Footsie up amid takeover news

The takeover spotlight fell on the lower tiers of the London market today as expectations of a slow week for corporate news were quickly eradicated.

Bid stories involving the Big Food Group, London Stock Exchange and Manchester United were helping to entice investors off the sidelines.

The positive sentiment spilled over to the top flight where the FTSE 100 Index rose 30.7 points to 4727.5 by mid-morning.

The rise took place in spite of news that monthly borrowing stood at £9.4bn (€13.7bn) in November – its heaviest since records began in 1993.

The strongest showing in the Footsie came from Imperial Tobacco which was up 34p at 1403p as investors anticipated an £8bn (€11.6bn) bid for Spanish rival Altadis.

Brewing giant Scottish & Newcastle cheered 3.25p to 435p after clinching a deal to invest in Indian brewer United Breweries and merge its operations on the sub-continent.

Outside the top flight, shares in the London Stock Exchange rose more than 4% or 24p to 580p as investors looked forward to a potential bidding battle.

The LSE confirmed that Paris-based Euronext had expressed an interest in acquiring the group despite competition from German rival Deutsche Boerse.

The long-running takeover of Big Food Group appeared to be heading for a conclusion after Icelandic investors Baugur tabled an offer worth £326m (€474.3m).

Baugur, which plans to sell frozen food retailer Iceland, is offering 95p a share and this helped Big Food to advance 1.5p to 94p today.

Shares in Manchester United also rose 4% or 11p to 277p after it was reported that US sports tycoon Malcolm Glazer was considering a new £800m (€1.2bn) offer.

But convenience foods group Uniq faded 9% or 18p to 188.5p after it said takeover talks had been impeded by pensions issues.