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Technip shares soar on mooted bid by Italian oil group ENI
AFP
PARIS
Petroleumworld.com 11 26 06Shares in the French oil services group Technip soared on Friday on reports it might be about to receive an offer from Italian energy company ENI or its engineering affiliate Saipem.
But ENI later denied the reports, while Technip said it had not been contacted by either ENI or Saipem about a possible offer.
The French daily La Tribune, without citing sources, had said ENI was in the process of studying a possible offer. Les Echos, also citing unnamed sources, said an offer was imminent and would come directly from Saipem.
The reports pushed Technip shares up by 7.63 percent to close at 55.70 euros in Paris, after surging at one point by more than 13 percent.
The French stock market authority AMF said it would ask ENI to clarify its intentions under a newly-adopted procedure that British investors have dubbed "put up or shut up".
ENI subsequently issued a statement which said: "No public offer is being considered regarding the Technip company."
A takeover would create the European leader for oil services with a capitalisation of 14.2 billion euros (18.5 billion dollars), estimated sales of 15.6 billion euros in 2007 and an order book of nearly 24 billion euros, analysts at Raymond James had calculated.
French Industry Minister Francois Loos said his government would be watching developments. His spokeswoman said the minister would probably raise the matter when he met Italian counterpart Pierluigi Bersani at a Franco-Italian summit on Friday in Italy.
AFP 24 1949 GMT 11 06
Copyright© 2001 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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