BILL OF THE WEEK November 22, 2009 THE show-stopping lunch is back with a bang, if this short-but-sweet receipt from the restaurant at The Capital hotel in Knightsbridge is anything to go by. Our pair of well-heeled diners chose the £33 three-course lunch menu – including such gems as a tiger prawn and coconut risotto, seared scallops with calf feet and braised [...]
Buckingham’s 80m from Ugandan sale November 22, 2009 HERITAGE OIL is expected to announce today that it has agreed to sell its Ugandan fields to Italian rival Eni SpA, in a $1.5bn (£909m) deal which will earn chief executive Tony Buckingham around £80m. Buckingham is a former partner in South Africa-based private military company Executive Outcomes, where he worked closely with Simon Mann, [...]
Las Vegas Sands IPO disappoints in China November 22, 2009 CASINO group Las Vegas Sands has seen lower than expected interest in the stock market float of its Macau business. Sands China, an offshoot of Las Vegas Sands, raised $2.5bn (£1.51bn) through its initial public offering in Hong Kong, Chinese sources said. That was at the bottom of the range hoped for, but will ensure [...]
Bank of America to extend job hunt November 22, 2009 BANK of America may extend its search for a new chief executive into next year if its board is unable to pick a candidate in the next four days, according to a report on Bloomberg News. The story cites unnamed people familiar with the matter who had spoken ahead of a November 20 meeting about [...]
Myspace signs landmark deal with the indies November 22, 2009 MYSPACE has settled a year-long dispute with independent record companies in a landmark deal that will allow artists including Artic Monkeys to charge for tracks on the social networking site’s music service. Myspace, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s media empire News Corporation, launched its music service in the US last year – but it [...]
Tax hits UK airports November 22, 2009 AIRLINEShave cancelled more routes out of London than any other city in Europe as a direct result of the British government’s Air Passenger Duty (APD) tax, according to figures released by insurers. APD will rise from £10 to £11 in November and industry insiders are worried it could add to the 76 routes already cancelled [...]
Insurers will be hit by 100m flood bill November 22, 2009 DAMAGE from the floods in Cumbria and south Scotland could cost insurers more than £100m, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said yesterday. The body also warned that up to 1,000 claims had been received by insurers already, but that it was too early to say what the total damage bill will be. The ABI [...]
TURNING JAPANESE November 22, 2009 DAME Clara Furse, renowned in the City for her combative style while chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, is set to join the international board of Nomura. The appointment is a coup for the Japanese Bank which has been hit by high profile gender discrimination law suits. The international board is chaired by former [...]
Volkswagen to triple China sales November 22, 2009 Europe’s biggest carmaker, Volkswagen, is planning to more than triple its sales in south China by 2018, as it seeks to drive its strategy to double sales to 2m units in the the country by that time, its China chief said yesterday. Volkswagen, which competes with General Motors and others globally, is stepping up its [...]
BlackRock to invest in hospitals November 22, 2009 BlackRock, one of the biggest fund managers in the world, is looking to invest £20m into the UK’s fastest growing independent hospital operator. Health Investment Holdings Group (HIHL) runs hospitals via a partnership between doctors, nurses and ancillary staff. At the start of November, Labour voiced its backing for John Lewis-style partnerships to operate some [...]
