Takeover Panel wants powers September 15, 2014 THE UK Takeover Panel has started a consultation on whether it should be able to take disciplinary action against companies that make promises during the bidding process, only to break them later. The London-based regulator said Pfizer’s recent bid for Astrazeneca – which made promises about keeping research and development in the UK – highlighted [...]
Calpers starts $4bn fund exit September 15, 2014 THE BIGGEST pension fund in the US is pulling its investments out of 30 hedge funds and funds of funds as part of a scheme to simplify its portfolio management. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s (Calpers) investments in the sector amount to around $4bn (£2.5bn). However, the investments represent only a small proportion of the [...]
Alibaba hikes price range September 15, 2014 CHINESE web giant Alibaba last night raised the indicated price range for the shares it is selling on the New York Stock Exchange later this week. The e-commerce firm had expected to sell around 320.1m shares at a price between $60 and $66 each, but in a filing with regulators, the company announced that it [...]
Rileys calls in administrators September 15, 2014 RILEYS Sports Bar yesterday went into administration for the second time in two years. The firm’s failure threatens around 500 jobs, and 15 of its sites have been shut down. Rileys’ parent company Greybull Capital put 136-year-old firm up for sale just two months ago. Deloitte was appointed as administrators. Rileys will continue to trade [...]
Polls show Conservative party could win 2015 general election September 15, 2014 Two new polls show that David Cameron’s Conservative party could do better than expected at the general election next year, despite the PM telling Scots yesterday that the current government won’t be around forever, A poll by Lord Ashcroft yesterday put the Tories neck-and-neck with Ed Miliband’s Labour, both on 33 per cent, [...]
SABMiller could seek other new partners after Heineken rebuff September 15, 2014 BREWING firm SABMiller could step up its plans to bulk up to avoid a takeover by AB InBev by seeking other merger partners, analysts predicted yesterday. SABMiller had made an offer for Heineken, but that deal was rejected over the weekend. Heineken’s family owners are believed to be unwilling to relinquish their majority hold on the [...]
Minecraft seller says it was not for the money September 15, 2014 GAMING billionaire Markus Persson yesterday denied he had sold the firm behind Minecraft for the money. Instead, he said he was being pestered online by fans angry at changes to the end-user licence agreement (EULA), and disliked being so detached from the game’s users. The Swedish programmer agreed to sell his firm Mojang to Microsoft [...]
Phones 4u founder John Caudwell had considered rescue bid before collapse September 15, 2014 Less than two weeks ago, the founder of Phones 4u, billionaire John Caudwell, was starting to put the pieces together to see if he could launch a daring rescue plan to save the business that had just been cut out by Vodafone, one of its two key trading partners. “Having realised what that meant [Vodafone’s [...]
Monitise share price dips as mobile banking firm eyes move to FTSE September 15, 2014 Aim-listed Monitise could consider a move to the main London Stock Exchange market as soon as this financial year, the mobile banking and payments firm’s chief executive told City A.M. yesterday. “The fact that we’ve reiterated that we’re seriously considering [a move to a main listing] shows that we’re thinking imminently, hopefully within this financial [...]
Greggs profits fatten with health drive of sandwiches and coffee September 15, 2014 Greggs’ like-for-like profits rose 5.4 per cent in the last quarter after the bakery famous for sausage rolls modernised its line with healthy sandwiches and better coffee. The Newcastle-headquartered chain said sales grew by four per cent in the 11 weeks to 13 September, compared to the same time last year. The company said this [...]