	reed intl denies bid approach reed international plc reed l denied rumours on the u k stock market that it was the target of a takeover bid and said it had received no approach in view of the increase in our share price today i want to make clear that we have not received any bid approaches reed s chairman leslie carpenter said in a statement rumours that u s publisher harcourt brace jovanovich inc hbj might bid for reed a paper and printing company pushed reed shares up p at p at one stage today before they eased back to p at the close against a background of a widespread decline in u k equity prices share market analysts said speculators were buying the stock on belief that harcourt would bid for reed in an effort to escape the unwelcome two billion dlr bid from robert maxwell s british printing and communication corp bpcl l such a move would have made harcourt too big for bpcc to take it over analysts added they also said there was some speculation that if bpcc s bid for harcourt was unsuccessful it could turn its attention to reed reuter 
