Australia’s Nine to raise up to $658m in float November 4, 2013 AUSTRALIA’S Nine Entertainment is seeking to raise up to A$697m ($658m) in an initial public offering (IPO), according to its prospectus filed this morning. Nine plans to sell 304.7m new and existing shares through in the float at an indicative price range of A$2.05 to A$2.35 a share, the prospectus said. The float will be [...]
JQW planning £140m London public offering November 4, 2013 CHINESE e-commerce operator JQW has announced its intention to raise up to £15m in a flotation on London’s Alternative Investment Market (Aim) next month. JQW provides small and medium-sized Chinese business an online platform to advertise their products to other businesses. The company is hoping to use the funds raised to expand its business to [...]
City Moves for 04 November 2013 | Who’s switching jobs November 3, 2013 Alvarez & Marsal The professional services firm has announced the hire of William Beer as a managing director and head of its South American cyber protection division. He was most recently at PwC, where he led its UK information and cyber security practice. Northern Trust The investment management firm has appointed Matthew Peron as managing [...]
Horlick’s latest venture joins a crowded market November 3, 2013 NICOLA Horlick has demonstrated the wisdom of crowd-funding by using Seedrs, a rival platform, to raise cash for her own peer-to-peer business lender. Horlick, a fund manager who has worked for Morgan Grenfell and Mercury Asset Management, aims to launch Money&Co early next year, in the hope that small investors will step in to help [...]
The lawyer who has built his career breaking down barriers November 3, 2013 Stephen Kon, the new co-deputy chairman of King & Wood Mallesons, tells Elizabeth Fournier how years at the forefront of European law have left him ready to take on China LAST Friday, Stephen Kon joined a new law firm, one with a very, very long name. Overnight, the senior partner of London-based SJ Berwin (SJB) [...]
China’s services industry picks up in October November 3, 2013 ACTIVITY in China’s services sector expanded at the fastest pace in 13 months in October, offering further indications that the economy has stabilised, though activity in some important areas including new orders slowed. The official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the non-manufacturing sector rose to 56.3 in October from September’s 55.4, the National Bureau of [...]
Warning for retail as shoppers hold back on winter fashions November 3, 2013 ACCOUNTANCY firm BDO is calling for retailers to “hold their nerve” in the build-up to Christmas, despite an unusual dip in fashion sales for the season. BDO said that although consumers traditionally make purchases for winter at this time of year, there is little sign that shoppers are doing so at the moment: in the [...]
Confident small firms to invest in year ahead November 3, 2013 CLYDESDALE and Yorkshire Banks have found that almost all of the UK’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) plan to invest in growing their business during the year ahead. According to a poll released today, an increase in confidence means that 97 per cent of businesses intend to invest in growth, in a poll of 818 [...]
Firms say world tax system hits small business November 3, 2013 THE INTERNATIONAL tax system is weighted against small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to a new report released by the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce out today. Seven times as many business leaders believe that the system is biased against small and medium-sized companies than believe the system treats them equally, according to the research. Despite [...]
Risk aversion threatens to dampen economic recovery November 3, 2013 AS THE great and the good of UK business congregate for the CBI’s Annual Conference today, the atmosphere is likely to be much more upbeat amongst business leaders compared to last year. This is understandable. Business confidence in the UK has soared over the last 12 months and executives are now more confident about the [...]