Imperial surges as India and China launch rival bids August 5, 2008 China and India are going head to head in a bidding war to take over British oil and gas firm Imperial Energy, sending its shares shooting up by 8 per cent yesterday. China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, the state-owned oil company commonly known as Sinopec, has approached Imperial with an offer in the region of [...]
How entrepreneurs are helping combat the credit crunch August 5, 2008 You might think that the credit crunch is going to shift power back to the banks as they call in loans and overdrafts, and reset terms and conditions. To a certain extent that is true. But what is also true is that the non-bank lenders, such as Zopa, the social lending marketplace, and Wonga, the [...]
Rio loses key mine rights August 5, 2008 Bid target Rio Tinto has lost control of one of its most important iron-ore projects that could generate annual sales of more than $10bn (£5bn), it was revealed yesterday. The Government of Guinea has told Rio that its licence to mine Simandou, one of the world’s largest undeveloped iron-ore deposits, has been rescinded. The company’s [...]
Britain’s future is nuclear with or without BE deal August 4, 2008 Last week nuclear operator British Energy was preparing itself for a £12bn sale to French power giant EDF. This week, that deal lies in tatters and the government may be forced rethink its plans to boost the UK’s long-term reliance on atomic energy. So what next for this troubled firm, operator of the UK’s eight [...]
New chair of Hermes is ex Gartmore CEO August 4, 2008 The manager of the UK’s largest pension fund yesterday said it had recruited Glyn Jones, the former chief executive of investment manager Gartmore, as its new chair. The appointment of Jones, who spent his time at Gartner building up a big hedge fund boutique, is part of Hermes’ plan to become more independent from its [...]
Sinopec to launch a bid for Imperial August 4, 2008 Oil exploration firm Imperial Energy is expected to rise this morning, after reports that one of China’s biggest state-owned oil companies is launching a bid to buy the company. The China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, commonly known as Sinopec, approached the firm last week and has already begun due diligence. It is thought that the [...]
Shell output falls offset by soaring prices August 1, 2008 Royal Dutch Shell reported a 33 per cent boost in second-quarter profit to $11.6bn (£5.8bn) yesterday as rising oil prices offset production bottlenecks in countries such as Nigeria. Shell, led by chief executive Jeroen van der Veer, sold oil for 76 per cent more than it did in the same period a year ago. In [...]
Michael Spencer v Terry Smith: heavyweights set for rematch August 1, 2008 British broker Tullett Prebon last night confirmed that it is in talks with New York-based GFI over a “combination”, in a deal that will create a new giant in the financial markets. If the two sides can reach an agreement, the new company could topple Michael Spencer’s Icap as the world’s largest interdealer markets broker [...]
Budget airlines have become a part of modern life, for better or worse August 1, 2008 Rising oil prices mean that cheap flights are under threat. But is that a good or a bad thing? Such arcane things as the price of oil were until recently beyond the ken of most ordinary folk. But the workings of massive Kazakh exploration companies and the politics of laying pipelines across Uzbekistan are now [...]
In volatile times there are still investments that offer a safe haven August 1, 2008 There are ways to guarantee returns, but always read the small print, warns Esther Shaw In today’s volatile stock market, some anxious investors are cashing in their equity investments and rushing to reduce their exposure to risk by taking shelter in lower-risk asset classes. Finding a safe haven is no mean feat right now and [...]