DAX Leads First Quarter Gains Europe, J&J Bids for Actelion

Sarla Buch
31 Mar, 2017
New York City

Actelion received tender offer from Johnson & Johnson. Danone said it will sell its U.S. subsidiary Stonyfield to meet the regulatory requirements fo WhiteWave foods purchase. DX Group is in talks to acquire John Menzie. Phoenix Solar lifted revenue forecast.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Actelion received tender offer from Johnson & Johnson. Danone said it will sell its U.S. subsidiary Stonyfield to meet the regulatory requirements fo WhiteWave foods purchase. DX Group is in talks to acquire John Menzie. Phoenix Solar lifted revenue forecast.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slumped 27.40 or 0.4% to 7,342.12 and in Frankfurt the DAX index rose 15.56 to 12,271.99.

In Paris, CAC 40 index slid 5.75 to 5,083.89.

For the week, FTSE 100 index rose 0.1%, the DAX index gained 1.7% and the CAC 40 index advanced 1.4%.

For the month, FTSE 100 index slipped 0.5%, the DAX index increased 1.8% and the CAC 40 index jumped 2.6%.

For the quarter, FTSE 100 index jumped 2.8%, the DAX index surged 6.7% and the CAC 40 index soared 4.7%.

Actelion Ltd gained 1.3% to 283 Swiss francs after the Switzerland-based biopharmaceutical products maker said domestic subsidiary of healthcare and consumer conglomerate Johnson & Johnson proposed to acquire for $280 per share in all-cash public tender offer for $30 billion.

Danone SA fell 0.4% to €63.29 after France-based food and dairy products maker said that it will sell its U.S. subsidiary yoghurt business Stonyfield as part of an antitrust agreement with the Department of Justice.

Danone said the move is to speed-up the completion of its acquisition of U.S. organic food producer WhiteWave foods Co for about $10.4 billion.

""It’s a major step towards completion of WhiteWave acquisition expeditiously,"" chief executive officer of Emmanuel Faber said.

DX Group Plc jumped 3.3% to 9.81 pence after the U.K.-based courier services provider said it is in talks to acquire distribution division of the airport services and logistics group John Menzie for about £60 million or $74.8 million in cash and stock.

Phoenix Solar AG soared 7.1% to €3.20 after Germany-based photovoltaic systems maker said revenues in the year ending in December soared 16.6% from a year ago to €139.2 million.

Net loss in the year narrowed from a year ago to €4.7 million from €5.6 million and diluted loss per share dropped to €0.62 from €0.71.

Phoenix lifted revenue forecast in fiscal 2017 in the range of €160 million to €190 million from reported revenues of €139.2 million in a year ago period and operating profit between €1 million and €3 million.

Siemens AG slid 0.2% to €127.45 after Germany-based industrial conglomerate said it had successfully completed the acquisition of the U.S.-based electronic design automation software developer Mentor Graphics Corporation.