(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 8,061.26 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
Anglo American surged after it received an unsolicited non-binding and highly conditional £31.1bn all-share takeover proposal from Australia's BHP Group - a deal that would create the world's largest miner and copper producer.
The proposal would be preceded by separate demergers of Anglo's entire shareholdings in its platinum business and Kumba Iron Ore to its shareholders. The two parts of the proposal would be inter-conditional.
BHP said that under the terms of the proposal, shareholders would receive a total value of £25.08 per Anglo American share, including £4.86 in Anglo Platinum shares and £3.40 in Kumba shares.
They would also receive 0.7097 BHP shares for each ordinary share in Anglo American they currently own.
The price represents a premium of 31% on the implied market value of Anglo American's unlisted assets.
Consumer products giant Unilever rallied as it maintained its full-year guidance after a solid first quarter, which saw all five business divisions contributing to underlying sales growth.
Barclays Bank was up even as it reported a 12% fall in first-quarter profit on lower income as customers shopped around for better savings rates and mortgage deals.
AstraZeneca, Hikma and London Stock Exchange Group all gained after results.
Housebuilder Persimmon was also up as it reported a 10% drop in new home completions in the first quarter, but said it experienced an improvement in sales rates and "firm pricing".
Schroders fell despite posting an uptick in first-quarter assets under management.
Sainsbury's lost ground even as it said it expected to grow profits by 5-10% this year after delivering better-than-expected earnings for 2023/24.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Anglo American (AAL) 2,494.50p 13.13%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,093.00p 5.95%
Barclays (BARC) 202.25p 5.81%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,962.00p 5.37%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,866.00p 2.92%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 2,224.00p 2.68%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 8,962.00p 1.75%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,313.50p 1.66%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,818.00p 1.46%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 133.20p 1.37%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 235.70p -5.19%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,309.00p -4.00%
Schroders (SDR) 355.00p -3.32%
St James's Place (STJ) 430.60p -3.02%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 335.80p -2.95%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 405.20p -2.83%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 261.20p -2.54%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,047.00p -2.09%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 8,970.00p -1.97%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 3,918.00p -1.90%