Unibail Buys Westfield for $16 B, Atos Launches Unsolicited Offer for Gemalto

Sarla Buch
12 Dec, 2017
New York City

Ashtead launched

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Ashtead launched £1 billion stock buyback program. Atos offered €4.3 billion for Gemalto. France-based Unibail Rodamco agreed to buy Australia-based global malls and shopping centers developer Westfield for $16 billion.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index gained 15.59 or 0.2% to 7,468.92 and in Frankfurt the DAX index rose 20.68 or 0.2% to 13,144.30.

In Paris, CAC 40 index increased 28.75 or 0.5% to 5,414.88.

Ashtead Group Plc gained 1.5% to 2,050 pence after the U.K.-based industrial equipment provider said group revenues in the first-half ending in October jumped 22% from a year ago to £1 billion.

Net income in the period soared 10.8% to £170.9 million from £154.3 million in a year ago period and diluted earnings per share increased to 34.2 pence from 30.8 pence.

The equipment rental said pre-tax profit surged 23% to £536.9 million on strong performance in the Sun Belt region of the United States and the company revised its capital expenditure estimate to between £1.2 billion and £1.3 billion.

The industrial equipment provider said it may launch stock buyback program of at least between £500 million and £1 billion in next 18-months.

Ashtead lifted its fiscal 2017 forecast after the recent hurricanes in the U.S. lifted first-half revenues.

Atos SE jumped 4.7% to €130.50 after France-based information technology provider made an unsolicited proposal to acquire the Netherlands-based digital security services provider Gemalto NV for €46 per share in cash or about €4.3 billion or $5.06 billion.

Gemalto NV surged 33.1% to €45.10.

Dialog Semiconductor Plc advanced 3.2% to €22.93 after the U.K.-based integrated circuits provider announced that its chipset can be used in Huawei’s Mate 10 Android smart-phones adapters.

Glencore Plc slipped 1% to 347.75 pence after Switzerland-based metals and minerals producer and trader estimated fiscal 2017 earnings of about $2.8 billion and operating profit in fiscal 2018 of about $16.2 billion.

UniCredit SpA gained 0.9% to €17.76 after Italy-based banking and financial services provider said it will increase its 2019 dividend payout ratio to 30% from the current 20%.

The lender forecasted gross non-core non-performing exposures by 2019 to drop by additional €4 billion to €40.3 billion in 2019 from €77.8 billion in 2015.

The bank reaffirmed fiscal 2019 revenues of about €20.6 billion.

Separately, today UniCredit plan to sell its FINO business to below 20% which was originally amounted gross bad loans of €17.7 billion as of June 30, 2016 and decreased to €16.2 billion as at 30th June 2017.

Unibail Rodamco SE fell 0.2% to €167.70 after France-based commercial property developer today agreed to acquire Australia-based malls owner Westfield Corp for about $15.7 billion or A$20.8 billion in cash and stock

Total enterprise value including debt is about $24.7 billion and the transaction is expected to close in fiscal 2018 first-half.