LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Cadbury Plc’s <CBRY.L> outgoing chairman joined calls for Britain to re-examine its long-standing openness to takeovers and the role of hedge funds in bid battles, after the chocolate maker’s $18 billion sale to Kraft Foods Inc <KFT.N>.

Roger Carr, the veteran dealmaker who also chairs power company Centrica Plc <CNA.L>, suggested Britain consider making deals harder to clinch and hedge funds less pivotal.

“In recent times, something has happened to the system that appears to tip the playing field towards short termism,” Carr said in a speech at Oxford University.

By mid-January, hedge funds and other short-term holders made up 31 percent of Cadbury’s shareholder register, up from just 5 percent in September, Carr said.

LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Private equity firm Montagu has hired investment banks to help it weigh options for two medical companies, sources said, seeking to build on the sale of three other portfolio companies with fresh sales or public listings.

Two people familiar with the matter said on Monday Montagu had brought in Morgan Stanley <MS.N> to plan a flotation of BSN Medical, which could value the German maker of bandages at as much as 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion).

Montagu has also hired Goldman Sachs <GS.N> to advise on options for its French medical diagnostics business Sebia, one of the people said, although any possible sale or flotation of that company is probably further off.

Montagu had put BSN up for sale 18 months ago but was forced to abandon the auction in the wake of the financial crisis.

LONDON (Reuters) – Europe’s private equity market is springing back to life, with buyout shops running the slide rule over firms specializing in anything from recycling to hearing aids, and banks and investors more willing to lend.

KKR’s recent 955 million pounds ($1.50 billion) purchase of British pet-shop chain Pets at Home shows how private equity can triumph in so-called “dual track” sale-or-flotation processes, especially as the market for initial public offerings (IPOs) wobbles.

But as well as eyeing each others’ IPO candidates, firms are also selling straight to one another in so-called “secondary buyouts,” jostling to buy neglected divisions of conglomerates and circling listed companies.

The pickup highlights how eager many buyout firms are to do deals, even if it means paying full prices for solid prospects — rather than the daring deals at bargain rates which downturns are supposed to offer.

LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Europe’s private equity market is springing back to life, with buyout shops running the slide rule over firms specialising in anything from recycling to hearing aids, and banks and investors more willing to lend.

KKR’s [KKR.UL] recent 955 million pounds ($1.50 billion) purchase of British pet-shop chain Pets at Home shows how private equity can triumph in so-called “dual track” sale-or-flotation processes, especially as the market for initial public offerings (IPOs) wobbles. [ID:nLDE6131AQ]

But as well as eyeing each others’ IPO candidates, firms are also selling straight to one another in so-called “secondary buyouts”, jostling to buy neglected divisions of conglomerates and circling listed companies.

The pickup highlights how eager many buyout firms are to do deals, even if it means paying full prices for solid prospects – rather than the daring deals at bargain rates which downturns are supposed to offer.

LONDON/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A clutch of assets the UK is putting up for sale in what could be its biggest post-Thatcher wave of privatizations is attracting strong interest despite a looming general election.

The British channel rail link and Dover, Europe’s busiest ferry port, are in the vanguard of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s 16-billion-pound ($25.4 billion) privatization plan, as he aims to halve Britain’s budget deficit in 4 years.

The government is also looking at selling the Dartford toll-road crossing the Thames, its student-loan book and its stake in uranium processor Urenco, and is reviving long-running plans to sell Britain’s largest bookmaker, the tote.

“There is lots of interest among investors for these assets,” said David Abbott, a director in KPMG’s corporate finance team.

LONDON/AMSTERDAM, Feb 5 (Reuters) – A clutch of assets the UK is putting up for sale in what could be its biggest post-Thatcher wave of privatisations is attracting strong interest despite a looming general election.

The British channel rail link and Dover, Europe’s busiest ferry port, are in the vanguard of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s 16-billion-pound ($25.4 billion) privatisation plan, as he aims to halve Britain’s budget deficit in 4 years.

The government is also looking at selling the Dartford toll-road crossing the Thames, its student-loan book and its stake in uranium processor Urenco, and is reviving long-running plans to sell Britain’s largest bookmaker, the tote.

“There is lots of interest among investors for these assets,” said David Abbott, a director in KPMG’s corporate finance team.

LONDON (Reuters) – Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> has hired six senior bankers, from JPMorgan <JPM.N>, Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX>, Merrill Lynch and elsewhere, to help boost the French bank’s standing in European mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

The bank stood in 16th place for announced European M&A in 2009, according to Thomson Reuters data.

It is targeting a bigger share of European investment banking, however. It is hiring senior staff in anticipation of a surge in flotations and mergers, its head of client coverage and investment banking told Reuters in a December interview.

SocGen said on Wednesday it had hired the following bankers as managing directors:

LONDON, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> has hired six senior bankers, from JPMorgan <JPM.N>, Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX>, Merrill Lynch and elsewhere, to help boost the French bank’s standing in European mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

The bank stood in 16th place for announced European M&A in 2009, according to Thomson Reuters data.

It is targeting a bigger share of European investment banking, however. It is hiring senior staff in anticipation of a surge in flotations and mergers, its head of client coverage and investment banking told Reuters in a December interview. [ID:nGEE5BA1L6]

SocGen said on Wednesday it had hired the following bankers as managing directors:

LONDON/FRANKFURT, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Oaktree Capital Management is seeking to sell German flexible packaging maker Nordenia International AG for about 600 million euros ($844 million), people familiar with the matter said.

Nordenia’s range of flexible packaging, technical films and other products includes packing for Tyson Foods Inc <TSN.N> meal kits and Nestle <NESN.VX> cat food, and components for Procter & Gamble <PG.N> diapers.

Oaktree, the Los Angeles-based investment firm, has hired investment bank Goldman Sachs <GS.N> to manage the sale and is seeking binding bids in mid-February, the people said.

Bidders include U.S. buyout firm TPG Capital [TPG.UL], North European private equity firm Triton, and a strategic rival, the people said.

LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s <BK.N> chief executive said the bank hopes to buy custody operations, which safeguard stocks and bonds for investors, from European banks as they shed peripheral businesses.

Led by Chairman and Chief Executive Bob Kelly, BNY Mellon is one of the world’s biggest custody banks, competing with rivals such as State Street Corp <STT.N>.

“Acquisition opportunities would have to be in asset management or securities processing, and it would have to be products or services we don’t have today, or it would have to be in geographies we’re not in today,” Kelly said on Thursday.

Speaking to students at London’s City University, Kelly said any acquisition would have to make strategic sense and be financially attractive.