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Travel website owner Priceline Group Inc will buy restaurant reservation website operator OpenTable Inc for $2.6 billion, aiming to broaden its services outside the increasingly competitive online travel industry. Priceline's offer of $103 per share for the owner of OpenTable.com represents a premium of 46 percent to OpenTable's Thursday close. OpenTable's shares inched past the offer price to trade as high as $104.19 on the Nasdaq, suggesting that some investors expect a higher bid. Priceline's shares were down 1.6 percent at $1,205.50. Priceline, whose competitors include Expedia Inc and Orbitz Worldwide Inc, has a record of buying smaller companies and transforming them into large, successful businesses. With little room to expand, online travel companies are looking outside the industry to boost revenue and drive more customers to their websites by offering more of a one-stop shop for travelers by offering services at their destination. TripAdvisor Inc, for

Deutsche Bank : _0"> * CVC and Blackstone launch 100 mln share placing of Merlin via Deutsche Bank & Morgan Stanley Further company coverage:

Merlin Entertainments' private equity backers CVC Capital Partners Ltd and Blackstone Group LP are placing 100 million shares of the British theme park owner through Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, the German lender said. _0"> Merlin, the world's second-biggest operator of visitor attractions behind Walt Disney with brands such as Madam Tussauds and Legoland, counts Blackstone and CVC as its biggest shareholders after Kirkbi A/S, according to Thomson Reuters data. (Reporting by Richa Naidu in Bangalore, editing by David Evans)

Two of Merlin Entertainments' private equity backers sold 100 million shares in the British theme park owner for 366 million pounds ($615 million) on Friday, according to Deutsche Bank, one of the banks handling the sale. _0"> Plans to place the shares by CVC Capital Partners Ltd and Blackstone Group LP via Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley were announced after Thursday's close. Merlin is the world's second-biggest operator of visitor attractions behind Walt Disney with brands such as Madam Tussauds and Legoland and counted Blackstone and CVC as its biggest shareholders after Kirkbi A/S, according to Thomson Reuters data. ($1 = 0.5956 British Pounds) (Reporting by Steve Slater ; Editing by Pamela Barbaglia)

Former Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond is set to fall short of his target to raise another $400 million for his African banking venture Atlas Mara, a person with knowledge of the situation said. _0"> Diamond, who spearheaded the growth of Barclays' investment bank before being forced out as CEO in 2012 by UK regulators after the bank was fined for attempted rigging of Libor interest rates, plans to increase the war chest of his Atlas Mara vehicle to pursue more African acquisitions and grow the business faster. But some investors have balked at the fundraising so soon after it raised $325 million in its initial public offering in December, mainly due to concern about the illiquid nature of Atlas Mara shares, the source said. That is likely to see it fall short of the $400 million target, although the fundraising will not close until later this month, he said. The source said Diamond had received strong support from the current shareholder base. The Financial Time

Johnston Press Plc : _0"> * Confirms that Panmure Gordon and JP Morgan Cazenove, in their capacity as underwriters, have procured subscribers for remaining 355,748,073 new ordinary shares for which valid acceptances were not received in respect of rights issue Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:

Following are terms and conditions _0"> of a dual tranche deal priced on Friday. Tranche 1 * * * * Borrower Compass Group Plc Issue Amount 500 million euro Maturity Date January 27, 2023 Coupon 1.875 pct Reoffer price 99.004 Yield 2.003 pct Spread 65 basis points Underlying govt bond Over Mid-swaps, equivalent to 94.7bp Over the September 2022 DBR ISIN XS1079320203 * * * * Tranche 2 Borrower Compass Group Plc _0"> Issue Amount 250 million sterling _1"> Maturity Date June 26, 2026 _2"> Coupon 3.85 pct _3"> Reoffer price 99.737 _4"> Yield 3.841 pct _5"> Spread 98 basis points _6"> Underlying govt bond Over the 5.0 pct 2025 UKT _7"> ISIN XS1079317167 _8&quo

