Rowlands Review leads to SMEfund November 23, 2009 PRIME Minister Gordon Brown yesterday backed the launch of a new public fund to provide debt and equity to small and medium sized businesses trapped in a “gap for finance.” Brown said the Growth Capital Fund follows the review headed by Chris Rowlands, a former executive at 3i, who said that due to structural market [...]
Lawson sets up think-tank on the climate November 23, 2009 EX-CHANCELLOR and climate change sceptic Lord Lawson launched a cross-party global warming think-tank yesterday, which will have an ex-senior policy adviser to the Prime Minister and a former deputy chairman of Barclays on its board. The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), which is being launched just a fortnight before the United Nations’ (UN) climate change [...]
Jump in sale and leasebacks November 23, 2009 CORPORATE sale and leaseback transactions have maintained a prominent role in the European property investment market despite the slump, property firm CBRE said yesterday. The sale and leaseback market has grown from six per cent of the overall European property market in 2004 to 19 per cent in 2008. CBRE said that the attraction stems [...]
Hitachi in high speed train deal November 23, 2009 Hitachi is expected to sign a high-speed railway project deal in the UK worth more than 500bn yen (£3.38bn), as the electronics conglomerate steps up its efforts to push into overseas markets. Hitachi, which earns the bulk of its sales from making bullet trains, will sell hybrid rail cars powered by lithium ion batteries and [...]
CAMERON WARNS OF EMERGENCY BUDGET November 22, 2009 AN incoming Conservative government plans to hold an “emergency budget” to tackle the country’s record budget deficit within 50 days if it wins the next general election. Tory leader David Cameron said yesterday that the emergency budget would be about “about getting the deficit under control”. “But it should also be a budget that goes [...]
Nestl eyes up Cadbury in bid war November 22, 2009 THE battle for Dairy Milk maker Cadbury has intensified with Swiss food giant Nestlé believed to be mulling a bid for the chocolatier. Cadbury’s flat rejection of Kraft’s £9.8bn bid has sparked a string of other companies – including Reese’s Pieces maker Hershey and Nutella maker Ferrero – into weighing up their options. Analysts have [...]
Kingman gets City transfer November 22, 2009 JOHN Kingman, the former UK Financial Investments boss, has agreed to refrain from working with state-owned banks for 12 months after he takes up his new role at NM Rothschild. Rothschild will announce today that Kingman will start in March as a managing director at the 200-year-old investment bank. But his appointment has already sparked [...]
Why AIG’s bailout was one giant mess November 22, 2009 TO say that Goldman Sachs is in the doghouse is something of an understatement. The firm has become the bank everybody loves to hate. The argument is familiar: Goldman benefited from the bailouts; it is about to pay huge bonuses again; no wonder the New York Times called this weekend on it to donate billions to [...]
BBVA ups stake in China November 22, 2009 SPANISH bank BBVA is looking to plough a further €1.1bn (£991,000) into China’s Citic Bank, increasing its reputation for Chinese invesment. The bank, which would lift its stake from 10 to 15 per cent, is bucking the trend of Western banks such as UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland, who have been pulling out of [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 22, 2009 THE SUNDAYSThe Sunday TelegraphWOMEN DIRECTORS EARN 50PC LESS THAN MENFemale board directors in the FTSE 350 are being paid half as much as their male counterparts, new research has found. The average female board director took home £178,246 in salary, bonuses, benefits and pension contributions in the 2008-09 financial year, while the average male director [...]