Bank of England expected to release another £50bn of quantitative easing February 5, 2012 ECONOMISTS widely expect at least another £50bn of quantitative easing (QE) to be announced by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Thursday. Committee members including governor Mervyn King have dropped clear hints that they will buy more government bonds to lower interest rates and boost demand, slowing inflation’s rapid decline with the [...]
Bakrie ally in bid to unseat Rothschild February 5, 2012 THE Bakrie family’s shareholder partner in Bumi, Samin Tam, is due in London this week in a bid to persuade institutional shareholders to oust Nat Rothschild off the board of the coal-mining company. The Bakries – who set up their venture with Rothschild just over a year ago – sold half their stake in Bumi [...]
Thomas Cook eyes disposal February 5, 2012 TRAVEL company Thomas Cook Group has hired Credit Suisse to sell off its Indian foreign exchange business, according to weekend reports. The sale is part of Thomas Cook’s planned divestments of non-core assets to raise £200m to reduce debt and shore up the troubled company’s balance sheet. Thomas Cook was not immediately available for comment [...]
Durcan to take over at Micron February 5, 2012 MICRON Technology yesterday announced that Mark Durcan, 51, had been appointed chief executive replacing Steven Appleton, who was killed Friday when the small plane he was piloting crashed at an airport near the company headquarters in Boise, Idaho. Durcan had been Micron’s president and chief operating officer. On Saturday he was also appointed to the [...]
Textile tycoon makes move on Peacocks February 5, 2012 A PAKISTANI textile billionaire is understood to be putting together a surprise bid to rescue Peacocks with the collapsed retailer’s management team. The fashion chain went into administration last month in the biggest retail collapse since Woolworths, after plans to restructure the company broke down and banks pulled the plug on funding. Alshair Fiyaz, who [...]
Debenhams launches Jenny Packham range February 5, 2012 DEBENHAMS has unveiled its latest womenswear collection created by one of the Duchess of Cambridge’s favourite designers, as part of the retailer’s ongoing move to grow its market share of occasionwear ahead of its rivals. British designer Jenny Packham – also a favourite among Hollywood A-listers – will launch an affordable range of dresses, accessories [...]
Olympus sets date for crucial meeting February 5, 2012 MICHAEL Woodford, the Olympus chief executive who was ousted in October when he revealed the company’s £1.1bn accounting fraud, has said he intends to attend the extraordinary shareholders’ meeting scheduled for 20 April. A new management team is expected to be approved at this meeting, as 19 current and former Olympus executives are being sued [...]
Nigel Doughty, a grandee of private equity, found dead February 5, 2012 CITY financier Nigel Doughty was found dead at his home in Lincolnshire over the weekend, shocking the private equity community in which he was a major figurehead. The 54-year-old was found in his home gym and is believed to have suffered a heart attack. As the co-founder of private equity group Doughty Hanson with Richard [...]
Kuwaiti finance markets are steady after Islamist-led party gains power February 5, 2012 KUWAITI financial markets were steady yesterday after the Islamist-led opposition won control of parliament in an election, a victory which could worsen political tensions but conceivably also lead to fresh government spending measures. The main stock market index, which has been edging up from multi-year lows over the past three weeks, was up 0.03 per [...]
Putin protests gather steam February 5, 2012 Vladimir Putin’s opponents vowed yesterday to press on with demonstrations against his 12-year domination of Russia after tens of thousands attended a march which kept up the momentum of their protest movement. “We’ll be back,” the organisers said on a social network site, one day after demonstrators defied the cold to stage the third mass [...]
