Rebel investor seeks to turn up heat on Vodafone

(Reuters) - "At last Vodafone seems to have recognized that it must have a coherent strategy for its investment in Verizon Wireless," ECS Chairman Glenn Cooper said in a statement.




"The ill-conceived plans leaked to the Financial Times show Vodafone does not have one."


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Barclays "confident" of winning ABN bid battle

(Reuters) - Seegers declined to comment on a revised bid from a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland announced on Monday, which includes more cash.




Earlier on Tuesday, the Financial Times said that Barclays is planning to sweeten its offer for ABN after the consortium of RBS, Spain's Santander and Belgian-Dutch group Fortis raised the cash portion of its bid to 93 percent from 79 percent, valuing ABN at 71.1 billion euros.


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US STOCKS-Indexes little changed; Verizon up on M&A talk

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, July 16 - U.S. stocks were little
changed on Monday as investors paused after Friday's record
highs to weigh the latest speculation on the mergers and
acquisition front.




Shares of Verizon Communications were the top gainer
on the Dow after a Financial Times Web site said on Monday
Vodafone Group was considering a $160 billion takeover
bid for the U.S. wireless operator. Vodafone denied the report,
but Verizon shares still rose 2.5 percent to $42.81.


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Vodafone says has no plans to bid for Verizon

(Reuters) - Earlier on Monday, the Financial Times reported on its Alphaville Web site that Vodafone had been considering a $160 billion bid for Verizon.




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Borsa Italiana says "no doubt" over MTS option

(Reuters) - The Financial Times reported on Monday that NYSE Euronext
was looking closely at the legal terms of the MTS option.




Separately, London Stock Exchange Chief Executive
Clara Furse told analysts the LSE would continue its policy of
reducing fees in the wake of the Borsa Italiana deal.


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AIRSHOW-EADS says not planning Dassault Aviation stake sale

(Reuters) - "Contrary to the information published today in the Financial Times, the CEOs of EADS, Tom Enders and Louis Gallois, want to clarify that the sale of EADS' stake in Dassault Aviation is neither presently being studied by the EADS board nor is on its agenda," EADS said in a statement.



) Keywords: EADS DASSAULT/


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UPDATE 2-GE, Pearson drop Dow Jones takeover pursuit

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 21 - General Electric Co.
and Pearson Plc said on Thursday they will not pursue
a joint offer for publisher Dow Jones & Co. Inc. ,
removing a potential challenge to a $5-billion bid by Rupert
Murdoch's News Corp. .




GE, the world's second-largest company by market
capitalization, and Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times,
said they had held exploratory talks about combining their
financial news outlets with Dow Jones.


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GE says will not pursue Dow Jones takeover

(Reuters) - GE controls NBC Universal, which operates top U.S. business cable news channel CNBC.




"Following these discussions, GE and Pearson have decided not to pursue this combination," GE said in a statement. "Pearson and NBC Universal continue to discuss cooperative agreements between CNBC and the Financial Times Group."


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Dow Jones shareholder sees $60 bid attractive - FT

(Reuters) - "The offer to purchase Dow Jones at $60 in our view represents a fairly attractive transaction price. I find it hard to believe the company itself has a plan to get the shares to $60," the Financial Times quoted Brian Rogers, the chairman and chief investment officer of T. Rowe Price saying. The firm holds about 15 percent of Dow Jones according to Reuters data.




A spokesman for T. Rowe told Reuters: "We've said all along that as long-term investors in Dow Jones stock we're gratified that other investors have recognized the value that we always thought was there. We think it is a reasonable offer to take under consideration."


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