London pre-open: Heading south

18th Oct 2010 07:35

It's looking like a downbeat start to the week following Friday's losses on Wall Street and a far from certain performance in Asia.Investors - facing a 20-point drop for the FTSE 100 first thing - also have a crop of UK news to consider. Mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have confirmed that their proposed $116bn 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. 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. The Grolsch and Peroni group reported a 1% rise in lager volumes for the six months to 30 September, excluding acquisitions or disposals, while soft drinks increased by 2%, helped further by dollar weakness against key operating currencies.