Betfair founders hit jackpot with float September 21, 2010 BETFAIR yesterday announced a stock market listing that is expected to value it at up to £1.5bn, braving an IPO market that sorely bruised Ocado earlier this summer. If successful, the internet betting firm, which has seen a meteoric rise since it was launched a decade ago, would have a higher valuation than gambling stalwarts [...]
Sportingbet fined $33m in US September 21, 2010 Sportingbet, a British online gambling company, has agreed to pay $33m (£21m) to avoid being prosecuted over an alleged illegal gambling operation in the US. US attorney Preet Bharara agreed not to charge Sportingbet after saying it broke US law by offering betting on sports events and casino games between 1998 and 2006. Barry Slotnick, [...]
France Telecom looks to increase Meditel stake September 21, 2010 FRANCE Telecom’s chief executive Stéphane Richard said yesterday he aims to increase his company’s newly-acquired stake in Moroccan telecoms operator Meditel to 49 per cent by 2015. Speaking at a news conference in the Moroccan capital to announce France Telecom’s acquisition of a 40 per cent stake in Meditel for €640m (£542m), Richard also said [...]
BETFAIR FOUNDER MULLS PUTTING HIS WINDFALL MILLIONS TO STUD September 21, 2010 NEWS that Betfair’s founders Ed Wray and Andrew Black are set to net a potential windfall of £17m apiece from cashing in a tenth of their combined 22.5 per cent stake at the company’s IPO got The Capitalist to thinking yesterday – how might they put that money to good use? In Black’s case, at [...]
AIA gets OK to list stock September 21, 2010 BAILED-OUT insurer AIG has won permission to list shares in its Asian life insurance unit AIA on the Hong Kong stock exchange. AIG is thought to be aiming to start trading shares on 29 October, with a view to raising up to $15bn (£9.6bn). AIG, which is nearly 80 per cent owned by the US [...]
Latest Irish bond sale nets €1.5bn September 21, 2010 IRELAND successfully sold €1.5bn (£1.27bn) of treasury bonds yesterday, though investors demanded higher yields to compensate for continued fears of a sovereign default. Ireland sold €500m of four-year bonds with an average yield of 4.77 per cent, up from 3.63 per cent in the last auction in August. The average yield on an eight-year bond [...]
UK wary on EU plan for derivatives September 21, 2010 BRITAIN gave only a partial thumbs-up yesterday to a draft European Union law aimed at cracking down on the opaque $600 trillion derivatives sector, warning against rushing to push all trading onto exchanges. The draft law was unveiled last week and implements pledges the bloc made on the Group of 20 leading nations level to [...]
3i sells parking enforcement firm to AAC September 21, 2010 NSL, the UK’s biggest employer of private traffic wardens, has set its sights on further growth after private equity owner 3i sold the firm to AAC Capital in a £120m deal. The firm, which also helps run the London congestion charge, expects to make £15m this year, on revenues of around £155m. Senior management, led [...]
Standard Life closes fund September 21, 2010 STANDARD Life’s private equity arm has closed its latest fund of funds on €700m (£594m), around €200m below its previous investment vehicle. SL Capital Partners’ European Strategic Partners 2008 fund, which will invest in western European buy-outs, received €200m more than its original target. SL Capital chief executive David Currie said: “That we have successfully [...]
Canada forces BHP to extend Potash offer September 21, 2010 MINER BHP Billiton was yesterday forced to extend the deadline for its offer for Canada’s PotashCorp by a month to comply with regulatory requests for extra information. PotashCorp investors now have until 18 November to accept, though analysts at Citigroup warned shareholders may prove unwilling to sell up unless BHP raises its $130-per-share offer – [...]
