France says SocGen under no pressure to merge
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French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said on Monday that Societe Generale, hit by $7 billion in losses from rogue trades, was under no pressure to merge with another bank as its shares plunged.
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French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in  an interview published Wednesday he was not drunk at a news  conference where he appeared slightly out of breath and trying  not to laugh.
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A senior adviser to French President  Nicolas Sarkozy said France remained opposed to any hostile bid  for Societe Generale , the French bank hit by a  trading scandal.
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French bank BNP Paribas is "thinking" about a possible takeover of its crisis-hit rival Societe Generale, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.
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AMSTERDAM/PARIS  - European regulators said in an expected move on Tuesday they have no objections to the proposed $13.8 billion merger between Euronext  and NYSE , removing a hurdle for the first transatlantic stock exchange.
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The European Commission said the request by the French government to give ailing computer company Bull a capital injection of 517 million euros (625 million dollars) has raised no "major complaints".
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A deeply discounted $8 billion rights issue from Societe Generale, seen in part as a bid by the scandal-hit French bank to remain independent, has not convinced analysts that it will deter predators.
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PARIS - In an attempt to ease tensions in the Ivory Coast, France has opted not to point the finger of blame at President Laurent Gbagbo for the violence that has roiled the country in the past week.
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Scotland manager Walter Smith believes France have not suffered from the loss of superstar Zinedine Zidane.
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French bank BNP declines to rule out a bid for rival Societe Generale, which is struggling after a trading scandal.
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Cross-border banking mergers in the European Union will face fewer regulatory obstacles, after member states and the European parliament on Wednesday agreed to back a law that will curb the powers of central banks to interfere in such deals.
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A French court rejected an appeal from Gaz de France to allow a board meeting in which the company had been expected to complete its contested merger with the utility giant Suez. The appeals court in Paris upheld a judgeÂs decision supporting a request by Gaz de FranceÂs workers for more time to examine the deal before the board is allowed to meet to vote on it. The initial court ruling came 24 hours before the Gaz de France board was to meet on the deal. Any prolonged delay could endanger plans by the two companies to merge.
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French Economy Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said late Wednesday that there was no need to lower the 2005 economic growth forecast for France because of surging oil prices, saying such a move would dent confidence.
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No merger proposal has been submitted to the boards of French defense company Thales SA and European aerospace consortium EADS despite reports the French government is interested in a linkup, Germany Economics Minister Wolfgang Clement said Tuesday.
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European regulators said on Tuesday they do not intend objecting to the proposed merger of Euronext and the NYSE, removing a hurdle to the completion of the $10 billion transatlantic alliance.
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European regulators said in an  expected move on Tuesday they have no objections to the  proposed $13.8 billion merger between Euronext  and  NYSE , removing a hurdle for the first transatlantic  stock exchange.
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PARIS/BERLIN  - France hopes to be able to announce an agreement about a simplified management structure for European defense group EADS at a summit meeting on Monday, but Germany is in no hurry to strike a deal.