Reckitt获关键诉讼胜诉，Bodycote被Veritas收购

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the Stock Movers Report, your roundup of companies making moves in the stock market, harnessing the power of Bloomberg data.

Well, let's take a look at [music] some of the stocks on the move today in Europe. I'm TA Adabay with Steven Carroll and we're joined by Bloomberg's breaking news editor, Louise Moon. Louise, let's start with Racket. seems to be rebounding on some positive legal news for the company. Tell us what it is and why it's moving shares this morning.

Yeah, so this is quite um quite a big development in what's been quite a long ongoing trial uh or various trials in the US. So the latest news is that a jury in Illinois has sided with me Johnson, which is um Wreckits infant formula unit. Um and this is quite a bellweather trial among as I say a group of federal cases in the US all alleging that uh me Johnson's formula for premature babies is linked to a deadly bowel disease which wrecket and me johnson which wreck ami johnson uh obviously deny.

So the the US jury has sided with me Johnson in this meaning that the company doesn't face any outstanding jury verdicts in the overall litigation. So basically um it's a good verdict for them. It brings the settlement overall settlement closer. It removes what's been quite a key overhang on the stock. Um and analysts are saying, you know, this should increase confidence both from the company and from investors that the litigation can be settled relatively soon.

It could be a step closer to the sale of MI Johnson, which Recker has been trying to do. So all in all, a positive step forward and shares up about 6% in morning trading.

Okay. Well, let's go next to uh a firm cranking up the heat in the M&A space. This is Body Coat, the industrial heat treatment specialist. Say that three times fast.

Indeed. Well, yeah, not quite a household name, but it is a Footsie 250 listed stock. So, uh, a midcap in in London. Shares rising, uh, almost 5% this morning. Highest in 5 years, as you say, um, a deal there. So, US private equity firm Veritas Capital has agreed to buy it and it valued body coat at about 1.65 billion pounds. their bid surpassed another separate bid from uh CVC. So, Veritz appears to have won, although CVC has said it's considering its position in terms of whether or not it might bid again for body coat.

So, who knows if that takeover battle will continue, but it's continues that story that we've been seeing playing out across uh London markets for a long time now of foreign buyers coming in looking at cheap or relatively cheaper valuations um in London. a takeover battle ensues and and and it goes private. You know, we've been seeing this with a whole host of companies. So, this is the latest London stock to be going private.

Uh so, shares rising, as I say, as much as about 5%. Analysts are still saying that the offer uh is quite modest. It's not particularly generous. Um shares had already risen since initial news of a bid. So, they're already on the rise. So, as I say, rising today, but you know, it's not kind of crazily shooting higher. Um and yeah, as I say, that that offer is is uh being said to be relatively modest. So, we'll see if that's the final final one for body coat or if it could go even higher.

Okay. Well, from industrial heat treatment to industrial and medical gases, Elid active investors Elliot are taking a stake in the company. Tell us more.

Yes. So, obviously the very well-known activist investors um taking a stake uh and pushing it to improve its margins as as the main thing that they're pushing for. shares rose on the back of this in Paris about 4%. As you see, as you say that the company is one of the three main providers of industrial gases and its margins have been lagging behind peers uh more lately. So analysts are saying that this could be quite a positive really if you combine their long-term um potential under their existing strategy as a company plus some possible activist tweaks.

They're saying that that makes for quite a compelling investment opportunity. Um and then it comes as kind of activist investors more generally have been increasingly willing to to target these large European companies. So an interesting one obviously anything that Elliot takes a stake in gets a [music] lot of attention. So an interesting one there in France.

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