Insurer Hardy rebuffs offer from Beazley October 18, 2010 Lloyd’s of London insurer Beazley yesterday said it still hoped to clinch a takeover of Hardy Underwriting after its smaller peer rejected an initial 300p per share approach this month. Dublin-based Beazley said its proposed cash offer on 6 October valued Hardy at about £155m. The approach, which represented a 36 per cent premium to [...]
Grant Thornton reports 40pc surge in annual pre-tax profit October 18, 2010 Business and financial adviser Grant Thornton yesterday said annual pre-tax profits grew by 40.2 per cent to £77.6m following its merger with Robson Rhodes and a period of restructuring and cost-cutting. In the year to 30 June the firm’s revenue rose 0.4 per cent to £379.7m. Advisory revenue grew 11.1 per cent to £151.2m but [...]
AIA to close IPO books early as investors jump to buy the shares October 18, 2010 THE PLANNED Hong Kong initial public offering of AIA, the Asian life insurance business of American International Group (AIG), is set to close two days earlier than anticipated after institutional investors rushed to pledge their interest in buying the shares, it emerged yesterday. AIA has indicated that it will price the IPO later this week [...]
Summer hols give a lift to Eurotunnel October 18, 2010 EUROTUNNEL, the operator of the Channel Tunnel, said yesterday a bumper summer helped boost revenues for the year so far by 10 per cent. The Paris-based firm said core revenue for the three months to the end of September grew eight per cent compared to last year to €181.3m (£159m). This rose to €212.1m when [...]
Qatar Holding snaps up 5pc stake of Santander in Brazil October 18, 2010 QATAR will take a five per cent stake in the Brazilian unit of Spanish lender Banco Santander, with a $2.7bn (£1.7bn) investment that adds to its big bank deals in recent years. Santander, the Eurozone’s biggest bank, will issue bonds to Qatar Holding – the direct investment arm of the Qatar Investment Authority – that [...]
Northeast Utilities will buy rival Nstar for $4.2bn in all-stock deal October 18, 2010 Northeast Utilities will buy rival NStar in a $4.17bn (£2.63bn) all-stock deal to create a utility that will provide power and gas to more than half of the customers in New England, the companies said yesterday. The firms said the increase in scale would allow them to better shoulder their investment plans, and would also [...]
BP links bonus pay to safety October 18, 2010 FOURTH?quarter bonuses for staff at embattled oil major BP will be based entirely on safety, chief executive Bob Dudley has said. Dudley has sent an email to all staff members saying their performance in terms of safety and risk management would be the only factor used to work out bonuses. “We are taking this step [...]
Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton to abandon iron ore joint venture October 18, 2010 BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto yesterday confirmed they were ditching a plan to form the world’s biggest iron-ore joint venture, in a victory for steelmakers that could prompt both miners to step up competing expansions. The announcement marked the second failed attempt in three years by BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers to buy into Rio’s [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF BP’S ASSET SALES SO FAR? October 18, 2010 TONY SHEPARD | CHARLES STANLEY It seems to be going well for BP, with this sale following on nicely from the Apache deal. BP offloads non-core assets regularly, so has had some practice. TNK would like to expand too, so it’s a good move for it. MARK PRIEST | ETX CAPITAL BP doesn’t particularly want [...]
Thousands of troops to go in defence cuts October 18, 2010 DAVID Cameron will today unveil the most drastic cuts to the defence budget in a generation. In his government’s defence review he is expected to slash the number of army troops by 7,000 and scrap the iconic Harrier jump jet. However, he will argue that the changing national security landscape means that the billions saved [...]