MF Global set to face $1.2bn fund shortfall November 21, 2011 THE APPARENT shortfall of customer funds at MF Global Holdings’ broker-dealer unit may be around $1.2bn (£1.04bn), about double the initial estimate from regulators, the trustee liquidating the company said. The amount of money MF Global should have segregated for customers may be short by “$1.2bn or more”, trustee James Giddens said in a statement. [...]
PM: tackling public debt has proved harder than thought November 21, 2011 DAVID Cameron yesterday vowed to stick unflinchingly to the government’s deficit reduction plan as he promised new measures to boost the housing market and bring forward infrastructure projects, despite gloomy growth figures expected from the Office for Budget Responsibility next week. He admitted tackling the public debt had proved “harder than anyone envisaged”, in an early [...]
Gilead to spend $11bn on firm November 21, 2011 GILEAD Sciences yesterday struck a deal to buy biotechnology company Pharmasset for about $11bn (£7bn) in a huge and risky bet on the next generation of hepatitis C treatments. Gilead, the world’s largest maker of HIV drugs, will pay $137 per share for each Pharmasset share, an 89 per cent premium for a company with no [...]
Egypt cabinet offers to resign November 21, 2011 CAIRO police fought protesters demanding an end to army rule in a third day of violence yesterday, as the civilian cabinet tendered its resignation. The military council did not say whether it would accept the resignation, but a military source said it was seeking agreement on a new prime minister. The loss of the cabinet, [...]
Phoenix coy over many approaches for assets November 21, 2011 SHARES in life insurance specialist Phoenix Life jumped more than ten per cent in morning trading yesterday after it admitted it had broken off takeover talks with one bidder but had been approached by at least one other. FTSE 250-listed Phoenix is considering an early stage approach from private equity group CVC Capital Partners, after [...]
The firm may be ready to fly to a new home November 21, 2011 THE NEWS that debt-laden Phoenix Life Group is at the centre of a budding bid war has surprised quite a few in the City. With £2.5bn of debt, three quarters of it due within the next five years, it was thought to be an unlikely contender for a takeover. The level of interest in Phoenix [...]
HP prepares for slow road to recovery November 21, 2011 HEWLETT-PACKARD unveiled a 91 per cent drop in fourth-quarter profits last night after absorbing a $3.3bn (£2.1bn) write down of its WebOS division and continued weakness in its personal computer business. Delivering her maiden results, HP’s new chief executive Meg Whitman said the group made a profit of $200m in the quarter ending 31 October, [...]
Meg Whitman: Politics and power November 21, 2011 MEG Whitman, a New York native, was born in 1956 and received her Bachelor of Arts from Princeton in 1977. She moved on to get her Master of Business Administration from Harvard in 1979. After graduation, Whitman worked for companies such as Procter & Gamble, Bain & Company and the Walt Disney Company. Whitman moved [...]
TIME LINE | CHANGES AT HEWLETT-PACKARD November 21, 2011 November 2010: Ray Lane, a respected Silicon Valley veteran, is named chairman of Hewlett-Packard. November 2010: Leo Apotheker is named chief executive of HP after the messy departure of ousted Mark Hurd. January 2011: Shortly after her failed political campaign, Meg Whitman is added to the board of directors at HP. June 2011: HP launches [...]
BSkyB external lawyers to check all journalist emails above board November 21, 2011 BSKYB, the broadcaster 39 per cent owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, has appointed external lawyers to review the emails of some of its most successful journalists to check there were no signs of illegal newsgathering. A BSkyB spokesman said yesterday the company had appointed Herbert Smith to review emails going back to 2005 in [...]