Orexigen Therapeutics Inc said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration delayed a decision on the marketing application for its obesity drug, contrave, by three months, sending the company's shares down as much as 20 percent on Wednesday. The FDA indicated that the extension was needed to reach agreement on packaging and other post-marketing obligations related to the evaluation of potential heart risks associated with the drug, Orexigen said. Analysts said they still expected contrave to be approved, as the FDA and Orexigen were in talks over the package insert and other post-marketing requirements. The ongoing discussions suggest that the regulator has become more comfortable with contrave's risk/benefit profile, Wells Fargo analyst Brian Abrahams wrote in a note. The FDA, which rejected the drug in 2011, had asked Orexigen to conduct additional trials to assess potential heart risk of the drug. An interim analysis of an 8,900-patient study showed that overweight and obes

Lufthansa cut back its profit targets for the next two years on Wednesday citing competition from Middle East and low-cost rivals, sending shares of Europe's biggest-selling airline plunging. The warnings surprised investors after better-than-expected results in May and come just over a month after new chief executive Carsten Spohr took charge. Spohr will now set out fresh restructuring plans next month, and the German airline will review its spending plans, including the possible cancellation or deferral of plane orders from Airbus or Boeing, Finance Chief Simone Menne told analysts and reporters. Lufthansa cut its forecast for 2014 operating profit to 1 billion euros from a forecast of 1.3-1.5 billion and lowered its 2015 earnings target to 2 billion euros from 2.65 billion. Europe's largest airline by revenue said it was suffering from competition on European flights as well as on routes across the Atlantic where demand from business travellers has traditionally deliver

Britain's top share index fell on Wednesday, pressured by stocks going ex-dividend and a sharp decline in Rolls-Royce following the cancellation of a major plane order. Rolls-Royce dropped 5.5 percent, the top faller in the blue-chip FTSE 100 index, after Dubai's Emirates scrapped a $16 billion order for Airbus A350 planes that are fitted with engines from Rolls-Royce. British Airways owner IAG also put pressure on the market, sliding 3.1 percent after rival Lufthansa said it would not reach its profit targets for the next two years as competition was suppressing prices on its main European and U.S. routes. Lufthansa shares slumped 14.2 percent in Frankfurt. "Airlines are going to face a tough time as competition in the sector is increasing. Lufthansa's profit warning is a reminder that the situation is not going to improve in the near future and their margins might come under further pressure," David Battersby, investment manager at Redmayne-Bentley, said. &

France's third biggest mobile operator Bouygues Telecom plans to cut 1,516 jobs or 17 percent of its staff to reduce costs to ensure its survival in a market where prices are down by nearly one-third. Olivier Roussat, who heads the telecoms arm of the family-controlled conglomerate, also acknowledged on Wednesday that the company had held talks with potential buyers - low-cost player Iliad and market leader Orange - but these were no longer ongoing. "Obviously the talks did not succeed otherwise we would not present this plan to remain independent," Roussat said. He declined to give reasons for the failure of the negotiations. "We are cutting costs to survive in a four-player market." Bouygues Telecom has been the centre of deal speculation since April, when it lost a bidding war for number two carrier Vivendi's SFR to cable operator Numericable. Two people close to the situation said the talks between Bouygues and potential buyers had stumbled over pr

British online fashion retailer boohoo.com reported a 24 percent jump in first-quarter revenue on the back of a strong full-year performance, as recovering consumer confidence spurred more people to shop online. Shares in the retailer, which floated on London's Alternative Investment Market in March, rose as much as 7.6 percent to 49.50 pence in early trading on Thursday. The stock lost about 13 percent in value last week when rival retailer ASOS Plc warned on profits. However, Boohoo reassured the market at that time that it was trading in line with expectations. Boohoo reiterated its outlook on Thursday and said it anticipated "revenue growth to accelerate as comparatives become less demanding" through the rest of the year. Boohoo designs, sources, markets and sells own-brand clothing, shoes and accessories through its website to a core market of 16- to 24-year-old consumers in the UK and globally. The company, majority-owned by its founders Kamani family, said UK

