Swiss Re in

Nigel Thomas
23 Sep, 2015
New York City

Axel Springer plans to buy online publication Business Insider for $500 million. BBA Aviation agreed to buy Landmark Aviation for $2.07 billion. Smiths Group profit soared 6% to

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Axel Springer plans to buy online publication Business Insider for $500 million. BBA Aviation agreed to buy Landmark Aviation for $2.07 billion. Smiths Group profit soared 6% to £246 million. Swiss Re agreed to acquire Guardian Financial Services from Cinven for £1.6 billion.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index dropped 146.20 or 2.4% to 5,962.48 and in Frankfurt the DAX index slumped 323.66 or 3.3% to 9,623.

In Paris, CAC 40 index declined 154.70 or 3.4% to 4,430.80.

Axel Springer SE slipped 1.2% to €52.59 and the Germany-based print and media group is in talks to acquire the U.S.-based online digital news provider Business Insider for about $500 million.

Separately, the company and ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE agreed to acquire a minority stake in the U.S.-based start-up Jaunt, a specialist in the creation and distribution of virtual reality contents developer.

The company signed a contract with Switzerland-based Ringier AG to create jointly owned German and French-speaking daily newspaper company in Switzerland, as the approval is already granted by the Switzerland’s Competition Commission and Germany’s Federal Cartel Office.

The print and media group divested all of its Russian assets including GEO, OK! and the Russian version of Forbes, forbes.ru, finanz.ru, OK!, GEO and Gala Biografia to he domestic publisher Alexander Fedotov.

BBA Aviation Plc slid 0.9% to 282 pence after the aviation support services provider agreed to acquire the U.S.-based rival Landmark Aviation for about $2.07 billion and plans to launch rights issue of 562.28 million new shares at a price of 133 pence per share to raise approx £748 million.

Hansteen Holdings Plc gained 0.8% to 117.60 pence after the U.K.-based real estate developer agreed to acquire acquired two domestic industrial assets in Derbyshire and the North East of England for about £41.1 million.

The deal was under the exchanged contracts with DV4 Properties owned by West Hallam Industrial Estate.

Hannover Finanz, the Germany-based private equity group plans to sell its cable equipment business Schlemmer for more than €500 million or $556 million.

Orpea SA soared 4.7% to €71.60 after the France-based rehabilitation clinics and psychiatric care provider said revenues in the first-half ending in June surged 26% from a year ago to €1.12 billion.

Net profit in the period jumped 10.9% from a year ago to €71.5 million compared to €64.5 million.

The company forecasted revenues for the year of about €2.38 billion with higher margins.

Smiths Group Plc increased 1.5% to 1,045 pence after the U.K.-based industrial conglomerates reported revenues in the year ending in July slipped 2% from a year ago to £2.90 billion.

Net profit in the year soared 5.6% from a year ago to £246 million compared to £233 million and diluted earnings per share rose to 61.8 pence from 58.4 pence.

The engineering company said pretax profit in the year jumped 3.1% to £459 million compared to £445 million in a period a year ago.

Swiss Re AG rose 0.6% to 82.85 Swiss francs after the Switzerland-based insurance services provider’s business unit Admin Re agreed to acquire Guardian Financial Servicesfrom private equity firm Cinven for £1.6 billion or $2.45 billion.

The transaction is expected to close in the first-quarter of 2016.

Total SA jumped 2.5% to €40.76 after the France-based energy group plans to reduce operating costs by $3 billion by 2017 from the previous target of $2 billion.