What the other papers say this morning – 20 September 2013 September 19, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Buyout to keep Caesars afloat The Las Vegas-based casino operator said this week it was seeking to raise almost $5bn in bonds and loans to refinance its commercial mortgage-backed securities and a chunk of junior debt. Apollo Global Management and TPG bought Caesars, at the time known as Harrah’s, in early 2008, paying [...]
Nokia’s Elop to receive £15m for Microsoft return September 19, 2013 FORMER Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop will receive €18.8m (£15.8m) to move to Microsoft as vice president of devices and services, if the software giant’s deal to buy Nokia’s devices business goes through. The payment marks Elop’s second so-called golden handshake in three years. He was paid $6.2m by Nokia when he arrived in 2010, [...]
Downgrade for the Nationwide September 19, 2013 FITCH, the ratings agency, yesterday downgraded the Nationwide building society’s long term default rating to A from A+. The agency attributed the downgrade to the bank’s, “post-impairment earnings and thus capital generation arising from the society’s poorly performing commercial property finance portfolio.” Lloyds Banking Group, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander maintained their respective [...]
Dexia nears sale of asset group September 19, 2013 DEXIA, the Belgian financial firm, is looking to sell its asset management group to New York Life Investments, it said last night. The company has to sell Dexia Asset Management under agreement with European regulators. Dexia did not say how much New York Life Investments had offered for its asset management arm, which it had [...]
Fed caution gets undermined by strong US data September 19, 2013 BEN Bernanke’s surprise decision not to dial down the Federal Reserve’s money printing, which he justified on Wednesday by pointing to an uncertain US economy, was embarrassed by a sheaf of positive economic news revealed yesterday. The Federal Open Market Committee announced on Wednesday that it would “await more evidence that progress will be sustained” [...]
Analyst Views: What did you make of the Federal Reserve’s decision not to taper its quantitative easing programme? September 19, 2013 LIZ ANN SONDERS | CHARLES SCHWABWhat we now face is a lingering uncertainty regarding the timing of tapering; which means the sharp rally induced by the announcement could run into trouble. I remain very optimistic about the stock market; but the hope that this was going to be the lifting of one of many uncertainties [...]
Bank of England’s Miles: UK is on cusp of self-sustaining recovery September 19, 2013 BANK of England rate-setter David Miles said yesterday that the UK economy could be on the verge of a self-sustaining recovery, yet warned that unemployment may not fall as quickly as some people are hoping. Miles also leapt to the defence of governor Mark Carney’s provision of forward guidance, denying that it has had an [...]
Top Vodafone dealmaker set to leave UBS September 19, 2013 SIMON Warshaw, one of the City’s best known dealmakers, is leaving UBS, the Swiss-owned bank. Warshaw, who joined the bank 27 years ago when it was the old City powerhouse SG Warburg, saw his upward trajectory come to something of a halt last year shortly after the appointment of Andrea Orcel, the bank’s head of [...]
Adidas warns on profit as sales continue to weaken September 19, 2013 GERMAN sports wear maker Adidas warned on 2013 profit yesterday saying adverse currency effects, a distribution problem in Russia and poor trading at its golf business meant targets were no longer attainable. For 2013, Adidas now expects sales to rise by a low single digit percentage, against previous expectations for a low-mid single digit gain. [...]
Virgin Media cuts 600 jobs September 19, 2013 VIRGIN Media will cut up to 600 senior posts including a third of Virgin’s executive directors, as owner Liberty Global seeks cost synergies in the wake of its £14.5bn purchase of the UK cable operator this year. The decision equates to the loss of four per cent of Virgin Media’s 15,000 workforce, but the cuts [...]