Geron Corp said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lifted a partial clinical hold on a study testing its blood cancer drug, imetelstat, sending its shares soaring about 34 percent in premarket trading. _0"> Patient enrollments in the trial, sponsored by Mayo Clinic, were halted in March over concerns of liver damage. It came a week after the regulator ordered Geron to cease company-sponsored trials of the drug evaluating its use in thrombocythemia and multiple myeloma, two forms of blood cancer, over similar concerns. Imetelstat, Geron's only drug, was touted as the company's savior after curing 22 percent of myelofibrosis patients in a trial last year. (Reporting by Natalie Grover in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)

Finnish department stores and fashion chain Stockmann cut its outlook on Thursday for the second time in two months, partly due to weaker-than-expected demand at domestic stores. The Finnish economy has shrunk for two straight years, reflecting weak exports and a downturn elsewhere in Europe, and lately the weakness has spread to private consumption, with retailers feeling the impact. The company's troubles were compounded by weak sales in Russia, where the weaker rouble has made imported products more expensive. Russia is Stockmann's second-biggest market. Stockmann said May sales fell 8.3 percent from a year ago and warned that without a considerable change in the market environment in the latter half of the year, operating profit would end up significantly weaker than in 2013, marking a second outlook cut in two months. On April 29, the company had said it expected 2014 operating profit would not exceed the figure for 2013. "Demand of non-food products has continu

Shares in Britain's B&M European Value Retail, chaired by former Tesco chief executive Terry Leahy, rose nearly 8 percent on their market debut, showing that investors remain enthusiastic about the discount sector of the retail industry. Fast-growing B&M has around 370 stores selling products ranging from bedding to barbecues. Leahy, who left Britain's biggest supermarket chain in 2011, joined B&M in 2012. B&M sold about 40 percent of its shares to institutions at a price of 270p each. They traded at 291 pence at 1205 GMT. That values the firm at 2.9 billion pounds ($4.87 billion), 2 billion pounds above its main discount rival Poundland whose shares were listed in March. It also puts the company within striking distance of the FTSE 100 index, with the smallest constituents valued at 3 billion pounds. Discount retailers, both in general mechandise and food, are taking sales from Britain's "big four" supermarkets, including Tesco, which became

Energy companies kept Britain's top share index out of the red on Thursday as oil prices were lifted by violence in Iraq. But the FTSE struggled to make any real headway as heavyweight mining stocks dropped sharply after worries about declining Chinese demand sent copper prices to a one-month low. The FTSE 100 ended up 4.24 points, or 0.1 percent, at 6,843.11 points. Energy stocks added 10.24 points to the index as Brent crude oil climbed towards $112 a barrel on concerns for supply from Iraq, a major OPEC exporter. Sunni Muslim rebels from an al Qaeda splinter group overran the Iraqi city of Tikrit on Wednesday and closed in on the biggest oil refinery in the country. "If oil prices go up... it directly flows to revenues and to the bottom line," Oswald Clint, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, said. BG, which does not have a presence in Iraq, rose 2.5 percent, the top FTSE riser, while BP and Royal Dutch Shell, which are present in the country, added 0.7 percent and

Shares of major U.S. airlines dropped for a second straight day on Thursday as oil prices climbed to a three-month high in the wake of the worst fighting in Iraq since the U.S. troop withdrawal in 2011. _0"> American Airlines Group Inc, the world's largest carrier, tumbled 5.4 percent, while United Continental Holdings Inc 5.7 percent and Delta Air Lines Inc dropped 5 percent. The sector also fell on Wednesday, when German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG pared its profit targets for the next two years, citing greater competition . Southwest Airlines Co and JetBlue Airways Corp were both down more than 4 percent. Brent crude oil climbed topped $112 a barrel on worries that escalating violence in Iraq could disrupt oil supplies from the major OPEC exporter. Fuel and labor are the biggest costs for airlines. Kevin Crissey, an airline analyst with Skyline Research, said newer investors were likely not accustomed to the volatile effect of fuel prices on the sector. He also

