BAT Hearings Set for Next Week: Britain’s...

BAT Hearings Set for Next Week: Britain’s Panel on Takeovers and Mergers said it will hold a hearing next week to decide whether Sir James Goldsmith’s Hoylake Investments Ltd. can extend its $21.4-billion hostile bid for BAT Industries PLC beyond the normal 60-day deadline. A ruling on an extension would be pivotal to the outcome of the 13.4 billion-pound hostile offer for the British conglomerate, analysts said. In a related development, AXA-MIDI Assurances of France said it filed applications in nine states, including California, to acquire Los Angeles-based Farmers Group Inc. Last week, AXA said that it would purchase Farmers for $4.5 billion upon conditions being satisfied, including Hoylake’s bid for BAT being successful and the approval of insurance regulators.