Biden: Obama misread crisis July 5, 2009 JOSEPH Biden, the US Vice President, has admitted President Barack Obama’s administration underestimated the scale of the recession and failed to foresee unemployment levels nearing double digits. He said the Obama team “misread how bad the economy was”, and admitted the unemployment figure of 9.5 per cent released last week was “much too high”. “There [...]
Music group Spotify in talks to raise new funds July 5, 2009 SPOTIFY, the Swedish peer-to-peer legal music streaming site, is seeking new investment in the region of £30m as it seeks to capitalise on its strong position within the market. Any deal would value the group at around £200m. Spotify hopes to become profitable for the first time later this year. The site has grown rapidly [...]
PAYOUT CUTS SPARK LEGAL THREAT July 5, 2009 WEST BROMWICH Building Society may face legal action as a number of investors in its “permanent interest bearing shares” (PIBS) are angry at cuts in the payouts they receive. Chief executive Robert Sharpe said the cuts are within the mutual’s “legal rights”. Some 800 investors hold PIBS worth £75m and many had been relying on [...]
Traders warn of confusion on clearing of credit derivatives under EC plans July 5, 2009 DERIVATIVES traders yesterday gave a broad welcome to the European Commission’s (EC) proposals on measures to improve transparency, but warned against the creation of a central European clearing house. The EC’s proposals include standardisation of derivatives products and a central data repository for the £363 trillion industry. But European regulators are also considering expanding a [...]
City must beware tit-for-tat finance regulations July 5, 2009 It has often been said that the UK should aspire to be a “bridge” between the US and the European Union. Well, the reform of financial regulation and supervision is a case in point. During my recent visit to Washington I met senior administration officials in the White House and Treasury, regulators at the SEC [...]
STANLEY FINK TO BRING ARK GALA DINNER GLITZ OUT OF HEDGIE SHELL July 5, 2009 WHAT a coup for former Man group boss Stanley Fink at the weekend, as he stepped into hedgie philanthropist Arki Busson’s shoes as the chairman of children’s charity Absolute Return for Kids (ARK). Busson is best known for his engagement to actress Uma Thurman and his hefty contribution to the hedge fund social circuit with [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK July 5, 2009 THESE may be recessionary times, but there’s no stopping us girls when we just wanna have fun. These ten ladies popped down to Old Spitalfields Market on Wednesday evening “from a nearby major bank” (no prizes for guessing which one), to celebrate one of their 28th birthdays. They ordered four bottles of Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque [...]
Rivals home in on Opel bid July 5, 2009 MAGNA INTERNATIONAL, the Canadian car parts supplier in the top running to buy General Motors’ (GM) Opel brand, looked to be losing its grip on the deal this weekend, as Beijing Automotive Industry Holding also submitted a bid, and Belgian holding company RHJ International waited in the wings. The administration in Germany, where Opel is [...]
Bridgepoint plays down IPO rumours at Pets at Home July 5, 2009 BRIDGEPOINT, the private equity owner of the UK’s biggest retailer of pet products, Pets At Home, yesterday played down reports it is planning a £700m stock market flotation for the business. Bridgepoint was said to have held talks with Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Cazenove, NM Rothschild and BOA Merrill Lynch about timing, valuation and investor [...]
Luxury retailers set to face six per cent sales drop worldwide July 5, 2009 SALES of luxury items are set to fall by six per cent across the globe, according to an exclusive report by Verdict Research. Global luxury expenditure is expected to fall to €211bn (£180bn) in 2009. In particular Japan is expected to suffer a 14.6 per cent drop and the US a 12.1 per cent drop. [...]