European Corporate Roundup for Monday
In the spotlight on Monday is Sanofi SA, which is set to buy hemophilia-drug maker Bioverativ Inc. for more than $11.5 billion, as the French drug manufacturer looks to clinch a big deal while bracing for generic competition for its top-selling product.
On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the deal would value the former Biogen Inc. unit at $105 a share, according to people familiar with the matter. The price would represent a premium of about 63% to where Bioverativ closed trading Friday.
On Monday, Sanofi said the deal was approved by its board and by that of Bioverativ. The deal is expected to close within three months.
Shares were down 3.5% in afternoon trade.
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One of the luxury industry's biggest firms, Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA, is gobbling up Yoox Net-a-Porter SA, one of the fashion world's most disruptive e-commerce companies.
Under the deal Richemont will spend up to EUR2.69 billion ($3.3 billion) buying the shares in YNAP that it doesn't already own. While the transaction isn't large for the Swiss luxury conglomerate that owns Cartier, among many other luxury brands, it is a measure of how the shift from brick-and-mortar to online retailing is spreading to even the most expensive and exclusive purchases.
YNAP has become a major online marketplace for the luxury industry in recent years. While major fashion labels have been slow to establish their own internet-retailing operations, YNAP has filled the vacuum.
Richemont shares were off 1.2%.
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Charges related to the U.S. corporate tax overhaul pushed UBS Group AG into a fourth-quarter loss, the Swiss bank said Monday, making it the latest bank to take a short-term hit from the recently enacted legislation.
The Swiss bank reported a net loss of 2.22 billion francs ($2.3 billion) between October and December, compared with a profit of CHF636 million for the comparable period a year earlier.
The loss was slightly larger than the net loss of about CHF2.15 billion that analysts had expected.
UBS shares were 1.3% lower.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 22, 2018 07:41 ET (12:41 GMT)