Peers quit for non-dom status July 6, 2010 Four members of the House of Lords have quit in protest at new “non-dom” rules. The Conservative Lords quitting are Lord Laidlaw, based in Monaco, Lord McAlpine, a former party treasurer and Lord Bagri – former London Metal Exchange chair. Baroness Dunn, former deputy chair of HSBC bank, has also resigned her right to sit [...]
Booz & Co ends merger talks July 6, 2010 Management consulting firm Booz & Co said yesterday it ended discussions with rival A.T. Kearney for a possible merger, saying it decided “their future aspirations will be best realised as separate partnerships.” Booz, established in 1914, now has more than 3,300 people in 61 offices around the world. In 2008, private equity firm Carlyle Group [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 6, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BARCELONA SEEKS LOAN TO HELP PAY PLAYERS Barcelona, the Spanish football giants whose players will make up the bulk of Spain’s team in Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final against Germany, are seeking a €150m loan to help pay player and staff wages. The move was announced by new Barcelona president Sandro Rosell who took [...]
Ocado warns investors of Waitrose risks July 6, 2010 OCADO finally launched the hotly anticipated prospectus for its £1.1bn flotation, to a muted response from the City. The firm has set the price-range between 200p and 275p a share, giving it a value of between £800m and £1.1bn, despite never having turned a profit. The document contains 18 pages of risk factors associated with [...]
Toscafund boss feels the pinch as revenues and profits tumble July 6, 2010 MARTIN HUGHES, the hedge fund manager nicknamed “the rottweiler” for his aggressive trading tactics, saw his pay drop steeply for the second year in a row in 2009. Profits at Hughes’ asset management firm, Toscafund, fell by two thirds to £9.2m in the 12 months to December, with revenues halving to £15.4m. Toscafund was hit [...]
RBS instructs Lazard to aid with £3bn real estate debt sell off July 6, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) is gearing up to sell off £3bn of real estate loans made during the property boom, reports said yesterday. The move, according to a story in the Financial Times, is the largest property disposal from its non-core banking business to date and is part of a five-year project to shed [...]
Fresh exodus puts Osborne on the spot July 6, 2010 A FURTHER two members of the Office for Budget Responsibility are set to follow chairman Sir Alan Budd out the door, City A.M. has learned, leaving the chancellor’s newly-created economic forecasting body rudderless. George Osborne, who set up the independent body to lend credibility to the government’s economic forecasts, is now under pressure to appoint [...]
Civil service pay-offs capped July 6, 2010 THE government escalated its stand-off with the public sector unions yesterday, announcing plans to bring forward legislation that will slash the amount of compensation civil servants receive when they are laid off. A new bill will cap all compulsory redundancy payments at 12 months’ salary and all voluntary payments at 15 months – a far [...]
DfT delays high-speed train update July 6, 2010 PUBLIC sector pensions are twice as valuable as previously thought and a lack of transparency over their true costs has delayed reform, according to a new report published by the Public Sector Pensions Commission. The Commission found that the use of artificially high discount rates to report unfunded liabilities and calculate contribution rates appeared to [...]
Public sector pensions worth 40pc of salary July 6, 2010 PUBLIC sector pensions are twice as valuable as previously thought and a lack of transparency over their true costs has delayed reform, according to a new report published by the Public Sector Pensions Commission. The Commission found that the use of artificially high discount rates to report unfunded liabilities and calculate contribution rates appeared to [...]