Qantas rejects buyout offer
Melbourbe: Australian airline Qantas Airways Ltd ahs rejected a conditional A$10.9 billion ($8.6 billion) buyout offer from a group led by Macquarie Bank Ltd. and private equity firm Texas Pacific Group.

The offer of A$5.50 a share was 5 percent above Qantas's closing price on Tuesday.

Qantas shares fell to as low as A$4.97 after the offer was rebuffed.

Qantas said in a statement that the proposed offer price was A$5.50 per share and incorporated a number of complex conditions, the requirement for unanimous support by Qantas directors and a break fee. The airline said its non-executive directors considered the terms of the proposal unacceptable.
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Nasdaq in $5.3bn hostile bid for LSE
London: Nasdaq has launched its 2.7 billion pound ($5.3 billion) hostile bid for the London Stock Exchange and has appealed directly to investors after getting the cold shoulder by Europe's biggest stock market.

Nasdaq already owns 28.75 percent of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and has bid 1,243 pence a share in cash for the rest. It said it was seeking acceptance from LSE shareholders by January 11.

Nasdaq has also said it could consider raising its offer if the LSE board agreed to back a deal.
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Mittal Steel to enter into oilfield deals with Total, Lukoil
New Delhi: Mittal Steel is believed to have entered into separate deals with Total of France and Lukoil of Russia for acquisition of oilfields in Africa and Central Asia.

Last year Mittal Steel announced its entry into oil and gas business through two joint ventures with ONGC, now has picked up a 3 pc stake in Chevron's under-construction $6-billion Olokola Liquefied Natural Gas (OK-LNG) project in Nigeria.

Industry sources said Lakshmi N Mittal is not happy with the progress of ONGC-Mittal Energy Services (OMESL), a JV company that was to trade and ship oil and gas including LNG.

In June, Mittal Steel had signed a pact with Total to jointly acquire oil and gas properties particularly in Africa and trade oil and gas produced from such fields. Last month, it signed with Lukoil for specific acquisitions in Central Asia, particularly Kazakhstan.

The ONGC-Mittal Energy (OMEL) combine has got three oil blocks in Nigeria, but progress on OMESL had been slow due to ONGC's new management losing interest in the venture.
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