Russian credit card firm plans London listing October 3, 2013 RUSSIAN credit card supplier TCS Group yesterday became the latest overseas company to tap London’s burgeoning initial public offering (IPO) market with plans to raise up to $750m (£464m) in a float. TCS, which owns top three Russian credit card issuer Tinkoff Credit Systems, said it will use the cash to help boost its expanding [...]
John Laing Infrastructure raises £242m for hospital investment October 3, 2013 JOHN Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF), the FTSE 250-listed investment fund, yesterday raised a record £242m from investors to help fund a hospital spending spree. The company said the share offering at 111p was oversubscribed. It will use £103m of the proceeds to take stakes in two medical facilities – North Staffordshire Hospital and Kelowna and [...]
Microsoft gets second chance to win patent row against Google October 3, 2013 A FEDERAL appeals court last night instructed the US International Trade Commission to reconsider a ruling that gave Google a victory over Microsoft in a patent dispute. Acting on an appeal by Microsoft, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that the ITC erred in its reasoning when it found that the [...]
Trustee of MF Global to pay back lost funds October 3, 2013 THE TRUSTEE liquidating the brokerage unit of MF Global Holdings yesterday asked a federal bankruptcy judge for permission to return remaining funds to commodity trader customers affected by the firm’s 2011 collapse. The request by court-appointed trustee James Giddens would reallocate some money earmarked for general unsecured creditors to customers of the brokerage, who have [...]
EU considers regulation of crowdfunding October 3, 2013 BRUSSELS is considering regulating crowdfunding, the fast-growing way of financing start-up businesses and other schemes by gathering investments from hundreds of people over the internet. Crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter have already raised hundreds of millions of pounds for projects and firms such as self-styled “punk brewer” Brewdog have used it as an alternative to raising [...]
Two Greek banks plan to shift toxic loans into new institutions October 3, 2013 TWO OF Greece’s largest banks, Piraeus and the National Bank of Greece (NBG) plan to set up bad banks, separating loans that are no longer functional from the working side of the institutions. Anthimos Thomopoulos, the deputy CEO of Piraeus Bank voiced concerns about the number of non-performing loans still shadowing the Greek economy in [...]
China services see best growth since summer’s credit crunch October 3, 2013 CHINA’S services hit a six-month high in September, according to an official index of the sector’s purchasing managers released by the government yesterday. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for services hit 55.4, up from 53.9. Any score over 50 signals that the sector is growing. Paired with the country’s manufacturing PMI, which was released earlier [...]
Sports Direct chiefs take home £13m in share bonus winnings October 3, 2013 SPORTS Direct shares lost their shine yesterday after two senior bosses opted to cash in on £13m worth of shares. Chief executive Dave Forsey and finance director Bob Mellors both exercised 2010 bonus scheme options to acquire 1m shares each before immediately selling 950,000 each at 680p a share. The two directors, who earn a [...]
Toshiba boss is keen on British nuclear project October 3, 2013 TOSHIBA is keen to take a majority stake in UK nuclear consortium NuGen, its chief executive said yesterday, as firms and ministers try to get Britain’s atomic power plan moving. Hisao Tanaka told Reuters yesterday that Toshiba, which owns Westinghouse, will decide this year whether to bid for Iberdrola’s 50 per cent stake in NuGen, [...]
Amazon to launch TV box for Xmas October 3, 2013 Amazon.com, which entered the gadget-making business with the Kindle e-reader, intends to sell a set-top box that can stream internet content to televisions in time for the holidays, the Wall Street Journal reported last night. The internet retailer has approached media software developers as well as cable television providers in recent weeks, hoping to secure [...]
