US growth revised down June 22, 2011 AMERICA’S economy will grow by 2.7 per cent this year, the Federal Reserve announced last night, revising down its previous forecast of 2.9 per cent. Yet despite admitting to a confusingly gloomy economic outlook, chairman Ben Bernanke yet again refused to suggest that the Fed would embark on a controversial third programme of quantitative easing [...]
Mystery Misys bidder named as FIS Global June 22, 2011 US banking technology group FIS Global has been named as the mystery bidder for software firm Misys. FIS, an S&P 500 component, has lined up BofA Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank to advise on its advances for the FTSE 250-listed firm. Misys revealed takeover talks earlier in the week following reports of a bid, but [...]
UBS BRINGS OUT IPADS TO SECURE €7BN FLOAT June 22, 2011 IT IS bigger than Glencore and the largest lottery IPO in history. So it is little wonder the global investment banks are pulling out all the stops to be appointed as advisers on the multibillion-euro float of the Spanish national lottery. The Spanish government hopes to raise between €6.5bn and €7.5bn by issuing 30 per [...]
Clegg calls for bank shares for taxpayers June 22, 2011 DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg has given his backing to a scheme that would see Lloyds and RBS re-privatised by handing their shares to taxpayers. Speaking during a trade mission to Rio de Janeiro, Clegg said that doling out the shares to the public would help to placate anger about bank bailouts. “It is psychologically immensely [...]
Ophir advisers settle on price range for flotation June 22, 2011 BRUSHING aside the current fragility of London’s IPO market, the African explorer Ophir Energy yesterday settled on a price range that will value the group at around $925m-$1.05bn (£575m-£650m) before new money. The group decided to offer investors shares at a price range of between 250-280p after a board meeting last night. Ophir is backed [...]
LSE and TMX sweeten deal for merger June 22, 2011 THE LONDON Stock Exchange and Toronto bourse operator TMX Group have agreed to pay a special dividend of C$660m (£415.8m), in the latest scramble to win over shareholders. TMX shareholders must decide next week whether to back the friendly deal between the two exchanges and a hostile bid from the Maple consortium of Canadian banks [...]
EU asks banks to share the Greek burden June 22, 2011 EUROZONE governments have kicked off a series of meetings with their banks to persuade them to voluntarily roll over their Greek debt and buy more time for the stricken sovereign. But German chancellor Angela Merkel has also warned voters and opposition parties that there is a limit to private sector burden-sharing. She said yesterday that [...]
AIB calls a halt to bond payout due to court case June 22, 2011 ALLIED Irish Banks will halt an interest payment of £22m due on a junior bond at the centre of a legal challenge until Ireland’s High Court rules on the case, the lender said yesterday. New York-based investment firm Aurelius Capital is challenging the Irish government’s move to impose losses on junior bondholders in AIB and [...]
Pimco: Greece and others will default on debt June 22, 2011 THE head of Pimco, the world’s biggest bond fund, predicted that Greece and other European economies would default on their debts to resolve their problems as the euro area deals with its debt crisis. Greece’s government won a vote of confidence late on Tuesday, a crucial step towards securing further short-term and longer-term financial aid [...]
GREEK BUDGET DEBATE BEGINS June 22, 2011 After winning a no-confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday night, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou (right) and new finance minister Evangelos Venizelos have begun the hard work of shoring up their party’s support for a raft of unpopular austerity measures.