PRESS DIGEST- Financial Times - Dec 13

Dec 13 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Headlines

- Westfield sells to France’s Unibail to create $72bn shopping mall group http://on.ft.com/2yjfZOL

- Toshiba, Western Digital settle legal battle over $18bn chip unit sale http://on.ft.com/2yiIGeW

- Bitcoin futures broker to allow negative bets http://on.ft.com/2yiYMVV

- Boeing climbs to record high on $18bn buyback move http://on.ft.com/2yjDszp

Overview

- The developer behind popular shopping centres in London and New York Westfield Corp agreed to be acquired by France’s Unibail-Rodamco SE for $24.7 billion.

- Western Digital Corp and Toshiba Corp reached a deal to resolve a legal battle over Toshiba's $18 billion sale of its prized memory chip to a private equity-led consortium.

- Interactive Brokers Group Inc will start to allow customers to bet against the cryptocurrency, giving its customers the opportunity to take bearish “short” positions on bitcoin futures.

- Shares of Boeing Co hit another record high after the company increased its quarterly dividend by a fifth and also announced an $18 billion share buyback programme.

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom; Editing by Peter Cooney)