Kraft’s bid hugely undervalues Cadbury November 9, 2009 IRENE Rosenfeld, Kraft’s boss, is pursuing a canny strategy. She knows that she cannot dramatically sweeten the value of her bid for Cadbury and therefore stands no chance of winning at the moment – after all, her biggest shareholder, the thrifty Warren Buffett, has told her to remain disciplined – so she is planning to [...]
Madoff’s goods go on sale November 9, 2009 FRAUDSTER Bernie Madoff’s extravagant lifestyle was further exposed yesterday, as details of his seized personal items were unveiled, including 16 Rolex watches. Over 30 handbags, a personalised Mets jacket and Post-it notes will all be up for grabs in an auction on Saturday, in a state-run sale which has been put together to raise at [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 9, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES Banks face hike in funding costsBanks around the world face increases in funding costs that could cut profits and hit their customers as they look to refinance $7,000bn-plus in short-term debt expiring in the next three years with longer-dated bonds, according to research released today. Institutions seeking to reduce their reliance on short-term [...]
Douglas quits Laing O’Rourke November 9, 2009 Tony Douglas, the chief operating officer at the UK’s biggest privately owned construction company Laing O’Rourke, quit yesterday, and chief executive Ray O’Rourke halted his plans to step down from his post. Douglas, who had been managing director at Heathrow airport, was being groomed to take on the top job, and had been tasked with [...]
Englefield Capital sees buyout November 9, 2009 C&A retail chain owners, the Brenninkmeijer family, have offered to buy out investors in the private equity group Englefield Capital, who include Lord Myners and Rolls-Royce chief executive Sir John Rose. The move comes as the family decided to acquire Englefield capital, the group which owns the fund, from Dominic Shorthouse, who founded it and [...]
Report says UK rules took Citi to brink November 9, 2009 A REPORT into the US bank bailouts has raised questions about whether the Financial Services Authority (FSA) pushed Citigroup towards the brink in November 2008 in a bid to protect UK interests from another Lehman Brothers-type collapse. A footnote to a report by the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) claims that the FSA ratcheted up liquidity [...]
FSAboss Hector Sants threatens jail sentences for rule-breaking City firms November 9, 2009 HECTOR SANTS, chief executive of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), yesterday threatened financial firms that flout the regulator’s rules with a jail sentence, as he seeks to prove the watchdog’s toughness. He said that if “firms do not adjust their behaviours…people will go to jail”. And Sants blamed the City’s culture for the downturn, saying [...]
Bmi in talks to sell off its Heathrow slots to cut debts November 9, 2009 Loss-making carrier Bmi is in advanced negotiations to sell its prized Heathrow take-off and landing slots to plug debts of £190m. A spokesman for the airline said: “Negotiations are significantly advanced with several airline groups.” Bmi is the second largest holder of slots at Europe’s busiest airport, behind British Airways, with 11.5 per cent of [...]
Brokers could go to EU over bank bullying November 9, 2009 LAWYERS yesterday advised the City’s independent brokers to turn to EU competition chief Neelie Kroes if calls for the government to prevent bailed-out banks from forcing debt-laden companies to use their investment banking services fall on deaf ears. The news emerged after the heads of three leading independent stockbrokers – Panmure Gordon chief executive Tim [...]
Murdoch in war over ‘theft’ of content November 9, 2009 MEDIA tycoon Rupert Murdoch threw down the gauntlet to Google yesterday, declaring that News Corporation-owned websites such as The Times and The Sun would soon block the search engine. Murdoch accused Google and Microsoft of “stealing” content from his newspapers’ online portals and said he was planning to pull their pages from search engines’ indices. [...]
