Fracking companies Ineos and Cuadrilla win new UK licences as a further 2.8m acres of shale gas exploration in north west England, North Yorkshire and East Midlands approved December 17, 2015 Ineos has hailed a shale gas revolution in Britain, after the government's Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) granted 93 licences for fracking across a further 2.8m acres of land. “We are delighted with today’s announcement. The UK government has demonstrated it is determined to move forward with this exciting new industry," said Ineos chairman Jim Ratcliffe. "This is the start of [...]
Standard Chartered poaches Simon Cooper from HSBC to run Corporate and Institutional Banking business December 17, 2015 Standard Chartered has hired a top executive from HSBC to run its corporate and institutional banking (CIB) business. The Asia-focused bank said this morning that Simon Cooper would join the group in April of next year as CIB chief executive. Cooper's appointment is just the latest step for Standard Chartered in executing the new turnaround strategy it [...]
AstraZeneca buys majority stake in biopharma company Acerta for $4bn December 17, 2015 AstraZeneca has agreed to buy a majority stake of biopharma company Acerta for $4bn (£2.7bn), with the hope of expanding and improving its portfolio of medicines. Once the transaction goes ahead, the British pharmaceutical giant will take over 55 per cent of the private-owned company, which is based in the US and Netherlands. Acerta focuses [...]
M&G Real Estate buys Bloomberg’s new European headquarters in the City for £93m December 17, 2015 M&G Real Estate has bought Bloomberg’s new European headquarters near Mansion House in the City, in a £92.5m deal. The fund manager said it has bought the freehold ground lease of Bloomberg Place from Legal & General Property, which put the site up for sale two months ago after more than 60 years of ownership. The vast 750,000 square feet [...]
Entertainment One share price rises on Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks partnership Amblin Partners December 17, 2015 Peppa Pig maker Entertainment One (EOne) and Steven Spielberg's film company Dreamworks have teamed up to form a new film company called Amblin Partners. Dreamworks, the company behind Shrek and the upcoming adaption of Roald Dahl's the BFG, has alos got backing for the new venture from entertainment companies Participant Media and Reliance Entertainment. EOne will be the global distributor of the film and TV [...]
Heathrow chairman Sir Nigel Rudd poised for departure in 2016 amid airport expansion turbulence December 17, 2015 Sir Nigel Rudd, the chairman of Heathrow, has announced he will depart the UK's biggest airport next September, after a decision on the thorny issue of airport expansion is expected to be made by the government. A replacement has not yet been named, but "preparations are underway". "I'm really proud to have played a role [...]
IPO markets set for a strong start to 2016, after Worldpay’s floatation boosts fourth quarter market activity December 17, 2015 The year has ended on a high for initial public offerings (IPO), thanks in part to Worldpay’s success recently on the London Stock Exchange, and the pipeline looks positive for 2016, according to EY research. After a record-breaking 2014, 2015 has been something of a disappointment, especially the third quarter, which EY said was subdued following [...]
More than 600,000 UK homeowners are now property millionaires December 17, 2015 More than 600,000 UK homeowners are now so-called property millionaires as escalating prices pushed more homes over the £1m-mark. Research released by property website Zoopla said the number of homes worth £1m or more increased by 75,796 – up 14 per cent – since January, taking the total number of property millionaires to 622,939. This [...]
Barclays sells index assets to Bloomberg December 16, 2015 Barclays has offloaded some of its analytics and index assets to financial data firm Bloomberg for £520m, as part of plans to focus on its core business. Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley said the deal was further evidence of the work the bank is doing to manage down its noncore assets. The deal includes benchmark [...]
Panic Saturday shoppers to splurge £1.1bn on last-minute Christmas presents December 16, 2015 Retailers are bracing themselves for a stampede of last-minute shoppers this Saturday, with more than 12.6m customers tipped to spend over £1.1bn on last minute Christmas presents and food. Consumers will splash out £2.2m every minute on so-called Panic Saturday, leading to a £6bn shopping spree over the six days to Christmas overall, according to research [...]