$47B offer in to buy Reynolds

British American Tobacco is offering to buy Reynolds American Inc. in a US$47-billion deal that would create the world’s largest publicly traded tobacco company and attempt to make up for a decline in smoking in the U.S. and Europe. Londonbased BAT offered Friday to buy the 57.8 per cent of Reynolds it doesn’t already own. The deal values Reynolds, based in Winston Salem, N.C., at US$93 billion.