Woodford goes boutique with new fund plans December 19, 2013 THE UK’s most powerful investor Neil Woodford will swap his role running £33bn of cash next year to join serial entrepreneur Peter Dubens’ low key private equity venture. Woodford, who owns major stakes in a host of FTSE 100 firms, will join boutique outfit Oakley Capital when he quits his current role at fund giant [...]
Watchdog warns banks have dodged small firms’ swaps mis-selling probe December 19, 2013 BANKS may have embedded interest rate swaps within other products, harming small business customers in exactly the same way as those who were mis-sold the swaps as standalone products, the City’s top watchdog has warned. In a letter sent to the Treasury earlier this year but only revealed yesterday, Financial Conduct Authority boss Martin Wheatley [...]
Hedgies do festive brunch in the City December 19, 2013 ALONG with mince pies and Christmas jumpers, the festive season also brings with it a sack full of networking opportunities and yesterday The Capitalist hotfooted it along to HedgeBrunch, an opportunity for the alternative investment industry to quaff mulled wine and mingle. It was held in Steam and Rye, one of the City’s newest and [...]
Fact or Fiction 2013 December 19, 2013 Six of these stories happened in 2013, six didn’t – can you spot the real ones? 1 Ex-Goldman Sachs-er “Fabulous” Fabrice Tourre pulled out a love letter as part of his defence during his trial in New York. 2 The Lloyd’s of London building was sold to a Malaysian firm for £300m. 3 Tesco was [...]
Dealmaking in Europe stutters to 10-year low December 19, 2013 M&A PLUNGED to its lowest level in a decade across Europe this year amid a slowdown in global dealmaking, fresh figures out today reveal. The total value of European M&A deals was $529.4bn (£323bn) this year, a 23 per cent fall from last year and the slowest year since 2003. The preliminary figures, published by [...]
Accenture shrugs off tough time in consulting with other growth December 19, 2013 ACCENTURE’S first-quarter results beat analysts’ estimates yesterday as increased demand for outsourcing services helped to offset a drop in income from its consulting business. The company’s consulting business has been hit in the past few quarters as companies cut down on discretionary spending, resulting in fewer large deals. Revenue from consulting, the bigger of Accenture’s [...]
Aviva pledges £500m towards infrastructure projects in the UK December 19, 2013 AVIVA has committed £500m to invest in UK infrastructure projects in sectors including transport, hospitals and utilities. The insurance group said yesterday that its commitment follows a deal on new European capital requirements for insurers – known as Solvency II – which had proved less burdensome than initially feared, freeing up more money to invest. [...]
Mortgage loans to reach £170bn mark for 2013 December 19, 2013 MORTGAGE lending dipped slightly during November, down £600m from the previous month, despite a surge over the past year. According to the latest estimate from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), gross mortgage lending dipped to £17bn last month, but stayed 30 per cent higher than the figure in November 2012, demonstrating how much more [...]
Christmas spending set to be modestly higher than last year December 19, 2013 CHRISTMAS spending this year is forecast to rise to nearly £50bn, increasing by just more than inflation from last year’s level. Barclays reveal today that they believe spending will rise to £47bn over Christmas, an increase of 2.8 per cent on last year. Previous research from the bank has suggested that online sales will dominate [...]
ECB: Markets right to fear periphery debt December 19, 2013 INVESTORS were right to charge periphery governments a higher rate of interest on their debts, European Central Bank (ECB) analysts said yesterday, countering previous claims from ECB officials and EU politicians. Before the financial crash borrowing costs across Eurozone governments converged at low levels. But following the crash and particularly in 2011, interest rates spiked [...]