He’s seen off his own PM, but now the chancellor must beat the Tories April 14, 2010 WHEN all politicians around him are losing their heads, Alistair Darling is intent on keeping his. Having seen off an attempt to replace him with Gordon Brown’s favourite apparatchik Ed Balls – who wanted to use Labour’s final Budget to make vote-winning spending promises – the famously low-key chancellor says the new enemies of prudence [...]
PRIVATE EQUITY FAT CATS COME OUT TO PLAY April 14, 2010 SIR Peter Paul Rubens’ beautiful and ornate painted ceiling gazed down upon the most successful figures in the private equity industry last night, as they gathered in the Banqueting Hall on Whitehall for the Private Equity News Awards for Excellence in Private Equity. Executives from the likes of CVC Capital Partners, Axa Private Equity, Coller [...]
Red Knights thrash out United plans April 14, 2010 THE group of City financiers hoping to wrest control of Manchester United met in London yesterday to hone their plans. They are understood to have discussed the structure of the complicated share issue that will give fans the chance to buy a stake in the club. They are also thrashing out whether to retain the [...]
Crunch meeting for Premier shareholders April 14, 2010 PREMIER League shareholders will meet this afternoon to discuss a series of key issues affecting football’s top flight governing body. The Premier League board is said to be eager to offer more money to lower league clubs to help stave off the threat of administration. We revealed last month the governing body could double the [...]
Rusal float to net Deripaska $70m bonus April 14, 2010 RUSAL, the aluminium group which earlier this year became the first Russian company to list in Hong Kong, has awarded chief executive Oleg Deripaska a weighty $70.3m (£45.4m) bonus for getting the float away successfully. The company said yesterday that oligarch Deripaska has been awarded 50.625m bonus shares at the offer price of HK$10.80 per [...]
Singapore hikes dollar value April 14, 2010 SINGAPORE took the bold step of revaluing its currency yesterday, prompting speculation that China could be about to follow suit with the yuan. Singapore’s central bank said the economy has fully recovered from its worst ever recession but warned inflationary pressures are likely to pick up, moving the currency band up and switching to a [...]
Banks avoid facing class action suits as Financial Services Bill passes into law April 14, 2010 BANKS have walked away from potentially paying out billions of pounds in class action settlements, after a clause in the Financial Services Bill surrounding the matter was struck before the bill passed though parliament. The Financial Services Bill, which reached Royal Assent during the wash-up period last week, saw clauses 18 to 25 struck out [...]
Turquoise set to trade US equities in European time April 14, 2010 THE London Stock Exchange yesterday unveiled ambitious plans to turn its Turquoise platform into the first European multilateral trading facility (MTF) to trade US equities during the European working day. Turquoise, which is 51 per cent owned by the exchange and the rest by twelve investment banks, will offer dollar trading in 175 of the [...]
Citigroup sheds more assets as it plans to sell hedge fund unit to SkyBridge April 14, 2010 CITIGROUP plans to sell a hedge fund business with $4.2bn (£2.7bn) worth of assets to US investment firm SkyBridge Capital. The deal marks another step in Citi’s plan to shed assets. The unit had been languishing in Citi Holdings, the bank’s repository for businesses that it is trying to sell or wind down. The unit [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS April 14, 2010 DEBENHAMS Numis reiterates its “buy” recommendation on Debenhams citing the retailer’s solid interim results, which place it comfortably ahead of Numis’ expectations. Numis raises August forecasts to £147m from £137m and sees scope for a rise in like-for-like sales. Despite a strong run, Numis believes the stock continues to offer value. BHP BILLITON A “buy” [...]