Takeover Bid

Royal Ahold NV, the Netherlands' biggest retailer, has extended its $2.7 billion takeover bid for Giant Food Inc. a third time after securing about 81 percent of the outstanding shares.Giant investors have until 5 p.m. Aug. 14 to tender shares. The $43.50-a-share offer, announced May 19, was originally scheduled to close June 17 and was extended to July 15, then to July 31.The cash purchase will make Ahold the fifth-largest U.S. supermarket company and boost its sales to $35 billion, from $26 billion last year.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A week after saying he wouldn't get into a bidding war for Yahoo Inc., Rupert Murdoch is emerging as a potential white knight for the Internet company as it tries to fend off Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited takeover bid, according to people familiar with the talks. Murdoch's News Corp. is working on an offer to merge its Internet business, which includes social-networking site MySpace, with Yahoo in exchange for a major stake in the company, according to people who have been briefed on the discussions.

ATLANTA -- Mirant Corp. withdrew its $8 billion hostile takeover bid for NRG Energy yesterday, ending for now a two-week saga that included a court battle, allegations of conflicts of interest, a big-stockholder rebellion and a demand by one large investor that Mirant itself be put up for sale. In a prepared statement announcing the decision, Mirant Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ed Muller expressed disappointment with the failed bid for Princeton, N.J.-based NRG. "We are disappointed that NRG was unwilling to sit down with us to discuss what would have been a compelling opportunity to create significant value for both companies' shareholders."

NEW YORK -- A takeover bid for Tribune Co. by its biggest shareholder would increase the chances that the publisher of the Los Angeles Times and owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team eventually will be split up. Theodore G. Venetoulis, a publisher leading a group of local investors interested in buying The Sun in Baltimore from Tribune, said he is encouraged by reports in The New York Times that the Chandler family might join private equity firms to...

In the latest installment of the lingering feud between Baltimore Bancorp and its largest shareholder, T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. has claimed that the bank is resorting to "harassment" as a means to "intimidate" certain shareholders.The allegation, made in a letter to the Federal Reserve Board, continued a running war of words between the two Baltimore financial institutions over their respective stakes in a rejected and all-but-forgotten $17-a-share takeover offer for Baltimore Bancorp made in late April.

NEW YORK -- A takeover bid for Tribune Co. by its biggest shareholder would increase the chances that the publisher of the Los Angeles Times and owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team eventually will be split up. Theodore G. Venetoulis, a publisher leading a group of local investors interested in buying The Sun in Baltimore from Tribune, said he is encouraged by reports in The New York Times that the Chandler family might join private equity firms to...

PeopleSoft Inc. executives yesterday hailed preliminary quarterly profits, which beat Wall Street's expectations, as a sign that the company is flourishing despite uncertainty created by Oracle Corp.'s $6.3 billion hostile takeover bid. Analysts said PeopleSoft's better-than-expected second- quarter results might also force Oracle to either raise its tender offer from the current $19.50 a share or abandon the bid. "If Oracle is serious, they should come back to the table with a higher bid," said David Hilal, analyst with investment firm Friedman Billings & Ramsey Co. "They need to get it to $21 or $22 a share to get interest from PeopleSoft shareholders at this point."

NEW YORK -- Mellon Bank Corp. sought an injunction yesterday to block Bank of New York Co.'s $22.9 billion unsolicited takeover bid, charging that the company used inside information gained from failed merger negotiations last year.Mellon, in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, said Bank of New York "misappropriated confidential and non-public information" gathered during merger talks with Mellon that broke down in December. It asked the court to block Bank of New York from buying Mellon shares.

Los Angeles billionaire Kirk Kerkorian nearly doubled his ownership in General Motors Corp. yesterday, heightening speculation on Wall Street about his next move with one of the nation's most storied companies. Kerkorian bought the additional GM stock - giving him 7.2 percent of the company and making him the third-largest shareholder - a day after the automaker unveiled a broad restructuring aimed at lifting GM from its deep U.S. sales slump and reversing a $1.1 billion first-quarter loss.

WorldCom Inc., the nation's No. 4 long-distance telephone company, launched an unexpected $34.5 billion takeover bid yesterday for MCI Communications Corp. in its march to become one of the globe's dominant telecommunications companies.If successful, the last-minute move for the Washington-based No. 2 long-distance provider would be the largest acquisition in U.S. history; it's about $8 billion more than RJR Nabisco's purchase by Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts & Co. in 1989.The deal could create a telephone giant poised to challenge AT&T Corp.

