A catastrophe made in Downing Street May 21, 2009 WE are moving ever closer to the day of reckoning. As if another set of dreadful public finance figures yesterday wasn’t enough, the markets were also rattled by S&P’s decision to cut the outlook for the UK’s sovereign credit rating from stable to negative. Years of fiscal profligacy during the boom years are finally catching [...]
Q & A : WHAT DOES S&P’S DECISION MEAN FOR THE UK May 21, 2009 Q. WHAT EXACTLY HAS STANDARD & POOR’S DONE?A. It has downgraded its rating on Britain’s AAA rating, to “negative” from “stable”. Q. WHAT IS MEANT BY AN OUTLOOK DEFINITION?A. An S&P rating outlook assesses the potential direction in which a rating will move over the next six months to two years. “Negative” means it may [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 21, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMESCORUS CHIEF SCRAMBLES TO RESCUE FACTORY DEALCorus chief Kirby Adamsm who took over at the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker last month, faces both the worst fall in steel demand for 60 years and a battle to salvage an agreement to sell the group’s Teesside plant to Marcegaglia. It has emerged that Marcegaglia is having second thoughts [...]
Barclays weighs up bid for BGI May 21, 2009 Talks between Barclays and private equity house BC Partners over a counter-bid for exchange-traded funds unit iShares are said to have cooled, after the bank entered talks to sell its entire Barclays Global Investors (BGI) division. Barclays was looking to attract new bids for iShares to trump the £3bn offer it received from CVC Partners. [...]
World’s richest in secret meet May 21, 2009 Eleven of the world’s wealthiest people met in secret this month to discuss the future of charitable donations in the light of the economic downturn. Multi-billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates were in attendance, as were New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, media magnate Ted Turner and currency speculator George Soros. The group, whose combined wealth [...]
Bramdean bid is best option, board claims May 21, 2009 THE BOARD of Bramdean Alternatives, the fund run by Nicola Horlick, yesterday urged shareholders to snub proposals from Vincent Tchenguiz’s investment vehicle Elsina to oust the board and wind down the fund. In a statement, the fund’s board said that it was anticipating a takeover bid which would unlock value for investors, adding that it [...]
AIG’s Liddy steps down after bailout May 21, 2009 EDWARD Liddy, the chief executive and chairman of AIG, is to step down from the insurer as soon as a replacement is found, it emerged last night. Liddy, who earlier this year called on AIG staff to give back at least half of their bonuses, said the company’s return to financial health would “take several [...]
New Lloyds cuts anger union May 21, 2009 Unions reacted angrily yesterday after Lloyds Banking Group said it plans to axe 210 UK-based jobs by the end of next year, as it merges the telephone and digital banking services of Lloyds TSB and HBOS. The news came just two days after the bank announced that 625 jobs would be lost as a result [...]
Sandy Crombie joins RBS board May 21, 2009 Sir Sandy Crombie, the chief executive of Standard Life, is to join the board of Royal Bank of Scotland. Crombie will become the bank’s senior independent director and will be responsible for liaising between the bank and leading investors. UKFI – the body which manages the government’s stakes in recapitalised banks – is believed to [...]
Greenspan issues bank warning May 21, 2009 Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, warned yesterday that US banks may have to raise significant amounts of money before the economy can recover. “There is still a very large unfunded capital requirement in the commercial banking system in the United States,” he said. Greenspan, who has been blamed by some for [...]