Is Ellis Short the problem? Sunderland’s massive transfer spend since takeover suggests Paulo Di Canio may be right March 16, 2015 Gus Poyet has been sacked as manager of Sunderland, a development that will surprise no one who has paid the slightest attention to the team’s fortunes this season. The club sit just one place above the Premier League relegation zone, have won just once in their last 12 league games, and have been [...]
City fund Haversham has shares suspended on takeover talks March 16, 2015 Shares in Haversham Holdings were temporarily suspended this morning after the fund confirmed it was in "advanced" takeover talks without naming its potential target. Aim-listed investment fund Haversham, which is backed by City fund houses such as Aviva, Schroders, Invesco and Artemis, said it was in "very advanced discussions which might lead to a transaction". This [...]
Alternative lending deals rocket 43 per cent amid M&A flurry March 14, 2015 Non-bank lending jumped last year, with 195 deals in the UK and Europe, up 43 per cent from a year earlier. Mergers and acquisitions activity drove around 51 per cent of the deals, overtaking refinancing, when considering deals since the tracker began at end of 2012. "With increased confidence in the markets and wider funding options, we [...]
TSB share price leaps 27 per cent as Lloyds backs £1.7bn takeover talks with Spanish bank Sabadell March 12, 2015 Lloyds appeared to give its blessing to an offer by Spanish Banco de Sabadell for challenger bank TSB this morning, in which it has a 50 per cent stake. TSB said it had been offered 340p in cash per share, about a 30 per cent premium on last night's closing price, valuing the lender at [...]
Cement maker Holcim confirms Lafarge merger is still on track March 11, 2015 Swiss cement firm Holcim yesterday said its proposed merger with French competitor Lafarge was continuing “unchanged” despite reports that the deal had been derailed by concerns over price. Thomas Schmidheiny, Holcim’s largest shareholder with an almost 20 per cent stake in the company, was reported to be demanding a better deal in the Swiss press [...]
Verisk Analytics to enter energy market with Wood Mackenzie takeover March 10, 2015 Data firms Verisk Analytics and Wood Mackenzie are to come together in a £1.85bn deal announced yesterday. Verisk, which specialises in analysis of the insurance market, will purchase Wood Mackenzie from private equity house Hellman & Friedman and other shareholders, using a combination of around $2bn (£1.33bn) in debt and up to $800m in equity. [...]
CRH share price dives as doubts of Holcim-Lafarge merger hit Irish firm March 9, 2015 Shares in Irish building supplies company CRH plummeted yesterday amid reports that a merger between Swiss cement maker Holcim and its French counterpart Lafarge could fall apart. The fears arose after Holcim’s largest stakeholder, Thomas Schmidheiny, who owns about 20 per cent of the company, demanded a better deal, according to Swiss weekly SonntagsZeitung. [...]
Hyperion boss David Howden states ambition for new group after RK Harrison merger March 3, 2015 The merger between Hyperion Insurance Group and RK Harrison (RKH) has not put an end to David Howden’s plans to float his company. Howden revealed grand ambitions for the combined business, and said that the last time a broking company was built up from scratch to this extent was “when Pat Ryan did it [...]
UK mergers and acquisitions fall to lowest total since 1987 March 3, 2015 Last year was officially the year of the failed merger. According to new data from the ONS, there were fewer mergers and acquisitions involving UK companies in 2014 than in any year since 1987, when ONS records begin. The figures There were 20 completed acquisitions of UK companies by foreign businesses in the fourth quarter [...]
Three flat ahead of O2 takeover February 26, 2015 BRITAIN’S smallest mobile network operator Three yesterday posted flat revenue growth of just one per cent to £2.05bn for 2014. The network, owned by Hong Kong investment group Hutchison Whampoa, said its total active customer base rose six per cent to 8.41m as it added 478,000 customers during the year. Hutchison Whampoa is currently preparing [...]