Greencoat Capital eyes 'significant' stake in Schroders, Aviva increases share buyback programme

London open

The FTSE 100 looked set to open 92.7 points higher ahead of the opening bell on Thursday after having closed 0.66% lower at 7,170.75 on Wednesday.

Stocks to watch

UK fund manager Schroders confirmed on Thursday it was in talks with renewable energy investor Greencoat Capital about taking a "significant" stake in the company.

"There is no certainty these talks will lead to any final agreement," Schroders said in a statement, adding that it continues to "evaluate potential acquisition opportunities in line with its strategy to build a comprehensive private assets platform and enhance its leadership position in sustainability". Sky News reported that Schroders was set to splash out £360.0m in return for a 75% stake in Greencoat.

Commercial property investor LXI REIT has acquired a 16-acre long-let property in Middlesbrough valued at £58.9m from Knight Frank.

LXI REIT said on Thursday that it would satisfy the acquisition of the asset, currently let to Sainsbury's, via the issue of 35.71m new ordinary shares at an issue price of 145.p each, a 9.4% premium to the company's ex-dividend EPRA NTA on 30 September, and a further £7.0m in cash.

Aviva has increased its share buyback programme to as much as £1.0bn and extended the time period for the repurchases to be made.

The insurer announced a £750.0m buyback in August due to end on 17 February. It has extended the deadline to 31 March.

Newspaper round-up

Asking workers to stomach a below-inflation pay rise is never popular. Asking them to do so when their day job is forecasting the cost of living is really asking for trouble. And so it has proved at the National Institute for Economic and Social Research. A strike ballot opened on Wednesday for members of the Unite union after the NIESR’s management offered a basic pay deal worth 2%. It comes after wages were frozen last year. - Guardian

Google has warned all American staff that failure to follow its Covid vaccination rules risks them being placed on unpaid leave and, ultimately, fired. The technology group intends to contact workers in its home territory who have yet either to declare their vaccination status or apply for an exemption on medical or religious grounds. - The Times

The cost of flying from Heathrow will increase next year after regulators signed off on a rise of more than seven times the rate of inflation. In a decision that will enrage airlines, passengers will pay £31.19 each in 2022, up from £22 this year. The 37% increase compares with the current inflation rate of 5.1%. But the decision will also disappoint Heathrow, which wanted to increase landing fees to £37 per passenger. - Telegraph

One of the City's most influential investors has signalled that he will back Lord Rothermere's attempt to take Daily Mail and General Trust private. Lindsell Train, the fund management group, is the biggest independent shareholder in the London-listed media group with a stake of about 13.7%, according to London Stock Exchange filings. - The Times

Efforts by the British and French drugmakers GSK and Sanofi Pasteur to produce a Covid-19 vaccine have suffered a further setback, with final clinical data on the jab and a potential launch delayed until next year as they struggle to find enough uninfected people to test it on. The two vaccine specialists announced positive preliminary results from a trial that showed the vaccine raised antibody levels against Covid by nine to 43 times when given as a single booster shot in people who had already received doses of AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, for all age groups. - Guardian

US close

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Wednesday, after the Federal Reserve confirmed it was turning its tapering plans up to 11, and signalled three rate hikes next year.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.08% at 35,927.43, as the S&P 500 added 1.63% to 4,709.85 and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 2.15% at 15,565.58.

The Dow closed 383.25 points higher on Wednesday, reversing losses recorded before the Fed's decision as concerns regarding the potential global impact of the omicron Covid-19 variant weighed on sentiment.