Capital rules push banks to trade through central counterparties April 10, 2014 BANKS will have to set aside less capital against trades through central clearing houses in a bid to encourage them to use the services, the Basel Committee said yesterday. And lenders face putting more capital against trades not cleared centrally. The aim is to make banks use the central counterparties (CCPs), making it easier for regulators [...]
Ashmore hopes for emerging market uptick April 10, 2014 BILLIONAIRE Mark Coombs, the founder of fund manager Ashmore Group, yesterday gave a bullish assessment of emerging market stocks despite his group seeing $6.2bn flow out of funds last quarter. Coombs, chief executive at the FTSE 250 group, tried to soothe concerns that emerging markets were broken in the wake of steep price declines and [...]
Struggling RSA Insurance taps investors for £773m rights issue April 10, 2014 INSURER RSA Group announced yesterday that 95.67 per cent of its share issue has been snapped up by investors, raising £773m for the group. The remaining stock will be offered for sale by JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch, but if it is not sold, under their role as underwriters, they will buy the balance themselves. [...]
Cairn Energy loses its deputy chief and its finance director April 10, 2014 SCOTTISH oil and gas explorer Cairn Energy yesterday said its deputy chief executive and its chief financial officer are stepping down for “long term succession planning reasons”, merely weeks after founder Sir Bill Gammell said he would retire as chairman. Deputy chief Mike Watts and finance director Jann Brown will not seek re-election at the [...]
Stelios takes up Fastjet cash call April 10, 2014 African budget airline Fastjet yesterday raised £11m through a private placement of shares, including a £1m investment from a unit of EasyGroup, the firm led by EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou. EasyGroup has also agreed to waive £4.3m in consultancy fees in exchange for £1.5m-worth of new shares. The Aim-listed airline, which expects to post [...]
Rothesay’s £111m bulk annuity April 10, 2014 Rothesay Life, the life insurer co-owned by Blackstone and Goldman Sachs, yesterday struck a £111m bulk annuity deal with Western United Group Pension Scheme. It follows a similar £115m deal between the two last year. The transaction will see the pension scheme transfer some of its investments over to Rothesay. “Repeat business is the best [...]
Polar assets rise in quarter April 10, 2014 Polar Capital said group assets under management rose two per cent to more than $13.2bn in the March quarter after it took in $750m in new investment across a range of products. “Markets have made an uncertain start to 2014 but assuming they do not deteriorate from recent levels we remain well positioned to continue [...]
Sales at Jaguar Land Rover soar April 10, 2014 CHINESE motorists bought 36 per cent more Jaguars and Land Rovers in the first three months of the year, helping to send sales at the luxury car firm up eight per cent to 124,776. Jaguar Land Rover’s new ranges fuelled sales growth in Asia and North America, where orders rose 13 per cent compared to [...]
UK Coal receives £10m state loan to close mines April 10, 2014 THE UK government said yesterday that it will give a £10m loan to UK Coal to help finance a managed closure of two of its mines over the next 18 months. “The taxpayer would face significant losses and liabilities in the event of an immediate insolvency of UK Coal, principally relating to redundancy and unpaid [...]
Wembley Arena to be rebranded as the SSE Arena in 10-year deal April 10, 2014 WEMBLEY Arena will be renamed the SSE Arena under a new 10-year deal signed with the FTSE 100 energy giant, announced yesterday. Entertainment company AEG brokered the deal, which starts from 1 June, having taken over the running of the venue last year. The agreement is estimated to be worth around £15m and the proceeds [...]