FTSE 100 movers: BG Group soars on Shell takeover, Sky gains on Vivendi rumours

Shares in BG Group rocketed 32% on Wednesday after its board recommended a £47bn takeover offer from Shell. The bid values BG at around 1,350p per share, a 50% premium to its closing price of 910.4p on Tuesday. If the transaction completes, BG shareholders will be left with a 19% stake in the enlarged company.

While Shell itself was trading in the red following the news, others in the sector were rising on hopes that the deal will trigger a new wave of industry consolidation. Larger players such as BP have held up well amid the oil crisis compared with their smaller peers and could now look to snap up struggling producers, analysts said.

Sky was in demand amid bid speculation that France’s media giant Vivendi could table a bid for the UK listed TV and broadband operator. Though Vivendi representatives denied Sky is an acquisition, market participants piled into Sky stock on an earlier Reuters report that Vivendi could pay up to £28bn for the company.

Mining stocks on the whole were making decent gains including diversified producers BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Rio Tinto, tracking gains in Asia overnight as Japanese and Chinese shares touched 15- and seven-year highs, respectively.

However, precious metal producers Randgold and Fresnillo were tracking gold and silver prices lower.

Experian shares received a boost by Credit Suisse which lifted its stance on the information services and credit checking group from 'neutral' to 'outperform', saying it expects a "re-rating".

There was market chatter doing the rounds citing a report out of China that Apple might attempt to take out ARM Holdings at 1,500p per share.

FTSE 100 - Risers
BG Group (BG.) 1,199.50p +31.76%
Experian (EXPN) 1,181.00p +2.70%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,124.00p +2.00%
BP (BP.) 463.00p +1.79%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,738.00p +1.40%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 273.10p +1.37%
Shire Plc (SHP) 5,455.00p +1.30%
St James's Place (STJ) 986.50p +1.23%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 322.70p +1.22%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,036.50p +1.07%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,053.50p -7.02%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,025.00p -3.30%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,173.00p -2.12%
Aviva (AV.) 549.50p -2.05%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,073.00p -2.01%
CRH (CRH) 1,747.00p -1.96%
ITV (ITV) 252.60p -1.71%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 996.50p -1.63%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,751.00p -1.55%
Fresnillo (FRES) 694.50p -1.49%