An aura of mystery continues to linger over whether the biggest of Darktrace's shareholders are prepared to support Thoma Bravo's £4.2bn takeover. Among those is Mike Lynch, who is currently facing trial in the US over fraud claims linked to executive search software outfit Autonomy. Also unclear is the position of the Darktrace Employee Benefit Trust, which owned just under 8% of the company's shares. The trust is managed by Equiniti, which has nothing to do with the decision. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Paramount Global’s share price soared on Thursday following a report that Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management had made a $26bn offer for the troubled media giant. According to the Wall Street Journal, the offer was made on Wednesday by Sony’s chief executive, Tony Vinciquerra, and Aaron Sobel, a partner at Apollo. Paramount’s shares rose 12% on the news. – Guardian
RBC Capital Markets has raised its forecasts for Shell and kept an 'outperform' rating, saying the business was "firing on most cylinders" in the quarter.