Restructurings to continue… September 28, 2009 THE push to cut debts will drive a high number of corporate restructurings in the next year, as banks grow more willing to take writedowns and as businesses run out of cash, a senior restructuring adviser said. Simon Davies of Blackstone Group yesterday told the Reuters Restructuring Summit that the paralysis in restructuring brought on [...]
Industry faces battle to find new professionals September 28, 2009 THERE are too few turnaround specialists in the world to cope with a surge in the numbers of companies that need restructuring after the credit crisis, an insolvency expert told the Reuters Restructuring Summit. “There are 408 practitioners in 11 of the United States’ trading partners, five of them have seven between them,” said Nick [...]
US chemical deal gets go ahead signal September 28, 2009 Dow Chemical, the American chemicals group, yesterday said it had received official approval from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its $1.68bn (£1.05bn) sale of its Morton Salt unit to Germany’s K+S to go ahead, clearing the way for the deal to reach completion stage. The companies expect the transaction to close within the [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 28, 2009 HSBC Private BankThe bank has appointed Chris Allen, currently head of real estates at HSBC Alternative Investments Limited (HAIL), as managing director and head of the HAIL division. Prior to joining HSBC in 2007, Allen spent ten years at real estate services company Colliers International, latterly as an executive director in its investment division, before [...]
Assets pass 4bn point at Neptune September 28, 2009 NEPTUNE Investment Management, the boutique founded by star fund manager Robin Geffen, has defied the downturn and passed the landmark of £4bn of assets under management. The company, which Geffen launched in 2002 with just £25m in investments, said it had been growing its assets apace despite the financial crisis. Much of the stellar asset [...]
BA shorthaul is threatened by the downturn September 28, 2009 FLAG carrier British Airways (BA) may be forced to slash some of its short-haul flights to restore earnings, an industry expert has said. “This is an airline that really has to bite the bullet on short-haul, looking long and hard at what it’s costing and whether they can ever get a decent margin out of [...]
ArcelorMittal warns on slow steel growth September 28, 2009 STEELMAKER ArcelorMittal has warned that growth in the industry will be slow and progressive, as the world’s economy and interest in the industry picks up. Steel makers across the globe have begun to restart some of the capacity they idled during the global economic downturn, as order intakes improve — a move some industry participants [...]
Hopes lift as rents for City offices rise September 28, 2009 THE take-up of office space in London rose 64 per cent in the third quarter of 2009 compared to the previous three months, signalling a recovery in the hard-hit British capital, property broker Cushman & Wakefield said yesterday. There were 1.86m sq ft of new office space rented in the three months to end-September, compared [...]
Gap founder Don Fisher dies, leaving art collection September 28, 2009 DON Fisher, the man who founded clothing giant Gap, died yesterday aged 81. Fisher opened his first shop with his wife Doris forty years ago after struggling to find a pair of jeans that fitted. The husband and wife team named the store after the “Generation Gap” in a bid to appeal to a younger [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS September 28, 2009 ASTRAZENECAJefferies said AstraZeneca faces a series of patent problems throughout its forecast period. While resurgent growth, pipeline delivery and cost savings on its lower cholesterol drug Crestor may help to offset some of the impact, Jefferies see a meagre earnings versus a weighted average of four per cent for the sector. DIAGEODiageo looks set for [...]