BarCap hired to find buyer for Liverpool April 11, 2010 LIVERPOOL’S embattled owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have hired Barclays Capital to find a buyer for the club. The co-owners, who were involved in a bitter spat over the Anfield club, are ready to cash in on their ill-fated reign. Likely buyers include Rhone Capital, the private equity vehicle that had a £116m bid [...]
Mining chief’s £27m package fuels row over executive pay April 11, 2010 XSTRATA chief executive Mick Davis banked a total pay of £27m last year, according to the company’s annual report. News of the bumper pay deal will inflame the simmering debate over bumper executive remuneration packages. While the FTSE 100 mining company boss’s basic pay and bonus for 2009 came to £4.9m, his earnings were massively [...]
Ineos set for Swiss move as tax fears rise April 11, 2010 CHEMICALS group Ineos has confirmed it will shift its tax residency from the UK to Switzerland in a move it believes will save the company £400m over the next four years. Ineos, the largest privately owned company in Britain by turnover, said it had received the thumbs-up for the relocation from its lenders, including state-owned [...]
BarCap eyes retail share offer venture April 11, 2010 BARCLAYS Capital, the investment banking arm of British financial services giant Barclays, yesterday said it had formed a joint venture with Solid Solutions Associates (SSA) to oversee retail share offerings in initial public offerings. The deal will see SSA advise and assist Barclays Capital on project management aspects of any retail tranche of initial public [...]
Blackstone and Wellcome tie up for RBS branch bid April 11, 2010 BUYOUT firm Blackstone and charity the Wellcome Trust have launched a joint bid for bank branches being sold by Royal Bank of Scotland. The bid from Blackstone and the Wellcome Trust, a charitable foundation which manages a £13bn investment portfolio, brings the total number of offers for the RBS branches to five. RBS declined to [...]
NAB eyes IPO for UK units April 11, 2010 NATIONAL Australia Bank is considering a £2bn flotation of its UK operations, the Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks, City A.M. understands. The Melbourne-headquartered institution is looking at an initial public offering (IPO) for the units as one of several courses of action. Chief executive Cameron Clyne last week said the group wanted to participate in the [...]
Crozier may poach from rival for top ITV production job April 11, 2010 NEW ITV chief executive Adam Crozier will seek to make a statement of intent when he hires a new executive to lead ITV Studios. He is likely to attempt to coax senior industry figures working at rival firms as ITV seeks to bolster its production of exportable content. Names that have been linked to the [...]
Lloyds chews over possible joint venture with independent broker April 11, 2010 LLOYDS Banking Group is mulling over the possibility of a tie-up with one of the City’s independent brokers, in order to beef up its equity capital markets (ECM) capabilities. The bank previously hired key executives from the broking sector to expand its ECM desk, which has only a tiny share of the overall market. Lloyds [...]
Debenhams boosted by Principles April 11, 2010 DEBENHAMS is expected to report a strong performance in the six months to February, with half-year pre-tax profits of £116m expected – 15 per cent up from a year earlier. The success is attributed to good sales from its own-brand ranges such as Principles, designed by Ben de Lisi, but analysts are still cautious about [...]
Qinetiq’s new boss promises big shake-up April 11, 2010 LEO Quinn, the new chief executive of Qinetiq, will announce radical new plans next month to turn around the fortunes of the struggling British defence technology firm. Quinn is in the process of finalising his restructuring programme, which will include slashing redundancy terms for thousands of the company’s UK employees. Union representatives have been told [...]