• Kloppers won’t fall into the bid trap
    Thursday, 26th August 2010
    DEPUTY EDITOR’S LETTER
    DAVID HELLIER
    BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers was determined yesterday to play down fears that he is about to over-pay for PotashCorp, the Canadian fertiliser group. As Kloppers unveiled healthy annual results... [Read more]

  • Jupiter gamble paying off for now
    Wednesday, 25th August 2010
    DEPUTY EDITOR’S LETTER
    DAVID HELLIER
    FUND management group Jupiter defied the odds earlier this year when it pressed ahead with a stock market flotation despite concerns that it was an injudicious time to do so. First there were general... [Read more]
  • Swannell is the right man for M&S
    Tuesday, 24th August 2010
    DEPUTY EDITOR’S LETTER
    DAVID HELLIER
    WHEN I had breakfast with Robert Swannell, the newly appointed chairman of Marks & Spencer recently, it was clear that the former investment banker was in anything but wind down mode. After three... [Read more]
  • Why the Green row won’t go away
    Friday, 20th August 2010
    DEPUTY EDITOR’S LETTER
    DAVID HELLIER
    SOMEWHAT predictably the recent appointment of Sir Philip Green to the post of efficiency tsar is turning out to be one of the most ill-judged moves of the government’s (reasonably successful)... [Read more]

  • Blackcurrants are not the only fruit
    Thursday, 19th August 2010
    DEPUTY EDITOR’S LETTER
    DAVID HELLIER
    BANK of England governor Mervyn King may be warning of the dangers of destructive inflation but the minutes of the latest Bank meeting show that these concerns are tempered by a fear of slowing down... [Read more]
  • BHP’s bid provokes poisonous reply
    Wednesday, 18th August 2010
    DEPUTY EDITOR’S LETTER
    DAVID HELLIER
    JUST as the markets were drifting into the final few days of summer - traditionally one of the quietest times of the year for corporate news – up pops mining giant BHP Billiton with a near $40bn... [Read more]
  • Reflections on the Philip Green saga
    Tuesday, 17th August 2010
    DEPUTY EDITOR’S LETTER
    DAVID HELLIER
    MY first contact with Sir Philip Green came around two decades ago when he was running a small public company called Amber Day. I had written a two paragraph story for the Independent newspaper... [Read more]
  • De La Rue stumped for an answer
    Friday, 13th August 2010
    DEPUTY EDITOR’S LETTER
    DAVID HELLIER
    IN the 1930s the bank note manufacturer De la Rue created a number of boardgames, including a cricket game called Stumpz. Yesterday its chief executive James Hussey was well and truly stumped as he... [Read more]
  • Desmond’s Channel Five revolution
    Thursday, 12th August 2010
    DEPUTY EDITOR’S LETTER
    DAVID HELLIER
    THE inevitable bloodbath occurred at Richard Desmond’s newly acquired Channel Five yesterday as seven directors and more than a quarter of the 300 employees were given their marching orders. The... [Read more]
  • Bank must restore its credibility
    Wednesday, 11th August 2010
    DEPUTY EDITOR’S LETTER
    DAVID HELLIER
    OF all the people who regulated (or failed to regulate) the financial services industry throughout the banking crisis, Bank of England governor Mervyn King has emerged as the man whose authority has... [Read more]
  • Taking on Sky is a risky Vision for BT
    Tuesday, 10th August 2010
    DEPUTY EDITOR’S LETTER
    DAVID HELLIER
    INthe run up to the new football season there is a fascinating encounter taking place off the field as BT Vision tries to take on the might of BSkyB in the showing of live football. BT Vision,... [Read more]
  • This is one the Premier League needs to lose
    Friday, 4th June 2010
    CITY COMMENT
    THESE are economically straitened times. Times when the Cabinet takes a five per cent pay cut and the governor of the Bank of England refuses a pay rise for this year and even the year after. But in... [Read more]
  • Coca-Cola bottling unit eyes UK listing
    Friday, 26th February 2010
    BEVERAGES
    DAVID HELLIER
    COCA-COLA yesterday bought the struggling US operations of its largest bottler for roughly $15bn (£9.75bn), including debt, in a deal that gives a London base for the European operations of the... [Read more]
  • Blacks tries to keep £22m deal on track
    Wednesday, 24th February 2010
    RETAIL
    DAVID HELLIER
