Citigroup profit tops expectations October 18, 2010 Citigroup reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Monday as credit losses slowed and the bank set aside much less money to cover bad loans. Analysts said the results were mixed. Revenue rose slightly from a year earlier but fell from the second quarter, and the bank dipped into reserves to cover bad loans. Investors expressed [...]
Beazley move for Hardy rejected October 18, 2010 Lloyd’s of London insurer Beazley said smaller peer Hardy Underwriting had rejected a takeover approach made earlier this month but that it still hoped to clinch a deal. Dublin-based Beazley said that on 6 October it had proposed paying 300 pence per share in cash for Hardy, valuing the company at about £155m. The approach, [...]
BP in $1.8bn asset sale October 18, 2010 Russia’s TNK-BP, half-Owned by BP, said it would acquire BP’s production and pipeline assets in Vietnam and Venezuela for $1.8bn (£1bn). The company will use its own funds to finance the new acquisitions, TNK-BP said in a statement. “The acquisitions in Venezuela and Vietnam mark a milestone in TNK-BP’s strategic expansion in the global energy [...]
RBC in £1bn deal for BlueBay October 18, 2010 BlueBay Asset Management has agreed an all cash takeover by Canadian bank Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). The deal values the company at around £1bn. BlueBay shareholders will receive 485p in cash for each of their shares. Shareholders will also get the dividend of 7.5p proposed at the end of last year. BlueBay is one [...]
SABMiller trading “in line” October 18, 2010 SABMiller has announced that it has been trading in line with expectations in the first six months. Lager volumes for the six months to the end of September rose one per cent compared to the previous year at the drinks giant. Some raw material cost reductions helped to keep the company on track, it said. [...]
BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto ditch joint venture October 18, 2010 BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto scrapped their proposed $116bn (£72.6bn) iron-ore joint venture as expected, caving in to opposition from regulators, steelmakers and major investors 16 months after unveiling the plan. The collapse of the deal marks top global miner BHP’s second failed attempt to grab a piece of Rio Tinto’s superior iron ore assets [...]
ITEM: cuts won’t cause double-dip October 17, 2010 THE UK faces a slow economic recovery but fears of a double dip recession are overdone, one of the UK’s top forecasters will say today. The Ernst & Young Item Club – which uses the Treasury’s own economic model to make its predictions – also suggests that far from hurting the economy, Wednesday’s Comprehensive Spending [...]
AIA listing values firm at $20bn October 17, 2010 AIA Group could raise up to $20bn (£12.5bn) when it launches an initial public offering (IPO) later this month in Hong Kong, making it the world’s third largest IPO in history. US insurer AIG’s Asian unit said it would initially offer 5.86bn shares at between HK$18.38 (£1.48) and HK$19.68 each, or up to $15bn. But [...]
Cable ups the heat on banks October 17, 2010 BRITAIN’S biggest banks are today set to face up to small business organisations and business secretary Vince Cable in an attempt to show that they are committed to rebuilding trust between the sector and smaller firms struggling to get access to credit. Cable will chair the first meeting of the Small Business Economic Forum, which [...]
Corporate spending set to rescue UK October 17, 2010 THANK goodness for the private sector. With the exception of parts of the property investment industry, it is now in reasonably good shape. Contrary to what many believe, this means that Wednesday’s Comprehensive Spending Review – and the all too necessary spending cuts it will detail – won’t derail the UK economy. Sure, a chunk [...]