Autumn cooling for the capital’s housing market December 16, 2014 UK HOUSE price growth slowed in October, official figures revealed yesterday, with the cost of housing in London falling compared to earlier in the year. Prices in the capital were 1.9 per cent lower than in August, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. The average residential property in London still costs in excess of [...]
Repsol aims for the top with $8.3bn bid for Canadian oil firm December 16, 2014 SPANISH firm Repsol has agreed to buy Canadian oil company Talisman Energy for $8.3bn (£5.3bn), the equivalent of $8 per share. This price represents a 60 per cent premium to last month’s share price. According to Repsol, its output will increase by 76 per cent to 680,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, and its [...]
InterContinental Hotels buys US boutique hotel chain for $430m December 16, 2014 INTERCONTINENTAL Hotels Group (IHG) said yesterday it has agreed to buy an American chain of boutique hotels for $430m (£273m). The hotelier, which owns the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands, has been expanding its stable of brands to appeal to new groups of customers. In 2012, it launched Even hotels, a boutique chain for [...]
Jelf funds deal with £25m loan December 16, 2014 INSURANCE broker Jelf has bought Yorkshire-based Beaumonts Insurance Group for £10.1m, with a further £8.28m to follow if certain performance targets are hit. Jelf used a new £25m loan from Barclays to fund the deal. The company said this new three-year facility will also be used to repay existing debt of £13.7m. Alex Alway, Jelf [...]
Scottish power in £1.1bn boost December 16, 2014 ENERGY regulator Ofgem has approved £1.1bn in funding for a new subsea power transmission cable in northern Scotland. The sum awarded is £105m less than the amount requested by SSE subsidiary Scottish Hydro Electricity Transmission. Ofgem said this decision was made “to ensure consumers pay no more than necessary”. The new cable, which will connect the [...]
Norwegian buyout firm creates oil service conglomerate December 16, 2014 HITECVISION, a Norwegian private equity firm focused on the offshore oil and gas industry, yesterday launched new oil service conglomerate Global Maritime Group by merging five companies in its portfolio. The Stavanger-based buyout firm believes that as a group the companies are better positioned to capture a greater share of the market. The largest member [...]
Mark Carney’s Bank of England stress tests lived up to their name December 16, 2014 The Bank of England certainly knows how to conduct a stress test. It even managed to give the City’s hacks a stress test of their own at the crack of dawn yesterday. The press briefing began at the impolite hour of 5am and was punctuated by a power cut and subsequent change of venue. Having [...]
Poundland wishes you a Merryy Cristmas and a Merry Christmay December 16, 2014 Discount superstar Poundland was snowed under with complaints about its festive products on Twitter yesterday. One unhappy shopper tweeted about a set of Christmas lights which spelt its message wrongly – “‘MerryyCristmas’ it might be a only quid but you could at least spell it right!” Naturally, the hashtag #MerryyCristmas started doing the rounds. [...]
City Moves for 17 December 2014 | Who’s switching jobs December 16, 2014 Savills Richard Saunders has been appointed associate director in the real estate adviser’s City office. He has over 10 years’ experience in dilapidations and joins from Malcolm Hollis. Saunders’s previous clients include property companies, investors and corporate occupiers. Cluff Natural Resources Andrew Nunn has been appointed chief operating officer at the natural resources investing company. [...]
Best of the Brokers for 17 December 2014 December 16, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com BTG Jefferies reiterated its “buy” rating. The broker said the firm’s acquisition of PneumRx was “strategically sound, financially accretive and boosts top-line momentum”. It added that the deal offers “modest synergies” with BTG’s existing business, and boosted target price to 950p. GULF KEYSTONE [...]