M&A, upbeat earnings support European share gains

(Reuters) - European shares rose on Thursday after a two-day losing streak, supported by upbeat earnings updates from European heavyweights and as merger activity picked up again.

German software firm SAP jumped 4.1 percent on strong second-quarter licence sales, while Vodafone gained after posting robust first-quarter earnings.


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Equinix raises bid for IXEurope

(Reuters) - Equinix's higher bid trumped the offer of a third party, the
companies said, and raises the value of the deal to about 270.1
million pounds, or $555 million, before the assumption of debt.




Equinix hopes to close its acquisition of IXEurope by
mid-September, it said. The deal is subject to shareholder and
regulatory approval.


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Russia's Rostelekom 2006 net profit jumps 49 pct

(Reuters) - Revenues also rose by around 50 percent to stand at 61.56
billion roubles, compared with 40.96 billion roubles in 2005.




Rostelekom, in which state-controlled telecoms holding
Svyazinvest owns 51 percent, said its international outgoing
traffic rose 9.2 percent from 2005, while ingoing traffic was up
31.2 percent.


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Ina Says Russian Crude-Oil Supply Contract Was Signed With Trader Gunvor

(Bloomberg) -- Ina Industrija Nafte d.d., Croatia's
biggest oil company, signed a two-year contract for Russian crude
with the Russian-Swiss oil trader Gunvor International Ltd., Ina's
spokesman Bojan Vinek said.

Ina, based in Zagreb, will release the details of the contract
sometime around noon today, Vinek said in a phone interview. The
oil company announced the transaction yesterday and said it will
account for 45 percent of its planned imports.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Sparebanken, Network Rail, Groupama Plan to Sell Debt: European Bond Alert

(Bloomberg) -- Network Rail Ltd., the government-
backed owner of Britain's railways, is among borrowers seeking
to raise the equivalent of at least 3.5 billion euros ($4.8
billion) from sales of bonds in euros and pounds, according to
data compiled by Bloomberg.

Companies sold the equivalent of $1.04 trillion of bonds
denominated in euros and pounds so far this year, up from $844
billion in the same period in 2006.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Dairy Crest says sales and cost cuts on track

(Reuters) - On average, six analysts polled by Reuters Estimates expect the company to post pretax profit for 2008 of 55.9 million pounds .



) Keywords: DAIRY CREST TRADING/


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Citigroup, Lehman receive I.R.S. requests: WSJ

(Reuters) - At issue, the Journal said, are derivatives trades where securities firms buy stocks from offshore hedge-fund clients, and in return pay them the return of the stocks and any dividends they generate.




If a $10 stock rises to $11 and pays a dividend of 15 cents, the securities firm pays the hedge fund $1.15, representing the appreciation and the dividend, minus a small fee. The trade could save the hedge fund from paying as much as 30 percent in taxes on the dividend, depending on the venue, because the fund technically does not hold the stock, the Journal said.


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