U.S. mergers hit new record, but lag Europe
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Merger volume hit a record $1.57  trillion in the United States in 2007, according to research  firm Thomson Financial, despite a sharp decline in dealmaking  at mid-year when credit markets tightened and mergers became  more costly to finance.
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Falling milk prices, evaporating European Union subsidies and tougher demands by supermarket chains yesterday nudged two of Europe&#39;s leading dairy companies into the biggest merger in the continent&#39;s dairy industry.
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Add another entry to the list of how Americans and Europeans are parting ways. Several German companies, which rushed to have their shares traded on U.S. exchanges during the bull market of the late 1990s, are ...
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Higher interest rates in Europe  and growing uncertainty over the cost of borrowing in the  United States could slow down parts of the global mergers and  acquisitions boom, experts say.
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The value of mergers and acquisitions in Virginia, Maryland and the District hit record highs last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. But even more striking is the growth of private-equity involvement in these deals, which more than doubled in each of the three jurisdictions.
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U.S. shares looked set to open lower on Tuesday, with stock exchange operators Nasdaq  and NYSE Group Inc.  in focus as a result of developments in their respective transatlantic merger endeavors.
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The month of May saw a record of more than $110 billion of foreign investments in U.S. stocks and corporate bonds.
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Euronext  and NYSE  won endorsement for their $14 billion merger from European regulators on Tuesday, removing a major hurdle for the first transatlantic stock exchange.
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The value of foreign-backed takeovers of British firms hit a quarterly record in the three months to June 30 amid the sale of pharmacy group Alliance Boots and steelmaker Corus, data showed Tuesday.
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European stock markets rose on Monday, lit up by merger and acquisition news after a bright performance in Tokyo and Hong Kong, dealers said.
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NEW YORK, May 30 -- The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index hit a record high today, marking the end of a four-year healing period for U.S. stocks battered by the burst of the tech bubble, the collapse of Enron and WorldCom, the Sept. 11 attacks and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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(InfoWorld) - The Nasdaq Stock Market's efforts to buy the London Stock Exchange PLC is another milestone in globalization, and touches the world of IT. As exchanges merge and increase the fluidity of funds globally, a new world of competitive options open. The Nasdaq's latest bid, launched Nov. 20, to buy the part of the LSE it doesn't already own for Â£2.7 billion ($5.1 billion) is poignant in its historic and political overtones. The Nasdaq tapped technology to match buyers and sellers -- starting with simple bulletin boards -- and helped revolutionize trading over the last 20 years. As world class IT companies like Microsoft and Oracle went public on the Nasdaq, the exchange rode the computerization of modern life to great success. Most exchanges have adopted some form of electronic trading, including Nasdaq archrival the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE Group Inc.) and the LSE itself. Exchanges have unique advantages and retain distinct personalities, however. Linux vendor Red Hat Inc., for example, will move from the Nasdaq to the NYSE Tuesday. "The New York Stock Exchange has much stronger global recognition, and we're looking for a global branding image," said Linda Brewton, Red Hat manager of investor relations. She also noted that even though the NYSE has adopted electronic trading, trading is still done under live market specialists and that this reduces share-price volatility. The LSE, which traces its history back some 300 years, has rejected Nasdaq's bid, claiming it undervalues the exchange. The mercurial mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, is also on the case. Last week he asked the U.K.'s Office of Fair Trading to investigate, claiming that the acquisition would eliminate competition to U.S. markets for international company listings. Livingstone also echoed the concerns of many Europeans, that as U.S. exchanges merge with European markets, tighter U.S. regulations would hamper Europe's growing market competitiveness. This last issue has also caused bumps in the NYSE's deal to merge with the Euronext NV exchange. Nasdaq, having already bought about 29 percent of the LSE earlier this year, is appealing to shareholders. Nasdaq Chief Executive Officer Robert Greifield apparently believes the exchange needs the merger to compete. The merging of exchanges and the broader, growing numbers of mergers and acquisitions that IT companies are involved in are part of the same phenomenon, according to according to Eric Gebaide, managing director of Innovation Advisors, a New York investment firm. "It's a manifestation of the globalization of financial markets," Gebaide said. "That in turn is a precursor of the globalization of technology." When companies in Europe and Asia enjoy the same sort of availability of capital U.S. companies have, it can lead to greater competition for U.S. companies. However, U.S. companies can also take advantage of the new era of capital. For example, U.S. companies looking to efficiently use capital now have access to alternative local financing for offshore ventures, Gebaide notes. In the new global market, companies can even go public with offshore ventures, he suggests. The Nasdaq bid will probably play out into 2007. The offer to shareholders can be extended to 60 days, and the Nasdaq can still buy LSE shares on the open market. But no matter how it ends, the internationalization of capital markets will continue to have a profound impact.
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US electronic stock market Nasdaq reached into Europe Friday with a friendly 3.7 billion dollar takeover of Nordic exchange operator OMX that creates the world&#39;s second-biggest exchange.
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The possibility of big mergers sweeping the United States airline industry is one of the oldest stories on Wall Street &#8212; and so far, it has largely been a piece of fiction. But some analysts seem to think that this could be the year it comes true. On Wednesday, UBS and Bear Stearns published separate reports [...].
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Business activity in the U.S. and  Europe cranked up a notch at the tail end of 2004, but  companies remained cautious about taking on new workers  according to surveys in the dominant service sector of major  Western economies released on Wednesday.
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Shares in the LSE jumped nearly 26 per cent to a new record at 540 pence after Deutsche Boerse made a Â£1.3-billion approach, which was rejected by Europe&#39;s biggest equity market.
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The S&P 500's record on Wednesday is still in the shade of more robust Europe and Asia.