Uganda backs Tullow oil buy February 3, 2010 Tullow Oil’s purchase of Heritage Oil’s oil fields in Uganda is set to be approved by the government, ending its dispute with Italy’s Eni. Last year, Eni struck a $1.35bn deal on Heritage’s oil fields in Uganda’s Lake Albert basin, but was last month pipped to the post by Tullow – Heritage’s partner in Uganda. [...]
Lazard pays out bonuses to lure staff February 3, 2010 Lazard, the Investment bank, yesterday said it would pay staff more in cash and less in equity in a bid to retain key workers and lure top banking talent away from rivals. While other Wall Street firms have deferred bonuses under pressure to align rewards more closely to long-term performance, Lazard has eliminated deferred cash [...]
EMI appeals to Hands for £100m to meet loan terms February 3, 2010 FINANCIER Guy Hands is preparing to ask his private equity backers to plough another £100m into the troubled record company EMI. The company, whose artists include Coldplay and Robbie Williams, is close to breaching the covenants on its £2.6bn debt with Citigroup and has until May to find fresh capital. Hands has asked EMI to [...]
Ofgem warns of power cuts after 2015 February 3, 2010 The UK is facing the possibility of power cuts after 2015 unless radical changes are made to the energy market, the watchdog warned yesterday. Ofgem said electricity and gas may become unaffordable for some businesses and households unless drastic action is taken to secure power supplies. The regulator put forward plans for greater state control [...]
Military will get smaller February 3, 2010 THE Army could be merged with the Royal Air Force, under radical new plans put forward by the government yesterday. Defence secretary Bob Ainsworth also said that a cull in the number of top officers and a coalition with the French army were on the cards ahead of a post-election spending review that will put [...]
City veteran Delmar-Morgan makes a comeback at Allenby February 3, 2010 JEREMY Delmar-Morgan, the former chairman of Teather and Greenwood and Hichens Harrison, is making an official comeback at stockbroker Allenby Capital, City A.M. can reveal. Delmar-Morgan has accepted a non-executive chairmanship at Allenby, which was founded by chief executive Imran Amhad a year ago when he led a management buy-out of HB Corporate, then part [...]
Moulton’s Better Capital makes first investment February 3, 2010 BETTER Capital, the new vehicle set up by private equity veteran Jon Moulton, yesterday kicked off its investment mandate with the acquisition of aerospace parts supplier Gardner Group. The firm’s BECAP fund said it had invested £15m in the business, and expects the figure to increase to £20m over time. Under the terms of the [...]
Over 250,000 civil servants may strike in run up to the election February 3, 2010 MORE than a quarter of a million civil servants could go on strike ahead of this year’s general election in a dispute over changes to redundancy pay, a trade union said yesterday. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents civil and public servants in central government, is to hold a strike ballot of [...]
Ex-BlueBay hedge fund manager fined £140,000 February 3, 2010 A FORMER BlueBay hedge fund manager has been banned and fined £140,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for manipulating the values of his trading positions. Simon Treacher was slapped with the largest penalty ever handed to an individual for deceiving investors after marking his portfolios up by $27m (£16.9m) over three months. He misled [...]
Standard Life sees positive start to year February 3, 2010 INSURER Standard Life kicked off the sector’s reporting season with forecast-beating annual sales yesterday following a pick-up in market conditions in the second half of last year. The UK’s fifth biggest insurer by market value reported total life and pensions sales of £14.7bn on a present value of new business premiums basis – down by [...]