BEST OF THE BROKERS September 26, 2010 BHP BILLITON Evolution Securities says the balance of probabilities moving forward on BHP Billiton’s bid for Canadian owned Potash Corporation is in the mining company’s favour. The broker reiterates a “buy” for BHP because the company is not stinting on other growth investments by virtue of its strong balance sheet. GROUPE EUROTUNNEL Nomura’s confidence in [...]
MANAGING A HEDGE FUND? SIMPLE, IT’S LIKE DRIVING THE SCHOOL BUS September 26, 2010 YOU’VE got to hand it to Glenview Capital hedge fund manager Larry Robbins – The Capitalist has rarely heard such a creative defence of a period of negative returns. Robbins, in his latest newsletter to clients following a four per cent decline in his portfolio over the second quarter, touched on the equity markets and [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK September 26, 2010 TO THE Nipa Thai restaurant at the Royal Lancaster Hotel last week for a spicy mid-week lunch feast, where our diners whetted their appetites with two bottles of Louis Roederer Cristal Brut before gorging themselves on traditional Thai delicacies. They started with soups, soft shell crab and fishcakes, moving on to sample sweet and sour seabass, [...]
Louis Dreyfus in merger talks with Olam September 24, 2010 Louis Dreyfus, one of the world’s top commodity firms, is in merger talks with smaller rival Olam International in what could extend Dreyfus’ global reach and open up its closely held family ownership. Olam confirmed on Friday it was in talks with Louis Dreyfus over possible cooperation, with a merger among the options, news that [...]
Euromoney predicts record profit September 24, 2010 Financial information group Euromoney said it expected to make record pretax profit this financial year after advertising and delegate numbers to its events recovered, lifting its shares on Friday. The first of the professional publishing and events groups to report this quarter, Euromoney said growth in subscription revenues had also picked up and it expected [...]
BHP clears first hurdle in Potash takeover bid September 24, 2010 BHP Billiton cleared the first regulatory hurdle in its bid for Canada’s Potash but the miner still has a long way to go to pass the deal with Canadian authorities and the target’s shareholders. BHP, the world’s largest mining company, said it received antitrust clearance from the US Federal Trade Commission to proceed with its [...]
Banks break-up still on agenda says ICB September 24, 2010 Britain’s banks will be subject to a wide-ranging probe that will examine the possible break-up of retail and investment banks and ways to boost competition, although no single option is favoured at present. The Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) was appointed three months ago by the government to assess the structure of the industry in [...]
Petrobras raises $70bn in record share offering September 24, 2010 Brazilian state oil company Petrobras raised $70bn (£44bn) on Thursday in the world’s biggest share offering, giving the company the financial muscle it needs to tap vast offshore oil reserves. The cash will help fund the world’s largest oil exploration plan, which at $224bn for the 2010-2014 period aims to turn Brazil into a major [...]
Coup at HSBC September 23, 2010 HSBC CHIEF executive Michael Geoghegan is set to step down from his role before the end of the year to make way for investment banker Stuart Gulliver, after a boardroom coup that will rock the banking sector. Geoghegan’s ego will be dealt a further blow with the appointment of HSBC’s finance director Douglas Flint as [...]
Profits hit record high at Arsenal September 23, 2010 ARSENAL will today announce record pre-tax profits of around £55m, an increase of £10m, as the football club continues to reap the rewards of moving to the Emirates Stadium. City A.M. understands that the strong performance of Arsenal Holdings’ property development arm has driven an increase in revenue. The north Londoners’ continued success off the [...]