Germany's Linde acquires BOC
Industrial gases group, BOC, will soon be acquired by its German rival, Linde, which has launched an agreed £8.2-billion takeover.

The all-cash deal will create the world's biggest gases group. The deal will be confirmed by Wolfgang Reitzle, Linde's chief executive, when he announces his group's full 2005 results in Frankfurt.

Linde's initial £15-a-share offer for BOC, made on January 24 was rejected first by BOC but endorsed when the bid was raised to £16 later. The take-over comes just days after Japan's Nippon Glass purchased Pilkington for £2.2 billion and Dubai Ports World sealed the controversial acquisition of the shipping group P&O.

Late last year Deutsche Post bought the logistics group Exel while the French glass and building materials company St Gobain took over the plasterboard group BPB. Spain's Telefónica bought the mobile phone operator O2 for £19 billion while another Spanish organisation, Ferrovial, is lining up a £11 billion bid for the airports operator BAA.

These deals, netting a hefty premium for shareholders, have barely raised a political whisper in Britain — unlike in Europe, including France and Germany, where the governments are fighting the hostile bid for steel giant Arcelor by Mittal Steel.

Linde group employs 41,000 people, more than half of them outside its homeland, and has plants in Basingstoke, West Bromwich, Aldershot and Merthyr Tydfil. BOC employs more than 30,000 people and controls 13 per cent of the global gases market to Linde's 9 per cent.
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GM likely to sell its 20-per cent stake in Suzuki
Tokyo: General Motors (GM) is likely to sell its 20 per cent stake in Suzuki Motor, according to a report in Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) the economic daily on Sunday.

Suzuki said that "GM and Suzuki will not completely dissolve their capital alliance", and said the two partners would continue their "strong" operational cooperation.
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Blackberry patent dispute settled
New York: Research In Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry e-mail device has settled its long-running patent dispute with a small Virginia-based firm by paying the company $612.5 million a "full and final settlement of all claims," the companies said.

It has also averting a possible court-ordered shutdown of the BlackBerry system and a disruption of wireless service for millions of users.

At a hearing last week, NTP had asked a federal court for an injunction blocking the continued use of key technologies underpinning the BlackBerry wireless e-mail service.
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Buffet starts thinking of successor
New York: Stock market wizard Warren Buffett, 75, the world's second-richest person, worth some $40 billion, has designated a successor from among three "reasonably young and fully capable" internal managers to succeed him at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett didn't identify that manager or signal when the change-over is likely to take place. Last month, Buffett said he would leave Coca-Cola's board to spend more time running Berkshire, known for its insurance holdings and investments.

Analysts and investors have identified five possible successors, all of whom lead Berkshire units. The five are Joseph Brandon, who runs reinsurer General Re; Ajit Jain, who oversees National Indemnity and other reinsurance businesses; Tony Nicely, chief of auto insurer Geico; Rich Santulli, who runs NetJets, a specialist in business charter flights; and David Sokol, who leads utility owner MidAmerican Energy Holdings.

Buffett took over Berkshire, a textile maker, in 1965. It now about 50 companies, which make products ranging from paint to ice-cream to underwear. It also owns stock in companies such as Wal-Mart Stores and Procter & Gamble.
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NYSE goes public
New York: The world's biggest stock exchange has entered a new growth phase this week by going public.

The New York Stock Exchange recently finalized its purchase of electronic rival Archipelago Holdings and will complete setting up the NYSE Group Inc. which starts trading on Wednesday.

Adding stock options, fixed income products and more over-the-counter trading to its menu, the NYSE will compete against Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., the world's second largest exchange.

Analysts also expect the new company join the ongoing consolidation among bourses in Europe and even in Asia.

The NYSE has been slower than other exchanges to go public as it first had to do deal with a few internal problems. In 2003 NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso was forced out in a pay dispute. The exchange also had to handle charges that some traders had failed to act in investors' best interests.
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Intel shares fall on revenue forecast
New York: Intel Coorporation. slashed its revenue forecast on Friday amid a loss of market share to rival chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

The smaller AMD that has traditionally trailed Intel, has recently pressured the chip giant with technological gains that have given it an edge in performance and power use, especially in the market for servers that run businesses.

Shares of Intel, the world's biggest semiconductor maker, fell as much as 3 per cent to a 17-month low before mostly recovering. AMD's shares rose initially then fell nearly 4 per cent on fears that it, too, would be hit by weak demand.

Analysts said it was widely known Intel was having inventory problems and losing market share to AMD.

Intel shares touched a low of $19.86 just after the start of trading on the Nasdaq stock market and closed down 17 per cents, or 0.8 per cent, at $20.32. AMD shares initially jumped, but closed down 4.4 per cent at $39.51.

Intel stock trades at 17 times expected 2006 profit, while AMD trades at nearly 27 times.
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AT &T to acquire BellSouth
Largest US telecom operator AT&T Inc, has agreed to buy BellSouth Corp. for $65 billion to gain control of their shared wireless company and expand its local telephone business, according to sources.

In November 2005 SBC Communications had acquired AT&T for $16.9 billion. The combined entity functions as AT&T name. (See: Baby Bell SBC acquires AT&T).

AT&T, based in San Antonio, owns 60 per cent of Cingular Wireless LLC, America's No.1 mobile-phone services company by subscribers. Atlanta-based BellSouth owns 40 per cent stake in the company.

Shares of AT&T fell 29 cents to $27.99 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading on March 3 and have risen 14 per cent this year. BellSouth fell 42 cents to $31.46 and have risen 16 per cent this year.
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