Clipper Windpower agrees to £139.5m takeover offer from American rival UTC October 18, 2010 Wind turbine maker Clipper Windpower has agreed a £139.5m buyout by United Technologies Corporation in a deal which will buoy its finances ahead of a choppy outlook for the US wind energy sector. UTC will gain control of the 50.1 per cent stake in Clipper it does not already own and will provide an additional [...]
UniCredit reaches a deal with unions as it seeks to cut domestic operations October 18, 2010 UniCredit has reached a deal with unions over thousands of lay-offs in Italy, ending a protracted struggle over a plan by the country’s biggest bank to streamline domestic operations. Under the deal, 3,000 UniCredit employees will get access to early retirement plans, the FABI banking union said. This comes on top of planned lay-offs for [...]
Germany pays €1.5m for Julius Baer clients’ data October 18, 2010 German prosecutors paid around €1.5m (£1.3m) for client data from Swiss bank Julius Baer, as part of a campaign to clamp down on untaxed German wealth held in Switzerland. A spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office in the German city of Muenster said the state of North Rhine Westphalia had bought a CD containing data on [...]
Royal Mail asks to hike prices October 18, 2010 Royal Mail has asked the postal regulator for permission to hike prices on business mail products for one year only, in order to generate extra revenue of up to £100m. Royal Mail chief executive Moya Greene said the firm was asking for the chance “to charge a fair price to other companies who use our [...]
Boots takes control of ANZAG October 18, 2010 Retail giant Alliance Boots yesterday said it had reached agreement with shareholders to acquire a further 51.65 per cent stake in German pharmaceutical wholesaler Andreae-Noris Zahn (ANZAG). At the same time, Boots launched a voluntary tender offer for the outstanding 18.4 per cent of the company it does not yet own, at €26 per share.
Profits soar at Vertu Motors October 18, 2010 Car dealership group Vertu Motors saw pre-tax profits soar by three quarters to £4.9m over the first half of its financial year after acquiring a number of new sales outlets. Vertu, which will commence dividend payments in January, added that it beat management expectations for new car performance in September, gaining market share with new [...]
RBS may sell £1bn Spanish property unit October 18, 2010 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is understood to be considering selling a £1bn Spanish property loan portfolio after hiring Morgan Stanley to advise on its options. The Spanish commercial property loans add to a £3bn portfolio of British real estate loans also on the block. Private equity firms and specialised investors looking to pick up [...]
KKR tables bid for Australian fund manager October 18, 2010 US Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) has offered up to $1.73bn (£1bn) for Australian fund manager Perpetual, reigniting merger interest in Australia’s $1 trillion wealth management sector. Australia’s wealth management industry is the world’s fourth largest and is expected to grow at 12 per cent a year, but mergers have dried up over [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 18, 2010 SMITHS GROUP Charles Stanley says strong free cash generation continues to support longer-term growth through increased R&D, targeted acquisitions and expansion in emerging markets. The broker thinks speculation about an eventual break-up of the group is likely to persist. Despite Smiths’ sluggish sales performance, operating margins improved to a 10-year high of 17.8 per cent. [...]
The accountant who sees EU rules as a chance to transform his firm October 18, 2010 For a man less than three months away from retirement, BDO’s policy board chairman – in effect, the firm’s international chairman – can’t wait to get into the issues. And to be fair, there is much for Dermot Mathias, who joined the accountancy giant 37 years ago, to discuss. What excites him most is the [...]