INM hands Lebedev £9m to take Indy March 25, 2010 THE Independent newspapers were yesterday sold to Russian billionaire and former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev for £1. Independent News and Media (INM) will pay Evening Standard owner Lebedev £9.25m over the next 10 months, effectively compensating him for taking the beleaguered newspapers off its hands. Lebedev has set up a new vehicle, Independent Print Limited, [...]
The spy who loves papers needs deep pockets March 25, 2010 JOURNALISTS at the Independent cheered when they found out that former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev had finally bought the newspaper. Their reaction couldn’t have been more different to the doomed silence that descended on the Evening Standard offices in January 2009, when hacks at that title learned of its sale to the Russian billionaire. But [...]
Saatchi to work with Tories as profits dip 27pc March 25, 2010 The Saatchi brothers will renew their long-standing relationship with the Conservative party in the run up to the general election. Their advertising agency, M&C Saatchi, has signed a new contract to help kick the Tories out of their polling rut, decades after launching their iconic “Labour isn’t working” campaign. The announcement came as the agency [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 25, 2010 State Street Global Advisors The investment manager, a subsidiary of State Street, has appointed Jenya Emets and Matt Arnold to its active and enhanced European equity portfolio management teams in London. Emets, who becomes an investment manager, was previously a product engineer in the European active equity team at State Street Global Advisors. Arnold, now [...]
US resistant to open skies agreement March 25, 2010 EUROPEAN negotiators said yesterday European ownership of US airlines was in sight after three days of “Open Skies” talks but reaction from the US suggested agreement remained distant. The US? departments of state and transportation made no mention of lifting ownership limits in summarising the talks that took place in Brussels. The two sides agreed [...]
Not good enough: That’s our panel’s verdict on Alistair Darling’s last Budget before the election March 25, 2010 WEDNESDAY’S?Budget was almost certainly Alistair Darling’s last. Even if Labour does hang on to power,?Gordon Brown is unlikely to keep him on as chancellor. For that reason, Darling was acutely aware of his own reputation, and managed to resist pressure to announce a raft of gimmicky pre-election giveaways. But our panel was still distinctly unimpressed, [...]
ICBC seeks to raise £2.5bn new cash in a bid to bolster its balance sheet March 25, 2010 INDUSTRIAL & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s biggest bank by market capitalisation, unexpectedly unveiled plans yesterday to raise £2.5bn in new capital to bolster its balance sheet. The plan was announced just after ICBC reported a 58 per cent rise in fourth-quarter profit, broadly meeting expectations. ICBC will sell up to 25bn yuan [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS March 25, 2010 MEDIASET Standard & Poor’s has upgraded its rating on Mediaset to “buy” from “hold” citing the Italian media company’s recent full-year results. Despite the 41 per cent drop in 2009 profits, S&P belives the fact that February revenues at Telecinco were up by as much as 40 per cent, will result in revenue growth in [...]
Lebedev buys Independent for £1 March 25, 2010 THE Independent and Independent on Sunday newspapers have been sold to Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev. Oligarch Lebedev, owner of the Evening Standard, bought the loss-making papers from Irish company Independent News & Media (INM) for £1. As part of the deal, INM agreed to pay Lebedev’s Independent Print Limited (IPL) £9.25m over the next ten [...]
UK retail sales rebound March 25, 2010 UK retail sales rose strongly between January and February, official figures have shown. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed a 2.1 per cent hike. In January, volumes fell by three per cent. Vicky Redwood of Capital Economics said: “February’s official retail sales figures confirm that high street spending bounced back after the [...]