London listing beckons for top Dubai developer September 17, 2013 DAMAC Properties, a privately held Dubai property developer, has hired two international investment banks to help arrange an initial public offering (IPO) of shares in London and join a growing list of Gulf companies seeking overseas listings. Deutsche Bank and Citigroup will advise on the planned flotation, two banking sources aware of the matter said, [...]
Penthouse publisher files September 17, 2013 FriendFinder Networks, which publishes the adult magazine Penthouse, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday with the aim of cutting its debt load as the company struggled to make certain loan payments, a court filing showed. The holding company, which also houses internet sites, listed out estimated liabilities of $500m (£314.25m) to $1bn and assets less [...]
Obama urges transition in Syria September 17, 2013 President Barack Obama said yesterday that there will ultimately need to be a political transition in Syria in which President Bashar al-Assad gives up power in the wake of a deal aimed at gaining international control of Syrian chemical weapons. “Keep in mind that it’s very hard to imagine that (the Syrian) civil war dying [...]
US needs $2 trillion cuts September 17, 2013 US politicians are far from finished with the job of deficit-cutting, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) warned yesterday, saying that $2 trillion (£1.26 trillion) in additional savings is needed over the next 10 years to stabilize long-term US debt. In new long-term forecasts that will intensify the fiscal debate as critical deadlines loom, the CBO [...]
Dividend boost for struggling giant Microsoft September 17, 2013 MICROSOFT will raise its quarterly dividend by 22 per cent to $0.28 per share, it announced yesterday, a change that will cost the company an additional $422m a quarter. The increase is the eighth for the software giant since 2004. Its last increase was in September when it raised the payments by three cents to [...]
JP Morgan pours staff and cash into crackdown to end scandals September 17, 2013 JP MORGAN’S boss Jamie Dimon yesterday vowed to end the run of crises hitting the bank by simplifying the business and dedicating unprecedented resources to ensuring that rules are followed. It comes as the bank faces the prospect of paying hundreds of millions of dollars to settle with regulators over the London Whale scandal, on [...]
Firms demand UK takes power back from EU September 17, 2013 BUSINESS bosses want the UK to take back powers from the EU across areas including employment law, corporate governance and home affairs, according to a poll published today by the Institute of Directors. Although 49 per cent would vote to stay in the EU and just 15 per cent want to leave, 57 per cent [...]
Blue chip firms rein in bonus payments for top executives September 17, 2013 THE AVERAGE bonus for a FTSE 100 chief executive is seven per cent lower than it was a year ago, according to new data from PwC. The research showed that FTSE 100 chief executives received a median bonus payout of £905,000 in 2013, a seven per cent fall from 2012. Bosses received around two thirds [...]
Scotland told it could fix fiscal issues with oil September 17, 2013 AN INDEPENDENT Scotland would have to slash spending and hike taxes to put its finances on a secure standing, the National Institute for Social and Economic Research (Niesr) said yesterday. And one way to cut their share of the UK’s national debt could be to offer England oil revenues in exchange for a smaller debt [...]
International Monetary Fund raises fears of debt after crisis September 17, 2013 THE RISK of large government debts has been laid out in a new paper by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was published yesterday. New research, approved by IMF chief economist Oliver Blanchard, suggests high debt levels are more dangerous for advanced economies than was commonly thought before the financial crisis. Using Iceland and Ireland [...]