Arrow Energy accepts Shell bid March 22, 2010 ARROW Energy has agreed to sell its Australian coal-seam gas assets to Shell PetroChina for an improved offer of $3.1bn (£2.8bn). The revised takeover offer, which needs approval from Australian regulators and Arrow shareholders, is up from $2.96bn. Under the deal, Arrow will spin off its assets outside Australia – including interests in China, India, [...]
ICAP to cut jobs in cash equities cull March 22, 2010 ICAP – the world’s biggest interdealer broker – said it would scale back its full-service cash equities business in Europe and Asia at the cost of £51m and up to 114 jobs. Conservative party co-treasurer Michael Spencer runs the firm which issued a profit warning last month. A total of 114 traders and analysts will [...]
Obama healthcare bill passed March 22, 2010 The US House of Representatives has voted in favour of Barack Obama’s healthcare reform bill by a slim margin. The bill was passed by 219 votes to 212, after a fiery debate. It extends state-aided healthcare coverage to 32m more Americans and is a flagship policy for the US president. Obama said: “We proved that [...]
Defiant BA flies on despite chaos March 21, 2010 BRITISH Airways flew 49,000 customers yesterday despite a strike action by cabin crew. The airline said yesterday that 55 per cent of Heathrow based cabin crew turned up to work, and 97 per cent showed up at Gatwick. Originally the airline thought it would fly 45,000 passengers, or 60 per cent, on each day of [...]
Darling: no pre-election giveaways March 21, 2010 ALISTAIR Darling yesterday said Wednesday’s budget would be “sensible and workmanlike”, as he dampened speculation over a raft of pre-election giveaways. Gordon Brown has been trying to convince the chancellor to unveil a series of vote-winning sweeteners ahead of an election on 6 May, because annual government borrowing is expected to undershoot forecasts by between [...]
Greece should stand unaided March 21, 2010 GREECE does not need any financial support and European Union leaders should not make the question of aid for the indebted country a focus of their summit this week in Brussels, Angela Merkel said yesterday. In a radio interview, the German Chancellor said she feared causing turbulence in financial markets by raising “false expectations” about [...]
A better scheme to reform March 21, 2010 GIVEN the unpopularity of the City, it is no surprise that the political parties are competing to introduce a Barack Obama-style tax on banks’ balance sheets. The Tories announced their unilateral plans at the weekend, supposedly to pay for the bailout; and Alistair Darling will reiterate his support for an internationally-agreed version to pay for [...]
Credit Suisse bans travel March 21, 2010 CREDIT Suisse said it is restricting its bankers’ travel to Germany after authorities there said they had launched 1,100 tax evasion probes against the bank’s clients and were investigating staff on suspicion of aiding evasion. The probe into Switzerland’s second-largest bank by assets relates to a CD with client data bought by the German state [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 21, 2010 THE SUNDAYS The Sunday Telegraph ITV’S NEW CHAIRMAN: UK FACES ‘NATIONAL CRISIS’ Archie Norman, the chairman of ITV, has said that the UK is facing an economic “national crisis” worse than that faced by Margaret Thatcher at the end of the 1970s. In his first interview since becoming chairman of the broadcaster, Norman also revealed [...]
Fuld faces fresh Lehman probe March 21, 2010 Dick Fuld, the former Lehman Brothers boss who became a symbol of the financial crisis when he was photographed surrounded by protesters’ placards in 2008, faces a congressional hearing into the bank’s collapse. Fuld will be questioned in April following a report into Lehman’s use of the controversial “Repo 105” accounting method which concealed a [...]