FINANCIAL TIMES
FINANCIAL TIMES
LULA CALLS ON LEADERS TO ATTEND CLIMATE TALKS
Brazil’s president has challenged other world leaders to attend next month’s climate talks in Copenhagen to break the deadlock in negotiations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told the Financial Times he would speak to Barack Obama, US president, next week to urge him and other leaders to go to Copenhagen on 16-17 December, the final days of the talks, to save them from failure.
DATE SET FOR EAST COAST RAIL FRANCHISE HANDOVER
Uncertainty over the future of the loss-making East Coast rail franchise, run by National Express, ended yesterday with the announcement that the government would take over the operation on 13 November.
VEDANTA AWAITS RULING ON ASARCO
Vedanta, the Indian mining group, is expecting a court-ordered resolution this month of its $2.56bn (£1.55bn) bid for Asarco, the bankrupt US copper miner, and on Thursday executives gave the bid a “50-50” chance of success. A controversial August 31 ruling indicates Asarco may be handed to Grupo Mexico, the Mexican miner that is Vedanta’s rival in the year-long bidding war. But Anil Agarwal, Vedanta’s founder and controlling shareholder, was nonchalant about the possibility his company could lose this chance to jump to the US.
CITI SET FOR HEDGE FUND UNIT RELAUNCH
Citigroup is poised to relaunch the unit containing its troubled hedge fund operations after nearly two years of poor performance, internal strife and investor unrest. People close to the situation says the group wants to change the name of the unit to Citi Capital Advisors.
THE TIMES
DIC FORCED TO PLOUGH IN £53M TO PROP UP DONCASTERS
Dubai Investment Capital (DIC) has been forced to put £53m of extra cash into Doncasters, its £700m engineering business, to prevent a breach of banking covenants. The Gulf sovereign-wealth fund has come to an agreement with its banks to put the cash into Sheffield-based Doncasters, which employs nearly 5,000, in return for an agreement with lenders to relax its covenants, The Times has learnt.
SIR JOLHN RITBLAT TIPPED TO BUY BACK MERCHANT INNS
Sir John Ritblat, the former chairman of British Land, is tipped to regain control of Merchant Inns, his fledgling pub chain, less than a month after its collapse into administration. The chain fell into the hands of administrators from Deloitte.
The Daily Telegraph
CARBON TRADERS DENY SUB-PRIME CRISIS BREWING
Carbon traders have refuted claims that the European emissions trading market is “the next sub-prime crisis”, after a report by Friends of the Earth called for the system to be abolished.
The environmental charity said not only does the current system of trading permits fail to tackle climate change, it is also financially dangerous.
WILLIAM HILL TO LAUNCH £250M HIGH YIELD BOND
William Hill was under pressure amid chatter it is about to sell high yield bonds to help refinance its existing £1bn debt pile. Traders said the embattled bookmaker is looking to raise £250m by issuing a seven-year bond. Barclays Capital, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group are said to be mandated.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
CBS POSTS PROFIT, BOLSTERED BY TV DIVISION
CBS Corp. reported a solid profit for the third quarter, as its television revenue grew on syndication sales. The New York-based company joined several media peers this week in noting quarter-to-quarter improvement in what has been a dismal year for advertising. Ad sales account for more than half of CBS’s revenue.
A NEW ROUT FOR NATURAL GAS TO EUROPES?
Nord Stream, an $11bn pipeline that would pump natural gas from Russia to Germany and bypass Ukraine, cleared its last major regulatory hurdles yesterday when Sweden and Finland both gave the green light to a project that could redraw Europe’s energy map. The two countries’ governments said they had granted consent for the pipeline.