Virgin Media halts disposals November 15, 2009 Virgin Media is believed to have put plans to sell a basket of television channels on hold, as it looks at ways to secure the best price. The pay-TV broadcaster is thought to have been mulling a sale of the £160m-worth of assets, including Living, Bravo and Trouble, and to have narrowed potential buyers down [...]
Busy week for US offerings November 15, 2009 UP to six companies will try to go public this week, in what could be the US’s busiest week of the year for initial public offerings. The IPOs include a $520m (£310m) offering on the New York Stock Exchange from coal mining company Cloud Peak Energy and a $69m deal from national security specialist Global [...]
Director pay in focus at AI November 15, 2009 ADMINISTRATORS to Aero Inventory (AI), the AIM-listed aero parts group that collapsed last week, are looking at ways to claw back money from the company’s directors amid concern over the level of pay and bonuses taken by key executives. KPMG, which last week took control of AI on behalf of banks, owed more than £300m, [...]
Merlin eyes 2bn float November 15, 2009 Merlin, the private equity-owned theme park operator, has appointed a host of bulge bracket banks to advise it on a listing early in 2010. Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Nomura have all been asked to assist the group, which owns attraction such as Madame Tussauds and the London Eye. Merlin will be trying [...]
US Companies profit from cuts November 15, 2009 A record number of US companies beat earnings expectations in the third quarter, but a big portion of their profits came from cost-cutting, disappointing investors. Nearly all of the companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index reported their numbers and 80 per cent did better than anticipated, according to Thomson Reuters.
M&S offers penny delivery November 15, 2009 Marks & Spencer kick-started its Christmas online sales campaign today by offering shoppers delivery for a penny. The penny delivery deal, which only lasts until Saturday, is part of the retailer’s 125th birthday celebrations but is also likely to boost online sales. M&S usually charges £3.50 for UK standard delivery.
Caz set to cede power to JPMorgan November 15, 2009 BLUE-blooded stockbroker Cazenove is set to sell the remaining 50 per cent of its business to joint owner JP Morgan, in a bumper deal that will spark multi-million pound windfalls for its veteran former partners and star-performing current staff. Under the terms of a joint venture struck by the pair in 2004, JP Morgan has [...]
JPM Cazenove tie-up created a force to be reckoned with November 15, 2009 WHEN US investment bank JP Morgan struck a deal to buy out half of Cazenove back in November 2004, many in the City felt it would be the beginning of the end, with the Queen’s stockbroker losing its reputation as a consummately professional independent dealmaker. In fact, quite the opposite has proved the case; despite [...]
Obama delays deal on climate change November 15, 2009 US PRESIDENT Barack Obama has acknowledged that time has run out for securing a binding deal for tackling global warming at next month’s Copenhagen summit. But he and other world leaders have rallied around plans to avert a failure at the climate summit that would delay legally binding agreements until 2010 or even later. “We [...]
Deloitte hits back after Woolworths’ former board blames firm for failing November 15, 2009 City accountancy firm Deloitte yesterday hit back at claims from Woolworths’ former directors holding it responsible for the high street retailer’s demise. Woolworths’ former chairman Richard North, and former chief executive Steve Johnson complained that Deloitte’s dual role as both adviser to Woolworths and administrator to the business when it collapsed last November constitutes a [...]