Spice rejects £200m offer June 15, 2010 UTILITIES support firm Spice rejected a takeover bid by private equity group Cinven in May, the company said yesterday. Cinven announced the spurned bid after shares in Spice jumped seven per cent during trading yesterday. The offer of 56p per share took place on 24 May, a week before Spice disposed of its loss-making gas [...]
EasyJet locked in branding dispute with founder Stelios June 15, 2010 EASYJET launched its defence yesterday in front of a High Court judge in a branding dispute brought forward by founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou. His lawyers have argued that the airline is no longer a low-cost carrier because of the added costs to passengers. Geoffrey Hobbs QC, who is representing easyJet in court, delivered his opening [...]
Cowdery takes £2bn AXA rights issue pitch to major shareholders June 15, 2010 RESOLUTION was in talks with its largest shareholders yesterday over the planned £2bn rights issue it will use to part-fund a swoop on AXA’s UK life and pensions business. Insurance entrepreneur Clive Cowdery’s team, led by former Lazard banker Jon Hack, is understood to be discussing a novel underwriting structure with investors including Aviva, Legal [...]
RALPH LAUREN PLANS 11M SHARE SALE June 15, 2010 POLO Ralph Lauren Corp chief executive Ralph Lauren (pictured) yesterday disclosed plans to sell more than one quarter of his holdings in the company he founded in a transaction that would net him hundreds of millions of dollars. Lauren intends to sell as many as 11.35m shares, according to a filing made on Monday with [...]
Boris wants more powers for City Hall June 15, 2010 MAYOR of London Boris Johnson yesterday unveiled plans to hand a large chunk of governmental powers over to City Hall, in a bid to increase the formal influence of his office in the capital. Johnson wants to fold the functions of the London Development Agency (LDA) and Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) into a new [...]
Figleaves changes hands for £11.5m June 15, 2010 BALDERTON CAPITAL, the private equity firm, has sold online lingerie outfit Figleaves to home shopping group N Brown for £11.5m. The sale of Figleaves, which generated revenues of £23m in the year to June and is on the verge of its first profit, will land a windfall for entrepreneur Daniel Nabarro. Nabarro founded the company [...]
RIM shares soar on talk of iPhone killer to revitalise the Blackberry June 15, 2010 SHARES in Research In Motion soared yesterday after a report suggested the BlackBerry maker was working on a touch-screen smartphone to rival Apple’s iPhone. The Canadian technology firm is said to be trialling a device with a screen that responds to a users’ fingers like an iPhone, but with a slide-out keyboard. RIM is also [...]
DEUTSCHE’S JAIN HEADS FOR THE TOP June 15, 2010 DEUTSCHE Bank said yesterday that Anshu Jain will take on sole responsibility for investment banking, strengthening the 47-year-old’s chances of succeeding chief executive Josef Ackermann. Jain will assume the responsibilities of Michael Cohrs, US national and head of global banking who will retire in September.
The City gets the hiring bug June 15, 2010 JOB VACANCIES in the financial services sector were up three per cent last month, marking the second highest volume of new jobs since September 2008. Figures from Morgan McKinley’s monthly employment monitor show that the number of newly available jobs in the financial services sector rose to 5,733 last month compared to 2009. The recruitment [...]
Chicago Board Options Exchange IPO shines with $339m valuation June 15, 2010 SHARES of CBOE Holdings jumped as much as 16 per cent in their stock market debut yesterday as investors saw bright prospects for the parent of the Chicago Board Options Exchange. The stock opened at $32.80 and rose as high as $33.75 in morning Nasdaq trading. A crowd of 400 to 500 people gathered on [...]