B&B will split assets up to repay its loan October 25, 2009 PART-nationalised bank Bradford & Bingley (B&B) will split up its £50bn balance sheet into “good” and “bad” assets, in a move which mirrors the restructuring plans at Northern Rock. The group wants to sell off the “good” assets to private companies in a bid to repay its loans. Its mortgage book was nationalised last year, [...]
Goldshield signals end of bid battle as it trumps rival offer October 25, 2009 DRUG firm Goldshield could effectively be in the hands of its management after they increased their offer for the group yesterday and said they now have undertakings from over half of the firm. Goldshield, which manufactures appetite suppressant drug Appesat, has been in the middle of a bitter bid battle after its executive management team [...]
Post strike costs London 500m as talks restart October 25, 2009 POSTAL strikes are set to cost London more than £500m in lost business, the London Chamber of Commerce (LCCI) will reveal today. The news comes as fresh talks open up between Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU), mediated by Brendan Barber, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress. CWU members walked out [...]
Tullett files US lawsuit against BGC October 25, 2009 TULLETT Prebon has filed a $1bn (£609.4m) lawsuit against arch-rival BGC Partners in the US, just days after a legal action between the pair opened in the High Court in London. Documents filed by Tullett at the district court of New Jersey allege that BGC poached 81 brokers from its New Jersey and New York [...]
Forte in talks over restructuring October 25, 2009 Hotels veteran Sir Rocco Forte is understood to be in talks with his business partner, the high street bank HBOS, about a restructuring to enable the company to ride out the economic downturn. Rocco Forte Collection, his joint venture with the state-backed unit of Lloyds Banking Group, runs luxury accommodation including Edinburgh’s Balmoral Hotel and [...]
Bluegold hedge fund goes Swiss October 25, 2009 Bluegold – one of the fastest-growing hedge funds based in London – has opened up a shop in Geneva to provide a base for traders who want to move from the UK to a jurisdiction with lower rates of taxation. The fund, which has around £1bn under management, is up by 65 per cent so [...]
Food boss defects to rival October 25, 2009 Philip Jansen, head of the European division of French catering giant Sodexo, is to join rival food firm Brakes as CEO.
RBS seeking to restrict its APS exposure October 25, 2009 Royal Bank of Scotland is working on plans to slash the value of toxic assets it dumps in the government’s asset protection scheme (APS) by up to £60bn. The nationalised bank declined to comment on growing speculation over the weekend that it will reduce its exposure to the APS. Rival Lloyds Banking Group is preparing [...]
Hedge fund guru George Soros claims bonus anger is justified October 25, 2009 BILLIONAIRE investor George Soros at the weekend became the latest high-profile financier to wade into the bonus debate as he claimed the backlash against banking fat cats on lucrative pay deals is justified. Speaking in an interview about large profits reported in recent weeks by Wall Street’s biggest banks, Soros said: “Those earnings are not [...]
Crack down on credit cards October 25, 2009 The government will tomorrow outline a crack down on credit card operators in a bid to give customers a better deal. Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday said he wants to make “reform of the financial sector a reality” and force the credit card industry to clean up its act. Credit card debt in Britain has [...]
