Greece: aid is prejudiced April 5, 2010 GERMANY’S hard line on aid for Greece has been based on a “moral, racial approach” and the prejudice that Greeks don’t work enough, Greek deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos said yesterday. Pangalos also told a Portuguese newspaper that German leaders were too focused on catering to domestic voters at a time when the European Union [...]
Setback in Galleon case April 5, 2010 US District Judge Jed Rakoff refused to approve an agreement by a trading company tied to the Galleon Group hedge fund insider trading case to pay about $763,000 (£500,000) to settle a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) securities fraud lawsuit. The refusal came six days after the trading company, Schottenfeld Group LLC, won approval [...]
Carmakers set for get together April 5, 2010 French carmaker Renault, its Japanese alliance partner Nissan and Germany’s Daimler are likely to announce partnership and cross-shareholding plans as early as tomorrow, sources said yesterday. Renault and Daimler have been discussing a partnership as carmakers worldwide seek to become more competitive, sharing technology costs and gaining scale. The automobile sector, which is emerging from [...]
Osborne ups the ante in job tax stand-off April 5, 2010 SHADOW chancellor George Osborne yesterday stepped up his attack on the government over plans to hike national insurance contributions (NICs), claiming the “job tax” would be the fastest way to reverse the budding economic recovery. George Osborne also insisted that the Tories have no plans for further tax rises, despite repeated claims from Labour that [...]
MODELLING LEAVES METRO BOSS RED-FACED April 5, 2010 MOST of the management over at shiny-new high street lender Metro Bank might be patting themselves on the back over their latest marketing ruse, a giant mascot for the bank, but some of the poor staffers have been left red-faced. The new mascot – an enormous foamy “M” in blue and red, the bank’s colours [...]
Kraft slammed over Cadbury April 5, 2010 THE Business Select committee will today question whether UK takeover laws should be tightened in the light of Kraft’s acquisition of Cadbury. It is expected to criticise the power short-term stakeholders, including hedge funds, can wield over a company’s future. Committee chairman Peter Luff told City A.M.: “I think we need to look seriously at future [...]
Toyota likely to face $16m fine April 5, 2010 US regulators yesterday proposed fining Toyota the maximum penalty of $16.4m (£10.7m), saying the company failed to notify the government in a timely way about accelerator pedal flaws that were the subject of a massive recall in January. The Transportation Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration accused Toyota of failing to notify regulators about the [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK April 5, 2010 A GASTRONOMIC feast last Thursday for these four financiers, celebrating with a slap-up pre-Easter lunch at Racine on the Brompton Road. Our diners began with oysters and seabass roe on mini toasts, before moving on to luxurious foie gras with a half bottle of Chateau d’Yquem 2002. They then ordered helpings of cote de boeuf [...]
Deripaska could return to Norilsk April 5, 2010 A billionaire shareholder in Russian aluminium giant Rusal is set to return to the board of Norilsk Nickel, in the latest sign of a possible merger. Oleg Deripaska has been included on a list of candidates for the board, which the company shareholders are due to approve at its general meeting in June, Norilsk said [...]
Gartmore hires former FSA lawyer April 5, 2010 CLIFFORD Chance partner Carlos Conceicao has been appointed by troubled Gartmore to help the fund manager investigate movements made by one of its star players, Guillaume Rambourg. Conceicao, who formerly headed up the Financial Service Authority’s (FSA’s) wholesale enforcement division, has been handed the task of sifting through thousands of pages of documents, which could [...]