Fixed income hedge funds most successful July 9, 2010 FIXED income hedge funds have been the most successful in the first half, according to a new index. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index, a broad measure of hedge fund performance, shows a six-month loss of 0.18 per cent at the end of June, following a 0.81 per cent fall in June. Hedge funds focussed [...]
BT pay deal averts strike action July 9, 2010 BT and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have sealed a deal on pay, heading off strike action. Under the agreement BT workers receive a 9.3 per cent pay rise over 39 months. BT had previously offered a 5.1 per cent rise over 21 months. The company described the deal as “unprecedented” while the union said [...]
Michael Page profit up in jobs market boost July 9, 2010 WHITE collar recruitment firm Michael Page International has reported a strong rise in second quarter profit – fuelled boosted by demand for permanent staff outside Europe and in the financial sector. Michael Page, which places people in legal, financial and sales jobs, said it made a gross profit of £111.5m in the second quarter of [...]
Rothschild’s Vallar raises £700m in IPO July 9, 2010 Vallar, which is seeking to build up a mid-tier mining house from scratch, has raised £707.2m in an initial public offering (IPO) and will start trading on 14 July, it said. Vallar, led by finance and mining veterans Nathaniel Rothschild and James Campbell, unveiled its plans on June 25 to raise at least £600m to [...]
Charlemagne sees assets slide July 9, 2010 EMERGING markets equity specialist Charlemagne Capital has posted a sharp fall in assets under management in the first half of the year due to negative markets and outflows. The boutique said in a statement that assets under management stood at $2.8bn (£1.8bn) at the end of June, a 16 per cent increase compared with the [...]
Battle of the banks July 8, 2010 SOME OF the City’s most powerful names are gearing up for an almighty bidding battle over state-controlled banking assets including Northern Rock and parts of Lloyds Banking Group. Lloyd’s of London chairman Lord Levene and City grandee Sir David Walker will take on Richard Branson’s Virgin money in a fight to create a new nationwide [...]
Advisers will get a slice of the limelight July 8, 2010 ADVISING on Lord Levene and Sir David Walker’s new retail bank is a particularly lucrative piece of business for Cenkos and Kinmont, who have already been hard at work preparing the team for what one insider described as “a pugnacious couple of months” ahead. Cenkos corporate broker Paul Hodges has so far been instrumental in [...]
ECB reassures over Eurozone July 8, 2010 EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) president Jean-Claude Trichet yesterday dismissed fears that the Eurozone could be faced with a double-dip recession after the bank held the bloc’s interest rates at one per cent. The ECB has held its main rate at one per cent for 14 months but Trichet said that he expects the Eurozone’s economic [...]
We won’t run out of oil any time soon July 8, 2010 THERE is only one rule when it comes to the availability of oil: experts are always convinced it will run out – but it never seems to. Brent crude is now at close to $75 a barrel, which is high but hardly excessively so by historical standards. There will be upwards price pressure in the [...]
Spain to privatise banks July 8, 2010 THE SPANISH government will today approve an overhaul of savings-bank regulations, opening the door to private ownership of the mutually owned savings banks or “cajas,” Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said yesterday. “This is the most important reform ever of our banking system,” Zapatero said. The reforms enable Spain’s troubled savings and loans banks [...]