Virgin Money Holdings Share News (VM.)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices are set to open higher on Monday, following strong gains by Asian markets overnight and ahead of UK construction data at 0930 BST, as the day in London got underway with more merger & acquisition activity.Packaging firm DS Smith proposed to acquire European packaging business Europac for EUR1.67 billion, funded by a rights issue. Clydesdale & Yorkshire Bank owner CYBG upped its all-share offer to merge with fellow FTSE 250 constituent Virgin Money Holdings.Meanwhile, Wizz Air reported an increase in passenger traffic in May.IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 26.77 points higher at 7,722.40 on Monday. The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.2% at 7,695.63 on Friday.Sterling was quoted at USD1.3372 early Monday ahead of the UK construction PMI reading, firm against USD1.3350 at the London equities close on Friday."Whilst US index futures remain upbeat, the dollar is showing some signs of strain, dropping 0.1% overnight. The softer dollar is helping the pound claw back lost ground as it pulls USD1.34 into sight," says Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital. "Pound traders looking towards the construction PMI this morning, may be disappointed. The rebound in April following a particularly weak March is set to ease in May, with the PMI easing back to 52 from 52.5. A softer than forecast reading could see the pound aim back down towards USD1.33 and pull house builder stocks lower." FTSE 100 packaging firm DS Smith has offered to acquire Spanish-listed packaging business Europac for EUR16.80 per share, valuing the whole company's equity at EUR1.67 billion and giving an enterprise value including debt of EUR1.90 billion. For 2017, Europac reported revenue of EUR868 million and earnings before interest, tax, deprecation and amortisation of EUR158 million.The acquisition will be financed by a rights issue to raise GBP1.00 billion to be launched in June, plus a debt facility of EUR740 million. The rights issue is fully underwritten by Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan and has not yet been priced.Subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, the acquisition is expected to be completed in the last quarter of 2018, DS Smith said. So far DS Smith has received undertakings to accept the acquisition from 59% of the entire share capital of Europac. DS Smith said that since the start of the current financial year on May 1, its group performance has continued to be in line with management expectations.In the FTSE 250, CYBG said it is in discussions with Virgin Money Holdings over a revised proposal to acquire the fellow challenger bank, increasing its offer to 1.2125 CYBG shares for each Virgin Money share, which would give Virgin Money shareholders a 38% interest in the combined group.The offer reflects a 7.0% increase in the exchange ratio, compared to the previous terms, which was 1.1297 CYBG shares for each Virgin Money share. Airline Wizz Air Holdings reported year-on-year increases in traffic statistics for May. Capacity rose to 3.1 million seats from 2.6 million the same month the year before. It carried a higher number of passengers at 2.8 million, up 18% from 2.4 million. Load factor rose by 0.8 percentage point to 91.9% from 91.1%.Italian bank UniCredit is considering a merger with France's Societe Generale, the Financial Times reported. While no formal offer has yet been made, officials from both banks are in the early stages of talks, the newspaper said. UniCredit CEO Jean-Pierre Mustier, who is French and a former SocGen executive, has been developing the plan for months, the FT said.The international economic events calendar on Monday has eurozone producer prices at 1000 BST and South Africa business confidence data at 1030 BST. In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending up 0.9%, the S&P 500 up 1.1% and Nasdaq Composite closing 1.5% higher.China warned at the end of a top-level meeting with US trade officials Sunday that deals will not take effect if Washington goes ahead and enacts tariffs on Chinese imports.The statement came an hour after a meeting between US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He aimed at finding ways to narrow the countries' trade deficit.Ross, who arrived Saturday in Beijing for two days of talks, said at the beginning of the meeting he had had "friendly and frank" discussions about specific export items with Chinese officials. But after the two teams wrapped up discussions at the Diaoyutai state guesthouse, they left without making any statements to journalists.China's state-run Xinhua news agency later published a Chinese government statement that the two sides had made "positive and concrete progress" and had had "good communication" in areas such as agriculture and energy.Nevertheless, the deals negotiated by the two teams "will not take effect" if the US enacts threatened tariffs on Chinese imports, Xinhua said.In Asia on Monday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 1.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 1.4%.After days of back and forth, US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12 to discuss nuclear disarmament.Just eight days earlier, Trump abruptly withdrew from the meeting, citing Pyongyang's "open hostility".