Europe stocks lose ground; Sanofi in focus
Auto stocks under pressure; Swiss banks rise after capital decision
By Simon Kennedy, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — European shares moved lower at the start of the week, with deal news again grabbing the headlines as Sanofi-Aventis launched a hostile bid for Genzyme.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index /quotes/comstock/22c!sxxp (ST:SXXP 257.78, -1.31, -0.51%) fell 0.5% to 257.88.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index /quotes/comstock/23i!i:ukx (UK:UKX 5,564, -29.35, -0.53%) dropped 0.3% to 5,575.39, the French CAC 40 index /quotes/comstock/30t!i:px1 (FR:PX1 3,655, -37.37, -1.01%) fell 0.9% to 3,660.17 and the German DAX 30 index /quotes/comstock/30p!dax (DX:DAX 6,150, -61.33, -0.99%) slipped 0.8% to 6,157.97.
Shares in Sanofi-Aventis /quotes/comstock/24s!e:san (FR:SAN 48.07, -0.22, -0.45%) /quotes/comstock/13*!sny/quotes/nls/sny (SNY 33.12, -0.13, -0.39%) dropped 1.3% in Paris after the group launched an $18.5 billion hostile bid for Genzyme Corp. /quotes/comstock/15*!genz/quotes/nls/genz (GENZ 70.88, +0.09, +0.13%) , but didn’t lift the value of the bid from the $69 a share that Genzyme had previously rejected.
In other deal news, Premier Foods PLC /quotes/comstock/23s!e:pfd (UK:PFD 18.08, +1.87, +11.54%) jumped over 11% in London after saying it has received an approach for its meat-free food business, which includes the Quorn branded range of vegetarian meals.
Shares in satellite-navigation-equipment group TomTom /quotes/comstock/24s!e:tom2 (NL:TOM2 5.25, +0.20, +4.03%) rose 4.3% in Amsterdam after reports that it had turned down a number of takeover approaches.
Banking stocks were mixed Monday.
Credit Suisse Group /quotes/comstock/06p!csgn-otc (CH:CSGN 42.10, +0.32, +0.77%) /quotes/comstock/13*!cs/quotes/nls/cs (CS 43.24, +0.68, +1.60%) rose 1% and UBS /quotes/comstock/06p!ubsn (CH:UBSN 16.66, 0.00, 0.00%) /quotes/comstock/13*!ubs/quotes/nls/ubs (UBS 17.12, +0.09, +0.53%) rose 0.6% after both Swiss lenders said they would be able to meet tough new proposals from Switzerland on capital requirements.
However, Allied Irish Banks /quotes/comstock/30b!aib (IE:AIB 0.45, -0.02, -5.06%) /quotes/comstock/13*!aib/quotes/nls/aib (AIB 1.41, -0.01, -0.70%) dropped around 7%, extending its heavy losses from the previous week, when regulators said it would need to raise even more capital, which could leave the government with a significant majority stake in the bank.
Spain’s Banco Santander /quotes/comstock/06x!e:san (ES:SAN 9.08, -0.02, -0.24%) /quotes/comstock/13*!std/quotes/nls/std (STD 12.58, -0.08, -0.63%) was down 0.9% after being downgraded to neutral from buy at Nomura, which cited continued macroeconomic risks in the bank’s home market.
Among other movers, auto stocks were lower across the board, with BMW /quotes/comstock/11e!fbmw (DE:BMW 48.25, -1.27, -2.57%) dropping 1.9%, Daimler /quotes/comstock/11e!fdai (DE:DAI 44.27, -1.03, -2.27%) down 2% and Peugeot /quotes/comstock/24s!e:ug (FR:UG 24.22, -0.63, -2.52%) down 1.6%.
Oil and gas stocks were also lower as crude-oil prices edged down.
Cairn Energy /quotes/comstock/23s!e:cne (UK:CNE 447.50, -9.60, -2.10%) was one of the biggest fallers in the sector, dropping 2% in London, while BP /quotes/comstock/23s!a:bp. (UK:BP. 431.10, -9.40, -2.13%) /quotes/comstock/13*!bp/quotes/nls/bp (BP 41.95, +0.78, +1.89%) slipped 1% after strong gains in the previous few sessions.
The airline sector also fell on Monday, but Irish airline Aer Lingus /quotes/comstock/23s!e:aerl (UK:AERL 1.04, -0.01, -0.48%) bucked the trend. Aer Lingus rose 0.5% in Dublin after it said it appointed Andrew Macfarlane chief financial officer.
Simon Kennedy is the City correspondent for MarketWatch in London.
