Promethean set for £400m listing March 12, 2010 EDUCATION technology group Promethean World and its owners are set for a £400m listing on the London Stock Exchange. The Blackburn-based company and private equity firm Apax Partners – which owns a 25 percent stake in Promethean – sold a combined 92.9m shares at 200 pence. The shares represent 46.4 per cent of Promethean’s enlarged [...]
Liberty receives takeover approaches March 12, 2010 LIBERTY could be taken over in a deal of up to £70m after more than one potential buyer has emerged. The Regent Street department store told the stock market today that it had received approaches from potential bidders for the business. It said in a statement: “The Board of Liberty confirms that it has received [...]
SuperGroup flotation to value company at £395m March 12, 2010 FASHION retailer SuperGroup has said it will go ahead with its stock market listing and expects to receive a valuation of £395m. The company – which has the Superdry brand sported by celebrities including David Beckham – has valued its shares at £5 each The firm’s share offer comprises a private placement to institutional investors [...]
Lehman used accounting “gimmicks” before collapse March 12, 2010 LEHMAN Brothers used accounting gimmicks and had been insolvent for weeks before it filed for bankruptcy in September 2008, but there was not extensive wrongdoing, a court-appointed examiner has found. In a 2,200-page report examiner Anton Valukas, chairman of law firm Jenner & Block, reported the results of his more than year-long investigation into who [...]
London and NY in tie for finance hub March 11, 2010 LONDON is no longer the world’s leading financial centre, according to a highly rated survey The Global Financial Centres report yesterday slashed its rating to equal that of New York. It is the first time London has been knocked off the top spot and will come as a warning to politicians desperate to trumpet the [...]
Tories insist that City has faith in Osborne March 11, 2010 THE Tories yesterday insisted the City had faith in George Osborne, after our City A.M. reader panel said Ken Clarke would make a better chancellor. Shadow business secretary Clarke was the first choice of 36 per cent of readers on the City A.M. / PHI Panel, recruited to represent a cross-section of London’s business community. [...]
City mourns Sir Brian Pitman March 11, 2010 SIR Brian Pitman, one of the most respected bankers of his generation, has died aged 78. Pitman, who was latterly chairman of Virgin Money, led Lloyds Bank for 18 years before retiring almost a decade ago. In his time as chief executive and then chairman of Lloyds, Pitman built the bank from a £1bn business [...]
Europe is risking a trade war with US March 11, 2010 ONCE again, the European Union has got it wrong. It doesn’t have a clue about regulating hedge funds, private equity or other financial products and players. Brussels is tilting at windmills, attacking problems that don’t exist, inserting dangerous protectionist barriers into its proposed new rules and all the while ignoring the very real weaknesses and [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 11, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES PUSH FOR CLEARING HOUSES FAILS TO MOVE OIL TRADERS Big oil traders are choosing to keep more derivatives deals private, in spite of a global regulatory campaign to steer such contracts to clearing houses. Their willingness to take on risks viewed as intolerable just a year ago reflects renewed faith in the strength [...]
Tory lead cut to three points March 11, 2010 Labour crept up two points on the Conservatives, according to the YouGov daily tracker poll published today. The Tories, led by David Cameron, remain unchanged on 37 per cent, while Gordon Brown’s Labour has risen to 34 per cent. While Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats remain unchanged at 17 per cent.