World Business Briefing: Britain: Alliance Boots Approves Deal
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Shareholders of Alliance Boots, the British pharmacy chain, approved an Â£11 billion ($21.8 billion) takeover bid from its deputy chairman and a private equity firm. It expects the takeover to be complete in July, although the deputy chairman, Stefano Pessina, and the equity firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, remain in talks with pension trustees about financing the pension plan. Mr. Pessina and Kohlberg Kravis raised their offer three times, to 1,139 pence ($22.53) a share, to secure their bid for Alliance Boots after a consortium led by Terra Firma Capital Partners made a rival bid. Alliance Boots has about 3,000 Boots drugstores in Britain, seven other European countries and Thailand, and supplies 125,000 pharmacies, health centers and hospitals.
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The British government announced Thursday it had struck a deal to share counterterrorism technology and information with the United States.
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BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European Union antitrust regulators on Wednesday approved the acquisition of U.S.-based Solectron Corp. by Singapore's Flextronics International Ltd., saying the $3.6 billion deal did not pose any competition concerns.
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Leading shares ended a volatile session higher Friday as confirmation of a bid for drug retailer Alliance Boots underpinned M&amp;A hopes in the high street and added to a cautiously optimistic start on Wall Street, dealers said.
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The UK&#39;s Financial Services Authority approved Santander Central Hispano SA&#39;s 9.4 billion-pound ($17.4 billion) takeover of Abbey National Plc, paving the way for Europe&#39;s biggest cross-border bank merger.
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Akzo Nobel NV on Friday won EU approval for its $17.1 billion acquisition of Imperial Chemicals Industries PLC, but it must sell off Britain's Crown Paints and an adhesive business to clear antitrust concerns.
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Dutch bank ABN Amro, at the centre of the biggest takeover in the banking industry, on Sunday confirmed its neutral stance on the rival bids of bank Barclays and the three-bank consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland.
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Business & money: Â· Offer for England football kit supplier backed by FA Â· Bid could be blocked by JJB and Sports Direct
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The Tokyo Stock Exchange  has decided to tie up with the London Stock Exchange , and is set for an official alliance accord when TSE President Taizo Nishimura visits the U.K. in late February, Kyodo News reported on Sunday, citing exchange officials.
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The London Stock Exchange, fresh from fending off a takeover from US rival Nasdaq, has said that an agreement would be reached &quot;in the near future&quot; on a strategic alliance with its Tokyo counterpart.
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British and Chinese companies have signed key business agreements, including a multi-millon-dollar engine deal between Rolls-Royce and Air China, witnessed by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Prime Minister Tony Blair.
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European Union regulators Thursday approved the takeover of Greek consumer electronics retailer Kotsovolos by the British chain Dixons PLC.
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SHANGHAI/BEIJING  - Barclays  has won regulatory approval to buy into a Chinese trust company, securing a foothold in the country's fast-growing asset management sector, two sources familiar with the situation said on Monday.
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Bank LBBW says it has reached an agreement that clears the way for it to take over German peer Sachsen.
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Computer giant agrees to comply with anti-trust ruling on Windows operating system after legal battle spanning three years.
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LONDON : Insurer Royal and Sun Alliance became the latest high-profile British firm to announce a mass transfer of jobs to India, saying it plans to move 1,100 positions there by 2006, saving the group 10 million pounds annually (14.
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Biomet, a major manufacturer of artificial hips and knees, said Monday that it had agreed to be acquired by a private investment consortium.