GOVERNMENT IS ACCUSED OF HIDING DEBT September 17, 2009 A FORMER Treasury adviser has accused the government of hiding the full extent of the public debt crisis by using controversial accounting rules to squirrel £32.5bn of spending off its books. An astonishing 87 per cent of private finance initiative deals – under which the taxpayer pays private firms to build and run hospitals, roads [...]
LLOYDS’ TOXIC DEBT PLAN HIT September 17, 2009 LLOYDS Banking Group’s hopes of avoiding participation in the government’s Asset Protection Scheme (APS) were dashed yesterday, as the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said the bank did not have sufficient capital to spurn the facility. FSA officials, who have been stress testing the bank, have told Lloyds that the level of capital it would have [...]
Blackstone poised to snap up half of BritishLand’s Broadgate complex September 17, 2009 PROPERTY investment firm British Land is poised to complete the sale of half of its £2.2bn City office complex Broadgate to US private equity house Blackstone. The two firms were last night thrashing out the terms of the deal, which will see Blackstone enter into a joint venture with British Land. Blackstone will pay just [...]
Hershey eyes Cadbury bid September 17, 2009 THETRUST in charge of US confectionery maker Hershey has hired bankers to advise on a possible bid for Cadbury, after fellow American giant Kraft had a $16.7bn (£10.2bn) bid rebuffed. Hershey has drafted in Goldman Sachs banker Byron Trott and boutique banking firm Watch Hill Partners to advise on a bid for the company. Trott [...]
Google’s printing deal is revolutionary September 17, 2009 GOOGLE has come in for a lot of flak from publishers, some of it justified. But if you want to understand why it remains an exceptional company, there is no better place to start than with its latest deal. Over the last seven years, Google has scanned 2m out-of-print books from libraries and made them [...]
Levene: stop bashing City September 17, 2009 LLOYD’S of London chairman Lord Levene has launched a fierce defence of the City, after suggestions its size should be curbed following the financial crisis. Speaking at the Lloyd’s City Dinner, Levene last night accused politicians of “pandering to populist outrage” with “knee-jerk reactions”. He said political suggestions the so-called “real economy” is “superior and [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 17, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES UK RAISES OPEL ‘SUBSIDY WAR’ FEARLord Mandelson called on Brussels last night to ensure that Germany’s offer of multibillion-euro subsidies to smooth the sale of General Motors’ European arm does not begin a “subsidy war”, with governments using state aid to protect jobs. The UK business secretary’s intervention in the political row over [...]
EU keen to cut bank bonuses September 17, 2009 European Union leaders met in Brussels last night in a bid to thrash out a joint approach to curbing bonuses ahead of the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh next week. The EU wants to present a united front on bankers’ pay, including measures to link bonus awards to the long-term financial performance.
Trade credit claims are falling September 17, 2009 Insurance claims by suppliers over non-payment for their goods and services have fallen for the first time in a year, according to key data. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said the number of trade credit insurance claims in the second quarter of 2009 was 5,661, a fall of one per cent from the 5,702 [...]
Iceland cut from FTSE index September 17, 2009 Iceland has been dropped from leading equity benchmarks following the collapse of its financial markets in the wake of the failure of its three main banks over the last 12 months. Both the FTSE and MSCI index firms said they will no longer track economic indicators of the troubled Nordic country.