Dominion Diamond Corp. is expected to attract interest from the world's largest diamond miners after being put in play Sunday by a $1.1-billion [U.S.] hostile takeover proposal from conglomerate The Washington Companies.
Yellowknife-based Dominion owns stakes in the Ekati and Diavik diamond mines in the Northwest Territories.
Washington held takeover talks with Dominion that stretched over three weeks, but broke down earlier this month. Washington went public Sunday with a plan to buy the diamond miner for $13.50 a share, a 36-per-cent premium on Dominion's Friday closing price. Dominion stock prices jumped 20 per cent yesterday on news of the offer. Story
The runway is clear, but will Ottawa go for an airport sale?
The federal Liberals have a credibility problem when it comes to their promise to renew Canada's infrastructure: Much talk, no action.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau has a chance to fix that perception and put as much as $16-billion into government coffers in the budget he is scheduled to table on Wednesday, if he moves forward aggressively with the sale of the country's eight largest airports. The runway is clear. The government is sitting on a privatization plan filed last year by investment bank Credit Suisse. Pension plans and other deep-pocketed investors are lining up to buy these assets. Story
DAILY DEALS
Source Energy Services Inc., Canada's largest distributor of fracking sand, has cut the size of its initial public offering to about $250-million from $300-million amid a decline in oil prices, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg News. Story
Britain's Vodafone Group and Idea Cellular agreed on Monday to merge their Indian operations in a $23-billion deal, creating the country's biggest telecoms business after the entry of a new rival sparked a brutal price war. Story
L'Oreal's sale of British retailer The Body Shop has drawn interest from a series of private equity investors who are lining up indicative bids ahead of a mid-April deadline, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday. Story
ELSEWHERE IN FINANCE
Wells Fargo & Co. said credit-card applications dropped 55 per cent in February from a year earlier, the biggest decline since a scandal involving fake accounts erupted in September. Story
Can a big bank have a conscience? Citigroup hired one. David Miller is an on-call ethicist the bank consults on weighty questions of right and wrong, supplementing its armies of lawyers and compliance officers. Story (subscription required)
David Rockefeller, the last of his generation of a famous American family, died Monday at age 101. Story