Bridgepoint to seal Cambridge education deal December 4, 2013 EUROPEAN private equity firm Bridgepoint has agreed to buy pre-university training provider Cambridge Education Group (CEG) from Palamon Capital Partners in a deal worth £185m. Bridgepoint said yesterday that the international student market offered long-term sustainable growth, with increasing demand for UK and US university degrees from emerging middle classes in high growth economies such [...]
Eurotunnel wins appeal to keep running its cross-Channel ferries December 4, 2013 EUROTUNNEL has won an appeal to keep sailing the three cross-Channel ferries it bought last year from SeaFrance. The group, which also operates the rail tunnel between France and the UK, said the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s decision “is a victory for the consumer”. The Competition Commission said over the summer that Eurotunnel should be banned [...]
Sirius Real Estate to raise €40m in share placing as profits rise December 4, 2013 SMALL business landlord Sirius Real Estate announced plans yesterday for a €40m (£33.2m) share issue to help pay down debts as it swung back into profit in the first half. The Aim-listed firm, which runs business parks in Germany, has undergone a dramatic turnaround since issuing a profit warning three years ago that left it [...]
BHP’s Yeager joins Cairn India December 4, 2013 FTSE 100 oil and mining firm Vedanta Resources yesterday said it has hired Mike Yeager as chairman of the operations review board at its subsidiary Cairn India. Yeager was formerly chief executive of the global petroleum business at Australian miner BHP Billiton and worked at Exxon Mobil. “[Yeager’s] rich global experience will help Cairn to [...]
Good Energy sells stake in solar site December 4, 2013 Good Energy Group, the Aim-listed renewable energy supplier, yesterday said that it has agreed to sell a 76 per cent stake in a solar energy farm in Pembrokeshire to infrastructure investment company Quercus Assets Selection. Estimated profit from the stake sale will be around £1.3m. Options are in place over the remaining 24 per cent [...]
Greenko revenues rise 32 per cent December 4, 2013 Aim-quoted clean energy firm Greenko, which operates projects across India, yesterday unveiled a 32.4 per cent rise in half-year revenues to €27.9m (£23.1m) and a 49 per cent increase in reported earnings to €24.6m. “Greenko’s 75 per cent growth in capacity to 426 MW this year is thanks to our structured development process that is [...]
City Moves for 05 December 2013 | Who’s switching jobs December 4, 2013 European Wealth The private wealth manager has appointed John Morton as executive chairman. A co-founder of the firm, he was previously chief executive of Syndicate Asset Management and chief executive of Ashcourt. Morton has also worked as investment director at Brachers. Trinity Street Asset Management The portfolio manager has announced two appointments to its client [...]
Best of the Brokers for 05 December 2013 December 4, 2013 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com RECKITT BENCKISER UBS has reversed its rating on the consumer goods group from “buy” to “sell” and cut its target to 4,550p from 5,210p. The broker thinks the company’s excess cash flow will be used for acquisitions and not paid out to investors. [...]
London Report: FTSE tumbles to seven week low on StanChart fall December 4, 2013 THE FTSE 100 slipped to seven-week lows yesterday, weighed down by a surprise warning from Standard Chartered that it could be headed for its first drop in profits in a decade. Shares in the Asia-focused bank fell 6.5 per cent, hitting 16-month lows in volumes more than 4.5 times their 90-day daily average after it [...]
New York Report: Wall St falls for fourth trading session in a row December 4, 2013 THE Dow and the S&P 500 finished lower for the fourth consecutive session yesterday after investors found few reasons to make big moves, with uncertainty remaining over when the Federal Reserve will start to slow its stimulus. Stocks fell for much of the session, but edged closer to break-even levels in the last hour of [...]