GM files for IPO and plots dual listing August 19, 2010 General Motors took a big step towards repaying a controversial taxpayer-funded bailout by declaring plans for a landmark stock offering that represents a critical test for the Obama administration. The car maker said it planned to list the shares on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange in an initial public offering [...]
Lib Dems face a rift over Green August 18, 2010 NICK Clegg pledged to crack down on tax avoidance yesterday, in a desperate bid to quell Liberal Democrat dissent over the government’s decision to appoint Sir Philip Green as a public spending tsar. The deputy prime minister, who is holding the fort while David Cameron is on holiday, used a high-profile speech to say the [...]
Potash on hunt for a white knight August 18, 2010 CANADIAN fertiliser firm PotashCorp yesterday signalled its intention to court potential “white knight” bidders, after mining giant BHP Billiton turned hostile with its own $40bn (£25.6bn) offer. PotashCorp has roundly rebuffed its suitor’s preliminary overtures, describing the $130-a-share offer as “grossly inadequate”. Sources close to the Canadian firm yesterday indicated it would now actively seek [...]
Blackcurrants are not the only fruit August 18, 2010 BANK of England governor Mervyn King may be warning of the dangers of destructive inflation but the minutes of the latest Bank meeting show that these concerns are tempered by a fear of slowing down what is now officially known as a choppy recovery. Destructive inflation, as far as I understand it, is when inflation [...]
Barclays pays in trade case August 18, 2010 BARCLAYS last night struck a $298m (£192m) deal with US authorities over charges it violated trade sanctions. The shock announcement came just 24 hours after the judge who endorsed the settlement branded it a “sweetheart deal” which the government should be concerned about. The banking giant was in the dock over allegations it broke the [...]
Spain finds surprise €500m August 18, 2010 TROUBLED Spain has received an unexpected boost after it discovered it had an extra €500m (£412m) to spend on its beleaguered infrastructure. The nation, which has been forced to adopt strict austerity measures after massively overspending before the economic collapse, has raised its budget after making “internal adjustments”. It has benefitted from better than expected [...]
Rules for reverse takeovers are made easier August 18, 2010 REVERSE takeovers are likely to become more common after the UK Listing Authority (UKLA) yesterday changed the rules to make them easier. The watchdog has made the financial requirements for the process, where a company buys a larger unlisted or foreign firm, less stringent. One of the most fundamental changes is a simplification of a [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 18, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES EXXON ABANDONS ITS $4BN BID FOR GHANA OIL STAKE Following months of battle with Accra, ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest western oil company, has given up trying to acquire a share of Ghana’s giant Jubilee oil field from Kosmos, the American oil company. The $4bn deal was heavily opposed by Ghana’s government and its [...]
Troubled Kesa criticised for bonus payout August 18, 2010 KESA ELECTRICALS, the owner of TV and computer retailer Comet, has been criticised for handing its boss a £1m bonus for a period in which its share price and UK sales fell. Analysts described chief executive Thierry Falque-Pierrotin’s award as “sizeable” and said management was not doing enough to reassure investors that performance would pick [...]
Expect to pay £8bn for Aviva’s general arm, UBS warns RSA August 18, 2010 RSA Insurance would have to crank up its offer for Aviva’s general insurance business by nearly two thirds to win the backing of the larger company’s shareholders, a UBS analyst said yesterday. UBS put the highest valuation yet on Aviva’s casualty and property operations in the UK, Ireland and Canada, suggesting RSA would have to [...]