ADR Shares End Higher; Noah Education Shares Active

International stocks trading in New York closed higher on Wednesday, with the Bank of New York index of American depositary receipts adding 0.3% to 152.34. The European index was essentially flat at 152.02, the Asian index added 0.4% to 144.34, the Latin American index jumped 2.1% to 285.37 and the emerging markets index rose 0.8% to 278.17. Among the companies with shares that actively traded was Noah Education Holdings Ltd. (NED).

Noah Education, a leading provider of education services in China, agreed to a boosted takeover bid that values the company at about $107 million. Some of the shareholders of the China-based education company, including an affiliate of Morgan Stanley's (MS) private equity arm in Asia, have offered $2.85 a share to buy out the company, up five cents a share from December's bid. Shares rose 1.9% to $2.75.

The board of directors of Brazilian phone company Oi SA (OIBR, OIBR4.BR) has authorized the issuance of up to a maximum 7.8 billion in new shares, worth some 23.6 billion Brazilian reais ($10.38 billion) at today's market price, as part of its plan to merge with Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (PT, PTC.LB). Oi shares added 4.6% to $1.36.

A third-party probe into the Japanese unit of Swiss drug giant Novartis AG (NVS, NOVN.VX) said its staff tried to cover up evidence and were involved in a number of questionable activities, but concluded that data wasn't falsified in clinical research into leukemia treatments. Shares edged up 0.1% to $84.57.

In the latest of a string of recent drug-development setbacks, GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK, GSK.LN) stopped a late-stage trial of its cancer vaccine after a series of disappointing results. Shares slipped 0.6% to $53.00.

Brazilian mining company Vale SA (VALE, VALE3.BR, VALE5.BR) said Wednesday it has suspended coal shipments from its mines in Mozambique after a train conductor was injured in an attack that authorities are blaming on former rebel group Renamo. Shares still rose 4% to $14.34.

Write to Anna Prior at [e-mail]

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