World Business Briefing: Switzerland: Fragrance Unit Sold
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Givaudan said that it had agreed to buy the Quest flavors and fragrance unit from Imperial Chemical Industries for Â£1.2 billion ($2.28 billion) to become the worldÂs largest maker of scents used in perfume. Quest had sales of Â£560 million ($1.1 billion) last year and a profit of Â£52 million. Givaudan, based in Geneva, said it would finance the acquisition by debt and by issuing up to 1 billion Swiss francs ($800 million) in new shares.
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Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Swisscom AG, Switzerland&#39;s former phone monopoly, ended talks to buy a stake in Telekom Austria AG, after failing to resolve ``different interests.&#39;&#39; ...
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TRANS-Tasman beer and wine group Lion Nathan is selling its Chinese beer business to the second largest brewer in China for $US154 million ($219 million).
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(InfoWorld) - Business Objects SA's share price surged in Paris Thursday morning, as rumors swirled of a takeover bid from IBM Corp. or Oracle Corp. Buying the French BI (business intelligence) software vendor could be a good way for IBM or Oracle to use the cash they have available, according to one analyst. The three companies declined to comment. "We don't comment on rumors," said Business Objects spokesman Philippe Laguerre. Oracle made a big push into the BI market on March 22 with the launch of three software bundles branded Oracle Business Intelligence Suite. The bundles combine Oracle's database, its Fusion middleware and analytics software it acquired with its purchase of Siebel Systems. That deal, worth almost US$6 billion, closed on Jan. 31. IBM already partners with BI vendor Cognos Inc., a rival of Business Objects. On March 7, IBM announced that it will work more closely with Cognos to develop BI software with a SOA (service-oriented architecture). At the time, analysts suggested that acquiring Cognos would be a logical next step for IBM. Such a move could be hastened if Oracle were to bid for Business Objects, said David Bradshaw, principal analyst at Ovum Ltd. in London. Bradshaw dismissed another rumor he had heard, that German ERP (enterprise resource planning) vendor SAP AG could buy Business Objects. "They have not made many large acquisitions, and they already have their own BI technology," he said. The BI market is dominated by a group of large, independent vendors. Business Objects expects revenue to total $1.2 billion to $1.215 billion this year. Cognos expects revenue of $950 million to $970 million in its current financial year, which ends Feb. 28. Of the other large BI vendors, only Teradata belongs to another company (NCR Corp.), Bradshaw said. Based on Business Objects' market capitalization, a buyer would have to pay over â¬2 billion ($2.5 billion) for the company, he said. Business Objects and Cognos "have been around a while. Maybe the other players like having independents in the field," said Bradshaw. But should IBM and Oracle choose to change that status quo, buying Business Objects would be harder for Oracle than it looks, he said. "At first glance, it looks like a marriage made in heaven, but most of Oracle's customers already have at least one BI system," and often more, he said. Oracle applications have to work well with those different BI tools, and customers value that flexibility, he said. "Future customers would not want to be confined to having one BI tool." Trading in Business Objects shares opened in Paris at â¬24.80 on Thursday, up from the Wednesday closing price of â¬23.02. As the rumors spread, the price peaked at â¬25 but by the close of trading had settled back to â¬24.76, up 7.6 percent on the previous day's close.
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The Swiss National Bank on Friday released terms of its temporary term auction facility:
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Business: 8 September 2004, Wednesday. A leading French company for beauty, health and fitness innovations has stepped on the Bulgarian market.
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One of the most distinctive buildings in The City financial district of London, the Swiss Re Tower or &quot;Gherkin&quot;, has gone up for sale.
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ZURICH: Credit Suisse Group has sold its 19.9% stake in private equity firm Warburg Pincus, the Swiss-based bank said on Friday, adding the deal would have no significant impact on its results.
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DCC snaps up firm for â¬12m Fayrewood Plc confirmed yesterday that it had sold French outfit Banque Magnetique SAS to DCC Plc's retail disty subsidiary.â¦
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BEDFORD, Ohio - A local business owner is hoping for at least a whiff of success from her unusual fundraising tool: special fragrances inspired by this Cleveland suburb.
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Mobile phone giant Vodafone sells its 25% stake in Swisscom Mobile for 4.25bn Swiss francs (Â£1.8bn).
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Tiscali SpA, Europe's second-largest Internet service provider, said Monday that it has sold its Austrian unit for nearly &#36;15 million.
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The worldâs most valuable shopping mall owner, Westfield Group , has agreed to join with Australian developer Multiplex Group and two other investors in a 585 million pound bid ($1.
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A Japanese firm pioneers a system to share fragrances over the internet.  Also: A Bollywood movie makes its debut on cell phones & hellip;. Merck smarting from Vioxx pull & hellip;. and more.
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The pharmaceutical sells European rights to a promising asthma drug.
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Shares in Swiss chemical groups Clariant   and Ciba  rose strongly in morning trade  after the head of U.S. peer Huntsman Corp  expressed  interest in buying the groups.
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Swiss Life, Switzerland's largest insurer, sells its UK life assurance business for Â£205m.