Chinese exec beaten to death July 26, 2009 A Chinese executive of a state steel company has been beaten to death by angry workers, prompting the firm to abandon privatisation plans. Chen Guojun had been surrounded by a mob of around 30,000 workers outside the offices of Tonghua Iron & Steel. The workers were protesting about lay-offs from state firms in industries targeted [...]
Business libel suits treble July 26, 2009 The number of reported libel cases mounted by businesses more than trebled last year. Figures from data provider Sweet & Maxwell show defamation claims by companies accounted for 16 of the 78 cases reported up to May 31, compared to five out of 59 the year before.
CITY HELL’S ANGELS TO DON THEIR LEATHERS July 26, 2009 EAT your heart out, Ewan McGregor: there’s a new globe-trotting motorbike posse in town. Lord Gillford, founding partner of communications firm Gardant, and his partner-in-crime Levan Vasadze, the chairman of Prometheus Capital Partners, are about to embark upon their annual jaunt to Eastern Europe atop their BMW Adventure “monster” motorbikes. The pair have been doing [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK July 26, 2009 A MID-week dinner treat for eight tired City workers last week at the Kensington Hotel’s Aubrey Restaurant. After an aperitif bottle of Dom Perignon Brut 2000 champagne and bellini, Sunset on Thames, French martini and Berried Alive cocktails, our diners munched on crab cakes, scallops and duck salad to start. These were followed by a [...]
EasyJet puts an end to its Stelios battle July 26, 2009 EASY JET’S management hopes to put an end to its board-level dispute over expansion plans on Wednesday after bowing to shareholders’ calls to scale back expansion. A truce will mean the end of an eight month long public tussle between founder and majority shareholder Stelios Haji-Ioannou and management over the no-frills airline’s plans to expand [...]
Citi trader’s fight for $100m payout risks regulator’s ire July 26, 2009 ONE of Citigroup’s top traders has put the bank on a collision course with US regulators by insisting that his $100m (£61m) pay package is honoured. Andrew Hall, who heads Citi’s secretive energy trading operation Phibro, is pressing the bank to make good on its commitment to award him the package for 2009, despite having [...]
Insurers to support plans to hand them welfare state role July 26, 2009 THE INSURANCE industry will today throw its full backing behind a key government report set to pave the way for the industry to take on a £17bn chunk of the Treasury’s welfare state obligations. Stephen Haddrill, director-general of insurance body the ABI, said the report should help the industry boost its strength significantly over the [...]
CASH DELIVERY July 26, 2009 Ocado, the online grocer, is close to completing its seventh fundraising for £40m, with the backing of Tetra Pak billionaire Jorn Rausing. The firm , valued by some at around £600m, is still to make a profit, but is planning on a stock market flotation in the next eighteen months to fund an international expansion. [...]
Fox-Pitt ponders market listing July 26, 2009 Investment bank Fox-Pitt Kelton is thought to be considering listing on the stock market later this year, in a transaction that could net millions of pounds for its management. The group, headed by chief executive Giles Fitzpatrick, is thought to be keen to list the firm on London markets in a move that would also [...]
RHJ may sell Opel back to GM July 26, 2009 RHJ International , a bidder for carmaker Opel, is not ruling out selling Opel back to U.S. parent General Motors after returning it to health. RHJ’s chief executive Leonhard Fischer told a German paper, “Let us be pragmatic. It won’t work without General Motors.” RHJ and Canada’s Magna submitted bids to acquire Opel on July [...]