RBS confident in Sempra sale January 24, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland is optimistic of offloading its US commodities business, despite concerns it may be affected by President Barack Obama’s crackdown on proprietary trading. The Edinburgh-based bank hopes to sell its 51 per cent stake in Sempra Commodities to JPMorgan Chase for around $2bn (£1.2bn) in time for its year-end results on 25 [...]
China bank in massive share sale January 24, 2010 BANK of China is planning to raise tens of billions of dollars in capital to shore up its balance sheet after a lending binge. The bank said it will seek shareholder approval for a mandate to sell new shares worth no more than 20 per cent of its existing Hong Kong and Shanghai listed shares [...]
Britain seen exiting slump but still weak January 24, 2010 AFTER months of lingering in recession, the UK is expected to have finally exited recession in the last three months of 2009, according to official figures due out tomorrow. But while the country may be rejoicing that the longest and deepest post-war recession is over, economists warned that the preliminary estimate would still be subject [...]
Irish approach could resolve Greek tragedy January 24, 2010 Should Greece be following Ireland down the path of austerity? Finance minister George Papaconstantinou could certainly do with a few friends in the bond market right now but is the Irish playbook really an option? The Celtic Tiger was the first Euro zone country to enter recession at the back end of 2008. The Irish [...]
HOW MUCH WEIGHT SHOULD WE PLACE ON TOMORROW’S GDP FIGURE? January 24, 2010 DAVID PAGE | INVESTEC Sharp changes in the economy have led to significant deviation between the official series and anecdotal evidence. We continue to attach weight to the more buoyant assessments from the CBI and the PMI surveys. There is plenty of room for surprises at this first estimate. JAMES KNIGHTLEY | ING At this [...]
Manchester United paid out £54m to raise £500m in controversial bond issue January 24, 2010 Manchester United’s controversial bond issue is understood to have cost the Premier League champions £54m. As part of the £500m in funds raised by United last week, the club is believed to have had to pay £15m in fees and expenses to investment bankers and lawyers. The club had also taken a £39m hit from [...]
Dubai World assets top $120bn at end of 2009 January 24, 2010 State-linked Dubai World’s property and investment assets exceeded $120bn (£74.5bn) at the end of 2009 and could cover its debt of $57bn, an Arabic-language daily newspaper said yesterday. Citing a recent internal report shared with creditors, Al Ittihad newspaper said the value of the company’s property assets dropped around 35 per cent in 2009, compared [...]
Thames lifeboats busiest in UK January 24, 2010 Tower lifeboat station, based by Waterloo Bridge on the River Thames, was the busiest across the UK and the Republic of Ireland last year, with 380 rescue missions. The RNLI lifeboat station was involved in the rescue of 148 people over 2009, up from 99 the year before. The charity is releasing its figures today, [...]
Brits working more at home January 24, 2010 Britons work more than 900m unpaid hours a year, with 45 per cent taking the office home at weekends of workers taking the office home at weekends, according to a new survey. In a survey of 3,000 by furniture specialists Sharps, 28 per cent said they had taken extra home-based jobs to support their finances [...]
Increase in 2009 UK exports January 24, 2010 The value of UK exports increased by £723m between the second and third quarters of last year, according to analysis by NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland. The research showed 17 per cent of the goods were exported from the South East – the highest proportion of any UK region. But the biggest growth was [...]