Thames Water plans £15bn float October 25, 2005 RWE, the German utility, is considering spinning off the Thames Water business. A float on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) is expected to a capitalisation of up to £15bn. Thames Water left the LSE following the RWE acquisition in 2000. According to German press reports yesterday RWE is now weighing up a partial flotation, possibly [...]
Dubai puts in bold £469m bid for Refco October 25, 2005 The fortunes of stricken American hedge fund Refco took a fresh twist yesterday after a bid led by the Dubai government and billionaire Ronald Burkle trumped offers for its future trading units. The Dubai group’s $828m (£468.8m) offer exceeds a $768m bid by private equity fund JC Flowers and $790m from Interactive Brokers Group LLC. [...]
Ericsson on brink of £1.2bn Marconi deal October 25, 2005 Swedish mobile phones giant Ericsson is expected to announce a £1.2bn cash deal this morning to purchase the major assets of British engineering group Marconi. Marconi shareholders are expected to receive a cash pay out of £2.50 to £3 per share at the start of next year. That is close to the price shares in [...]
KPMG staff scoop £59m in bonuses October 25, 2005 Secretaries and directors at KPMG will share in a £59m bonus bonanza. The 8,950 people who make up the accountancy firm’s British workforce will share in the £59m pot, which equates to just under £6,600 per person. The bonus pot has risen 68 per cent from £35m last year, when the company gave on average [...]
The Phone War October 25, 2005 Richard Branson and Charles Dunstone lead our troops into battle over mobile networks in France. Precisely 200 years after Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar, a new Anglo-French battlefront has opened up, this one over mobile telephone networks. Sir Richard Branson is leading the troops in this latest skirmish. Yesterday, he announced a joint venture with Carphone [...]
End of the road for Cendant October 25, 2005 Cendant is to split into four separate companies, it revealed yesterday, as it also reported a slowdown in some of its leisure travel businesses. The American owner of Avis, the car rental company, Ramada hotels, and ebookers, wants to split into four listed companies after seeing its shares decline 9 per cent this year. Cendant [...]
Takeover talks on miner Greenwich October 25, 2005 British gold mining company Greenwich Resources admitted yesterday that it is in talks with a pair of Australian rivals, which may lead to a reverse takeover. The company based in Malvern, Worcestershire said it was currently talking to listed companies Buka Minerals and Danae Resources. The Financial Services Authority has temporarily halted dealings in Greenwich’s [...]
Profits soar at Schering October 25, 2005 German drug company Schering has seen its quarterly profits soar by 29 per cent thanks to a cost-cutting programme and better than expected sales of its new birth control pill Yasmin. The company has increased its end of year profit forecast; shares rose by nearly 3 per cent on the news in pre-market trading. Profit [...]
Why women really mean business October 24, 2005 So, Robbie Williams thinks that experiencing the female orgasm will give him a better understanding of what it’s like to be a woman. Oh, if only it were that simple. To begin to understand what makes a woman tick, he’d be well-advised to get inside our heads first. And if, like us, you’re a woman [...]
The art of business October 24, 2005 With corporate curators taking more risks in their purchasing policy, staff around the City are being exposed to more cutting edge art than ever before. An excitable group of schoolboys snakes along one of the corridors of Deutsche Bank’s Winchester House offices in the heart of the City. They bob around a lithograph of a [...]