Alibaba reports slowing growth ahead of float June 16, 2014 ALIBABA Group, the Chinese e-commerce giant aiming for the largest stock market float in history, yesterday said revenue growth slowed dramatically last quarter, causing shares in co-owner Yahoo to tumble. The group, which wants to beat Facebook’s mammoth $15bn initial public offering by generating a market cap of $170bn, said fourth quarter revenue rose 38 [...]
Morgan Stanley emails exposed in bid battle June 16, 2014 THE dark arts of investment banking were brutally exposed yesterday as Allergan, the US healthcare group fighting off a $53bn (£31.2bn) hostile bid from a rival Valeant Pharmaceuticals, released emails designed to embarrass Morgan Stanley, the US investment bank that is now advising its unwanted suitor. The emails show that just a few weeks ago, [...]
US court ruling leaves Argentina to pay back holdout funds in full June 16, 2014 THE US Supreme Court dashed Argentina’s hopes of a further appeal on its debt restructuring yesterday, leaving the country liable for a looming $1.33bn (£780m) payout to hedge funds. The highest US court’s decision not to hear the Argentinian government’s case against creditors that rejected previous debt restructuring means that it may be faced with [...]
M&M Direct sold for £140m after listing snubbed June 16, 2014 BUDGET online sports retailer M&M Direct is set to be sold for up to £140m – reversing plans for a stock market listing in London. The company, founded as a catalogue retailer in 1997, has clinched a deal to be acquired by Danish clothing outfit Bestseller. The firm’s current backer, private equity firm TA Associates, [...]
Bottom Line: Slow and steady wins this race to market June 16, 2014 ONE NEEDS to look no further than the World Cup for a reminder of how people love to swing from one extreme to the other. An embarrassing 5-1 defeat to the Netherlands, for example, and suddenly Spain – the current World Cup holders and winners of the last two European Championships – are deemed to be [...]
Shire hires Citi to work on bids June 16, 2014 PHARMA group Shire has hired Citi to defend it against takeover bids, it emerged yesterday. Firms including US drug-maker Allergan have shown interest in a possible deal with Shire. The mid-sized, UK-listed business could appeal to American firms looking to spend foreign cash instead of facing US taxes when the repatriate the funds. The investment [...]
Dutch group eyes €1.5bn from share sale June 16, 2014 FINANCIAL services group ING, which sponsors the Royal Dutch Football Federation, yesterday said it expects to raise €1.5bn when it lists a tranche of shares in an insurance subsidiary next month. ING, bailed out by the Dutch state in 2008, said it will float 70m existing shares of NN Group on 2 July, in one [...]
Wizz Air grounds London float June 16, 2014 HUNGARIAN low cost airline Wizz Air yesterday ditched plans to float in London due to turbulence in the airline industry, the second company to this year to shelve a market listing. The firm blamed “market volatility” in the airline sector for pulling the initial public offering of shares, which would have raised €200m (£160m) to [...]
MySale flops on market debut after a share pricing faux pas June 16, 2014 MYSALE, the online fashion retailer 25 per cent owned by Sir Philip Green’s wife Tina, tanked on its market debut yesterday after an error on its listing price. Shares were priced at 226p but were inadvertently listed at 2.26p, sparking automated selling of the stock as trading programmes reacted to the lowball price by selling [...]
Pharma firm Abzena to list June 16, 2014 ABZENA, the biopharmaceutical research specialist, yesterday announced its intention to float on London’s junior stock market to raise an undisclosed sum. Abzena, which has £5.8m of annual revenues, helps develop therapeutic proteins and antibodies. The group’s major institutional investors include Invesco Perpetual, the former home of Neil Woodford, and Imperial Innovations, a specialist in commercialising [...]
