Europe open: Telecom Italia soars on KKR bid
European shares opened higher on Monday, driven by a $12bn bid from US private equity firm KKR for Telecom Italia.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.33% in early deals after declines last week on the back of rising Covid cases and a full lockdown starting in Austria on Monday.
Telecom Italia shares leapt 21% on the bid news, with KKR planning to take the group private.
Diploma rose 5% after the company reported a jump in full-year pre-tax profit on amid improved demand, as it backed its outlook for fiscal 2022.
Elsewhere in the sector, shares in Norway’s Telenor gained after the company agreed to merge its telecom unit with Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Group in a deal valued at about $8.61bn.
Renault shares were up as the car maker signed a second supply deal with lithium developer Vulcan Energy Resources.
Marks and Spencer shares were higher on a report that New York-based private equity outfit Apollo Global Management is pondering a buyout of the company.
Danish wind turbine maker Vestas fell after saying it was hit by a cyber attack that affected its IT systems and compromised data.
Swedish telecoms company Ericsson fell 4% after announcing a deal to buy cloud communications firm Vonage for $6.2bn.