International stocks trading in New York closed higher on
Wednesday.
The BNY Mellon index of American depositary receipts rose 1.84%
to 146.96. The European index increased 2.01% to 145.37, the Asian
index advanced 1.5% to 154.55, the Latin American index rose 1.45%
to 217.15 and the emerging markets index increased 1.32% to 263.28.
21Vianet Group Inc. (VNET, VNET.LN) was among the companies with
ADRs that traded actively.
ADRs of 21Vianet rose 9.7% to $21.85 after the China-based
data-center company said its board received a nonbinding proposal
to take it from an investor group that includes Chairman and Chief
Executive Josh Sheng Chen. The investor group is proposing to
acquire the shares it doesn't already own for $23 an ADR, a premium
of 16% to Tuesday's U.S. closing price.
ADRs of Renren Inc. (RENN) fell 2.9% to $3.99 after the company,
once touted as the Facebook of China, said it received a management
buyout offer valuing the social-networking firm at about $1.4
billion. Chief Executive Joseph Chen and Chief Operating Officer
James Jian Liu proposed to acquire the shares they don't already
own for $4.20 per ADR, a 2.2% premium over Tuesday's U.S. closing
price. Renren, one of a number of Chinese social-media companies
that sprang up a decade ago, has since been eclipsed by rivals such
as Weibo Corp. and the social-networking services owned by Tencent
Holdings Ltd.
One of three key research and development executives at
AstraZeneca PLC (AZN, AZN.LN) is unexpectedly leaving to take a job
with a privately held drug maker, a company spokeswoman said. The
move comes at a delicate time for AstraZeneca, which has been
trying to convince investors it can remake its pipeline, especially
after rebuffing a $118 billion takeover offer last year from
Pfizer. As a result, the departure creates a significant gap for
the drug maker, which has been in the process of revamping its
R&D operations. ADRs rose 1.6% to $66.40.
Vale SA (VALE, VALE3.BR, VALE5.BR, VALE5.FR) said it plans to
slash its investment spending over the next three years. The
Brazilian mining giant expects to invest a total of $9 billion this
year and $7 billion in 2016. Capital spending will continue to slow
in 2017 and 2018, to $5 billion and $4 billion, respectively. In
2014, Vale invested a total of $12 billion in its operations. ADRs
rose 5.3% to $6.77.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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