Cobham to buy US firm Aeroflex in £869m deal May 20, 2014 DEFENCE and aerospace contractor Cobham yesterday said it has agreed to buy US communications equipment maker Aeroflex for $1.46bn (£869m), in its biggest deal to date. The FTSE 250-listed firm is looking to expand its presence in commercial markets, where Aeroflex generates 70 per cent of its revenues, as governments on both sides of the [...]
Carlson sells TGI Fridays to a pair of US private equity companies May 20, 2014 TGI FRIDAYS is being sold to a pair of buyout companies after 39 years as part of leisure chain Carlson, the firm announced yesterday. The restaurant chain, with more than 900 outlets around the world, will be taken over by Sentinel Capital Partners and TriArtisan Capital Partners. The terms of the purchase were not disclosed, [...]
EU vote fears lift peripheral bond yields May 20, 2014 WORRIES over the outcome of this week’s pan-European elections have driven up the yield on debt from peripheral EU countries, with investors wanting higher premiums to hold onto Spanish, Italian and Portuguese bonds. The spread between the bonds of debt-troubled governments and German bunds have grown to two-month highs on fears that elections could lead [...]
London Stock Exchange in exclusive talks to take over Russell May 20, 2014 THE LONDON Stock Exchange confirmed yesterday that it is in exclusive talks to buy Russell Investments, the stock index and asset management unit of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance. The purchase of Russell, the firm behind the Russell 1000 Global Index, would boost the LSE’s operations in the United States in a deal worth an estimated [...]
Research outfit picks London for share issue May 20, 2014 ALLIED Minds, the US firm that transforms university research and development projects into corporate businesses, yesterday gave a vote of confidence to the London stock market by announcing plans to list in the capital. The business, founded by chairman Mark Pritchard, works with biotech and technology R&D projects in 32 universities, including Harvard and UC [...]
Wolseley to sell off Austrian unit May 20, 2014 BRITISH plumbing supplies group Wolseley yesterday confirmed it is in talks to sell off its Austrian business OAG, as it looks to streamline the company. The FTSE 100-listed firm expects to sell the underperforming unit to subsidiaries of Vienna-headquartered peer Frauenthal Holding for around £25m. Wolseley said the transaction would generate a small loss on [...]
Scottish Power fined for price gap May 20, 2014 Ofgem has fined energy supplier Scottish Power £750,000 for unfair price differences between customers paying by standard credit compared to direct debit. However, analysis published by the regulator yesterday on payment methods showed that differences in prices have fallen significantly since new rules were introduced. Energy firms must now regularly tell customers what their cheapest [...]
Green deal take-up rises to 2,439 May 20, 2014 Almost 2,500 households in Britain had Green Deal plans in progress at the end of April, compared to 2,000 at the end of March, according to new government figures yesterday, which said the increase represents “reasonable growth” after “a period of relatively low activity”. The 2,439 total number of participants in energy-saving schemes is still [...]
APR on track due to new contracts May 20, 2014 London-listed temporary power provider APR Energy yesterday said it had made a “strong start to 2014” with 359 megawatts of contract extensions including a large diesel project in Libya and 142MW of new contract wins in Myanmar and the South Pacific. APR bought General Electric’s power rental business late last year and said yesterday it [...]
Entertainment One announces first dividend May 20, 2014 FILM and television distributor Entertainment One will pay its first dividend to shareholders after a sharp rise in annual profits and revenues due to synergies from its takeover of Alliance Films last January. Entertainment One saw a 30 per cent jump in revenues to £819.6m during the year to 31 March, with core profits rising [...]
