3i Group Share News (III)

Having enjoyed a brief foray above 5,600 Footsie has slipped back below that level as miners come off the top, though the index remains in positive territory on the day.Invensys leads the way overall after the engineer became the exclusive supplier of railway signalling to Chinese rolling stock maker CSR Corporation. Miners are off their best levels for the day but are still going well, with copper hitting five month highs. Copper miners Antofagasta, Vedanta and Kazakhmys are the sector standouts.British Gas owner Centrica has stepped up its campaign to secure more of its gas supplies. It has doubled its equity interest in the gas and oil producing Statfjord field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea to 19.13%.BP is close to sealing permanently the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico after a relief well intercepted the original drill hole, which should enable engineers to shut it down completely. Elsewhere in the oil sector Dana Petroleum, which has been trading below the £18 a share offer price from KNOC, edges back up towards the £18 level on rumours that bidder KNOC is buying shares in the market. 3i is creating an integrated private equity business by merging its buyout and growth capital units. The decision leaves 3i with two business lines - Infrastructure and Private Equity - and expansion into other areas such as debt management are also on the cards, as flagged at the year end.Business process outsourcing specialist Xchanging has found a replacement for Richard Houghton, who will be quitting as chief financial officer (CFO) next month. Houghton's replacement is ex-Tomkins CFO Ken Lever, who will join the Xchanging board on 5 October 2010Domino Printing is a strong performer. The provider of industrial ink jet and laser printing equipment said trading conditions continued to improve over the summer months and it is running ahead of expectations. Sales revenues in the May to August period were 20% higher than in the same months of 2009. Like for like sales increased by 16%.Peri-Peri chicken chain Nando's is adding burgers and souvlaki to its menu with the agreed takeover of restaurant group Clapham House for £30m. Capricorn Ventures, Nando's owner, has pitched its offer at 74p per share cash, a 31% premium to the price before talks started, which has been recommended by Clapham's directors.Pubs group Mitchells & Butlers is paying Restaurant Group £19.5m in cash for its Ha Ha Bar & Grill chain. It's expected the deal for the 22 sites will complete on 3 October when the transformation into 12 All Bar One pubs, six Browns restaurants and four other M&B brands will begin.Among smaller companies, shares in Caledon Resources climbed after the Australian coal miner confirmed it has received another approach. FTSE 100 - RisersInvensys (ISYS) 292.00p +5.45%Aggreko (AGK) 1,617.00p +4.32%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 80.50p +3.80%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 389.60p +2.85%Burberry Group (BRBY) 935.50p +2.80%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,403.00p +2.78%Sage Group (SGE) 261.00p +2.43%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,172.00p +2.26%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,181.00p +2.25%Standard Life (SL.) 229.80p +2.18%FTSE 100 - FallersEssar Energy (ESSR) 452.50p -1.16%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,374.00p -0.94%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,502.00p -0.73%Man Group (EMG) 234.00p -0.68%Barclays (BARC) 312.75p -0.64%Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,146.00p -0.52%United Utilities Group (UU.) 577.00p -0.43%National Grid (NG.) 555.00p -0.36%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 598.00p -0.33%Inmarsat (ISAT) 718.00p -0.14%FTSE 250 - RisersCentamin Egypt (CEY) 188.00p +6.03%Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) 89.00p +6.02%Eaga (EAGA) 112.10p +4.38%Supergroup (SGP) 1,189.00p +4.30%FTSE 250 - FallersKeller Group (KLR) 607.50p -2.25%Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 354.10p -1.99%Premier Farnell (PFL) 262.00p -1.80%Helical Bar (HLCL) 292.40p -1.75%