Banks get an M&A boost September 6, 2009 US merger and acquisition activity totalled $13.9bn (£8.5bn) last week, further fuelling hopes that an appetite for deals is returning. A flurry of deal announcements came ahead of Labor Day, including Walt Disney’s $4bn acquisition of Spiderman parent Marvel Entertainment and eBay’s $2bn sale of 65 per cent of Skype to a consortium of private [...]
City academy can boost prospects of those most in need September 6, 2009 THE City Academy Hackney, sponsored by the City Corporation and KPMG, opened its doors to 220 pupils last week. The opening took place just two days after a City report presented a scenario that suggested a further 35,000 financial services jobs could be lost by the end of 2009. This begs the question of what [...]
Bonus windfall tax boffin to set up NGO for City September 6, 2009 PROFESSOR Stefano Harney, the academic who recently led a call for a windfall tax on City bonuses, has founded a new non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to keeping tabs on the City. The organisation, called “Finance Watch”, will produce research on transparency, accountability and ethics in the City, as well as suggestions for reform in these [...]
Ariadne gets backing for VC fund September 6, 2009 Ariadne Capital, the investment and advisory firm founded by City A.M. columnist Julie Meyer in 2000, today announced that ten entrepreneurs have agreed to back its debut venture capital fund, Ariadne Capital Entrepreneurs (the ACE fund). The ACE fund, which will be £20m when closed later this year, will invest in internet and mobile internet [...]
City watching MPC for clues on rate hikes September 6, 2009 WHILE the outcome of this week’s monetary policy meeting is, bar any major shocks, a done deal, there is no doubt that the City will closely watch the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) decision on Thursday. After surprising the markets last month with an extension of quantitative easing (QE), the Bank intimated in both the accompanying [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHEN MIGHT THE MPC START TO TIGHTEN POLICY? September 6, 2009 HOWARD ARCHER IHS GLOBAL INSIGHTWe suspect that divisions will remain within the MPC on whether or not to extend QE, and to what extent. While we do not expect any change in QE this month, we certainly would not rule out an eventual further extension. What is much clearer is that interest rates will remain [...]
Six myths about the financial crisis September 6, 2009 A comfortable, corporatist consensus is building up about how to deal with the financial crisis. Led by Alistair Darling and his French and German counterparts at the G20 finance ministers’ summit on the weekend, this consensus is essentially that the financial crisis “proves” that global free market capitalism has “failed” and that everything is the [...]
Dating gets personal September 6, 2009 I FEEL like I’ve stepped into a scene from Sex and the City, where Carrie is investigating a new dating technique. Indeed, right now I am the Carrie figure, here to observe how exactly a new matchmaking service does its business. The women I am meeting – all glossy and stylish in sharp designerwear – [...]
BESPOKE SERVICE BEATS NET DATING September 6, 2009 THE online dating experience tends to involve browsing endless pictures of strangers before plumping for someone based on a mutual interest in alcohol. This is not always a successful recipe. I’ve had one date spill an entire pint of beer over me, while another informed me very loudly that she’d slept with her previous date [...]
Swapping blue chips for poker chips September 3, 2009 IN LAS VEGAS the locals have a new term for betting. It’s not gambling, it’s a “contributory anti-recession programme”. Even the bell-boy who attends to your special-price Palazzo suite says not “have a nice day”, but “thank you for contributing to our economy”. They said Vegas would be recession-proof, that even in a downturn people [...]