ROUNDUPS
In the papers 30 April
30-04-2002
by Paula Mythen
Hynix rejects acquisition proposal from Micron | Parthus shares continue to fall in the wake of its proposed merger
The Irish Times reports that Parthus lost 13 percent of its market value on Monday bringing the total fall to more than 40 percent since it announced its proposed merger with the intellectual property licensing arm of US-Israeli firm, DSP Group. Shares in Parthus fell a further STG0.04 to close at STG0.265 on the London Stock Exchange, valuing the company at STG153 million. In contrast, DSP Group has seen its share price increase by 10 percent since the deal was announced.
The paper also reports that computer services group Fayrewood, in which Irish entrepreneur Pierce Casey has a 15 percent stake, has issued a profit warning. The company does however expect that second-half revenues will still be "materially above" those for the first half. The overall group is now valued at about STG18 million on the London Stock Exchange, down from last summer's STG44 million.
The Irish Independent reports that Granada sought to play down reports that merger talks with fellow ITV broadcaster Carlton are to be revived following the demise of ITV Digital. A potential STG5 billion deal would unite the bulk of the ITV network under one owner and could appease shareholders following the collapse of ITV Digital.
According to the Financial Times the USD3.4 billion deal to create the world's largest memory chipmaker faced collapse on Tuesday after the board of directors of South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor rejected a provisional agreement to sell the company's memory operations to Micron Technology. Although 78 percent of creditors had voted in favour of the agreement, which required a 75 percent majority to be passed, the approval of both the Hynix and Micron boards was required in order to go ahead. Hynix may now face insolvency as creditors are unlikely to extend fresh loans to the heavily debt laden company, which they do not see as viable without the Micron deal.
The paper also reports that Microsoft is in final stages of negotiating the acquisition of NavisionDamgaard, the Danish enterprise software group. NavsisionDamgaard generates about 80 percent of its revenues outside Denmark, mostly in the European Union. Microsoft is expected to pay about USD1.2 billion for full control of NavisionDamgaard, if the deal is concluded.
The Wall Street Journal reports that venture investing fell 26 percent in the first quarter of this year according to new data released late Monday by venture research firm VentureOne and accounting firm Ernst & Young. Venture capitalists invested USD5.1 billion last quarter in 495 deals last year compared with the USD6.9 billion they put into 664 companies in the fourth quarter of last year. The decline was even steeper when compared with the first quarter of last year when VCs put USD10.9 billion into 837 companies.
The same paper reports that the Czech government shelved plans to sell a majority stake in Cesky Telecom AS, marking the second collapse of a high-profile auction this year. Czech Finance Minister Jiri Rusnok said the government rejected a USD1.80 billion bid by a consortium of Deutsche Bank AG, US private equity firm Blackstone Partners and TDC A/S of Denmark because it was too low. Any sale of the country's leading fixed-line and mobile-phone operator will now wait at least until after national elections in June, officials said.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 