advisers vodafone and Cable & Wireless worldwide April 23, 2012 UBS Vodafone has put its long-standing team at UBS, headed by global co-head of investment banking Simon Warshaw, on the case to guide it through its acquisition of CWW. Oxford-educated Warshaw joined the Swiss bank in 1986 and has under his belt the former positions of head of EMEA investment banking, joint head of UK [...]
TIMELINE | CABLE & WIRELESS April 23, 2012 1860s Sir John Pender founds a number of British telegraph companies. 1928 Various radio and telegraph companies throughout the British Empire merge into Imperial & International Communications Limited, which becomes Cable and Wireless Limited in 1934. 1947 The Labour government nationalises Cable & Wireless. All its UK assets are integrated with those of the Post Office. [...]
AstraZeneca set for $1.3bn deal for biotech firm April 23, 2012 PHARMA giant AstraZeneca is poised to snap up US firm Ardea Biosciences in a bid to boost its diminishing pipeline of new drugs. The $1.26bn (£782m) deal will grant AstraZeneca a nearly-cleared treatment for gout, described by boss David Brennan yesterday as an “excellent opportunity to leverage our global specialty and primary care sales and [...]
ADVISERS April 23, 2012 BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH AstraZeneca brought in Morgan Stanley to advise on its acquisition on Ardea, with the bank hoping to secure business on future deals. The pharma giant has signalled its intention to snap up more firms at around the $1bn dollar mark. Morgan Stanley also advised fellow drug firm GlaxoSmithKline in its [...]
Nestlé eats up Pfizer division April 23, 2012 Swiss food group Nestlé is to buy US drugmaker Pfizer’s baby food business for $11.85bn, beating out French rival Danone in the battle for dominance of fast-growing emerging markets. The world’s biggest food company had to dig deeper than expected to win the high-stakes fight for Pfizer Nutrition, which makes 85 per cent of its [...]
Thomson Reuters sells healthcare arm April 23, 2012 DATA and analytics provider Thomson Reuters said yesterday it had agreed to sell its healthcare unit to an affiliate of private equity firm Veritas Capital for $1.25bn (£776m). The deal, likely to close in the next few months, will help to free up cash at Thomson Reuters, which has seen its share price fall 30 per [...]
UK prepares for pensions battle with EU April 23, 2012 THE TREASURY has written to banks to reassure them that it will go to battle with the EU over new pensions regulation that it says would make saving for retirement much more expensive. In a private letter sent to lenders and seen by City A.M., the Treasury’s financial secretary Mark Hoban expresses “serious concerns” about the way the [...]
Swaps dealers get an unlikely hero in Barnier April 23, 2012 FIRMS using and dealing derivatives face the prospect of regulatory chaos due to the EU and US regimes colliding, EU commissioner Michel Barnier has warned his American counterparts. A spokesperson for the commissioner said that he has written to US authorities to suggest putting off rules that will hit any firm dealing a certain volume of derivatives in [...]
Treasury caves in to MPs on Bank scrutiny April 23, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT caved in to demands from the influential Treasury Select Committee of MPs last night, agreeing to reopen a discussion on how to hold the Bank of England to account in its flagship financial services reform bill. Andrew Tyrie MP, chair of the committee, withdrew an amendment that would require the Court of the Bank [...]
FSA loses case against senior UBS banker April 23, 2012 THE UK’s financial watchdog has lost a key test of its powers to punish bankers for alleged supervision failures after a fine on a senior UBS banker was overturned yesterday. In a rare successful appeal against a fine imposed by the regulator, John Pottage was cleared of misconduct by the Upper Tribunal over compliance failings [...]
