Barclays buys NYSE market maker for $25m January 14, 2010 BARCLAYS has announced a $25m (£15.3m) deal for New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) market maker LaBranche & Co. The move means the UK bank can make even stronger its position as the biggest market maker on the index. The deal will also reduce the number of designated market makers on the NYSE to just four [...]
Facing the music January 13, 2010 THE leaders of Wall Street’s biggest banks yesterday admitted they had made mistakes as they were grilled on the causes of the financial meltdown. Chief executives from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America (BoA) and Morgan Stanley all gave evidence to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in the first of a series of public [...]
Hershey working on counter-bid for Cadbury January 13, 2010 HERSHEY is preparing to launch a solo takeover bid for Cadbury to rival the $17bn (£10.4bn) bid from Kraft. The American firm initially showed interest in a joint bid with Italy’s Ferrero, but now the chocolatier has dropped out of the running Hershey has authorised a bid. It is expected to make a formal offer [...]
Cold snap to thaw today January 13, 2010 THE MET Office last night promised a respite from the cold snap – but warned it could return next week. Most of central London will be above freezing and no more snow is forecast to fall over the next few days. It did however issue a warning of black ice for some parts of south [...]
Google is right to pull out of China January 13, 2010 GOOD on Google. The tech giant now seems almost certain to pull out of China in an astonishing blaze of publicity. It takes real guts to thumb one’s nose at a country of 1.3bn potential consumers; it is even more courageous to accuse the Chinese state of hacking into the e-mail accounts of human rights [...]
Myners backs RBS on pay January 13, 2010 CITY minister Lord Myners yesterday voiced his opposition to pay restrictions at the Royal Bank of Scotland. He told a parliamentary hearing that the bailed-out bank could not compete if pay was curbed too much. “If we want RBS to compete in a global world…it has to equip itself appropriately to do that,” he said. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 13, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES REPSOL CHIEF HEADS FOR SHOWDOWN WITH CRITIC After months of speculation, Repsol’s Antonio Brufau tomorrow will be forced to defend his job as executive chairman of the Spanish oil and gas group against one of his fiercest critics. Luis del Rivero, chairman of Sacyr Vallehermoso construction and property company , wants to unseat [...]
HMV in possible Luminar deal January 13, 2010 Music and book retailer HMV is believed to be in advanced talks with Luminar over a deal analysts believe could lead to a takeover of the nightclub operator. Analysts compared the idea to HMV’s tie-up with live music business Mama Group. HMV set up a joint venture encompassing Mama’s 11 late-night venues and last month [...]
Banks confused by bonus tax January 13, 2010 Banks are unsure how to file their company reports owing to confusion over how to account for the 50 per cent bonus tax. Accountants for the big banks are still trying to get to grips with the complexities of the tax in time to file in two weeks. The tax has created a “mess” in [...]
RBS accused over Enron loan January 13, 2010 RBS has been accused of misrepresenting documents relating to a syndicated Enron loan sold to one of Austria’s biggest banks. Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich yesterday alleged it was mislead over Enron being allowed to monetise future income from a UK investment.