FTSE 250 movers: UBM surges on Informa merger; Cineworld hit by rights issue
London's FTSE 250 was down 0.3% to 20,806.45 in afternoon trade on Wednesday, with deal news in focus.
UBM surged after agreeing a merger with Informa in a deal that is expected to generate "significant synergies". Informa, which will offer 1.083 of its shares and 163p per UBM share, or 972.43p, will also supply chairman Derek Mapp and chief executive Stephen Carter for the combined group.
Drax was in the black after saying it plans to complete work on the conversion of a fourth unit to biomass in the second half of this year, returning it to service in late 2018.
In a statement in which it welcomed the government response to the consultation on cost control for further biomass conversions under the Renewable Obligation scheme, Drax said the capital cost is significantly below the level of previous conversions, re-purposing the existing co-firing facility on site to deliver biomass to the unit.
Private hospital group Spire Healthcare was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' at Jefferies, which said the NHS crisis could provide a much-needed boost to self-pay services.
Shares in serviced office provider IWG, formerly Regus, rallied following a report that Canada's Brookfield Asset Management and Onex Corp are preparing an offer that values the company at around £2.7bn.
Insurer Beazley was on the front foot after it said 2017 full-year profit is likely to be ahead of current market expectations.
Defence contractor Cobham gained as it said seven employees at its helicopter unit had bought fake university degrees, after a media report exposed a trade in thousands of the qualifications.
Big Yellow was up after an upgrade to 'buy' at Berenberg, but Cairn Energy fell after a downgrade to 'neutral' at Macquarie.
Cineworld was under the cosh after announcing a rights issue to part fund its acquisition of US cinema china Regal, as it posted a 12% jump in full-year revenue. Cineworld is offering four new ordinary shares for every one existing share at 157p, which is a 34% discount to the theoretical ex-rights price of 238.3p.
Hochschild Mining lost its shine following the release of its fourth-quarter production report.
Risers
UBM (UBM) 872.00p 10.87%
Drax Group (DRX) 291.20p 4.82%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 251.60p 4.14%
IWG (IWG) 275.00p 4.01%
Beazley (BEZ) 527.50p 3.94%
Cobham (COB) 135.20p 2.89%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 848.00p 2.35%
Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 309.20p 1.78%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 2,018.00p 1.71%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 428.20p 1.66%
Fallers
Provident Financial (PFG) 680.13p -15.41%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 190.45p -4.30%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 220.00p -4.26%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 540.90p -4.01%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 644.50p -3.81%
Kier Group (KIE) 1,104.50p -3.71%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 135.30p -3.43%
Serco Group (SRP) 98.85p -3.09%
RPC Group (RPC) 774.40p -3.03%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 241.14p -2.45%