He picked up 250,000 shares via his Silverslaggan AB investment vehicle, taking his total stake to 19 million or 12.1 per cent. So why the interest in Lonrho Africa from Mr Gyllenhammar?The company was originally spun out of the late Tiny Rowlands’ Lonrho empire, and over the past two years has been busy selling down its various Africa assets, which range from luxury hotels to pig farms and car dealerships. This has left Lonrho Africa as a cash shell but one that boasts a very a large pension fund surplus. Bulls of the company reckon it is on its way to becoming a major player in the diamond mining industry. This rumour has been around the Square Mile before and analysts are split on whether it really is a credible scenario. Some argue that Rentokil would be a perfect acquisition for a private equity house, thanks to its strong cash flows, while others believe it lacks the asset base to tempt a bid from a financial player.The FTSE 100 finished 5.3 points higher at 4,413.4 The FTSE 250 rose 5 points to 5,956.

BSkyB rallied 15p to 503p after Wednesday’s disappointment, and was helped by an upgrade from Sanford Bernstein. The US broker hiked its rating to “market perform” from “underperform”. It said that expectations for Sky are now at a “more reasonable level”.Deutsche Bank downgraded its rating on Morgan Crucible, unchanged at 132p, to “sell” from “hold” after what the broker described as a “disappointing” set of interims from the group on Wednesday. The German broker argued that Morgan Crucible shares now look expensive compared to its UK peers, and set a price target of just 100p.Among small-caps, European Diamonds dipped 0.5p to 59.5p despite talk from gossips of positive news flow from the group in the coming weeks. Talk of an offer for Barclays, along with strong interim results, helped the banking giant register an 11.25p rise to 481.25p. Meanwhile, Rentokil Initial finished the day as the best performer in the blue-chip index, rising 5p to 148.5p, on whispers of a break-up bid for the company from a private equity house.

Gavin Morris, the finance director at the packaging group, acquired a more modest 12,000 at the same price.Bid rumours were the flavour of the day in the FTSE 100. Isoft dropped 34.5p to 320.5p amid rumours that a potentially damaging article about the software coming is to be published in a national newspaper. DS Smith put on 0.75p to 156.25p after Tony Thorne, the chief executive, picked up 19,000 shares at 157.5p. A placing by Cazenove of about 18 million shares, or 5 per cent of the company, at just 95p only made things worse for the stock. Similarly, at Somerfield, off 0.75p to 145.25p, Jack Petchey was heard to be building on his 3.1 per cent holding in the supermarket chain.