transaction, Schramm’s shareholders will receive a voluntary conditional offer in cash for every Schramm share, valuing the share capital of the company at approximately €142 million.

The deal enables AkzoNobel to strengthen its global leadership position in specialty plastic coatings.

Barclays Agrees to Dispose Private Equity Fund Interests

Barclays Bank PLC agreed to dispose of a €520 million or £460 million portfolio of US and European private equity interests held and managed by Barclays Capital, its investment banking division, to AXA Private Equity.

The portfolio includes investments in private equity funds as well as several direct private equity interests held by Barclays Capital. The portfolio does not include any investments managed by Barclays Private Equity.

Gainers & Losers

BHP Billiton Plc rose 1.21% to 2,433.50 pence after the diversified natural resources company confirmed that the expanded $10 billion capital management program announced on February 16 was completed on June 29.

Novartis AG fell 0.4% to Sfr50.35 after the provider of healthcare solutions said results from the pivotal Phase III GLOW2 clinical trial showed that once-daily NVA237 50 mcg significantly improved lung function in patients with moderate-to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease relative to placebo, with similar efficacy to open-label tiotropium.

London Stock Exchange Group PLC surged 4.71% to 1,001 pence after the stock exchange abandoned plans for a $3.4-billion merger with TMX Group, operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange, after it became clear that they would not win the two-thirds threshold required to approve the merger.

RWE AG declined 0.46% to €37.56 after the German electric power and natural gas public utility’s stock was downgraded to ""hold"" from ""buy” by Unicredit.