Investors jump ship at Mersey

PUNTERS found life on board

But they had to jump ship just before the close after Mersey revealed that talks were continuing with a private equity house and any resulting cash offer would be at 925p a share, valuing the group at around £720m. The close was 23½p lower at 937p.

CVC Private Equity is said to be the interested predator, and optimistic indications were that it would be prepared to pay at least 950p a share. Speculation about a possible counter bid from Peel Holdings intensified when the property group increased its stake in Mersey to 9.25% from around 8%

Mersey Docks is a logical target for Peel, which is the long-term owner of the Manchester Ship Canal and bought Scotland's Clydeport in 2002. A merger with Mersey's Liverpool, Heysham and Sheerness ports would provide an improved geographical spread.

It also has 2,000 acres of land around Liverpool which it is developing with a mix of residential and commercial property. CVC will not have it all its own way.

Reports of a pending bullish circular helped P&O Deferred advance 7¼p to 299½p. The transport group last month sold its sports and leisure resort, La Manga Club, to Spanish leisure and property company Med-Group for £102m.

With Wall Street closed for Martin Luther King day, dealers in London were left to their own devices. Buoyed by firm commodity prices, mining stocks made all the running and helped the Footsie finish 25.9 points up at 4846.7.

Xstrata rose 44p to 930p following confirmation of the sale of its forestry operation in Chile. Antofagasta jumped 49p to 1141p, BHP Billiton 16½p to 642p and Rio Tinto 40p to 1590p.

International bank Standard Chartered gained 21p to 958p on revival of an ancient rumour that Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat's 5.45%stake could be on the move. Standard last week completed a £1bn fund-raising at 920p a share to help finance its £1.8bn purchase of Korea First Bank.

Alternative Investment Market-quoted Bright Things, the educational games group, danced 19p higher to 90p. It confirmed it is in advance negotiations with a third party to enter into a distribution agreement.

A bullish trading statement helped wireless data services group WIN soar 54p to 272½p. Trading in the second half of 2004 has been strong reflecting continued growth in the markets for mobile information and entertainment products.

Mining minnow European Nickel jumped 3¾p to 28¾p. Charlemagne Capital, the UK emerging markets funds, has increased its stake to 3.4%or 3.3m shares. Griffin Mining improved 1¾p to 30½p after finding new zinc zones at its Caijiaying mine in China.

Cash-rich data services group GB softened ½p to 25½p, but could soon be in demand. Rumours suggest it has won a major contract for its chip and Pin technology. Buyers responded to an investment recommendation and left retailer Kleeneze 24½p higher to 191p.

Gatekeeper Systems, an Aim- quoted provider of shopping trolley security and anti-theft systems to the retail industry, advanced 3½p to 49p on a confident trading system.

Strongly supported of late on vague takeover gossip, computer and video games group SCi Entertainment firmed 3½p to a peak of 270p. It has acquired 25.1%of Rocksteady Studios, the computer games developer, for £0.25m.

After signing an agreement with the Kingdom of Bahrain to establish a joint venture aimed at becoming the pre-eminent professional sports marketing company in the territory, SP Holdings edged up ¾p to 12½p.

SHELL-MASTER Michael Edelson's first float of 2005 will be switched on tomorrow. Willow Partners starts life at 5p after reversing into Optimistic Entertainment, which produced the Flipside TV series on Channel 4. It also has Nation27, a digital channel available to Sky subscribers and broadband internet users. Headed by former Channel 4 strategy director, David Brook, the stock should get a good reception.