Air Liquide Buys Serdex from Bayer; Churchill China, Persimmon Jump

Sarla Buch
05 Jan, 2017
New York City

Air Liquide agreed to acquire beauty and healthcare ingredients maker Serdex from Bayer. U.K. based home builder Persimmon said revenues in the year soared 8% to

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Air Liquide agreed to acquire beauty and healthcare ingredients maker Serdex from Bayer. U.K. based home builder Persimmon said revenues in the year soared 8% to £3.1 billion.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index edged up 4.48 to 7,194.38 and in Frankfurt the DAX index fell 8.68 to 11,575.58.

In Paris, CAC 40 index slid 6.60 to 4,892.80.

Air Liquide SA slid 0.1% to €105.40 after France-based industrial gas supplier agreed to acquire the beauty and healthcare ingredients maker Serdex, a unit of Germany-based drugs and chemicals producer Bayer for an undisclosed amount.

BRF SA or Brazil Foods SA gained 1.6% to 49.67 BRL and Brazil-based meat and processed food exporter said that it renamed its Dubai-based unit to One Foods Holdings Ltd from Sadia Halal and plans to increase market share in the Middle East region from the current 45%.

""This will put our company closer to local consumers,"" the chief executive officer international Pedro Faria said.

Patricio Rohner will be the chief executive officer from head of business for the Middle East and Northern Africa.

Churchill China Plc surged 7.6% to 920 pence after the U.K.-based pottery products maker said its operating profits in fiscal 2016 is likely to be ahead of market expectations andahead of 2015.

Pension Insurance Corp, the U.K.-based privately held insurance services provider said it had completed acquisition of GKN Group Pension Scheme pensioner for a premium of approximately £190 million or $233.34 million.

Persimmon Plc jumped 6.6% to 1,928.94 pence after the U.K.-based homebuilder said revenues in the year soared 8% to £3.14 billion and home completion increased by 599 new homes to 15,171 homes with an average selling price of £206,700, an increase from £199,127 in the fiscal 2015.

As of end of 2016, the group reported cash balances of about £913 million.