    LAST MINUTE negotiations were taking place yesterday in an attempt to avoid a bitter clash between shareholders at today’s meeting of outdoor clothing specialist group Blacks. Blacks shareholders are... [Read more]
  • Greece nears bond issue
    Wednesday, 24th February 2010
    WORLD ECONOMY
    DAVID HELLIER
    THE bond markets were full of talk yesterday that Greece was close to issuing a 10-year bond, possibly within the next few days. The issue, which would be the second for Greece this year – and the... [Read more]
  • Darling’s £3bn Icesave punt
    Friday, 19th February 2010
    POLITICS
    DAVID HELLIER
    ALISTAIR Darling rejected advice from the civil service when he controversially went ahead and guaranteed all the UK deposits of those who had savings with Icesave, the Icelandic bank, it emerged... [Read more]
  • New directors on board at Pearl as it heads for UK float
    Friday, 19th February 2010
    INSURANCE
    DAVID HELLIER
    FUND management and insurance group Pearl yesterday said it was pressing ahead with a London stock market flotation despite its well-publicised wrangle with bondholders. The company, which is being... [Read more]
  • Spanish bond wins approval
    Thursday, 18th February 2010
    WORLD ECONOMY
    DAVID HELLIER
    SPAIN drew a stampede of demand for a government bond issue yesterday that brought relief for the peripheral eurozone countries. Some analysts said a successful Spanish sale could open the door for... [Read more]
  • London base for new BoA global head
    Thursday, 18th February 2010
    BANKING
    DAVID HELLIER
    BANK of America Merrill Lynch yesterday named Paul Donofrio, one of its three co-heads of investment banking, as its new head of global corporate banking business. Donofrio will replace Cathy Bessant... [Read more]
  • Greece told to cut deeper
    Wednesday, 17th February 2010
    WORLD ECONOMY
    DAVID HELLIER
    EUROPEAN ministers told Greece yesterday it may need to take further steps to bring a swollen debt under control and calm “irrational” financial markets, as wage cuts already announced by Athens... [Read more]
  • Motorola plans to split into two public companies in 2011
    Friday, 12th February 2010
    TELECOMS
    HARRY BANKS
    Motorola aims to split into two companies in the first quarter of 2011, separating its cellphone and television set-top box businesses from the rest of the company, it said yesterday. Motorola said... [Read more]
  • FirstEnergy plans to merge with Allegheny in £3bn deal
    Friday, 12th February 2010
    ENERGY
    HARRY BANKS
    OHIO-BASED power company FirstEnergy plans to buy Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Energy in an all share deal worth $4.7bn (£3.01bn) that would create one of the largest utility groups in the US. The... [Read more]
  • Hands in call to arms against regulation
    Thursday, 11th February 2010
    PRIVATE EQUITY
    DAVID HELLIER
    GUY Hands, the chairman of private equity group Terra Firma, yesterday urged members of his industry to push back against “populist moves” to increase regulation. Hands, speaking at the Super Returns... [Read more]
  • Kraft makes jobs u-turn
    Wednesday, 10th February 2010
    FOOD PRODUCERS
    David Hellier
    KRAFT, the US group that began its campaign to take over Cadbury by pledging to keep its Somerdale factory near Bristol open, yesterday said it would close it after all. Days after completing on the... [Read more]
  • Osmond vehicle blames poor markets as it raises £80m less than expected
    Friday, 5th February 2010
    M&A
    DAVID HELLIER
    HUGH Osmond, the entreprenuer behind Pizza Express, the Punch pub group and Pearl insurance, has raised less than he hoped for his new acquisition vehicle Horizon. Osmond, who originally hoped to... [Read more]
  • Blackrock settles on City for London base
    Friday, 5th February 2010
    PROPERTY
    DAVID HELLIER
    BLACKROCK, the investment management group in which Barclays owns nearly 20 per cent, yesterday beat off Macquarie Bank to land a 25 year deal to base its London operations at Drapers Gardens in the... [Read more]
  • Bankers must get act together
    Tuesday, 22nd December 2009
    EDITOR’S LETTER
    DAVID HELLIER
    IT SEEMS an age away now but back in July, on one of those long summer evenings that makes London such a marvellous place to live in, a group of the country’s foremost politicians, business leaders... [Read more]