A roundup of today's other stroies in brief.
CRH generates €1.4bn in bond offering
CRH has raised $1.75 billion (€1.4 billion) through its largest bond offering. The company plans to use the proceeds to refinance its short-term debt, including debt that might be used to fund last month's $1 billion purchase of US building materials group, Apac.
CRH also signalled that the refinanced debt would be used for "general corporate purposes", which could include further acquisitions.
The company had initially planned to raise $1.25 billion but increased this on the back of investor demand. More than 130 institutional investors from North America and Europe participated in the offering.
The money has been raised through a combination of five- and 10-year notes, which were priced in New York on Thursday afternoon. The $1.25 billion 10-year notes were priced at a spread 1.3 percentage points above the 10-year US Treasury and have a coupon of 6 per cent.
The remaining $500 million five-year notes were priced at 0.92 percentage points above the five-year US Treasury and have a coupon of 5.625 per cent.
Irish Nationwide set to raise €700m
Irish Nationwide has arranged to raise €700 million by issuing a new fixed-rate note. The building society, which is seen as a prime takeover target, priced the note yesterday. It will be listed in Luxembourg and will have a 2010 maturity.
Oil hits new low of $66.76 a barrel
Oil hit a fresh five-month low yesterday after US fuel supplies rose and BP said it might fully restore the largest US oilfield sooner than expected.
BP said the Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska may return to full capacity by the end of October and OPEC, which meets on Monday, is expected to keep consumers well supplied.
"Oil's under a lot of pressure at the moment," said Bruce Evers, analyst at Investec Securities. US crude slipped 56 cents at $66.76 (€52.66) a barrel after earlier falling as far as $66.65, the lowest since April 7th. London Brent fell 49 cents to $66.04. - (Reuters)
Sportingbet boss faces US charges
Online bookmaker Sportingbet said its chairman faced charges in the United States for providing "gambling by computer", sparking fears no executive in the $12-billion-a-year (€9.5 billion) industry was safe from prosecution.
Sportingbet said chairman Peter Dicks had been arrested at JFK Airport in New York on Thursday for alleged violation of Louisiana State laws, mirroring the arrest in July of another chief executive on racketeering charges.
Finance director Andy McIver said yesterday: "Until this is resolved I won't be travelling to the US."
The arrest of Dicks added to fears of a US crackdown on the lucrative industry. - (Reuters)
Glanbia chief buys 10,000 shares
Glanbia group managing director John Moloney has purchased 10,000 shares in the company along with his wife. Mr Moloney bought the shares at €2.516 each on Wednesday, paying €25,160. Glanbia closed at €2.54 last night.
Japanese delay rise in interest rates
The Bank of Japan is not in a hurry to increase interest rates, according to a briefing by its governor yesterday. Mr Toshihiko Fukui said interest rates would be raised slowly, disappointing market expectations.
