BEST OF THE BROKERS August 24, 2010 CHARTER Panmure cuts its rating on Charter to “Hold” from “Buy” saying it is concerned over revenue visbility for 2011. Notes Howden’s order intake for delivery is lower than expected, and therefore likely to create a revenue shortfall. Believes the share’s underperformance is set to continue, barring a possible recovery in power sector orders. BP [...]
POTASH IN TALKS TO BLOCK BHP BID August 23, 2010 CANADIAN fertiliser producer PotashCorp is courting a range of potential “white knight” partners in a determined attempt to see off a $40bn (£25.5bn) hostile bid from mining giant BHP Billiton, the company confirmed yesterday. The world’s largest potash producer said it had been approached by and had initiated contact with a number of third parties, [...]
Tories aided by Monaco hedge fund August 23, 2010 CONTROVERSIAL hedge fund manager Jon Wood handed the Conservative party a £500,000 donation two days before the general election in May. Wood, who runs the Monaco-based SRM Global investment firm, was the Tories’ second most generous corporate supporter during the campaign, data from the Electoral Commission revealed yesterday. News of the gift from one of [...]
Germans back banking levy August 23, 2010 GERMAN Ministers will tomorrow throw their weight behind a levy on bank assets designed to raise €1bn (£820m) a year. The announcement is part of a pact between the UK, German and French authorities to introduce parallel taxes starting in 2011. The German levy, which will enter a fund used in the event of future [...]
Swannell is the right man for M&S August 23, 2010 WHEN I had breakfast with Robert Swannell, the newly appointed chairman of Marks & Spencer recently, it was clear that the former investment banker was in anything but wind down mode. After three decades of working on mergers and acquisitions, sometimes over seven-day weeks involving late nights, Swannell could have been forgiven for putting his [...]
BoE’s Weale warns of dip August 23, 2010 BRITAIN faces “significant” risk of a fresh slump into recession, a leading policymaker at the Bank of England admitted yesterday as independent economists slammed the Bank for its complacency in the face of savage public sector spending cuts. Dr Martin Weale, the newest member of the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), said it would be [...]
Fed loses bank disclosure appeal August 23, 2010 The Federal Reserve will have to appeal to the Supreme Court if it wants to avoid having to disclose details of its emergency lending programmes to banks bailed out with taxpayer money during the financial crisis. The US Court of Appeals denied the Fed’s motion on Friday to rehear the case in which Bloomberg, the [...]
Lloyd’s insurers in Stanford case August 23, 2010 Lloyd’s of London insurers will today try to save themselves $100m (£64m) in payouts to alleged fraudster Allen Stanford and his three associates by proving they are guilty of money laundering. Establishing guilt would mean the insurance companies will be able to begin clawing back the Stanford Financial?Group executives’ legal bills. Stanford, Laura Pendergest-Holt, Gilbert [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 23, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES COMPANIES NOW TURN TO PRIVATE PLACEMENTS FOR FUNDING Private placement deals – whereby companies tap investors directly for loans – are on track for one of their strongest years, highlighting the extent to which companies are seeking to diversify their funding sources away from banks. Companies tapped the market for $27.4bn in the [...]
Rolet quits LCH amid LSE rival rumours August 23, 2010 XAVIER Rolet, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), has sensationally quit his position on the board of LCH.Clearnet, sparking rumours his firm is about to launch a rival clearing business. Rolet told LCH.Clearnet he was “too busy” to remain on the board. However a conflict of interests would arise if the LSE was [...]