Friends deal is rebuffed July 12, 2009 RESOLUTION Clive Cowdery is expected to approach life insurer Friends Provident’s shareholders directly with his £1.7bn merger bid, after it emerged that the board will reject his approach later today. Friends’ board will issue a statement rejecting the offer price, which it believes to be too low. But investment vehicle Resolution is understood to have [...]
UBS delays US hearing July 12, 2009 UBS and the US government yesterday appealed to a federal judge to delay the start of a hearing, scheduled for today, as they seek to resolve their dispute over US demands for the identities of thousands of wealthy Americans suspected of using the Swiss bank to dodge taxes. The parties asked that the trial be [...]
RHJ fights for GM Opel deal July 12, 2009 RHJ INTERNATIONAL is stepping up its bid to broker a deal with General Motors for a controlling stake in Opel after talks between the US carmaker and Magna International stalled. The Brussels-listed industrial holding company, linked to US buy-out firm Ripplewood, is set to present GM with a better offer early this week. In May, [...]
Higher mortgage rates are here to stay July 12, 2009 SO Nationwide is offering a mortgage that will allow some of its customers suffering from negative equity to move homes. So far, so mundane – but the loan will be worth 125 per cent of the value of the new property. I spent an hour debating this with David Kuo of Motley Fool, the popular [...]
US Treasury backs dollar July 12, 2009 US TREASURY secretary Timothy Geithner says he is not concerned that the US dollar is weakening as a reserve currency, despite recent criticisms from China, Russia and France. “I actually don’t worry about that,” Geithner said in an interview. “In part because if you just look at the response of the world…when people are most [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 12, 2009 THE SUNDAYSThe Sunday TelegraphFOCUS DIY CHAIN FACES TOUGH CREDIT REVIEWA review of Focus DIY’s financial position will be delivered by Ernst & Young (E&Y) to the group’s lenders this Friday to help them to decide whether to continue backing the DIY retailer. Although the lenders, GMAC and HBOS, have agreed in principle to renew a [...]
MS launches securitisation deal July 12, 2009 Investment bank Morgan Stanley has launched a $250m (£154m) securitisation deal for US biotech firm, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, for a drug which is still in development. The deal signals that life is returning to intellectual property right securitisation and that investors are gaining appetite for deals that many thought would be unsavoury for a long time [...]
Keydata CEO made personal loan July 12, 2009 The chief executive of Keydata, the collapsed specialist investment firm, made personal loans worth several million dollars to the man behind the investment vehicles that Keydata is blaming for a £103m shortfall in client funds. Court documents show that Stewart Ford lent $3.25m to David Elias, who managed funds that Keydata sold on to its [...]
Friends Prov set to reject Cowdery bid July 12, 2009 FRIENDS Provident, the life insurer that recently offloaded its stake in asset manager F&C, is likely to reject a second merger approach from Clive Cowdery’s investment vehicle Resolution. The board is expected to issue a statement today stating an offer from Resolution made to its chairman Sir Adrian Montague does not offer a high enough [...]
Lloyds set for fresh round of bad loans July 12, 2009 LLOYDS Banking Group could write off a further £13bn on the loans it acquired from HBOS when it unveils half-year results next month. The bank’s results are likely to show ongoing deterioration on its commercial property, corporate and mortgage loans, analysts at UBS said, warning that writeoffs for the year could reach £20bn. UBS forecast [...]