Watchdogs face merger as cuts begin September 16, 2010 THE Competition Commission (CC) and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) could merge to form a single oversight body as early as next year, it has emerged. According to the BBC, the coalition government could revive earlier plans by Labour to combine the two market watchdogs. The BBC said that the marriage is currently on [...]
CVC close to buying Swiss telco Sunrise September 16, 2010 CVC Capital Partners, the UK buyout firm, is close to closing a deal with TDC, the private equity-backed Danish telephone company, to buy its Swiss unit Sunrise. The deal will place an enterprise value on Sunrise of about Sfr3.3bn (£2bn), making it one of the year’s largest leveraged buyouts. A deal is likely to be [...]
RAB issues a late night profits warning and says it will cut jobs September 16, 2010 LONDON based hedge fund operator RAB Capital, warned yesterdfay its full-year loss will be larger than expectations after losing nearly one-quarter of its assets in July and August from poor performance at one of its largest funds and from investor redemptions. Assets sank to $1.05bn at 31 August, from $1.26bn at 30 June and $1.35bn [...]
Fedex falls on expectations September 16, 2010 FEDEX forecast profit for the current quarter that missed expectations and its chief executive warned that the economic recovery’s pace may slow, pushing shares down more than three per cent. The company said profit in its fiscal first quarter that ended 31 August was $380m (£243m) compared with earnings of $181m a year earlier. Revenue [...]
Investment association says banks liable for clearing house September 16, 2010 THE Investment Management Association (IMA) joined critics of the European Commission’s draft proposals on short selling and derivatives yesterday saying banks rather than long-term investors should foot the lion’s share of the bill for a proposed new central clearing house. The IMA said the proposals risked leaving pension and insurance funds potentially paying over the [...]
Daron Lee lists investment bank XCAP on AIM market for £17.5m September 16, 2010 INVESTMENT bank XCAP will list on the Alternative Investment Market today with a market capitalisation value of around £17.5m. The firm has already raised £5m ahead of the listing. XCAP received approval to act as an investment bank from the FSA in May and the corporate team have already completed five fundraisings for AIM companies [...]
Output grows as retail sales start to slow September 16, 2010 RETAIL sales suffered a surprise drop of 0.5 per cent in August, but manufacturers remained upbeat about demand for next month, official figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and the CBI respectively showed yesterday. The fall in retail sales was the first in over six months when the unusually cold winter put shoppers [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW CONCERNED ARE YOU BY THE RETAIL SALES FIGURES September 16, 2010 GEORGE BUCKLEY| CHIEF ECONOMIST, DEUTSCHE BANK I’m not as gloomy about the numbers as some people are. We have seen six months of increases in retail sales and there’s usually some form of kickback. With VAT going up next year consumers are going to make their purchases before the end of the year. JAMES KNIGHTLEY [...]
UK inflation expectations at 2008 levels September 16, 2010 UK INFLATION expectations have risen to their highest level in two years, according to the Bank of England. Its quarterly inflation expectations report showed public expectation of inflation rose to 3.4 per cent last month compared to 3.3 per cent when the last survey was carried out in May. Less people in August believed interest [...]
France, Spain raise €12bn in debt sale September 16, 2010 France and Spain yesterday sold over €12bn (£10bn) of debt yesterday, clearing a final hurdle in a big week of bond issuance in the Eurozone with issues meeting strong demand. France sold €8.47bn of debt with demand seen at the top end of the range, with the average yield falling across all three issues made [...]
