TURMOIL SPOILS DUBAI CELEBRATIONS December 2, 2009 THE United Arab Emirate’s National Day celebrations to mark the country’s 38th birthday yesterday were marred by the financial turmoil in Dubai. The International Monetary Fund said it expects to cut its 2010 growth forecast for the UAE because of fallout from Dubai’s debt crisis.
MPC’s Dale is upbeat on UK December 2, 2009 BRITAIN’S recession-hit economy appears to have turned and we are likely to experience a period of renewed expansion, the Bank of England’s chief economist Spencer Dale said in a speech yesterday. Speaking to the Institute of Directors in Essex, Dale said that monetary and fiscal easing has provided considerable support to the emerging recovery, which [...]
EU’s power grab is a disaster for London December 2, 2009 FIRST they came for the hedge funds, then private equity – now it is the turn of the banks, the securities industry and the insurers. The EU’s power grab is almost complete; it is pumping out new proposals on everything from derivatives to asset management virtually every day. The fact that most of these are [...]
US continues to recover December 2, 2009 ECONOMIC conditions continued to improve across much of the US in late October and early November, but a weak labour market and deteriorating commercial real estate sector remain dark spots in the US recovery, the Federal Reserve said yesterday in its latest beige book. In the report, the Fed said conditions across many of its [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 2, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES CIC IN €800M OFFER TO APAXChina Investment Corp, China’s sovereign wealth fund, is offering to invest as much as €800m (£723m) into Apax Partners’ €11.2bn private equity fund in a groundbreaking deal.The move, which would see CIC acquire a small stake in the management company of one of Europe’s biggest equity funds, shows [...]
Reckitt’s Becht nets 17.6m December 2, 2009 Bart Becht, the chief executive of household goods firm Reckitt Benckiser, made a £17.6m profit on the sale of some of his shares over the last week. He made £5.4m yesterday, which comes on top recent share sales that have made him £4.7m and £7.5m. Becht, the highest-paid director in the FTSE 100 is understood [...]
Goldman bullish on 2010 December 2, 2009 The world economy will expand 4.4 per cent next year and 4.5 per cent in 2011 as the world recovers from the financial crisis, according to a note from Goldman Sachs yesterday. “Our projections suggest that both 2010 and 2011 will be rather strong years,” said Jim O’Neill, Goldman Sachs’ chief economist in London. He [...]
New bodies to boost power of EUover City December 2, 2009 FOUR new EU watchdogs are being set up in a huge shake-up of financial regulation which will see national regulators lose influence. Subject to a vote in the European Parliament, the new regulators will oversee securities, banking and insurance. The banking division will be based in London; securities will operate from Paris. Frankfurt will be [...]
CITY VIEWS: DOES THE APPOINTMENT OF THE EU’S NEW FINANCE CHIEF MEAN A FRENCH TAKEOVER OF LONDON? December 2, 2009 ANTHONY SMITH AJS CONSULTANCY“I think that if the EU’s finance chief can help stop ‘casino banking’ and have a positive effect against greedy banking practices, then the appointment of Barnier as finance chief could mean good things for London as the city works its way out of the financial crisis.” JIMI BOLUSIRE QBE INSURANCE“I think [...]
Banks hired by NewLook December 2, 2009 FASHION chain New Look yesterday edged closer to a possible £1.7bn stock market flotation by handpicking banks to work on the deal. The budget fashion chain, owned by private equity firms Apax and Permira, has chosen to work with JP Morgan Cazenove, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse. Lazard has acted as an adviser to the [...]