Aviva in

Nigel Thomas
24 Nov, 2014
New York City

Aviva agreed to acquire rival Friends Life for

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Aviva agreed to acquire rival Friends Life for £5.6 billion. BT Group is in talk with Spain-based Telefonica to acquire the O2 mobile. Cranswick net declined 9% and agreed to buy Benson Park. Onex acquired SIG Combibloc for about €3.7 billion. Petrofac tumbled on weak outlook.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slid 0.05% or 3.64 to 6,747.12 and in Frankfurt the DAX index increased 0.8% or 74.90 to 9,807.45.

In Paris, CAC 40 index gained 0.8% or 33.08 to 4,380.31.

Aviva Plc plunged 5.2% to 511 pence after the U.K.-based insurer agreed to acquire life and pensions rival Friends Life Group Ltd for £5.63 billion.

BT Group plc jumped 2.7% to 390.20 after the communications service provider said it is in preliminary talks with Spain-based Telefonica to acquire the O2 mobile network.

Cranswick Plc climbed 3.8% to 1,385 pence after the U.K.-based food products supplier said revenues in the first-half ending in September fell 0.4% to £481.5 million from £483.5 million a year ago period.

Net profit in the period declined 9% from a year ago to £19.2 million compared to £21.1 million and diluted earnings per share dropped to 39 pence from 43.3 pence.

Separately, today the company said it agreed to acquire Benson Park Limited, the producer of premium British cooked poultry for undisclosed financial amount.

SIG Combibloc Group AG, the Switzerland-based juice-box maker agreed to acquire by Canada-based private-equity group Onex Corporation for about €3.75 billion or $4.64 billion.

Home Retail Group Plc fell 0.5% to 191.90 pence after the U.K.-based home and general merchandise retailer its freehold store in Battersea, south London, and expects to close about 25 stores for £57 million and about 80 stores will be closed in total by the end of this year.

Petrofac Limited tumbled 25.5% to 889 pence after the U.K.-based oil and gas producer lowered its net profit forecast for the year to lower end from previous guidance of $580 million to 600 million.

The company also said net profits for the fiscal 2015 of about $500 million.

Volkswagen AG increased 0.7% to €179.25 after the Germany-based auto maker plans to invest €85.6 billion or $107.3 billion in the next five years.