London pre-open: Flat start expected

Footsie is expected to open broadly unchanged on a quiet day on the company news front going into the weekend.Shareholders at private equity group 3i have taken up 96.5% of the shares offered to them as part of the company's £700m rights issue. The firm said it had received valid acceptances in respect of 523.4m shares, although the 9 for 7 cash call is fully underwritten so it will get all the money it wanted.Barclays has sold its fund management arm, Barclays Global Investors, to US asset manager BlackRock for £8.1bn ($13.5bn). BlackRock will pay $6.6bn in cash and the rest in shares for the unit which includes the iShares business, which Barclays had previously agreed to sell to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners in April for $4.4bn. Under the terms of an agreement with CVC Barclays had until 18 June to find a better price for the sale of its iShares unit.Indian refiner and miner Vedanta is to raise $1bn through an issue of convertible bonds, though major shareholder Volcan has declined to take part in the issue. Vedanta added priority will be given to its other existing shareholders. The cash will be used to support its organic growth pipeline, increase its ownership interest in its subsidiaries and for general corporate purposes.Regal Petroleum is raising about $100m (£60.4m) via a pacing with new and existing institutional shareholders to fund development of its gas and condensate fields in Ukraine. The money is being raised via an accelerated book-building process run by Merrill Lynch, the price of which will be agreed at the end of the process.Cape, which provides support services to the energy and natural resources sectors, has won a clutch of contracts in Qatar worth $37m in aggregate. The contracts include agreements with Qatargas, ORYX Gas and C B & T. Cape will provide Qatargas with maintenance services at its onshore and offshore facilities in a deal that lasts three years, with the possibility of a two year extension.South African metal recycler SA Metals has recommended its shareholders approve a takeover offer from platinum producer Sylvania Resources. Sylvania made an offer to acquire SA Metals for 1 Sylvania share for every 10 SA Metals shares. SA Metals noted that this represents a 120% premium based on the closing price of the two company's shares on 11 May 2009.Acquisitions and strong organic growth were responsible for record results at AEC Education in 2008, the Asia focused teaching group said. Profit before tax was up to £794,473 from £298,155 in 2007 on revenue up 123% to £6.2m.