Thursday Papers: Portugal blocks Telefónica’s Vivo bid - bid news and gossip

Financial Times

* Portuguese government uses special veto rights to block Telefónica’s €7.15bn offer to buy Portugal Telecom out of their Brazilian mobile phone joint venture, Vivo.

* Shares in the specialist financial consolidation group, Resolution, have risen as much as 13% after it released the prospectus for its £2.75bn takeover of Axa’s UK life assurance businesses.

* Shares of Tesla Motors rose after strong demand helped it to raise more in an initial public offering than it had expected.

* The UK private equity group’s acquisition of Tech Music Schools for £5m is Sovereign’s second investment in UK higher education in recent months.

* Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group announced that it was buying a stake in India’s fourth-largest bank, Kotak Mahindra.

* Carlyle's $1bn move to sell a pay-TV operator to Taiwan Mobile is in limbo after it fails to obtain regulatory approval ahead of a key deadline.

* Tate & Lyle poised to sell parts of its business to American Sugar Refining.

The Times

* Budvar, the Czech state-owned brewery, reported a 40 per cent rise in full-year pre-tax profits.

* Barry Callebaut, the Swiss chocolate maker, reported a 7.9 per cent rise in nine-month sales.

* URS, the American engineering group, will pay a premium of 233 per cent to take over Scott Wilso, paying 290p a share, or £223 million.