UK hints at go-ahead for £6bn French power bid January 17, 2010 THE UK government has told City A.M. it would give the green light to a mooted £6bn takeover of British utility International Power by French energy giant GDF Suez. Energy secretary Ed Miliband’s department indicated last night it would wave through a merger, which would see the French operator gain a strong foothold in the [...]
EU to quiz Greeks over faulty data January 17, 2010 GREEK officials are being summoned to Brussels tomorrow to face a European Union grilling over “unreliable” national statistics as the debt-laden country awaits EU approval of an emergency action plan. The escalating Greek crisis is raising question marks over the country’s membership of the euro. German chancellor Angela Merkel broke from standard discourse when she [...]
Renault stays French made January 17, 2010 A REPRESENTATIVE of the French government will get a seat on the strategic committee of Renault, the country’s second-largest carmaker, Industry Minister Christian Estrosi said yesterday. President Nicolas Sarkozy and Estrosi had an hour-long meeting with Renault’s executive chairman, Carlos Ghosn, and his deputy, Patrick Pelata, amid fears the group would move the entire production [...]
Time to reform our monetary policy January 17, 2010 THERE have now been dozens of books and thousands of research papers on the causes of the crisis yet we are no nearer to a consensus. But there is one factor on which virtually all US analysts agree, regardless of ideological differences: the Fed kept interest far too low for too long. This triggered the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 17, 2010 FINANCIAL SERVICES CITY’S ROLE AS FINANCIAL CENTRE SET FOR NEW BOOST, SAYS TOP HEDGE FUND London will thrive as a financial centre over the next decade by becoming the natural western hub for emerging market growth, according to one of the City’s best-known hedge funds. In stark contrast to bankers’ doom-laden predictions about the City’s [...]
Aid delivery crisis in Haiti January 17, 2010 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has described the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake as one of the worst humanitarian crises in decades, as the delivery of aid is still being slowed by bottlenecks. The airport at Port-au-Prince remains jammed with loaded planes, although aid workers are now bringing food and water to parts of the capital. [...]
Cities face long recovery time January 17, 2010 It will take “years” for some UK cities and towns to recover from the recession, according to think-tank Centre for Cities. Places with well-educated workforces and high numbers of entrepreneurs such as Cambridge and Edinburgh will bounce back relatively quickly, the report said. But locations including Stoke-on-Trent, Burnley, Newport and Doncaster face much tougher prospects [...]
Pay wall beckons for NYT January 17, 2010 The New York Times is preparing to charge its readers to access its website, according to reports. The newspaper is expected to announce the introduction of a “pay wall” before 27 January when Apple launches its new tablet computer, especially designed for easy newspaper reading. The New York Times is expected to make a decision [...]
Hershey lines up $10bn for Cadbury bid January 17, 2010 IN a gripping twist to the Cadbury saga, Hershey yesterday appeared to be lining up a staggering $10bn (£6.15bn) bank loan. The US confectioner seems determined to fight against the odds to snap up hostile takeover target Cadbury. The loan, believed to be from banks including JP Morgan and Bank of America, would give it [...]
Accountants face new rule to cut risk January 17, 2010 THE world’s Big Four accounting firms must appoint independent non-executives to help reduce the risk of an Andersen-style collapse, under the terms of a new UK governance code published today. The Audit Firm Governance Code – which has been drawn up at the request of the Financial Reporting Council – is the first time the [...]