Investor says GSK offer too low April 29, 2012 GlaxoSmithKline’s $2.6bn (£1.6bn) offer for Human Genome Sciences undervalues the biotech company, according to Taube Hodson Stonex, a leading investor in the US group. “The price that’s been offered, although it is a big premium to where the shares were trading, is not high enough,” said Mark Evans, a fund manager at Taube, which is [...]
Hands close to £820m deal for Four Seasons April 29, 2012 GUY Hands is set to win the battle for control of Four Seasons Health Care and could clinch a deal as soon as today. The Terra Firma private equity boss has moved ahead of a consortium of Patron Capital and Formation Capital and is expected to pay around £820m for the group, a market leader [...]
Anti-austerity protests spread through major Spanish cities April 29, 2012 THOUSANDS of people protested across Spain yesterday against government cuts aimed at tackling a debt crisis that has pushed the country into recession and sent unemployment close to 25 per cent. Protesters closed central parts of the capital Madrid to protest against cuts to education and health services the government says must be made to [...]
NBNK’s options narrow as NAB stays put in UK April 29, 2012 NBNK Investments is under renewed pressure to close a deal with Lloyds for 600 branches after National Australia Bank said last night that it will not be putting its UK retail business up for sale. NBNK is understood to be in talks with several Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds to finance its bid for the [...]
Rudd tipped to be offered the chairman’s role at Prudential April 29, 2012 CITY veteran Sir Nigel Rudd has emerged as one of the frontrunners to replace Harvey McGrath as chairman of insurance group Prudential. Rudd, 65, is believed to be up against Glen Moreno, the chairman of publisher Pearson, to replace McGrath later this year. McGrath had become a focus of investor dissent after Prudential’s $35.5bn (£21.8bn) [...]
UK assets under management to hit £1 trillion April 29, 2012 THE total level of assets under management in Britain will bounce back from a poor 2011 to grow by more than 10 per cent to £851bn this year, according to research published today. Assets will rise 10.7 per cent this year, providing concern over Eurozone sovereign debt does not trigger another major sell-off in equities, [...]
UK tables long list of demands in EU bank talks April 29, 2012 BRITAIN is worried that a new set of European banking rules will widen a “fracture at the [EU’s] heart” and has marshalled the support of at least six other member states for a long list of demands in the negotiations. Europe’s finance ministers head to a crucial meeting in Brussels this week to thrash out [...]
RBS exec: sale of stake soon April 29, 2012 THE taxpayer’s stake in Royal Bank of Scotland could be sold off in as little as two years, according to outgoing bank executive Brian Hartzer. “My sense would be that we are probably a couple of years away now,” he told Sky News’ Murnaghan show, adding that selling the shares would make people more willing [...]
Troubling times for retailers to the squeezed middle April 29, 2012 SPARE a thought for the squeezed middle. No, not the ordinary family as defined by Ed Miliband, but the places they shop and the things they buy. The mid-market consumer firm is finding the going very tough indeed. There has been much written about Tesco’s troubles in recent months, punctuated by a series of ignominious [...]
Goldman’s O’Neill linked to Bank job April 29, 2012 Goldman Sachs’ Jim O’Neill is said to have been approached by the Treasury as a possible candidate to be the next governor of the Bank of England. It is said that officials from the Treasury made the approach several months ago. A spokesman for the Treasury declined to comment, referring to a statement by chancellor [...]
