Wednesday 28 December, 10:15 AM GMT (Thomson Financial): European markets
are little changed overall, even though Wall Street ended lower on fears that
the bond market might be signalling an economic slowdown. Corporate news is
light, but of note, DaimlerChysler has announced the sale of its Off-Highway
activities including MTU Friedrichshafen.
London's FTSE-100 Index is barely higher, by 2.50 points or 0.04% to
5597.90, while Paris's CAC-40 Index is down by 9.89 points or 0.21% to
4759.49. Frankfurt's DAX Index is flat, having given up only 0.11 points to
5444.73 and Milan's S&P MIB Index is down by 70 points or 0.20% to 35,775. The
pan-European blue chip Dow Jones Stoxx 50 Index has slipped by 2.10 points or
0.06% to 3355.77.
* DaimlerChrysler announced the sale of its Off-Highway activities,
including diesel engine maker MTU Friedrichshafen to private equity
grouping EQT. The transaction has an enterprise value of 1.6 billion
euros and DaimlerChrysler expects a cash inflow of 1 billion euros,
which will boost its net income by 0.3 billion euros. The transaction is
expected to close in the first quarter of 2006.
* AstraZeneca is in focus after signing an exclusive global license and
research collaboration agreement with Targacept for its TC-1734 compound
to treat Alzheimer's disease. Under the terms of the agreement,
AstraZeneca will pay an initial US$10 million to Targacept and if
AstraZeneca decides to conduct Phase II clinical development, it will
pay a further US$20 million in milestone payments and US$26 million for
research.
* Rank group has announced the sale of its Deluxe Film unit to DX III
Holdings Corporation for some 430 million pounds in cash, on a debt and
cash free basis. At the same time, Rank said it was reviewing its
capital structure and dividend policy, the outcome of which will be
announced at the same time as its preliminary results in March.
* In economics news, the German GfK market research institute is
forecasting that its consumer climate indicator will rise to 3.8 in
January from a restated 3.4 in December, saying the propensity to make
large purchases rose strongly in December, becoming positive for the
first time in four years. However, the institute added that consumers
remained cautious about their private income expectations.
Olivier.Masson@Thomson.com; Thomson Financial
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