Countrywide founder is formally charged by SEC June 4, 2009 ANGELO Mozilo, co-founder of what was once the largest mortgage broker in the US, Countrywide Financial, has been charged by regulators for misleading investors, along with two of his former executives. US financial regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a civil lawsuit in a Los Angeles federal court against Mozilo, former Countrywide [...]
YOU’RE HIRED June 4, 2009 SIR Alan Sugar was yesterday called to Downing Street and asked to be Gordon Brown’s “enterprise tsar”. It is not thought that Sugar will become a minister, but No. 10 is hoping that the appointment of a household name like Sugar will add some stardust to Brown’s increasingly problematic reshuffle.
FINANCE GRANDEES GRACE ARK’S PARTY OF THE YEAR June 4, 2009 TWO fingers to the downturn: despite the current economic woes, nearly 900 of the world’s wealthiest financiers and celebrities descended on Waterloo station last night for the premier charity event of the year, hedge fund king Arki Busson’s annual Ark gala dinner. Busson, the boss of Swiss fund of hedge funds EIM, and his fiancé, [...]
Network Rail bosses set to get bonuses June 3, 2009 RAIL OPERATOR Network Rail said yesterday it would pay its executives bonuses, despite a furore over pay in blue chip companies, and a possible licence breach at the company. Directors will share £1m between them as the rail regulator, the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), investigates claims of a licence breach on its west coast [...]
BNP Paribas on hunt for exec June 3, 2009 THE HUNT for someone to run one of Europe’s largest asset managers has begun after Richard Wohanka stepped down as chief executive of Fortis Investments ahead of its merger with the fund management operations of French lender BNP Paribas. Wohanka leaves the company before a tie-up expected to create the fifth-largest asset management business in [...]
Magna takeover of GM to complete by September June 3, 2009 MAGNA INTERNATIONAL looks set to close its takeover of GM Europe by September, it said yesterday, as the white knight clarifies the details of its takeover. Magna agreed to buy the European arm of bankrupt car firm General Motors (GM) at the weekend, as its US parent filed for Chapter 11. The Canadian carparts maker [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 3, 2009 VODAFONE GROUPCitigroup analysts returned from travelling with Vodafone managers to meet investors and were no less positive on the structural opportunity at the group than before. The broker remains a “buy” on the stock with a target price of 118p, but argues that targets could be increased, perhaps in November. The focus remains on shareholder [...]
Alterian shares rise on growth June 3, 2009 Marketing software provider Alterian posted a 73 per cent rise in full-year revenue, to £33.4m, helped by the acquisition of online software firm Mediasurface in July. However, the company said that one-off acquisition costs had driven pre-tax profit down by 34 per cent to £3.6m. The company, which supplies software to about 1,000 marketing departments [...]
Australia avoids the recession June 3, 2009 Australia’s economy unexpectedly grew in the first quarter of the year, managing to skirt the global recession that has swamped the US, the UK and Japan, as exports and consumer spending went up. GDP went up 0.4 per cent in the three months to 31 March after it contracted a revised 0.6 per cent in [...]
BP Marsh reports 1.7m losses June 3, 2009 Private equity firm BP Marsh reported a full-year net loss of £1.7m, compared to last year’s profit of £4.8m, as net asset value (NAV) dipped 3.8 per cent from £45.61m in the year ending 31 January 2008, to £43.88m. Underlying loss before tax excluding unrealised losses was £0.5m, compared to a profit of £0.5m last [...]