Circles: Evotec becomes potential takeover target after share price slide

LONDON - According to insiders, the pharmaceutical drug discovery company Evotec has attracted the interest of financial investors after its share price fell in recent months. Several buyout firms have been looking at Evotec as a potential target, the Bloomberg news agency reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. However, the interested parties are only in early talks with takeover advisors and no one has yet approached Evotec directly. It is not certain whether offers will actually be made. Evotec did not wish to comment on the announcement. According to the circles, however, the company is talking to specialists about a defense against possible takeover attempts.

ROUNDUP: Danone aims to further increase sales and profits - shares under pressure

PARIS - The French food manufacturer Danone wants to increase its operating profit faster than sales in the coming years. From 2025 to 2028, earnings are to increase by between three and five percent annually on a comparable basis, the Group announced on Thursday during a capital market day. This corresponds to the forecast range for the current year. Adjusted operating profit is expected to grow faster than sales in the medium term. Danone is also aiming for a double-digit percentage return on capital and is pursuing the long-term goal of a free cash inflow of three billion euros. This was not enough for investors on the stock market.

Novartis plans squeeze-out of the remaining minority shareholders of Morphosys

BASEL - The pharmaceutical group Novartis intends to finalize the takeover of the German biotech company Morphosys. The squeeze-out of the minority shareholders of Morphosys is now planned for this purpose, the Group announced on Thursday. Novartis reportedly holds around 91 percent of the MDAX-listed company and intends to acquire the remaining shares and delist Morphosys from the stock exchange. As part of a delisting tender offer, Novartis now intends to offer EUR 68.00 in cash for each of the outstanding shares. This corresponds to the original takeover bid. The total price of the acquisition is around 2.7 billion euros.

Industry association: Dampener for car manufacturers in EU sales in May

BRUSSELS - Car manufacturers in the European Union suffered a setback in May. The number of newly registered cars fell by three percent compared to the same month last year to almost 912,000 units, as the industry association Acea announced in Brussels on Thursday. In the previous month, manufacturers had been able to achieve an increase thanks to additional sales days. This means that growth since the beginning of the year has fallen to 4.6 percent: between January and the end of May, almost 4.6 million cars were handed over to customers.

TOTAL-ROUNDUP: Federal government unable to secure deal - No purchase of Tennet electricity grid

BERLIN/DEN HAAG - The expansion of the electricity grids in Germany costs many billions - which is why the Dutch grid operator Tennet wanted to sell its German electricity grid to the federal government. However, the negotiations have now failed. Tennet announced on Thursday that the German government had announced that it was unable to carry out the planned transaction due to budgetary problems.

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Customer tip:

ROUNDUP: You are reading a summary in the company overview. There are several reports on this topic on the dpa-AFX news service.

/jha