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Thursday, March 10, 2011

Brazil's Laep surges on reports of Parmalat talks, (PLT)

Shares of Brazilian buyout firm Laep Investments (MILK11.SA) posted their biggest gain in almost two months on Thursday on reports that the dairy producer it controls could merge with Italy's Parmalat (PLT.MI) in an all-stock deal. Brazilian depositary receipts of Laep, the private equity firm controlled by financier Marcos Elias, rose as much as 7.4 percent to 0.58 reais in early trading. The gain is Laep's biggest since a 7.7 percent jump on Jan. 14. Two Brazilian newspapers reported on Thursday that Parmalat, seeking to fend off a takeover by a bigger rival, was holding merger talks with Lacteos Brasil in a deal valued at up to 2.5 billion euros ($3.4 billion). Lacteos Brasil is majority owned by Laep and GP Investments (GPIV11.SA), the biggest Latin American private-equity firm. [ID:nN1097527]

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