Geron Corp said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had lifted a partial clinical hold on a study testing its sole drug as a treatment for myelofibrosis, a rare form of blood cancer, sending the company's shares soaring in morning trading. Enrollment in the early-stage trial, sponsored by the Mayo Clinic, was halted in March over concerns about liver toxicity pending followup data from Mayo's investigator on the possible reversibility of the liver damage. Enrollment for the study ceased in January, and about 20 of the 79 patients dropped out. Geron, whose shares rose as much as 33 percent on Thursday, did not then disclose the reason behind the dropouts, but said the remaining enrolled patients would continue to receive the drug, imetelstat. However, in March the FDA also imposed a halt on separate company-sponsored trials evaluating the use of the drug in thrombocythemia and multiple myeloma, citing similar concerns. Geron said on Thursday the company-sponsored trials

Lululemon Athletica Inc offered little sign on Thursday that it was pulling out of an extended slump, cutting financial forecasts and warning that second-quarter sales at its once-trendy yogawear shops were off to a weak start. Its shares dropped more than 15 percent after it said purchases were dropping even as customer traffic was picking up. During a conference call, Chief Executive Laurent Potdevin blamed the decline in part on a "suboptimal" product assortment. With Thursday's retreat, the shares have dropped more than 40 percent since the company announced an embarrassing recall of overly sheer yoga pants in March 2013. The incident shook up customers and investors in the company just as lower-priced competitors started to crowd into the yogawear market, a business that Lululemon virtually invented. "We have a core product assortment that has not been evolved as quickly as it should have been," Tara Poseley, Lululemon's new chief product officer,

Canada's Amaya Gaming Group, is near a deal to buy the parent of PokerStars, the world's largest poker website, Bloomberg said, citing two people with knowledge of the situation. _0"> Blackstone Group LP's credit business, GSO Capital Partners LP, is backing the bid and arranging more than $1 billion to help finance the deal, according to one of the people, Bloomberg said. ( link.reuters.com/zav99v ) An announcement to buy PokerStars' parent Rational Group Ltd may come on Thursday, one of the people told Bloomberg. Blackstone is preparing to announce its largest-ever credit deal, with more than $1 billion of fund commitments, Bennett Goodman, head of Blackstone's credit business, said at the company's investor day, according to Bloomberg. The agreement, which Blackstone expects will be announced on Thursday, is an acquisition financing for a North American company, Goodman said without naming the business involved, Bloomberg reported. Amaya Gaming

Private equity firm Sycamore Partners Said it was interested in acquiring apparel retailer Express Inc and asked the company to allow it to perform due diligence. _0"> The private equity firm on Thursday disclosed a stake of about 9.9 percent in the company, according to a regulatory filing. ( link.reuters.com/huv99v ) Express's shares rose 22 percent to $16.55 in extended trading. The stock closed down nearly 3 percent at $13.55 on Thursday, valuing the company at $1.14 billion. "We would like to perform confirmatory due diligence to determine a definitive valuation of the company," Sycamore said in a letter to the company's board, adding it would take 30 days to complete its due diligence, obtain financing commitments and submit its offer. Express has warned last month that it could post a loss in the current quarter due to high inventory and slow traffic. (Reporting by Shailaja Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

Private equity firm Sycamore Partners on Thursday said it was interested in acquiring apparel retailer Express Inc, after disclosing a 9.9 percent stake that made it the largest shareholder in the company. Express confirmed on Thursday in a press statement that it had received a letter from Sycamore, highlighting their interest in buying the company. Columbus, Ohio-based Express has adopted a stockholder rights plan, setting the trigger at 10 percent. Express's shares rose as much as 32.8 percent to $18.00 in extended trading. The stock closed down nearly 3 percent at $13.55 in regular trading on Thursday, valuing the company at $1.14 billion. "We would like to perform confirmatory due diligence to determine a definitive valuation of the company," Sycamore said in a letter to the company's board. ( link.reuters.com/huv99v ) The private equity firm said it would take 30 days to complete its due diligence, obtain financing commitments and submit its offer, accordi

