Financial Services Bill attacked for reliance on Bank of England June 11, 2012 LABOUR peers yesterday called the Financial Services Bill a “dog’s breakfast” that fails the four tests of “accountability, clarity, efficiency and transparency”. The legislation, which will revamp the existing regulatory system and hand new powers to the Bank of England, was receiving its second reading in the House of Lords. Opposition spokesman Lord Eatwell said that [...]
Banks still angry over Vickers despite small firms concession June 11, 2012 GEORGE Osborne is expected to give ground over regulation of certain areas of small business banking this week, but banks are still angry about his plans for a so-called depositor preference. The chancellor is set to indicate a willingness to allow banks to offer some simpler hedging tools within their ring-fenced retail arms, when he [...]
Montagu wraps up deal to sell bandage firm June 11, 2012 THE GLOOM around private equity was lifted yesterday when London buyout firm Montagu closed the auction of German bandages firm BSN Medical with a sale for around €1.8bn (£1.45bn). Sweden’s EQT has agreed to buy the €665m turnover firm in one of Europe’s largest deals this year. BSN had attracted interest from personal care group [...]
Paradigm shift as Apax leads $1bn deal for oil tech business June 11, 2012 PRIVATE equity house Apax Partners has taken a bet on the continuing global thirst for oil exploration in leading a deal worth around $1bn (£643m) for Paradigm. Apax and JMI Equity have agreed to buy the software group, which sells its technology to oil and gas explorers and producers, from US investment group Fox Paine. Paradigm, which has [...]
Assets boost for key GLG fund provides a ray of light for Man June 11, 2012 HEDGE fund manager Man Group said assets at a key European fund have reached $565m (£364m). Its GLG Europe Plus Source exchange-traded fund was launched in January last year to track the Man GLG Europe Plus Index, created by Man Systematic Strategies. The index is a long-only total return equity index, designed to capture outperformance from [...]
Investors call for a discount to salvage Evonik attempt to float June 11, 2012 PROSPECTS for Evonik’s second IPO attempt dimmed yesterday as investors made it clear that proposed valuations for the German speciality chemical company were too high, saying only a big discount to listed peers might do the trick. “The market right now is not willing to pay for projected long-term earnings,” said one institutional investor, who [...]
RBS changes pension terms June 11, 2012 MORE THAN 48,000 staff at the Royal Bank of Scotland will have to work up to five years longer to qualify for their full pension unless they contribute five per cent of their savings, it emerged yesterday. The taxpayer-owned bank told staff it wants to raise the retirement age from 60 to 65 “to ensure [...]
Ex-Dewey boss joins its rival June 11, 2012 THE FORMER managing partner of bankrupt law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf London was yesterday named as co-head of rival Morgan Lewis & Bockius’s London office. Peter Sharp will become joint managing partner of the City firm’s London base alongside Christopher Harrison. Sharp joined Morgan Lewis during the mass exit of partners from Dewey’s UK operations last [...]
UTC offers EU concessions June 11, 2012 US CONGLOMERATE United Technologies has offered to sell assets to secure EU regulatory approval for its $16.5bn (£10.6bn) takeover of US aircraft components maker Goodrich, a person familiar with the matter said yesterday. The European Commission has been examining the deal, UTC’s biggest in a decade and with which it aims to build critical mass [...]
Deutsche Wohnen set to raise €475m for Barclays flats deal June 11, 2012 GERMAN residential property investor Deutsche Wohnen plans to raise up to €475m (£383m) to help fund its deal to buy a portfolio of flats in Germany’s prosperous property market. It will issue up to 43.8m new shares and offer investors three shares for each of the seven they already own. The capital raising comes just days [...]