Proactive Investors - London Stock Exchange Group PLC (LON:LSEG) shares eased 1.8% after it was revealed a group of investors including US private-equity giant Blackstone (NYSE:BX), Thomson Reuters (TSX:TRI), a Canadian pension plan and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund have offloaded a large chunk of shares they owned in the exchange.
The consortium have sold around 25.5 million shares at a price of 7,950p each compared to the current share price of 8,130p.
The transaction has been made via a placing to institutional investors and a separate offer to retail investors.
LSEG has separately made an off-market purchase of approximately 9.5 million limited-voting ordinary shares.
LSEG is not party to the placing or the retail offer and will not receive any proceeds.
FTSE loer but Direct Line jumps after £520 million sale
The FTSE 100 has opened lower taking its cue from the US and Asia and after a survey showed UK house prices fell at their fastest pace since 2009.
At 8:15am, London’s premier index was down 21.82 points, 0.3%, at 7,404.32 while the FTSE 250 was down 77.06 points, 0.4%, at 18,374.76.
Weak trade data from China added to the narrative that economic growth in the world’s second largest economy remains under pressure.
Exports fell 8.8% in August against a year earlier and imports declined 7.3% in another hit for the manufacturing sector of the Chinese economy.
Back in London, and the Halifax UK house prices have fallen at their fastest rate since the aftermath of the financial crisis, according to the Halifax house price index.
The UK’s largest lender reported that the average property price fell by 4.6% on an annual basis in August, down from the record highs seen last summer, the largest year-on-year decrease in house prices since 2009.
Kim Kinnaird, director, Halifax Mortgages, said: “We may now be seeing a greater impact from higher mortgage costs flowing through to house prices.”
But it wasn’t all bad news.
Direct Line Insurance Group PLC (LON:DLGD) jumped 11% after it unveiled the £520 million sale of its brokered commercial insurance business.
The sale is “estimated to increase the group's solvency ratio on a pro forma basis by approximately 45 percentage points,” said Jon Greenwood, acting chief executive.
The insurer has endured a tough year hit by inflationary pressures and rising claims but Josh Warner, market analyst at StoneX thinks it has “started to make tangible progress.”
“The sale of its brokered commercial insurance business will streamline its business and allow it to sharpen its focus while higher prices are also helping margins improve at its key motor insurance business,” he said.
Elsehwere, a potential mega merger is on the cards with news that Smurfit Kappa (LON:SKG) PLC is in merger talks with US outfit WestRock.
Shares dipped 1.5% on news of the talks, no financial details were disclosed at this stage.
Smurfit Kappa in merger talks with WestRock
Smurfit Kappa Group PLC (LON:SKG) is in talks with Atlanta-based WestRock over a potential combination to create Smurfit WestRock, a global leader in sustainable packaging.
The deal, if completed, would create one of the world’s largest paper and packaging companies.
Smurfit, which is listed in London but based in Dublin, said the enlarged company would have its global headquarters in Ireland with US operations remaining in Atlanta.
In the last 12 months, the two group's generated revenue and adjusted Ebitda of approximately $34 billion and $5.5 billion, respectively.
The firms are targeting annual pre-tax run-rate cost synergies in excess of $400 million at the end of the first full year following completion.
Smirfit Kappa said it would combine two highly complementary portfolios to create a global leader in sustainable packaging with unparalleled geographic reach across 42 countries with a significant presence across both Europe and the Americas.