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Last Updated: Thursday, 15 March 2007, 17:24 GMT

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Imperial may buy Gauloises firm

Imperial bought Commonwealth Brands for �974m last month
Imperial Tobacco has approached its Franco-Spanish rival Altadis about making an 11.5bn euros ($15.2bn; �7.8bn) cash offer for it.
Imperial is the world's fourth largest tobacco group, with brands such as West and Lambert & Butler, while Altadis owns the Gauloises and Fortuna brands.

Imperial says that the talks are at an early stage and there is no certainty that an offer will be made.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6453983.stm

Altadis says that the offer is dependent on the approval of its board.

The approach comes after Japan Tobacco agreed to buy Silk Cut maker Gallaher for $19bn (�9.6bn) in December.

Last month, Imperial Tobacco - which employs 14,500 staff in 130 countries - agreed to buy the US cigarette maker Commonwealth Brands for �974m.