Pharmaceutical company Shire (SHP.L) is considering a 12 billion pound ($18.32 billion) takeover of Actelion Ltd (ATLN.VX) Europe's biggest biotech firm, Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources.
Europe
Bund yield at 1 percent for first time since September
German bond yields hit 1 percent for the first time since September on Wednesday as long-term inflation expectations rose, although recent rollercoaster moves in fixed-income markets kept stock markets flat.
Merkel urges Germans to put aside fear of big data
Germans need to overcome their traditional fear of the large-scale collection of personal data by companies and instead embrace its opportunities or risk being marginalized in the global economy, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday.
Italy economy minister says confident Greece deal will come soon
Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said on Tuesday he was confident a deal would soon be found to keep Greece in the euro zone and even if it did exit, the currency bloc was now much better placed to withstand the shock.
U.S. rate prospects spook global stocks, dollar struggles
Shares in Europe and Asia fell on Tuesday as speculation intensified that the Federal Reserve could raise U.S. interest rates sooner than many expect, although this failed to give the dollar a significant boost.
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Euro zone banks should expect another round of health checks in 2016, the European Central Bank's top banking supervisor was quoted as saying, adding that Greece's banks remained solvent.
Deutsche Bank appointed John Cryan as its new CEO on Sunday after co-chief executives Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen resigned following criticism from investors.
Internet television service Netflix plans to expand into Italy and Portugal later this year, the company said on Saturday, as part of a bid to expand its popular streaming TV service to some 200 countries worldwide within two years.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday spurned "absurd" terms of proposed aid from lenders and delayed a debt payment to the International Monetary Fund, prolonging an impasse that threatens to push Greece into default and out of the euro zone.
Vodafone, the world's second-biggest mobile telecoms company, said on Friday it was in talks with Europe's largest cable operator, Liberty Global, about an exchange of "selected assets" but was not discussing a full-blown merger.
Indebted Brazilian oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA) has brought in Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC.N) to help manage a multi-billion dollar divestment plan and has already contacted major oil companies who might be interested buyers, three sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Oil group OPEC agreed to stick by its policy of unconstrained output for another six months on Friday, setting aside warnings of a second lurch lower in prices as some members such as Iran look to ramp up exports.
European shares extended losses on Friday, on track for their worst week of the year as a losing streak for bonds rumbled on, with wary investors anticipating more Greek debt drama and a solid U.S. payrolls reading.
A persistent sell-off in bond markets left financial market confidence in short supply on Thursday, with stocks lower globally and not even traditional safe havens like gold and the Swiss franc providing much of a refuge.
