Hoylake Investments Inc

Shares of BAT Industries PLC slipped Wednesday on talk that the massive $21-billion buyout of the company proposed by Sir James Goldsmith is being financed by junk bonds and may spark opposition from regulators. BAT stock closed off 37 cents (23 pence) at $14.18 (8.70 pounds) per share on the London Stock Exchange. In New York, U.S.-traded shares closed 25 cents lower at $14.125. Volume was heavy in both markets.

BAT Industries on Monday formally defended its rejection of a consortium's $21-billion takeover bid, saying the offer "is designed to do nothing more than break up a successful company for the personal gain of a group of extremely wealthy people." BAT, a British firm that controls the Farmers Group insurance holding company of Los Angeles, said in a "defense document" that the consortium led by Anglo-French financier Sir James Goldsmith has offered only "a collection of IOUs of dubious quality."

BAT Industries on Monday formally defended its rejection of a consortium's $21-billion takeover bid, saying the offer "is designed to do nothing more than break up a successful company for the personal gain of a group of extremely wealthy people." BAT, a British firm that controls the Farmers Group insurance holding company of Los Angeles, said in a "defense document" that the consortium led by Anglo-French financier Sir James Goldsmith has offered only "a collection of IOUs of dubious quality."

Shares of BAT Industries PLC slipped Wednesday on talk that the massive $21-billion buyout of the company proposed by Sir James Goldsmith is being financed by junk bonds and may spark opposition from regulators. BAT stock closed off 37 cents (23 pence) at $14.18 (8.70 pounds) per share on the London Stock Exchange. In New York, U.S.-traded shares closed 25 cents lower at $14.125. Volume was heavy in both markets.