The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was higher on Thursday as the MAN/Scania saga again raised share prices for all the companies involved in the story. The 300 added 0.8 percent to 1,436.34, yet another five-year high closing level.
MAN said it would again increase its offer for Scania from SKr442 to SKr475 per share and also announced that it has purchased 14 percent of Scania’s voting rights. Scania, backed by Investor, which owns 19 percent of Scania’s voting rights, rejected the new offer. Meanwhile, Scania revealed that its pre-tax earnings over the past nine months have gone up by 31 percent, while revenues are up almost 15 percent during that period. Volkswagen, which owns 34 percent of Scania’s voting rights and recently purchased 15 percent of MAN, continues to try to convince MAN and Scania to join it in a three-way deal.
All of this sent Scania’s A shares, those shares with voting rights, 10.1 percent higher to SKr490. Scania’s B shares added even more, gaining 11.1 percent to SKr476. MAN was 3.7 percent higher to €69.81, while Investor gained 2.2 percent to SKr162.50 and VW was up 0.4 percent to €70.24. Meanwhile Volvo, a domestic rival to Scania, added 2.7 percent to SKr458.50.
In the aerospace sector, EADS was 1.7 percent higher to €21.37 after the French and German governments said that they continue to support Airbus despite the airplane manufacturing unit’s continuing delay problems. German chancellor Angela Merkel added that her government was thinking about purchasing a stake in EADS.
The banking sector was higher on the session. Among Greek banks, EFG Eurobank gained 2.7 percent to €26.40, while National Bank of Greece added 3.8 percent to €34.74 on broker upgrades. In the French banking sector, Societe Generale was 4.2 percent higher to €135.10 on bids rumors.