WIN RESHUFFLES BOARD September 14, 2009 SIR Win Bischoff takes over from Sir Victor Blank as chairman of Lloyds Banking Group today. The former Citigroup chairman is expected to launch a boardroom reshuffle that will axe non-executive directors left over from the HBOS takeover and see several departures from the executive board. One of Bischoff’s first tasks will be to oversee [...]
Heidelberg in 2.5bn issue to ease debts September 14, 2009 HEIDELBERGCEMENT has unveiled a large capital raising that is likely to raise around €2.5bn (£2.2bn), as the German cement firm scrambles to slash its €11.3bn debt mountain. The firm said it plans to boost its capital by 50 per cent by issuing 62.5m new shares in a rights issue of one new share for each [...]
Cadbury boss will fight Kraft takeover September 14, 2009 Dairy Milk maker Cadbury is set to ramp up its defence against Kraft’s £10.2bn takeover bid when chief executive Todd Stitzer addresses investors and analysts at Sanford Bernstein’s London offices tomorrow. Stitzer is also understood to be considering bringing forward the confectionary group’s third quarter results in a bid to reassure investors of the company’s [...]
Saudi wealth lures Barclays September 14, 2009 BARCLAYS is planning to push into the private banking arena in Saudi Arabia to take advantage of the concentration of high net worth individuals in the region’s largest economy. Soha Nashaat, chief executive of Barclays private banking in the Middle East and North Africa, said Saudi Arabia was “massive in terms of percentage of GDP [...]
Goldshield is in buyout talks September 14, 2009 GOLDSHIELD, the generic drugs firm, yesterday confirmed it is in advanced talks with AIT, a buyout alliance that includes the firm’s former chief executive, over a possible takeover. AIT, formed of pharma firm Neopharm and Goldshield’s ex-boss Ajit Patel, said earlier it was carrying out due diligence on the group. Patel left the firm in [...]
BROWN AND TUC CLASH ON CUTS September 13, 2009 PRIME Minister Gordon Brown will tomorrow pave the way for a much tougher stance on public spending in a key speech to trade unionists. He will warn increasingly angry trade unionists to support him or face what he claims would be even tougher cuts from the Tories. The speech comes as tension between Labour and [...]
Boom days return for derivatives September 13, 2009 ACTIVITY on the international derivatives market rebounded to $426 trillion (£256 trillion) in the second quarter, signalling the return of risk appetite, but remained below pre-crisis levels. According to a Bank for International Settlements (BIS) report published today, total turnover of derivatives rose by 16 per cent, mainly driven by futures and options on short-term [...]
Dick Fuld: I’m sorry after all September 13, 2009 DICK Fuld, the man who presided over the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers that sent shockwaves around the world, has said sorry to former staff of the firm. A year after the spectacular bank failure, it has emerged that Fuld privately confessed he spent too much time out of the office and not [...]
Paulson was right not to save Lehman September 13, 2009 SO Dick Fuld, Lehman Brothers’ former boss, has finally said sorry. The banker they nicknamed “the gorilla”, who himself lost much of his fortune in the collapse of his firm, should have apologised a long time ago to his shareholders, bondholders, staff and counterparties. But he hasn’t changed his mind on one thing: in common [...]
BLOW-BY-BLOW: LEHMAN BROTHERS’ COLLAPSE September 13, 2009 22 August 2007Lehman closes its subprime lender BNC Mortgage as the sector falls into crisis. 17 June 2008Bank posts a $2.8bn loss in just one fiscal quarter. 13 September 2008Barclays and Bank of America end buyout plans as New York Fed boss Tim Geithner holds crisis talks. 15 September 2008In the early hours, Lehman files [...]