Canada's Amaya Gaming Group Inc on Thursday said it will buy for $4.9 billion Rational Group, which owns and operates the world's biggest online poker company PokerStars. The transaction will be financed with a combination of cash on hand, new credit facilities and equity financing, the company said in a statement. The deal is backed by Blackstone Group LP's credit division, GSO Capital Partners, which will buy more than $600 million in convertible preferred shares and other securities. Deutsche Bank, Barclays and Macquarie Capital will provide $2.9 billion in credit facilities and other financing. Rational Group, owned by Oldford Group, operates gaming and related businesses including PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, which are collectively the world's most popular and profitable online poker brands with more than 85 million registered players on desktop and mobile devices. Amaya said it expects the transaction will "expedite the entry of PokerStars and Full T

Shares in Britain's house builders, including Barratt Developments and Persimmon slipped on Friday after finance minister George Osborne said he would give the Bank of England stronger powers to curb mortgage lending. _0"> British house prices have risen by 11 percent over the last year, benefiting house builders but leading to concerns that a bubble could develop. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said at the same dinner on Thursday evening that interest rates could rise sooner than expected. Shares in the listed house builders, which also include Bovis Homes Group, Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley Group, were down between 2 and 4 percent. (Reporting by Paul Sandle ; editing by Kate Holton )

Shares in Britain's housebuilders and property developers fell on Friday after the government and the Bank of England signalled they were ready to intervene to cool the country's surging house market. British house prices have risen by 11 percent over the last year, benefiting house builders but leading to concerns that a bubble could develop. Finance minister George Osborne said late on Thursday he would now give the Bank of England stronger powers to curb mortgage lending, while the Bank's Governor Mark Carney also noted that interest rates could rise sooner than expected, in his strongest warning yet. Shares in the country's biggest housebuilders including Barratt Developments and Persimmon, fell over 4 percent, dragging down the FTSE 100 blue-chip index, while Bovis Homes Group, Taylor Wimpey, Bellway and Berkeley Group, were down between 3 and 4 percent. Land Securities and British Land, the country's two largest listed property developers, were also hit,

Hedge funds are gambling on profiting from further falls in the share prices of British bookmakers, who face increased taxes on two fronts and curbs on how they run their high street betting shops. According to Markit data, interest from short sellers in several British betting firms has risen over the past two months, with Ladbrokes shares on loan climbing to more than 6 percent of the total available, from 4.7 percent, while William Hill's shares on loan have risen to 2.6 percent from 0.3 percent. William Hill is the market leader and part of the FTSE 100 index of leading British stocks, while Ladbrokes is Britain's second-largest bookmaker. Short sellers at hedge funds borrow a security they expect to fall so they can sell it now, buy back later at a lower price, then pocket the difference after returning the shares to the lender. Britain this week moved to tighten planning controls on the spread of betting shops and the high-stakes gambling machines that make up a gro

Hedge fund East Lodge, founded by ex-CQS portfolio manager Alistair Lumsden, has opened to external money, a letter to investors seen by Reuters showed. _0"> East Lodge has launched the East Lodge Capital Credit Opportunities Fund and is targeting assets under management of $250 million within three months, a source close to the company added. Lumsden previously managed $3.2 billion for hedge fund CQS, with a focus on asset-backed securities. Estimated performance during April, when the fund used just internal money, was 4.27 percent, the investor letter showed. (Reporting by Simon Jessop; editing by Chris Vellacott)

UK-based hedge funds saw their assets increase by $57 billion between January 2013 and April 2014, while fund managers in France, Spain and Germany posted a net decrease, data from Preqin research showed. _0"> Firms headquartered in the UK now account for $423 billion in hedge fund assets, more than 10 times the amount of assets managed in any other single European country, it said in a statement. Following the UK are Sweden, with assets under management of $34 billion; Switzerland, with $31 billion; France, with $20 billion; and Netherlands, with $9 billion. The UK is also home to most of the start-ups of recent years, it said, with around half of all known new launches in 2013 and so far in 2014. Within the UK, London is the most popular place to be based, with 90 percent of all hedge fund assets managed from the capital, Preqin added. (Reporting by Simon Jessop and Nishant Kumar )

