World Business Briefing | Europe: Britain: Home Builder Acquired
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Barratt Developments, the biggest home builder in Britain, said it had agreed to buy a smaller competitor, Wilson Bowden, in a deal that values the company at Â£2.2 billion ($4.3 billion). Barratt will pay 950 pence ($18.68) and issue 1.06 new shares for each share of Wilson Bowden, the company said. The price represents a premium of about 23 percent over Wilson Bowdenâs closing price Nov. 23, the last day before the company said it was in talks about a possible offer.
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Luxury car business Aston Martin has been sold to a British-led consortium.
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Eurocastle Investment, a London-listed group managed by US private equity group Fortress Investment, is to pay â¬300m (Â£210m) for a Deutsche Bank property portfolio, the latest deal in the vast property sell-off under way in Germany.
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Bank of America said Friday it would purchase embattled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. for $4 billion in an all-stock transaction.
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Britain's financial authorities stepped in to rescue mortgage lender Northern Rock  on Friday as the group, which has lent aggressively to home buyers, fell victim to the sharp rise in borrowing costs between banks.
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The homebuilder beats expectations; shares bounce back.
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The European Commission approved a multi-billion pound bailout of the nuclear group British Energy, after securing guarantees that the company would not breach EU competition rules.
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BusinessWeek Online - It sounds like a tale of woe for Europe's investment banks. One of the biggest takeover attempts in British retail history -- retail tycoon Philip Green's &#36;17 billion bid for iconic Marks &amp; Spencer Group PLC -- came to naught. A much-anticipated boom in initial public offerings has fizzled. And after a drought that started in 2001, merger-and-acquisition activity remains in a funk. But bankers in Europe's financial capital, the City of London, and its auxiliary, Canary Wharf, aren't crying in their pints. ...
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In a move designed to help it better compete in Europe, Hewlett-Packard said it has acquired Synstar PLC, a U.K.-based technology services firm, for $293 million.
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Diversified U.S. manufacturer Honeywell has agreed to buy Novar Plc, a British industrial holding company, for 798 million pounds (&#36;1.53 billion), a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday.
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Bank of America Corp  said on Friday it would buy battered mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp  for $4 billion, a move that could avert one of the biggest collapses in the U.S. housing crisis.
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German banking and insurance giant Allianz said Wednesday it has sold its the life insurance activities of its British unit Allianz Cornhill to rival group Britannic for 110 million pounds (about 159 million ...
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UK mortgage lending dropped in September and shares of house builders slid on mounting evidence that Britain&#39;s five-year property boom is coming to an end as interest rates rise.
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NEW YORK/SHANGHAI  - U.S. home improvement retailer Home Depot Inc.  said on Wednesday it had signed an agreement to buy Chinese home improvement chain The Home Way, marking its first foray into retailing in China.
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Diversified U.S. manufacturer Honeywell  has agreed to buy Novar Plc, a British industrial holding  company, for 798 million pounds ($1.53 billion), a source  familiar with the situation said on Sunday.
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US buyout specialist Kohlberg Kravis Roberts &amp; Co. is buying Masonite International (MHM.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) , a Canadian-based maker of building products
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The European Commission, executive arm of the European Union, on Wednesday cleared acquisition of Britain&#39;s sixth largest bank Abbey National by Spain&#39;s largest bank Banco Santander Central Hispano.