AOL’s co-founder Case quits Time Warner November 1, 2005 The curtain came down yesterday on what some consider to be one of the biggest corporate mistakes of recent times as Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, quit the board of Time Warner. Case was instrumental in brokering a deal in 2000 that saw AOL merge with Time Warner creating the world’s largest media company in [...]
Telefonica agrees £18bn deal for O2 November 1, 2005 Long term takeover target O2 has agreed to a £17.7bn offer from Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica in a deal that will see yet another British phone firm fall to foreign ownership. Since leaving BT four years ago O2’s relatively small size in Europe has seen it touted as the perfect target for acquisitive rivals. O2 [...]
A reserved man October 31, 2005 The new nominee for the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve has a background in academia rather than finance and is thought to be weak on inflation. Markets are being urged to wait before rushing to judgement. Can you ever replace a god? On 24 October George W Bush made an attempt, nominating the head of [...]
Ekay heading for AIM October 31, 2005 Advertising agency Ekay is to float on AIM at the end of November, eleven years after the founder established the company. The company, which provides advertising consultancy and other services for small and medium-sized enterprises, plans to raise about £3m for a total value of £11.5m when it floats on 30 November. The chief executive [...]
Standard unveils ambitious plans for consumer market October 31, 2005 Standard Chartered is aiming to double profits from consumer banking every three to five years, it said yesterday. The London-based bank, whose activities are focused in Asia, also said it was optimistic about its prospects, as it began a briefing trip for analysts in Dubai and Korea. Shares in Standard Chartered have been climbing steadily [...]
Gas crisis is ‘unlikely’ October 31, 2005 British Gas is to hit back at speculation regarding gas shortages today, saying that it is becoming “a scare story that borders on the irresponsible”. Mark Clare, managing director of British Gas Residential, will be giving evidence at the Trade and Industry Committee inquiry on the security of gas supply, along with Ofgem and Malcolm [...]
Mattioli Woods on acquisition trail October 31, 2005 After its AIM float at the end of November, specialist pensions consultancy Mattioli Woods is to start to make acquisitions in an industry it says “would benefit from consolidation”. The company, which provides pensions consultancy and administration services to owner-managers, senior executives and professionals, is raising about £6m for a total market value of between [...]
Dalgleish set to pocket £20m from CBRE deal October 31, 2005 Malcolm Dalgleish is not yet as wealthy as Philip Green, but he has just become almost £20m richer. In property circles Dalgleish is known as Green’s right-hand man, and he has just sold his business for around £30m to the world’s largest real estate advisory firm. He stands to make up to £20m from the [...]
60,000 expected to go bankrupt in 2005 October 31, 2005 Personal bankruptcies are rocketing. Figures from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) this week are expected to show that more people are being declared insolvent now than at the height of the 1992 recession. Capital Economics has forecast that there were 14,700 bankruptcies in the last quarter, 45 per cent more than in the [...]
Longbridge back to work in 2007 October 31, 2005 The new Chinese owners of MG Rover are aiming to resume production at the Longbridge plant at the start of 2007. Executives from Nanjing Automobile said that in order to do so, it would need to tie up a deal with a partner, and that it was in talks with several parties. One of the [...]