Glencore’s deal with Xstrata faces long road to clearance February 7, 2012 GLENCORE and Xstrata’s $90bn (£57bn) merger faces a long road to reach regulatory and competition clearance. While bigger commodities tie-ins have been cleared in the past – such as the deals that formed Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton – merging a clearing house with a miner could encounter new hurdles, analysts said yesterday after the [...]
ADVISERS ON THE UK’S MEGA-MERGER February 7, 2012 Barclays Capital was a last minute entrant onto the adviser list, City A.M. learned yesterday. The Bob Diamond-led bank, which made it onto the Facebook IPO, declined to comment last night. BarCap’s inclusion came late on Monday night as the final touches were being put to the deal. Inclusion will help it maintain progress in [...]
Results give hint of synergies February 7, 2012 THE MANAGEMENT of Glencore and Xstrata yesterday released results for 2011 and calculated their potential combined firepower as they moved to convince shareholders to back a merger. Xstrata, the smaller of the two firms, generated revenues of $33.9bn (£21bn) for the full year to 31 December. Its net profit before exceptional items was up 12 [...]
Fund managers voice objections early February 7, 2012 THERE was a time when UK institutional shareholders could be relied upon to back mangements in their takeover aspirations, or at least keep quiet about the whole thing until they had had time to digest all the details. But yesterday both Schroders and Standard Life’s David Cumming (near left), accounting for a total of around [...]
Upbeat Glaxo puts faith in drug pipeline February 7, 2012 A BULLISH GlaxoSmithKline claimed yesterday that it will defy the trend of dwindling pipelines that is plaguing the pharmaceutical industry. GSK announced that financial returns from its laboratories rose to around 12 per cent, up from 11 per cent two years ago and closing in on its target of 14 per cent. Chief executive Andrew [...]
Yahoo chair follows trail of bosses out the door February 7, 2012 YAHOO chairman Roy Bostock and three other directors last night said they would step down as the struggling company ploughs ahead with its overhaul, including a possible disposal of its stakes in Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. The group last night said it has appointed IBM veteran Alfred Amoroso and ex-eBay chief operating officer Maynard [...]
Misys chief to leave as part of £2bn merger February 7, 2012 BANKING software groups Misys and Temenos said yesterday they had agreed some of the key terms of a possible £2bn all-share merger between the peers, a deal which would see Mike Lawrie relinquish his position as chief executive of Misys. Guy Dubois, currently chief executive of Temenos, will act as CEO of the combined group [...]
Stelios wins backing from investor body February 7, 2012 EASYJET founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has won the backing of Glass Lewis, an influential shareholder advisory body, in his latest campaign to curb excessive top-level remuneration packages at the budget airline. The US firm, which advises institutions holding £9.6 trillion worth of investments, has recommended that shareholders vote down the directors’ remuneration report at the [...]
Amlin and Beazley both bullish despite disasters February 7, 2012 A STRING of disasters across the world have dented profits at many insurers – but Beazley and Amlin yesterday looked upbeat about their positions. Amlin, the biggest listed insurer operating in the Lloyd’s of London market, said it was able to increase revenue during January, largely due to strong demand for catastrophe reinsurance. The firm [...]
Pension fund wags finger at Facebook’s governance laws February 7, 2012 ONE of Facebook’s investors intends to make waves about the social network’s corporate governance rules, which will hand shareholders negligible say in the company when it floats later this year. Pension fund the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) is planning to send a letter to the firm, which outlined its corporate governance structure last [...]
