London open: Weak start despite M&A burst

18th Oct 2010 08:58

London has made a cautious start to the day with miners weak though a burst of M&A has lifted the mood elsewhere.Mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have confirmed that their proposed $116bn Pilbara iron ore joint venture is dead in the water. The companies had agreed in December of last year to establish a production joint venture covering the entirety of both companies' Western Australian iron ore assets, but the hook-up has run into regulatory opposition, prompting the companies to abandon the idea.Other mines are also in the doldrums following a mixed day's trading on Asia. Lonmin, Antofagasta and Vedanta are now the worst performers, though all in the sector are under pressure.BP has sold its upstream businesses and associated interests in Venezuela and Vietnam to TNK-BP for a $1.8bn. TNK-BP, Russia's third largest oil company, is owned equally by BP and the AAR consortium, which is comprised of Alfa Group, Access Industries and Renova. Specialist insurer and reinsurer Beazley has gone public with its bid approach for underwriter Hardy Underwriting after its private approach was rejected by the Hardy board. Beazley made an indicative cash offer of 300p per share to the Hardy board on 6 October but received a rejection letter on 11 October which the company claims left its board "surprised and disappointed."Bluebay Asset has agreed an all cash takeover by Canadian bank Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) that values the fixed income fund manager at just short of £1bn. BlueBay shareholders will receive 485p in cash for each BlueBay Share, valuing the firm at approximately £963m and representing a premium of 29% to Friday's close. Shareholders will also get the dividend of 7.5p proposed at the end of last year, making the total consideration 492.5p.SABMiller, one of the world's largest brewers, traded in line with expectations during its first half as slight volume growth, price increases and lower raw material costs offset a mixed performance in key markets.Loss making Clipper Windpower is to be bought out by its 49.9% shareholder, US engineering giant UTC, in a cash deal that values the wind turbine maker at £139.5m and its shares at 65p. Gulf Keystone Petroleum has raised £109.24m from a placing to help speed up its drilling programme in Kurdistan. There was no shortage of takers as the fundraising was oversubscribed. Just over 78m shares were bought by existing shareholders for 140p each. Jordan-based pharmaceuticals firm Hikma has sorted out its dispute with Mutual Pharmaceutical relating to the sale of oral colchicine tablets. Hikma's subsidiary and US agent, West-Ward Pharmaceutical, has discontinued its sales of oral colchicine until approval of its New Drug Application by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).