Rothschild to advise on Poundland’s flotation November 4, 2013 BUDGET retailer Poundland has lined up Rothschild to advise on its upcoming public offering, which is expected to value the firm at more than £700m. The investment bank, which declined to comment on the issue, is expected to bring in other advisers to work on the flotation in the next few weeks. Poundland – which [...]
Britain looks to Qatar to boost energy sector November 4, 2013 ENERGY minister Michael Fallon is visiting Qatar this week and meeting with officials to try to secure new gas import deals and attract a possible £10bn of investment into UK infrastructure. Fallon has made it clear that Britain is looking for new long-term gas supply contracts with Qatar – which currently supplies around 15 per [...]
BT is accused of making £5bn in excess profits November 4, 2013 VODAFONE and TalkTalk will hit out at BT and Ofcom today, accusing the regulator of being asleep on the job while BT’s stranglehold on Britain’s digital infrastructure has allowed it to make £5bn in excess profits over the past eight years. BT called the report “ludicrous” and disputed the accusation that it had made profits [...]
Companies race to court to beat time limit on credit crunch cases November 4, 2013 THE NUMBER of big ticket commercial disputes being taken to the High Court in London has jumped by 23 per cent in the last year, as companies race to beat the six-year time limit for launching credit crunch-related claims. Analysis of court claims by City law firm RPC showed there were 1,393 cases launched in [...]
Half of firms left unprepared to cope with crises in the digital age November 4, 2013 HALF of businesses are unprepared to cope with crisis management because of the speed news travels online, a survey has revealed. A poll of 102 communications advisers by law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer found half of firms were ill-equipped to handle a crisis, while 94 per cent believed failing to prepare left organisations open to [...]
Singapore firm to develop new London village November 4, 2013 SINGAPORE-based property group Oxley Holdings has snapped up Royal Wharf, the largest mixed-use site sold in London since Battersea power station. Oxley now intends to build 4,000 residential properties on the 40-acre space, along with a number of attached facilities. The development is less than three miles east of Canary Wharf, one of London’s finance [...]
Warburg Pincus sells its stake in Transpacific November 4, 2013 PRIVATE equity firm Warburg Pincus sold its entire 33.9 per cent stake in Australian waste management firm Transpacific Industries Group through UBS, Reuters news agency reported yesterday, citing the Australian Financial Review newspaper. Demand from investors saw an initial offering of A$400m (£238m) of Transpacific stock at A$1.05 per share increased to A$570m worth, the [...]
Harrods pays its directors £100m in bumper year November 4, 2013 HARRODS has paid its Qatari owners a dividend of £100m this year after turnover rose 10 per cent to £716m. According to Companies House accounts, the record figure came from increased demand for luxury items such as watches and jewellery. Despite the ringing tills, operating profits for England’s biggest department store dropped 13 per cent [...]
Britain’s first port in decades to open on the Thames this week November 4, 2013 THE FIRST big port to be built in Britain in decades will open on Thursday, more than three years after its Dubai-based developers began work on the 60-acre site on the north bank of the Thames. DP World’s £1.5bn London Gateway scheme is a deep sea container port around 25 miles away from central London [...]
IDB to extend London bond and launch $10bn Dubai programme November 4, 2013 THE Islamic Development Bank (IDB) will set up a $10bn sukuk issuance programme on the Nasdaq Dubai exchange, a boost to Dubai’s efforts to become a top centre for Islamic finance in competition with other cities. It would be the Jeddah-based IDB’s third sukuk program – it already issues Islamic bonds in London and Kuala [...]
