Virgin Money buys more loans from Northern Rock bad bank July 23, 2012 THE TAXPAYER-OWNED part of Northern Rock offloaded another half a billion pounds-worth of mortgage assets yesterday, accelerating the wind-down of the so-called bad bank. Virgin Money, which bought the “good bank” at the start of this year, paid £465m for a book of roughly 3,700 residential mortgages, of which one-third are buy-to-let loans. None of [...]
China’s energy giants snap up British assets July 23, 2012 CHINA made a grab for a large part of the North Sea’s oil and gas fields yesterday, bidding to take over Canada’s Nexen for $15.1bn (£9.7bn) and 49 per cent of the UK unit of Talisman for $1.5bn. CNOOC, China’s state-owned oil producer, has agreed to buy Nexen in a cash deal worth $27.50 per [...]
The Chinese quest for oil comes close to home in North Sea bids July 23, 2012 ACCORDING to UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), Friday will be China Business Day. It seems the dragon is too cash-rich to wait, as CNOOC and Sinopec moved on Nexen and Talisman yesterday. China has bought a number of North American energy assets in recent years, bouncing back after the US Congress spiked CNOOC’s $18.5bn bid [...]
Rolls-Royce hit by engine fault July 23, 2012 ROLLS-ROYCE said yesterday it will replace part of its Trent 1000 engines, which power Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner plane. The firm’s pledge came after Japan’s All Nippon Airways grounded five of its 11-strong fleet of the new aircraft over the weekend after tests revealed a risk of engine corrosion – though three of the planes [...]
WPP buys yet another firm July 23, 2012 ADVERTISING giant WPP has bought out marketing technology group Acceleration, the latest in a string of acquisitions for Sir Martin Sorrell’s firm, it announced yesterday. WPP has purchased a majority stake in Acceleration, with divisions in Guernsey and South Africa, for an undisclosed sum. The firm had revenues of $16.8m (£10.8m) last year and assets [...]
SME mis-selling probe spreads to more banks July 23, 2012 SEVEN more banks will review their sales of hedging products to small companies, the Financial Services Authority announced yesterday, joining the four major institutions which have already pledged to compensate customers for any mis-selling. Around 28,000 interest rate hedging products were sold from 2001 to date, with the latest seven banks representing around 10 per [...]
Lord Green lambasted for his no-show during HSBC debate July 23, 2012 TRADE minister Lord Green yesterday failed to appear in the House of Lords to defend himself, despite Labour successfully tabling an urgent question about his knowledge of money laundering controls during his time at the head of HSBC. Lord Strathclyde, leader of the House, told peers that there was “no evidence” that Green was in [...]
Asset increase at Julius Baer July 23, 2012 JULIUS Baer, the Swiss private bank, yesterday revealed a five per cent upswing in assets under management – taking its assets to a record high of SFr179bn (£116.5bn). The firm said the SFr8.5bn increase in assets since December 2011 was driven by SFr5.5bn of net new money, mainly from growth markets and its local private [...]
Six guilty in trading probe July 23, 2012 SIX people were yesterday found guilty of running an insider dealing ring that netted over £700,000, after the longest and most complex prosecution brought by the FSA. The six used confidential and price-sensitive information from the London printers of Swiss bank UBS and UK brokerage JP Morgan Cazenove to place spread bets on proposed or [...]
Aberdeen rides out the choppy markets July 23, 2012 ABERDEEN Asset Management beat expectations yesterday to record a £2.5bn increase in equity fund inflows during its latest quarter, despite a slowdown in overall new business. The FTSE 100-listed company posted a one per cent fall in assets under management, down to £182.7bn. But the drop off was eased by £2.5bn of new cash ploughed [...]
