Abertis bidders eye financing July 15, 2010 A consortium looking to acquire Spanish motorway operator Abertis in a leveraged buyout worth at least €25bn (£20.9bn) yesterday said it was considering several structures to finance its bid. It is also understood that the bidding group hopes to sell stakes held by Abertis in two highway operators, Italy’s Atlantia and Portugal’s Brisa, that could [...]
Premier expects a 17 per cent rise in oil production July 15, 2010 PREMIER Oil said it expects average first-half production to rise 17 per cent and that its full-year production remains in line with expectations. Estimated average group production for the first half was 46,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) while forecast full-year production continues to be around 44,000 boepd. “Premier continues to make good [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 15, 2010 DFS The sofa retailer, which was recently sold by founder Lord Kirkham to private equity group Advent International for £500m, has ended its search for a new chief executive. Ian Filby has thirty years of retail experience, including a recent stint working as interim chief executive at Nectar. He was also previously retail brand development [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 15, 2010 NOVARTIS Standard & Poor’s Equity Research (S&P) rates Novartis as “buy” due to its strong second quarter results. Sales are up 12 per cent thanks to volume growth, especially in vaccines, according to S&P, which said in its view, the well-managed volume-driven diversification of Novartis will offset foreseeable negatives. WETHERSPOON Seymour Pierce upgrades Wetherspoon to [...]
MARKETING July 15, 2010 Q. I am starting a business and I need to think about marketing but I don’t know where to start. Can you offer me some advice? A.This is a common problem. Most people will have heard of marketing, but they don’t know quite what it is. Mark Brewerton, the managing director of Total Marketing Solutions, [...]
JP Morgan profit rises by 76 per cent July 15, 2010 JP Morgan has reported a 76 per cent rise in net profit – fuelled by a reduction in loan loss reserves. The group said profit for the quarter rose to $4.8bn (£3.1bn) or $1.09 a share, from $2.72bn, or 28 cents a share, a year earlier. Meanwhile total revenue fell by two per cent to [...]
Carlyle Group in $3.8bn deal for NBTY July 15, 2010 PRIVATE equity company The Carlyle Group has agreed to buy vitamin maker NBTY for $3.8bn (£2.4bn). NBTY said Carlyle will acquire all of NBTY’s outstanding shares for $55 per share, a 47 per cent premium above the stock’s closing price of $37.47 on Wednesday. The deal is expected to close by the end of the [...]
BP admits lobbying over Lockerbie bomber release July 15, 2010 BP has admitted that it had lobbied the government in late 2007 over a prisoner transfer agreement for the man convicted of the Lockerbie bomber with Libya over fears it would hold up a drilling deal. “BP told the UK government that we were concerned about the slow progress that was being made in concluding [...]
Nippon Telegraph in £2bn swoop for Dimension Data July 15, 2010 NIPPON Telegraph and Telephone Corp said it will buy South African IT firm Dimension Data for up to £2.12bn in a bid to expand into overseas markets, including in fast-growing Africa. Japan’s top telecoms operator plans to launch a tender offer for all outstanding shares in Dimension Data. The South African firm provides IT-related services [...]
China growth slows July 15, 2010 THE pace of growth in China slowed in the second quarter, official figures show. China’s economy grew by 10.3 per cent in the April to June quarter – below the 11.9 per cent growth rate during the first quarter of the year. The government has introduced a range of measures to cool down the economy. [...]