FTSE 250 movers: Man Group surges on acquisition, FUM; Aggreko drops on downgrade

London’s FTSE 250 index was up 0.6% to 17,988.78 in afternoon trade.

Man Group surged after the hedge fund manager said funds under management rose 6% in the quarter ended 30 September to $80.7bn, with net inflows of $1.3bn, and announced an agreement to acquire real asset manager Aalto Invest Holding AG.

The company also said it plans to buy back up to $100m of its shares and will continue to review further potential acquisition opportunities.

William Hill rallied after shareholder Parvus Asset Management said late on Thursday that it opposed the bookmaker’s £4.5bn merger with Canada’s Amaya. Parvus, which owns a 14% stake in the company, said the deal had “limited strategic logic and would destroy shareholder value”. It added that William Hill should consider a sale of the company.

On Friday, Liberum said it was hard to see how the deal can progress against this backdrop, although it noted Hill’s board is only at early stages of discussions and will almost certainly want to continue if they could eventually recommend a deal.

“What is clear is that Parvus have hung up the ‘For Sale’ sign at Hills and the company remains ‘in play’.

Vedanta Resources gained on the back of encouraging Chinese inflation figures, which showed producer prices in September rose for the first time in nearly five years.

Shares in temporary power supplier Aggreko slumped after Peel Hunt downgraded the stock to ‘reduce’ from ‘hold’ and cut the price target to 900p from 1,200p.

Risers

Man Group (EMG) 124.90p 14.90%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 283.90p 6.97%
William Hill (WMH) 312.90p 4.65%
Serco Group (SRP) 136.40p 4.60%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 638.00p 3.82%
IP Group (IPO) 150.00p 3.45%
Carillion (CLLN) 248.90p 3.24%
CYBG (CYBG) 268.20p 3.15%
Paysafe Group (PAYS) 459.00p 2.91%
Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 509.50p 2.87%

Fallers

Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 331.40p -2.84%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 145.10p -2.81%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 454.10p -2.62%
Aggreko (AGK) 944.00p -2.18%
Assura (AGR) 58.65p -1.84%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 411.70p -1.70%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,160.00p -1.69%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 278.30p -1.49%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 359.80p -1.42%
Countrywide (CWD) 199.40p -1.38%