Replies to post #2245 on Indocan Resources Inc. (IDCN)

[StockBetz]

To all IDCN Partner talks!!! Check out this latest PR -

Foreign buys of US companies highest since 2000-report

June 20, 2006 11:12:33 (ET)

By Mark McSherry

NEW YORK, June 20 (Reuters) - Acquisitions of companies in the United States by foreign-based firms have reached their highest level since 2000, according to research firm Dealogic.

Announced cross-border M&A inflow into the United States has reached $118.2 billion so far in 2006, the highest year-to-date volume since 2000 and a rise of 169 percent on the $43.9 billion of deals at this stage last year, Dealogic said.

British companies are leading the charge to buy American rivals, with French and Canadian companies not too far behind.

Britain has been the most active acquirer in the United States in 2006, with $30.6 billion of announced deals so far,compared with $11.4 billion year-to-date in 2005, Dealogic reported.

Among bigger transactions, British power network operator National Grid ((NG.L)) agreed to buy U.S. natural gas distributor KeySpan Corp. (KSE,Trade) for about $7.3 billion.

French communications equipment maker Alcatel ((CGEP.PA)) agreed to buy New Jersey-based rival Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU,Trade) for about $14 billion.

And Canada-based Brookfield Properties Corp. ((BPO.TO)) (BPO,Trade) formed a joint venture with New York-based private equity firm Blackstone Group to buy U.S.-based Trizec Properties ((TRZ.N)) and its Canadian arm Trizec Canada ((TZC.TO)) in a deal valued at about $9 billion.

TOP TARGETS

Utilities and energy is the most targeted industry by foreign acquirers so far in 2006, with a volume of $25.2 billion. That compares with a mere $102 million at this stage last year, Dealogic said.

U.S. telecoms companies have also been popular takeover targets for foreigners, with $19.2 billion of announced deals so far, up from only $321 million at this stage in 2005.

In other notable U.S. cross-border deals this year, Italy's Lottomatica ((LTO.MI)) agreed to buy U.S. lottery company GTech (GTK,Trade) for roughly $5 billion to create the world's biggest lottery operator.

And German chemical maker BASF ((BASF.DE)) agreed to buy U.S. catalyst producer Engelhard (EC,Trade) for about $5 billion, the biggest takeover in BASF's 140-year history.

In U.S. cross-border inflow deals, Dealogic said Goldman Sachs leads the acquirer adviser ranking year-to-date with volume of $26.5 billion, closely followed by Deutsche Bank on $25.4 billion.

J.P. Morgan leads the target company adviser ranking with $31.7 billion of volume, with Morgan Stanley second with $30.9 billion.