InBev buys back Korean brewery in $5.8bn deal January 20, 2014 ANHEUSER-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, has agreed to buy back South Korea’s Oriental Brewery Company (OB) for $5.8bn (£3.53bn) from KKR & Co and Affinity Equity Partners in what is the biggest ever exit by a private equity firm in Asia. Yesterday’s deal more than triples the original $1.8bn investment by the firms that [...]
Bottom Line: Sometimes bigger banks really are better January 20, 2014 THE WORLD’S biggest banks have been criticised as too big to fail, endangering the global financial system and drowning out vital competition from smaller, more nimble lenders. But this month the titans of the sector are showing their strength and proving that bigger sometimes is better. Fixed income revenues are down at most of the [...]
World’s youth are hardest hit as 200m jobless January 20, 2014 THE GLOBAL economy is not improving quickly enough to keep up with a growing labour force, with worldwide unemployment pushing to more than 200m people in 2013. This year’s employment trends report from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), released yesterday, reveals concerns that the damage to the world’s labour market since the financial crisis is [...]
Knight Frank gives backing to Henderson’s Smithfield Quarter January 20, 2014 PROPERTY consultants Knight Frank have slammed the conservation group SAVE’s alternative proposal for Smithfield market as “economically unviable” ahead of the public inquiry into the future of the landmark site. Its owner Henderson wants to turn the 150-year-old General Market – which has lain derelict for over twenty years – and the adjacent Fish Market [...]
Theft spree left retailers £511m short last year January 20, 2014 UK RETAILERS faced a rising tide of crime last year as the number of thefts hit its highest level in nine years. Meanwhile the average value of loss soared 62 per cent to £177 for each incident. The British Retail Consortium, which conducts an annual retail crime survey, said retailers now invest an average of [...]
Online dating tips from the world of economics January 20, 2014 HAVE you ever turned to the neoclassical synthesis or the efficient markets hypothesis to help you to find love? We’d wager not, but having spent some time on Match.com, Stanford professor Paul Oyer has written a book: Everything I Ever Needed To Know About Economics I Learned From Online Dating. Whether you believe Keynesianism can [...]
Nicola Horlick’s hubby eyes up the big screen January 20, 2014 FUND manager and so-called “superwoman” Nicola Horlick has been investing in films for a few years now but it seems she’s not the only one in the house with a taste for the movies. Her husband, an ex-financial journo turned fiction writer, Martin Baker, is edging to take a slice of the film world too. [...]
Labour calls for change to rules to create a statutory code to govern pub companies January 20, 2014 LABOUR’S shadow minister for pubs has called a debate in the House of Commons today in a bid to create a new statutory code for pub companies. In a move supported by Labour leader Ed Miliband and shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna, Toby Perkins will call for a pubs bill to introduce rent reviews, a [...]
UK shoemaker pumped up by sole investor January 20, 2014 HOTTER Shoes, the UK’s biggest shoe manufacturer, has been sold to Electra Private Equity in a £200m deal giving buyout house control of the company. The 55-year-old business, captained by founder Stewart Houlgrave, has been owned by rival private equity firm Gresham since 2007, expanding from five to 56 stores during that time. Listed fund [...]
City of London Investments expects pickup January 20, 2014 CITY of London Investment Group, the money manager, yesterday said green shoots had started to spring at the beleaguered business after a torrid 12 months. The listed firm, which was stunned by the exit of its chief executive in April after three months in charge, said despite a fall in profits and assets under management, [...]
