AIG, which wants to spin off its Taiwan-based Nan Shan Life Insurance unit, has a few live ones nibbling on the line to snap it up, according to a Bloomberg report. The company has disclosed in an SEC filing that Nan Shan has attracted unsolicited offers ranging from $2.15 billion to $3 billion.
Last week, power-plant operator Dynegy agreed to be acquired by top shareholder Icahn Enterprises for about $665 million. But Dynegy's second-largest shareholder, hedge fund Seneca Capital, rejected the bid, calling it "the wrong price at the wrong time for the wrong reasons."
The U.S. biotech is holding an analyst and investor meeting focused on the commercial potential of its multiple sclerosis drug Campath. The goal: to convince Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis to raise its hostile takeover offer in a battle that has now gone on for five months.
Hewlett-Packard shares rose in after-hours trading after the company agreed to settle a lawsuit from the Justice Department, which claimed the company paid kickbacks to get recommendations for government work. The settlement will cost 2 cents per share.
Since April, major convenience store operator Couche-Tard has been trying to buy regional player Casey's General Stores. Casey's board rejected a hostile $1.9 billion offer on Tuesday -- but don't expect that to stop Couche-Tard, which operates the Mac's and Circle K chains.
Christie's International says expects to have a better year in 2010 than it did in 2009. Yet there are degrees of recovery: Though the practice of guaranteeing minimum prices is poised to return, sellers won't see a swift return to the prices objects fetched at auction in 2007.
After weeks of sitting on the sidelines while Cadbury played cat-and-mouse with Kraft Foods, Hershey is finally ready to make a bid for the U.K.-based chocolate maker. Sources close to the Hershey board say that the company will bid $17.9 billion for Cadbury.