Mittal Steel Co. NV said yesterday that it has succeeded in its $32 billion takeover bid for Luxembourg-based Arcelor SA, having acquired half of Arcelor's shares. While the final tally won't be announced until next Wednesday, Mittal officials said they are confident that enough Arcelor shareholders have agreed to sell their shares to Mittal, which is based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The merger would create the world's largest steelmaker, to be called Arcelor-Mittal, with annual production of more than 110 million tons.

ATLANTA -- Mirant Corp. withdrew its $8 billion hostile takeover bid for NRG Energy yesterday, ending for now a two-week saga that included a court battle, allegations of conflicts of interest, a big-stockholder rebellion and a demand by one large investor that Mirant itself be put up for sale. In a prepared statement announcing the decision, Mirant Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ed Muller expressed disappointment with the failed bid for Princeton, N.J.-based NRG. "We are disappointed that NRG was unwilling to sit down with us to discuss what would have been a compelling opportunity to create significant value for both companies' shareholders."

NeighborCare Inc. said yesterday that it was in talks to sell the company to Omnicare Inc. for $34.75 a share - the first time the two rivals have willingly negotiated since Omnicare launched a takeover bid more than a year ago. Analysts had been predicting that the two companies would talk and were likely to agree on a deal at a higher price than the $32 Omnicare had on the table in a hostile takeover bid. Yesterday's announcement marked the breaking of...

Los Angeles billionaire Kirk Kerkorian nearly doubled his ownership in General Motors Corp. yesterday, heightening speculation on Wall Street about his next move with one of the nation's most storied companies. Kerkorian bought the additional GM stock - giving him 7.2 percent of the company and making him the third-largest shareholder - a day after the automaker unveiled a broad restructuring aimed at lifting GM from its deep U.S. sales slump and reversing a $1.1 billion first-quarter loss.

DENVER - Qwest Communications International Inc. executives are working behind the scenes to raise $2 billion from investors so that it can increase the cash portion of its takeover bid for MCI Inc., sources said yesterday. Qwest's $8.9 billion bid for MCI, which was rejected by MCI on Tuesday in favor of a $7.5 billion bid from New York-based Verizon Communications Inc., is about half cash and half stock. An additional $2 billion would increase the bid to two-thirds cash and one-third stock.

WILMINGTON, Del. - Former PeopleSoft Chief Executive Officer Craig Conway testified yesterday that he may have overreacted to Oracle Corp.'s $7.7 billion hostile bid by attacking its founder, Larry Ellison. Conway, who described Ellison as "sociopathic" after the June 2003 bid, told a Delaware Chancery Court judge that he decided to vilify Oracle and Ellison as part of an effort to fend off the offer, now valued at $21 a share. Oracle is suing People- Soft, seeking to knock out the company's takeover defenses.

NeighborCare Inc. said yesterday that it was in talks to sell the company to Omnicare Inc. for $34.75 a share - the first time the two rivals have willingly negotiated since Omnicare launched a takeover bid more than a year ago. Analysts had been predicting that the two companies would talk and were likely to agree on a deal at a higher price than the $32 Omnicare had on the table in a hostile takeover bid. Yesterday's announcement marked the breaking of...

Baltimore-based NeighborCare Inc. slapped down yesterday a takeover bid from Omnicare Inc., its larger rival in the business of filling prescriptions for nursing homes. A day after receiving Omnicare's $1.5 billion offer, NeighborCare's board unanimously rejected it, terming it "blatantly opportunistic," a company announcement said. "The best case for this company is to remain independent," John J. Arlotta, NeighborCare's president and chief executive officer, said in an interview yesterday.

Baltimore-based NeighborCare Inc. slapped down yesterday a takeover bid from Omnicare Inc., its larger rival in the business of filling prescriptions for nursing homes. A day after receiving Omnicare's $1.5 billion offer, NeighborCare's board unanimously rejected it, terming it "blatantly opportunistic," a company announcement said. "The best case for this company is to remain independent," John J. Arlotta, NeighborCare's president and chief executive officer, said in an interview yesterday.

PeopleSoft Inc. executives yesterday hailed preliminary quarterly profits, which beat Wall Street's expectations, as a sign that the company is flourishing despite uncertainty created by Oracle Corp.'s $6.3 billion hostile takeover bid. Analysts said PeopleSoft's better-than-expected second- quarter results might also force Oracle to either raise its tender offer from the current $19.50 a share or abandon the bid. "If Oracle is serious, they should come back to the table with a higher bid," said David Hilal, analyst with investment firm Friedman Billings & Ramsey Co. "They need to get it to $21 or $22 a share to get interest from PeopleSoft shareholders at this point."