Sinopec snaps up a stake in Chesapeake February 25, 2013 CHINA Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) is set to buy half of Chesapeake Energy’s Mississippi Lime oil and gas properties in Oklahoma for $1.02bn (£672m) to increase its presence in the booming North American shale gas industry. Output from shale fields in the United States and Canada has jumped over the last three years due [...]
Nedbank uplift on retail gains February 25, 2013 SOUTH African bank Nedbank Group, part of London listed Old Mutual, yesterday said it boosted profits by nearly a fifth last year after strong revenue growth from its retail business. An additional 655,000 new retail customer helped increase the business’s diluted headline earnings per share, a key measure of profitability in South Africa, to jump [...]
Advisers Royalty Pharma February 25, 2013 HENRY GOSEBRUCH JP MORGAN CAZENOVE MANAGING DIRECTOR JP Morgan Cazenove is advising Royalty Pharma on its proposed purchase of Elan, led by Henry Gosebruch, who is a managing director in the firm’s mergers and acquisition group. Gosebruch’s focus is on the pharmaceutical and industrial sectors and he has worked on M&A transactions worth over $100bn [...]
Royalty makes $6.6bn bid for Irish firm Elan February 25, 2013 US investment firm Royalty Pharma yesterday made a $6.6bn (£4.35bn) approach to Irish drugmaker Elan, targeting royalty rights for multiple sclerosis treatment Tysabri worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually. But Elan described the informal approach as “highly opportunistic”, coming before shareholders could assess its plan to sell off Tysabri. Elan said earlier this month [...]
Reckitt loses fight to block generic drugs February 25, 2013 SHARES in Reckitt Benckiser closed three per cent lower yesterday after US authorities said they will allow rivals to produce generic versions of the firm’s heroin substitute. The consumer health goods company’s pharmaceuticals division makes most of its profit from Suboxone, a treatment containing buprenorphine that helps people addicted to opiates cope with ceasing to [...]
Barnes & Noble chair makes bid February 25, 2013 BARNES & Noble chairman Leonard Riggio yesterday offered to buy the US bookseller’s declining retail business, joining a growing list of executives lining up to buy the fading companies they founded. Barnes & Noble’s shares rose as much as 11 per cent in morning trading, valuing it at about $900m. The New York-based company’s retail business [...]
3i raises money for debt fund February 25, 2013 THE UK’s oldest private equity firm 3i Group yesterday said it had raised a $500m (£331m) collateralised debt obligation (CLO) fund, the latest push by the group into debt management. The company is currently in the midst of a strategic overhaul, led by chief executive Simon Borrows, in a bid to put more emphasis on [...]
Symphony hits the right notes February 25, 2013 EMERGING market money manager Symphony International, which taps into Asia’s growing consumer spending, yesterday said it boosted fund value by almost 12 per cent last quarter due to surging revenues from its companies. Symphony, based in Hong Kong, invests in a vast array of consumer staples across Japan, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, including hotels and [...]
Mortgage loan growth hits a new record low February 25, 2013 MORTGAGE lending barely budged in January while businesses continued to pay off their debts instead of borrowing more, despite intense government efforts to push banks to lend more. Meanwhile, bank deposit levels rose sharply despite interest rates plunging over recent months, industry data showed yesterday Mortgage lending increased 0.2 per cent on the year to [...]
New Cyprus leader says he will pass reforms to secure bailout February 25, 2013 CYPRUS’S new conservative leader today told European leaders he would rapidly enact structural reforms if necessary to get hold of bailout funds. Bond yields dived to an 18-month low of 9.45 per cent as the incoming President Nicos Anastasiades made the sharp break with his Communist and anti-reform predecessor Demetric Christofias. “Long term prospects for Cyprus [...]