Shares in British hedge fund manager Man Group slid on Friday after its cautious outlook took the shine off an in-line trading statement. The firm, founded in 1783 as a barrel maker, said it took in a net $2 billion of new money during the first quarter, mostly into its GLG alternatives unit, which partially compensated for the money pulled by investors from its FRM funds. When combined with a net $700 million performance loss across its investments, funds under management at the end of March rose to $55 billion, from $54.1 billion at the end of December. While sales of $6.5 billion in the quarter were the highest in three years to help chalk up a third straight quarter of net inflows, a feat last matched in the second quarter of 2008, the prospect that a weak investment performance could persist weighed on investor sentiment. At 0703 GMT, shares in Man Group were down 1.5 percent, the third-biggest faller on the mid-cap FTSE 250. "The market environment in the first quarte

Global hedge fund assets under management hit an all-time high of $2.938 trillion in April, beating the previous peak of $2.937 trillion reached before the financial crisis, data provider eVestment said. _0"> "Investors allocated heavily into hedge funds in April, the third consecutive month of elevated inflows," it said in a statement. A total of $17.9 billion of new money was invested to more than offset a slightly weaker asset-weighted performance and push assets under management to a level not seen since the second quarter of 2008, eVestment added. (Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Jemima Kelly)

From Asian Internet stocks, which have boomed over the last year, to food and paper products companies, prominent hedge fund investors listed their favorite stocks on Thursday at an industry meeting dominated by talk of where markets will move. John Burbank stuck with the Chinese Internet stocks that helped boost returns at his $3.8 billion Passport Capital last year. Real estate Internet portal Soufun Holdings, which climbed 121 percent in the last year, and discount online retailer Vipshop Holdings, which climbed 417 percent in the last year, made the list as his favorites. "I am not negative on U.S. Internet companies but China is trading at a bigger discount," Burbank said at the annual SkyBridge Alternatives Conference known as SALT. Burbank, whose picks have long included international companies and who taught in English in China decades ago, said "China is fundamentally changing and there is something to bet on." This year Burbank's flagship fund is

Hedge fund Magnetar Capital is suing U.S. drugs wholesaler McKesson, saying its acquisition of German peer Celesio short-changed minority shareholders and bondholders by around 370 million euros ($507 million). _0"> McKesson structured the transaction in an unlawful way, discriminating against the minority investors, Magnetar said in a statement on Wednesday. McKesson's bid for Celesio succeeded following drawn-out negotiations with another Celesio shareholder, activist hedge fund Elliott International, led by U.S. investor Paul Singer. Elliott, which had invested more than 1.3 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in Celesio shares and bonds that convert into shares, ended up selling all those securities to McKesson. Magnetar, which holds more than 3 percent in Celesio's shares, accuses McKesson of paying convertible bond holders such as Elliott an equivalent of up to 30.95 euros per underlying share, while owners of Celesio stock were only offered 23.50 euros a share. S

As a $14.8 billion hedge fund with a reputation for savvy mortgage trades and a record of double-digit returns, Pine River Capital Management has long signed up multi-billion-dollar pension and sovereign wealth funds as investors. Now the exclusive hedge fund is making some of its strategies available to Main Street investors who've been warned that bets on stocks and bonds may not see them through retirement. For as little as $1,000, they can include hedge funds in their nest eggs. As one of seven firms managing money in Wells Fargo's new Alternative Strategies fund, Pine River is among the latest big-name funds to crack its doors to private clients with look-alike products known as liquid alternative funds after years of courting only the super-wealthy. "Sub-advising portfolios in the (mutual fund) space is a new and diversified source of capital for a firm like ours," said Brian Taylor, who founded Pine River with $350,000 of his retirement money in 2002. &quo

Man Group said it was in talks to buy U.S. asset manager Numeric Holdings and diversify its quantitative fund offering, giving the UK hedge fund manager's share price a boost. A deal for Boston-based Numeric, part-owned by private equity group TA Associates and up for sale since early 2013, would broaden a quant fund stable currently focused on Man's flagship AHL computer-driven funds. It would also boost its presence in the United States, the biggest hedge fund market in the world, as well as its foothold in the institutional market, dealing with clients such as pension funds, which are driving growth in the broader industry. "This transaction would further diversify Man away from AHL and is consistent with Man's strategy to acquire a US-based asset manager," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Peter Lenardos. "However, given the extremely limited information available, especially on profitability and price - we reserve judgment until more details emerge.

