Business in brief: Weiss | E.ON | Standard Life | Nokia

Published on 14/06/2012 00:00

REAL estate fund manager Invista, which recently accepted a £33.6 million takeover offer from Internos, has been urged to press for a higher bid.

Weiss Asset Management, which owns 4.34 per cent of Invista, said the offer was “completely unacceptable” because the firm had cash of £35m and a net asset value of £65m as of December.

German giants want a nuclear pay–off

Germany’s largest utility, E.ON, is seeking €8 billion (£6.5bn) in compensation from the country’s government following the forced shutdown of nuclear power stations last year. Rival RWE has also filed a lawsuit, but did not say how much it is seeking.

Germany closed eight reactors last summer after the Fukushima disaster in Japan and plans to close the country’s nine remaining plants by 2022.

‘Time to use that mountain of cash’

Companies need to start using their “mountain of cash” to help the economic recovery, the head of global strategy at Standard Life Investments said yesterday.

Andrew Milligan said that, since the financial crisis began, firms have built up huge cash reserves by reining in spending.

Nokia talks over sale of Vertu arm

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia was reported to be in talks with private equity group EQT to sell its luxury handset subsidiary for around €200 million (£161.8m).

Vertu makes some of the world’s most expensive mobile phones, often featuring crystal displays, sapphire keys and price tags of £200,000.

Offshore wind costs will be slashed

The costs of offshore wind farms could be cut by almost a third by the end of the decade, according to a new report.

Introducing bigger turbines, mass-producing the deep-water foundations for turbines and improving wind farm designs could cut costs by 30 per cent, the Crown Estate study said.