LIVE MARKETS-Sainsbury's-ASDA merger talks and other M&A news
April 30 - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to
you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Helen Reid. Reach her on Messenger to
share your thoughts on market moves: helen.reid.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net
SAINSBURY (Amsterdam: SJ6.AS - news) 'S-ASDA MERGER TALKS AND OTHER M&A NEWS (0542 GMT)
There's lots of M&A news likely to drive the day today.
Walmart's ASDA and Sainsbury's are in talks to merge, it emerged over the weekend,
a deal worth up to 15 billion pounds which would create Britain's biggest supermarket group
surpassing Tesco (Frankfurt: 852647 - news) . The deal would also represent an opportunity for Walmart to stem market share
losses.
Sainsbury's biggest shareholder, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), supports the
discussed merger with ASDA.
The UK supermarket said it would make another announcement at 0600 GMT today.
In other mega-merger news, Deutsche Telekom (IOB: 0MPH.IL - news) 's shares are indicated up at the open after the
German telecoms operator clinched a $26 billion deal to merge the third and fourth largest U.S.
wireless carriers T-Mobile US and Sprint.
Here's a few more headlines to keep an eye on.
Sainsbury's, Walmart's Asda to create UK supermarket powerhouse
AccorHotels agrees to buy Movenpick Hotels for $567 mln
T-Mobile, Sprint say $26 bln deal would give U.S. tech lead over China
Telecom Italia CEO says his position 'untenable' if Elliott wins board majority
SEB Q1 operating profit lags forecast
(Helen Reid)
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STOCKS TO RISE ON INTER-KOREA SUMMIT AND EARNINGS BOOST (0525 GMT)
European stocks are set to end April on a high, with gains from easing tensions between the
Koreas easing and a supportive earnings season in Asia likely spreading to the region this
morning.
Asian shares extended gains overnight after a historic summit between North and South Korea
at which the leaders vowed "complete denuclearisation".
Spreadbetters call the DAX 40 points higher at 12,620.9, the CAC 40 up 12 points at 5,494.7,
and the FTSE 100 17 points higher at 7,519.1.
Europe's STOXX 600 is set to end April with a strong gain (+3.7%) after two consecutive
months of losses.
Lots of corporate news, including merger talks between Walkmart's UK arm ASDA and
Sainsbury's, to keep us busy today. We'll have more on that soon.
(Helen Reid)
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(Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Helen Reid, Kit Rees and Julien Ponthus)