Psagot is bought by private equity group Apax after shareholder buyout

PSAGOT, Israel’s largest investment house, confirmed yesterday that it has been bought by private equity firm, Apax Partners.The deal involves Apax buying a 76 per cent share of the firm from shareholders led by York Capital Management. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval, according to a statement from Psagot to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. York is expected to make $263m (£162m) capital gain from the sale

Habitat will not be broken-up as the long-awaited sale to Hilco is confirmed

HABITAT’S protracted sale finally took place yesterday, when parent company ICAF Antillen sold the furniture company to Hilco. ICAF, acting on behalf of the Kamprad family, which also owns Ikea, sold Habitat Group to Retail Investments Limited, a specialist retail investments group led by Hilco.

Cash rich VT eyes buyout of Mouchel

VT GROUP, the shipbuilder-turned-support services company, has made two takeover approaches for a rival, it emerged over the weekend, as it shifts focus away from its defence roots.Outsourcing and engineering group Mouchel, whose share price moved massively on Friday after an interim management statement, is thought to have snubbed the secret offers. The move comes as VT, which has around £400m in cash to burn after the sale of its shipbuilding group earlier this year, prepares to switch its FTSE listed sector from aerospace and defence to support services a week today  

Shanks set to open its books to Carlyle

WASTE management company Shanks is set to agree to open its books to suitor US private equity firm Carlyle Group, it emerged yesterday, as a takeover battle brewed for the firm. Shanks is expected to sign an agreement with Carlyle later this week, allowing the US firm to see its accounts after its £536m offer, an industry source said. The agreement is not expected to be exclusive, meaning other potential bidders could also gain access to Shanks’ books. Carlyle is talking to Shanks after making a 135p per share offer for the UK group last week.

Google ready to release mobile

Google has released an experimental mobile phone to employees, with access to the public expected to be offered in January. Asking employees to test products has become an established tactic for the search engine giant. The phone is expected to be called Nexus One.

Lazard takes the helm as Shell looks to sell assets

 OIL giant Royal Dutch Shell has appointed investment bank Lazard to sell its Swedish unit, while rival BP is looking to sell its French petrol stations, it is understood. Shell is hoping to sell off its Swedish business, which includes a refinery in Gothenburg, a marketing arm, and its network of more than 400 gas stations for around $750m (£461.2m).

Partygaming mulls a £2bn tie with Bwin

ONLINE poker group PartyGaming is understood to be in talks with Austrian rival Bwin Interactive Entertainment about a potential £2bn tie-up. PartyGaming is believed to have held “on-off talks” since the summer with Vienna-based Bwin about a possible “merger of equals”.

Timis denies move towards listing

Advisers for African Petroleum, the Liberia-focused oil company headed by controversial tycoon Frank Timis, yesterday denied reports that it was seeking a stock exchange listing. They said: “At no point has African Petroleum applied to the exchange to list the company. Furthermore there has been no contact whatsoever from the exchange to African Petroleum.” The comments came after reports suggested Timis’ company had been barred from floating on Aim. He chairs African Minerals, the biggest mining company on AIM.

Hands in year long plan to sue Citigroup

TERRA Firma’s £2bn lawsuit against Citigroup, which it accuses of lying during its buyout of music giant EMI two years ago, had been in the pipeline for 12 months.The private equity group led by Guy Hands finally decided to strike after Citi rejected a refinancing deal that would see £1bn of loans to EMI written off.

$3.5bn Dubai repayment due

DUBAI faces the first major hurdle in its struggle to resolve its debt crisis today as the $3.5bn (£2.2bn) bond by state-owned firm Nakheel expires.

London’s best sales growth for 3 years

LONDON enjoyed its best sales growth since October 2006, with central London retail sales for November 13.3 per cent higher on a like-for-like basis than a year ago, according to the latest survey

Gartmore lists at 220p per share

Fund management house Gartmore will list on the stock exchange today at 220p per share, significantly below the 270p mid-point it had hoped for. Gartmore’s flotation is the first initial public offering of a private-equity owned company since the onset of the credit crunch in 2007.