Berkshire’s earnings jump February 28, 2010 WARREN Buffett has said the hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer-funded bailouts of corporate America will eventually pay off. But he thinks they shouldn’t pay off for the wealthy people whose carelessness or ignorance made them necessary. In his annual letter to shareholders of his Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett offered acerbic criticism of financial industry [...]
Eurozone set for a £27bn Greek bailout February 28, 2010 EUROZONE leaders are believed to be dangling a €30bn (£27bn) bailout package in front of Greece in exchange for a harsher set of austerity measures from Athens. Amid growing fears over a possible sovereign default, Germany and France are understood to be finalising a plan that will see state-owned banks buy Greek gilts. German government-owned [...]
Merrill overtakes UBS in league of the big FTSE 100 brokerships February 28, 2010 DESPITE the fallout from its at times heated takeover by Bank of America, Merrill Lynch has climbed up to second place in the table of biggest advisors to FTSE 100 companies, according to a report due out shortly from Hemscott. Merrill’s elevation comes at the expense of its Swiss rival, UBS, with whom it last [...]
Merck in $7.2bn Millipore buyout February 28, 2010 German pharmaceutical company Merck has entered into an agreement to buy up tech firm Millipore. It will acquire all of Millipore’s shares for $107 ($70) per share cash, valuing the deal at around $7.2bn including net debt. Merck said it is confident the deal will go ahead later this year. The news follows a statement [...]
M&S boss in new pressure to cut salary February 28, 2010 MARKS & Spencer’s (M&S’s) joint chief executive and chairman Sir Stuart Rose has seen renewed investor demands to reduce his pay in the latest shareholder salvo against executive pay deals. Rose, who assumed the joint title of chairman and chief executive last year, could see his £1.13m salary reduced by investors after an ongoing and [...]
Shell to offload its European interests February 28, 2010 Shell will offload more of its European liquid petroleum gas (LPG) operations in a bid to raise $3bn (£2bn). The firm will use the money to help fund a $28bn capital spending programme. Shell’s French LPG business, which specialises in bottled gas, is expected to raise in the region of €1bn (£900,000). It is also [...]
Still no thaw in relations over Icelandic bank row February 28, 2010 ICELANDIC negotiators may return home today from London if no new meetings are called with British officials over the Icesave debt crisis, Icelandic Radio quoted a finance ministry spokesman as saying. Officials from the two countries met in London on Saturday but the radio station said no formal meetings took place yesterday, although the negotiating [...]
HSBC’s chief gives up £4m February 28, 2010 HSBC boss Michael Geoghegan will announce plans today to hand over his multi-million pound bonus to charity as the banking giant reveals annual results. Geoghegan, who was is understood to have been in line to receive a £4m payout, will donate his bonus to charity after the bank’s strong 2009 performance. HSBC’s annual profits are [...]
Barnier set for key talks on his first London visit February 28, 2010 MICHEL Barnier will make his first trip to London this week as the newly appointed European Commissioner for the internal market and financial services in an attempt to reassure the City that he is a friend of “Anglo-Saxon” capitalism. The Commissioner’s appointment spooked the City back in December as the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, used [...]
Dominion to sell £33m new shares February 28, 2010 AIM quoted Oil explorer Dominion Petroleum is planning a $50m (£33m) share placing to help fund new Ugandan drilling projects, sources confirmed to City A.M. While wary of diluting its shares, Dominion is thought to prefer the option to selling stakes in its prospects to larger rivals, which could hamper its future growth. Canaccord Adams [...]