Paulson suffers 9pc loss on star Advantage fund July 8, 2010 JOHN Paulson, the hedge fund boss who made billions of dollars shorting sub-prime mortgages in 2007, has seen one of his portfolios fall nearly nine per cent this year. Paulson Advantage, an arbitrage fund geared to benefit from mergers and acquisitions, lost 6.9 per cent in June and 8.8 per cent in the first half, [...]
Three insurance fraudsters hit with FSA ban July 8, 2010 THREE insurance professionals were banned from operating in financial services by the City regulator yesterday for taking part in a £2m fraud over an extended period. Timothy Higgins, Clifford Felstead and Ralph Brunswick were involved in a scam to cheat the Market International Insurance Company (Markel), QBE Insurance and Amalfi Underwriting, which exposed the victims [...]
Solid second quarter for UK economy July 8, 2010 BRITAIN’S economy roared into life in the second quarter of 2010, fuelled by stronger than expected industrial production data. Leading think-tank The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) forecasts that the economy grew by 0.7 per cent in the three months to June. It also revised up its estimate of GDP growth in [...]
Insolvencies set to escalate July 8, 2010 UK insolvencies are forecast to rise next year as austerity measures start to bite, with more than 127,000 companies continuing to suffer “significant” financial distress, restructuring specialist Begbies Traynor warned yesterday. In total the struggling companies owed £69.5m at the end of the second quarter – a rise of 26 per cent compared to the [...]
IMF warns of contagion threat to the US economy July 8, 2010 HIGH unemployment and a moribund housing market have increased risks to the US economic recovery, while the public debt looms large and needs to be cut, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday. In a statement after annual consultations with US authorities, the IMF raised its US growth forecasts slightly to 3.3 per cent for 2010 [...]
House prices tumble 0.6pc in June to mark third consecutive fall, says Halifax July 8, 2010 HOUSE prices in the UK unexpectedly fell by 0.6 per cent in June for the third month in a row, trimming the annual rise in property prices to 8.7 per cent last month. The Halifax data comes just days after rival mortgage provider Nationwide reported that the rise in house prices slowed to just 0.1 [...]
Sovereign debt fears drag business confidence down July 8, 2010 ONGOING fears about the impact of the sovereign debt crisis dragged businesses confidence down in June, according to the latest Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets Business Barometer. The survey – a snapshot of businesses’ views on their own performance and wider economic prospects – shows that firms are far less optimistic about the economic outlook than [...]
Threadneedle Street keeps monetary policy unchanged again this month July 8, 2010 THE Bank of England this month held interest rates, keeping monetary policy ultra-loose. Interest rates remained at their historic low of 0.5 per cent and the stock of asset purchases was held at £200bn. Economists had expected the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to hold fire this month and said it would have been an enormous [...]
Connaught to lose CEO and finance chief July 8, 2010 THE CHIEF executive and financial director of Connaught resigned yesterday, in another blow to the troubled social housing group. Mark Tincknell, who has been chief executive for six months, stood down immediately to recover from health issues, but will remain with the company. Tincknell will assist chairman Sir Roy Gardner to find a successor, and [...]
Carlyle buys up £671m of White Tower buildings July 8, 2010 AMERICAN private equity group Carlyle has snapped up six central London properties for a total of £671m, its first major purchase since 2008. The properties were part of a portfolio owned by entrepreneur Simon Halabi, which was used to secure the failed White Tower commercial mortgage-backed securities vehicle. Carlyle said yesterday the properties generate around [...]