Summary
LONDON: U.K. shares eased Monday morning, with two corporate events taking center stage: CEO Martin Sorrell's exit from advertising company WPP and U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management raising its stake in hotel and coffee shop operator Whitbread.
Shares in WPP ended 6.5 percent down as investors gauged how the world's biggest advertising agency would fare without its founder, who is gone after an allegation of personal misconduct.
Shares in Whitbread led the FTSE with a 7.2 percent rise after activist hedge fund Elliott Management revealed that it had increased its stake in Britain's biggest hotel and coffee-shop operator to more than 6 percent.
Shares in Shire, the London-listed pharmaceuticals company that specializes in rare diseases, rose before paring gains to end 1.3 percent down after announcing plans to sell its oncology business to French drugmaker Servier for $2.4 billion.
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