GM, GMAC start $6 Billion bond sale
New York: General Motors Corp. and its finance unit GMAC on Thursday launched the dollar-denominated portion of a jumbo bond sale, setting yields at the tight end of earlier price guidance, market sources said. General Motors plans to sell $1 billion of 10-year notes yielding 375 basis points more than Treasuries, compared with an expected range of 375 to 380 basis points. It is also expected to sell $1 billion of 20-year bonds yielding 383 basis points more than Treasuries, compared with an expected 383 to 408 basis points, and $3 billion of 30-year bonds yielding 400 basis points more than Treasuries, compared with an expected range of 400 to 405 basis points. GM's finance unit, General Motors Acceptance Corp., is expected to sell $1 billion of three-year notes yielding 290 basis points more than Treasuries. A range of 290 to 295 basis points more than Treasuries was expected.
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P&G to secure 84.9 pc of Wella shares
Chicago: Procter & Gamble Co. said on Thursday that after a tender offer for shares of German hair care products maker Wella AG, it will own shares representing 84.9 per cent of the value of the outstanding Wella shares. The tender, which some Wella shareholders had argued was too low, represents the second to last step in P&G's 5.6 billion euro takeover of Wella. The company is still awaiting approval of the deal from regulators.
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US to sue Enron on retirement plan losses
New York: The US Department of Labour was expected to file a suit against Enron Corp. and 20 company officers on Thursday on charges they were responsible for the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars from employees' retirement savings, The Wall Street Journal reported. Citing an unidentified government official familiar with the suit and two members of the US Congress, The Journal reported that the department might aim to recover money lost in the retirement accounts through the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The department has been looking into whether the trustees of the Enron 401(k) retirement plan misled employees into buying overpriced Enron stock in their accounts, The Journal reported. The government official told The Journal that Enron's bankruptcy filing would not preclude the recovery of funds. An accounting scandal led Enron to collapse into bankruptcy in 2001, ruining the retirement accounts of some investors who held Enron stock. A representative of Enron could not immediately be reached for comment.
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TeliaSonera sells stake in Bharti Mobile
Stockholm: The Nordic region's largest telecoms operator TeliaSonera AB said on Thursday its Overseas Telecom unit had sold its 26 per cent stake in India's Bharti Mobile Ltd. TeliaSonera said it would book a capital gain of 330 million crowns ($41.70 million) on the deal. The buyer was Bharti-Televentures Ltd, India's largest cellular services provider, TeliaSonera said in a statement.
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Nestle says no more ice cream buys after Dreyer's
Zurich: Nestle SA became the biggest ice cream maker in the world's top market on Thursday after US regulators approved its more than $2.5 billion takeover of Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream. "The transaction concludes the acquisition phase in the ice cream sector," Nestle chief executive Peter Brabeck said in a statement. Under the terms of the deal, which took the Federal Trade Commission over a year to approve, the world's biggest food group agreed to dispose of the Dreamery, Godiva and Whole Fruit sorbet brands and some distribution assets. Still, the takeover will leave Nestle equal first in the $30 billion global ice cream market with Anglo-Dutch group Unilever. The maker of KitKat bars, Perrier mineral water and Friskies pet food said it would now concentrate on boosting growth and margins at the new business. The takeover has been held up as US regulators fretted about the new firm's dominance in the premium segment. Analysts have said this was likely to be Nestle's last big acquisition for a while in traditional areas, where its size poses potential concerns for regulators, particularly in the US market.
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