Financial Times

LSE CLOSES IN ON DEAL TO ABSORB TURQUOISE

A new joint venture between the London Stock Exchange and Turquoise could be finalised within as little as two

weeks, pending discussions with the latter's backers. The

pan-European share trading platform will be merged with the

LSE's so-called 'dark pool' block trading facility, Baikal,

affording the LSE a 51 percent controlling stake and bolstering

its position against such rivals as Chi-X Europe and BATS

Europe. Ironically, Turquoise, which launched two years ago, had

also been seen as a contender to the LSE's dominance, but a lack

of profitability and subsequent shareholder apathy have

contributed to the exchange's decision to embark upon the move.

LOVELLS IN MERGER TALKS TO CREATE TRANSATLANTIC LEGAL FIRM

City law firm Lovells is rumoured to be discussing a

potential tie-up with Washington-based Hogan&Hartson. The move

is aimed at creating a law firm that will be slightly smaller

than the UK's big four, Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Freshfields

Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen&Overy, and that will have a

strong litigation focus. While transatlantic mergers have

historically been mostly unsuccessful, a combined Lovells-Hogan

partnership, which would result in a company with combined

revenue of 1.9 billion dollars, would hope to succeed through

offering a different perspective to the big four.

MGPA POISED FOR 90 MILLION POUND LAND DEAL

Private equity group MGPA is in the final round of talks to

acquire Land Improvement Holdings for 90 million pounds. MGPA

has until the end of next week to take advantage of an

exclusivity clause that will see it stave off a rival bid from

Carlyle. Although the price of land in the UK has dropped

dramatically in recent years, residential land is forecast to

increase in value as the property and housebuilding markets

begin to recover. Land Improvement's portfolio of land and land

purchase options are believed to amount to approximately 50

million pounds. In addition, the company has about 40 million

pounds in cash, although a certain portion of that is already

allocated to various projects and costs.

YELL USING SCHEME OF ARRANGEMENT TO RESTRUCTURE

Yell is depending on a court-sanctioned scheme of

arrangement to force creditors to back the group's debt

restructuring plans after failing to secure the requisite 95

percent backing within the specified timeframe. Even though some

90 percent of Yell's lenders were in favour of the rescheduling,

there were others who were either legally unable to submit an

approval or were hoping to have their debts paid off early by

refusing to back the scheme. The legal challenge, which will

take approximately four to six weeks to complete, requires 75

percent of creditors by value of debt and 50 percent by number

to be accepted. Shares at the directories group fell 6.16 pence

to 46.34 pence.

BAT FIRM ON PRICE INCREASE IN FACE OF SALES FALL

British American Tobacco has said it is to push

ahead with planned price increases in 2010 despite evidence that

premium brand cigarette sales are slipping as consumers switch

to cheaper brands or illegally-traded cigarettes during the

recession. Paul Adams, chief executive, indicated there are a

number of territories where price hikes are being explored.

Like-for-like volumes for the nine months to September 30,

excluding acquisitions gains, dropped three percent. With BAT

reporting a two percent decline for the first half in June,

analysts are suggesting the company could be facing an overall

decline of five percent during the third quarter. Shares fell

33.5 pence to 19.57 pounds.

NANOCO MOVES TO RAMP UP QUANTUM DOTS

An anticipated increase in business has led quantum dot

manufacturer Nanoco to ramp-up its manufacturing

operations. The company intends to enter joint development

agreements with multinational electronic companies, providing

raw material and claiming royalties on each product. Nanoco is

currently the only company able to produce quantum dots --

fluorescent semiconductor nano-particles used to create light

sources such as LEDs and mobile phone displays -- without the

use of cadmium. Results released on Wednesday show revenue of

two million pounds for the year to the end of July. Nanoco's

broker Zeus Capital has forecast revenue of 5.1 million pounds

for 2009, with earnings before interest and tax of 421,000

pounds.

DIVIDEND TO DOUBLE AS CARPETRIGHT PILES ON SALES

A return to sales growth has led Carpetright to

predict that its full-year dividend will more than double.

Citing a boost in the housing market and the collapse of rival

Allied Carpets as the reasons for the improved trading

conditions, the UK's largest flooring retailer said it expected

to pay a full-year dividend of about 20 pence in 2010. This

figure is a marked improvement on the 2009 dividend which was

cut to just eight pence in June. Despite a 10.3 percent increase

in group sales in the 12 weeks to October 24 and a climb in

like-for-like sales in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, Lord

Harris of Peckham, group chief executive and chairman, sounded a

note of caution. 'I think (Carpetright's) over the worst. I've

been through six, seven of these downturns and we're always

first in, first out. But I don't think the country's over the

worst,' he said.

VENTURE TO JOIN INDUSTRY WITH RESEARCH

A new Coventry-based venture, funded by companies such as

Rolls-Royce and Airbus UK, as well as 40 million pounds

of public money, is being launched in a bid to pioneer

manufacturing techniques and to address the UK's

less-than-impressive track record for turning research into

commercially viable products. The manufacturing technology

centre, which will be officially announced on Thursday by

Business Minister Pat McFadden, will bring academics and

technical specialists together to solve practical problems. The

MTC is due to open in 2011 and is expected to generate fee

income from business of 13 million pounds per year.

Prepared for Reuters by Durrants

Keywords: PRESS DIGEST Financial Times Oct 29

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