French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen ( id="symbol_PEUP.PA_0"> PEUP.PA ) launched the second stage of a long-awaited 3 billion euro ($4.2 billion) capital increase to fund its "Back in the Race" recovery plan and tie-up with China's Dongfeng ( id="symbol_0489.HK 0489.HK ). _1"> As its new board met on Tuesday, the troubled firm surprised markets by issuing more stock than expected at a larger discount to raise 1.95 billion euros from existing shareholders. Peugeot shares surged in afternoon trading, outpacing a broader European stock rally on hopes that recovering regional demand can help the recapitalized carmaker rebound. The rights issue, in addition to a 1.05 billion stock sale to the French state and Dongfeng Motor Group, allows investors to purchase seven new shares at 6.77 euros for every 12 held, a 41 percent discount to Monday's comparable closing price. That means future dividends will be divided among 877 million outstanding sh

3D printer maker 3D Systems Corp's ( id="symbol_DDD.N_0"> DDD.N ) quarterly gross margins fell for the first time in two years, raising concerns about its growth prospects in an industry, which is drawing the attention of bigger technology firms. _0"> 3D Systems shares fell as much as 11 percent, making the stock one of the top losers on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday morning. The company said on Tuesday that its gross margin expansion was being delayed as it printers continued to be a major source of revenue. 3D Systems printers, priced at less than $1,000 to about $1 million, generate lower gross margins than its printing materials and services. The company also said it now expects to get most of the revenue and profit it forecast for 2014 in the second half of the year when it launches new products and services. The nascent 3D printer industry has generated widespread interest in the last couple of years. It has, however, also drawn criticism

Pfizer Inc ( id="symbol_PFE.N_0"> PFE.N ) may sweeten its offer for Britain's AstraZeneca Plc ( id="symbol_AZN.L AZN.L ) to more than 63 billion pounds, or $106 billion, and raise the cash portion of the deal, to kickstart negotiations, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. _0"> Citing people with knowledge of the matter, the report said a new bid may value AstraZeneca at more than 50 pounds ($84.47) per share and could come as early as next week. Pfizer disclosed earlier this week that it had twice approached AstraZeneca about a takeover, only to be rebuffed in both cases. _1"> Pfizer and AstraZeneca declined to comment on the report. Since Pfizer went public with its approach to AstraZeneca, investors and analysts have been expecting the largest U.S. drugmaker would come back with more than its initial offer worth 58.8 billion pounds ($98.9 billion) and increase the cash component. Under British takeover rules, Pfizer has until May 26 to announce

AstraZeneca Plc laid out its defense against Pfizer Inc's $106-billion takeover approach on Tuesday by predicting its sales would rise by three quarters over the next decade, although only after a short-term drop. With promising new medicines expected to lift annual revenue above $45 billion by 2023, up from $25.7 billion in 2013, selling out to the U.S. group now would deprive investors of huge gains, it argued. "The increasingly visible success of our independent strategy highlights the future prospects for our shareholders," said Chairman Leif Johansson. "These are benefits that should fully accrue to AstraZeneca's shareholders." Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said plunging AstraZeneca into a disruptive merger would also jeopardize its ability to deliver on the new drug pipeline, which is expected to account for 30 percent of the 2023 sales total. Investors and analysts agree Britain's second-biggest drugmaker has an improving experimental portfo

Shares of Twitter Inc sank 18 percent to a new low in frenzied trading on Tuesday, wiping out more than $4 billion of its market value, as early investors sold stock in the messaging service for the first time after a six-month "lock-up" expired. The stock closed at $31.85 on the New York Stock Exchange, as losses deepened late in the session to the lowest since its debut on November 7 at $37. On a consolidated basis, more than 130 million shares changed hands - 10 times the daily average volume for the last 50 days. The lock-up agreement that expired this week applied to about 470 million shares, or 82 percent of Twitter's equity, held by insiders, venture capitalists and other investors. Twitter allowed one batch of shares to be sold in February, but that lockup governed only about 10 million shares, most of which were held by non-executive employees. "The move is bigger than expected and is indicative of the negative investor sentiment towards Twitter right n