Four insiders plot MBO at KBC Peel Hunt October 18, 2009 NO LESS than four separate internal management teams are hard at work plotting a buy-out of stockbroking and corporate finance house KBC Peel Hunt after its Belgian banking owner KBC put the division up for sale last month, City A.M. can reveal. KBC Peel Hunt chief executive Simon Hayes was revealed last month to be [...]
Blue skies ahead for BAA as Gatwick sale is set to take off October 18, 2009 GLOBAL Infrastructure Partners (GIP) could snap up Gatwick as early as tomorrow, after months of talks. Airport owner BAA, which is disposing of the London hub after a ruling from the Competition Commission (CC), is thrashing out the final details of the sale with GIP, including the price tag. BAA, which is owned by Spanish [...]
Credit Suisse in building sale October 18, 2009 Swiss bank Credit Suisse has struck a deal to sell one of its Canary Wharf buildings to a group of investors for £150m. The consortium, which is understood to be led by Monaco-based M1 Real Estate, beat over 25 rival bidders to secure 20 Columbus Courtyard in the Docklands. Credit Suisse is in the process [...]
Russia to raise $18bn by bond October 18, 2009 RUSSIA is to launch its first international bond in a decade in a bid to boost its public finances. Russia, which last issued a bond aimed at international investors in 2000, has signalled plans to raise up to $18bn (£11bn) in dollar-denominated securities in the first quarter of next year as the cost of borrowing [...]
Addressing postal strikes October 18, 2009 ROYAL MAIL’s intension to hire 30,000 temporary workers while its staff withdraw labour in a nation-wide strike got blood boiling over the weekend, and led to fears of public disorder. As unions questioned the legality of the move, fears arose that the industrial action would lead to violence, drawing comparisons with the miners’ strikes and [...]
CBI: Treasury needs to save extra 120bn October 18, 2009 THE Treasury’s plans to balance the deficit by 2017-18 are not urgent enough and do not have the necessary credibility to underpin the government’s management of the public finances, the Confederation of British Industry will say today. In a letter to chancellor Alistair Darling, CBI director-general Richard Lambert urges the Treasury to return to the [...]
Tory MP: Debt bombshell as UK is 2.2trillion in red October 18, 2009 UK households should brace themselves for a debt “bombshell”, Conservative MP Brooks Newmark is set to say today, ahead of tomorrow’s official update on government debt levels. The ONS’ current estimate of £805bn of debt misses out key data, he argues in a report for the Centre for Policy Studies, claiming the true level of [...]
Pound frailty to continue, says Item report October 18, 2009 THE UK economy is back from the brink as market confidence increases and the recession draws to an end, according to the Ernst & Young ITEM Club Autumn forecast, released today. But the report warns that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is unlikely to reach one per cent next year and the pound is likely [...]
City: we pay billions in tax October 18, 2009 LEADING industry figures yesterday said the government should underestimate the banking industry’s substantial contribution to its annual tax take at its peril. They added that the UK’s revenues could be significantly damaged by an exodus of banks from the UK if sweeping new tax hikes are introduced. “I understand the emotion and why people are [...]
WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON IMPOSING A WINDFALL TAX ON BANKS? October 18, 2009 JOHN WHITING CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF TAXATIONI’m not in favour of windfall taxes, not least due to the uncertainty they create, especially if applied retrospectively. Also, the government must define its target. Who will actually be taxed? Is it just UK banks and not overseas banks? Does it put UK banks at a competitive disadvantage? They [...]
