‘Bond market tantrum risks’: Gilt traders brace for Labour leftward pivot as Starmer future uncertain
Third fine in fortnight as FSA swoops May 26, 2009 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) yesterday imposed a life-long ban and a £140,000 fine on former Morgan Stanley trader Nilesh Shroff, the third sanction against the bank or its former employees in the last two weeks. The FSA said that Shroff had deliberately disadvantaged his customers by “pre-hedging” their trades without their consent on seven [...]
Gazprom swells stake in Sibir May 26, 2009 GAZPROM Neft, the oil arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom, yesterday moved a step closer to taking control of Sibir Energy, the oil firm embroiled in an investigation over loans to one of its major shareholders. Gazprom Neft launched a recommended cash offer at 500p a share for the rest of the outstanding shares in [...]
Plethora revenues set to surge on drug rights sale May 26, 2009 UROLOGY specialist Plethora Solutions Holdings said yesterday it had cut its debts by over 90 per cent after selling the global rights for its flagship premature ejaculation drug to Sciele Pharma. Sciele, owned by Japan’s Shionogi, will pay $8.4m (£5.3m) for the rights, as well as sharing the cost of developing the drug for non-US [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS THE FSA LIVING UP TO ITS PROMISE TO CLAMP DOWN ON THE CITY? May 26, 2009 GARETH LAWSON K&L GATES“I don’t think the FSA is a very effective regulator. In the past, it has always taken a very light touch, and only recently has it shown any bite. It is now trying to take a harder line, something which is long overdue, but I think it is just trying to become [...]
Budget forecasts in question May 26, 2009 Chancellor Alistair Darling faced fresh embarrassment last night as a survey of independent forecasts for the Treasury forecasting UK growth were more negative than his own predictions. Last month’s Budget predicted that growth would be 1.25 per cent in 2010 before bouncing back to 3.5 per cent in 2011, 2012 and 2013. But the average [...]
SDI reveals retail contract wins May 26, 2009 SDI Group, the Aim-listed distribution services firm, yesterday announced a number of new contract wins totalling around £8m. Distribution deals have been struck with student clothing retailer Jack Wills and discount store chain TK Maxx. The group also said it had won contracts to build automated warehousing systems for Dutch clohing retailers Noppies and Wolverine [...]
Evercore appoints new chief May 26, 2009 Boutique advisory firm Evercore Partners has named Ralph Schlosstein chief executive officer and president with immediate effect, chairman Roger Altman announced yesterday. Schlosstein, a co-founder and former president of fund manager BlackRock, will work with the chairman to expand Evercore’s global reach and diversify its operations. “Our goal is to build Evercore into a global, [...]
SWINE FLU HITS THE CITY (WELL, SORT OF…) May 25, 2009 IT had to happen eventually: the global swine flu outbreak has officially claimed its first City victim. Well, that might be a touch exaggerated, since the poor chap in question – Sterling Printers director Simon Pearson-Miles, who’s better known in the City simply as “PM” – only contracted a mild sniffle after coming into contact [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK May 25, 2009 TO VIVAT Bacchus London Bridge on Saturday night for a cosy dinner of scallops, two separate African antelope delicacies (springbok and kudu tartar) and plenty of cheese. I hear the dishes were picked out specially by the restaurant team for our four diners, who put up their feet as they were served with a feast [...]
UN CONDEMNS NUCLEAR TEST May 25, 2009 NORTH Korea tested a nuclear weapon yesterday, briefly shaking Asian markets and triggering an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the communist state’s act of defiance. US President Barack Obama said Pyongyang’s bid to develop nuclear weapons was a threat to international peace and security, and called on world leaders to condemn the test. China, [...]