The company maintained it had tremendous growth prospects and expected to hear this month
The company maintained it had tremendous growth prospects and expected to hear this month whether it has been successful in its bid for the South Central commuter franchise, currently operated by Connex. Go-Ahead also plans to bid for at least six other rail franchises including Silverlink, Great Eastern and ScotRail. Winning any of these franchises would improve the group’s rail prospects “significantly”.The state-owned French rail company SNCF, which is already Go-Ahead’s partner on the Thameslink franchise, is considering whether to launch a counter bid. SNCF is thought less likely to move if the takeover is handed back to the UK for vetting.Go-Ahead shares closed 5 per cent lower at 695p.. Duke Street Capital is threatening to pull out of the bidding for Sainsbury’s Homebase DIY business, due to frustration over the way the process is being handled. Duke Street Capital is threatening to pull out of the bidding for Sainsbury’s Homebase DIY business, due to frustration over the way the process is being handled.
Duke Street, the venture capital firm that controls Focus Do It All and which last week completed the takeover of Wickes, tabled a bid of about £1bn for Homebase by Friday’s deadline.
However, venture capital sources say Duke Street has become frustrated with delays to the process, which is being handled by UBS Warburg. It is thought Duke Street is also disappointed with the quality of information on trading being provided. This has led to fears that the stores’ performance is deteriorating.Duke Street Capital would only say yesterday that it was “considering its options” A spokesman for UBS Warburg denied there were any problems. “We always indicated it would take to two three weeks from the bid deadline to announce something definite. Everything is going to plan.” A spokeswoman for Sainsbury’s said: “We always said it [the process] would run through October. There will be an announcement in a few weeks’ time.”Duke Street Capital has been considered the front runner in the race for Sainsbury’s DIY business. Other bidders were thought to be Leroy Merlin of France and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the American leveraged buy-out specialist.
Charterhouse Development Capital expressed an early interest and succeeded in attracting former B&Q boss Jim Hodkinson to lead its management team. However, it later pulled outIndustry experts say Duke Street is in a position to offer a higher price as its control of Focus Do It All and Wickes would give it greater synergy benefits. Sainsbury’s announced in August that it was reviewing the strategic options of Homebase. It said the possibilities included an alliance, joint venture or disposal – though the City took the view that a sale was the likely outcome.Meanwhile, the major supermarkets remained on tenterhooks last night as they waited for the Competition Commission report into supermarket profits which is expected to be published “any day”.. Total foreign direct investment could pass the $1 trillion mark (£685bn) this year, up from $865bn in 1999, according to newly released United Nations figures. Total foreign direct investment could pass the $1 trillion mark (£685bn) this year, up from $865bn in 1999, according to newly released United Nations figures.
Soaring cross-border merger activity is driving this extremely rapid investment growth, with the UK overtaking the US as the biggest overseas investor in the world. In 1999, British companies spent $199bn on overseas acquisitions, forging ahead of the $150bn spent by US companies, the annual World Investment Report from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) says today.The US was the world’s biggest recipient of foreign direct investment, with inflows amounting to $276bn last year compared to $186bn in 1998.
The UK followed, with inflows of $82bn, up from $63bn in 1998.Other EU countries were also big outward investors. In particular, investment overseas by French companies more than doubled from $45bn in 1998 to a $108bn in 1999. Inflows to the eurozone were far smaller than outward investment.Merger and acquisition activity has been growing at an annual rate of 42 per cent for the past 20 years, according to the Unctad figures. Sales by affiliates of multinationals were equivalent to nearly half of world GDP, compared with a proportion of less than a quarter in 1982.The value of M&A deals reached $2.3 trillion (in gross terms) in 1999, representing about 24,000 transactions. There were 109 deals worth more than $1bn each, accounting for 60 per cent of the total value.The report estimates that the top 100 non-financial multinational companies have assets worth more than $2 trillion and employ more than 6 million people in foreign affiliates.
Car makers, oil companies and electronics firms dominate, with utilities and telecommunications companies catching up rapidly. The list changes little from year to year, with General Electric, General Motors and Shell firmly at the top.Most investment across borders flows between the developed countries, and 10 countries accounted for nearly three-quarters of the global total. However, foreign direct investment in developing countries also increased last year, to $208bn from $179bn in 1998.. Misys, one of the UK’s biggest software companies, yesterday hailed the end of the Y2K-related IT investment slowdown, providing a boost to leading shares in the sector. Misys, one of the UK’s biggest software companies, yesterday hailed the end of the Y2K-related IT investment slowdown, providing a boost to leading shares in the sector.
Speaking at the group’s annual meeting, Kevin Lomax, Misys’s chairman, said: “We are increasingly confident that we should enjoy a much better year and a progressive return to the group’s long-term growth rate.” He added: “Overall, it is now clearer that the uncertainties surrounding Y2K look to be behind us.”Misys shares, seen as a bellwether for the technology, media and telecoms sector, closed up 61p, or nearly 10 per cent, at 693.5p yesterday, the biggest risers on the FTSE 100.
