Rio Tinto Rebuffs BHP Billiton

Rio Tinto rebuffed BHP Billiton’s takeover bid for the world’s third largest mining company by spending $2.4 billion on acquiring new mines, raising dividends to 30% this year and generating $15 billion from asset sales. Rio felt that BHP’s $124 billion takeover attempt, one of the largest ever, undervalued their business.

Rio Tinto’s shares rose 7.5% primarily after a Beijing-based magazine reported that China’s sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp., was planning to join the country’s largest steelmaker Baosteel Group and other steel companies in a $200 billion bid for Rio Tinto. A CIC spokeswoman said the report was not true.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Rudd Elected Australia PM, Vows to Sign Kyoto Protocol

Kevin Rudd defeated John Howard in a landslide victory to become Australia’s new prime minister. Rudd, 50, vowed to get started on ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on reducing carbon emissions that cause global warming. Australia is suffering from the worst drought in a century, making the environment a top issue in the election. Rudd declined to comment on his campaign pledge to withdraw Australia’s 500 troops from Iraq.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Northern Rock Names Branson’s Virgin Preferred Bidder

Northern Rock’s board of directors picked a consortium led by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, American investor Wilbur Ross, Toscafund Asset Management and First Eastern Investment Group to be the preferred bidder for the beleaguered British bank. Under the proposed takeover, the consortium will inject $2.7 billion of cash into Northern Rock. It will also repay upfront $22.6 billion of the $47.4 billion Northern Rock has borrowed from England’s central bank.

Source: Daily Telegraph

Retailers Off to Strong Start This Holiday Season

Retailers attracted 147 million shoppers over the three-day holiday weekend, up 4.8% from last year, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation. However, shoppers spent an average of $347.44, 3.5% less than last year, in a sign that higher gas prices and the housing slump is causing them to tighten their purse strings.

Source: BusinessWeek

Dubai Fund Buys “Substantial” Stake in Sony

Dubai International Capital has made a “substantial investment” in Sony Corp. The private equity company owned by the rule of Dubai did not say how much it has invested in nor the stake it now holds in the Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate.

Source: PRNewswire

Airbus, Areva Sign Multibillion Dollar Orders With China

French companies signed multibillion-dollar contracts with China on the sidelines of French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to Beijing. Toulouse-based aircraft manufacturer Airbus signed a $14.8 billion order to sell 160 commercial passenger planes to Chinese airlines. Nuclear reactor company Areva signed a $8 billion deal to build two third-generation nuclear reactors for China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp.

Source: Financial Times

Studios, Writers Resume Negotiations Today

Hollywood studios and TV and film screenwriters will return to the bargaining table Monday after a three week-long walkout. An estimated 50 TV shows and handful of movies have stopped production since the strike began. Negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are still far from reaching a new contract to replace the old one that expired Oct. 31.< /p>

Source: Los Angeles Times

Philips Buys Genlyte for $2.7 Billion

Philips Electronics is buying Louisville, Kentucky-based lighting maker Genlyte for $2.7 billion. The acquisition is a strategic fit for the world’s biggest lighting maker to to push into the U.S. energy-saving lighting market.

Source: Reuters

“Twelve Days of Christmas” Items Would Cost $78,100

It would cost $78,100 to buy the 364 items, from a single partridge in a pear tree to the 12 drummer drumming in the Christmas carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” according to the annual PNC Christmas Price Index compiled by PNC Wealth Management. PNC has been calculating the cost of Christmas since 1984 in a humorous look at actual economic trends. The cost is up 4% this year, from $75,122 in 2006.

Source: Associated Press