Xstrata to launch £1bn bond issue November 4, 2011 Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata said it was set to sell $3bn (£1bn) worth of bonds and planned to use the proceeds to repay debt and for general corporate purposes. The FTSE 100 company said on Friday that it planned to launch $3bn worth of notes in four tranches with maturities of 3 years, 5 years, 10 [...]
Anglo American to buy De Beers stake for £3bn November 4, 2011 Global miner Anglo American has agreed to buy the Oppenheimer family’s stake in diamond miner De Beers for $5.1bn (£3.1bn) in cash, taking its ownership of the diamond miner to up to 85 per cent, it said. Anglo has long been speculated to be considering a deal to increase its stake in unlisted De Beers, [...]
IAG to acquire bmi November 4, 2011 International Airlines Group is to buy Lufthansa’s British unit bmi to boost growth prospects at its Heathrow hub at a time when airline profits are falling due to higher fuel costs. The announcement came as IAG reported a 31 per cent fall in third-quarter profit, better than expected and outperforming peers, with analysts expecting a [...]
RBS profits up but warns over more pain to come November 4, 2011 Royal Bank of Scotland has posted pre-tax profits of £2bn in the three months to 30 September, compared with a loss of £1.6bn in the same period last year. RBS followed the likes of Barclays and Morgan Stanley in benefiting from a debt accounting gain, which boosted its earnings by £2.3bn and helped offset lower [...]
US factory orders up but service sector growth slows November 3, 2011 US service sector activity growth eased in October to its slowest level in three months, but new orders for good from factories unexpectedly rose, suggesting economic growth remains patchy. In other U.S. data reported on Thursday, new claims for unemployment benefits fell below 400,000 last week for the first time in five weeks, suggesting a [...]
Greek PM to scrap referendum November 3, 2011 Greece’s Prime Minister has said that the referendum on the the Eurozone bailout plan will no longer go ahead – and it was never his intention for it to happen. “The referendum was never an end in itself,” George Papandreou told the cabinet according to statements released by his office and reported by Sky News. [...]
ECB cuts rates in surprise move November 3, 2011 The European Central Bank cut interest rates by a quarter point to 1.25 per cent in a surprise move on Thursday, acting boldly to support the ailing euro zone economy at President Mario Draghi’s first policy meeting in charge. The move gave an immediate boost to stock markets, which will be looking for any signal [...]
FTSE weak as investors eye G20 November 3, 2011 The FTSE 100 tracked falls in Asia as leaders of the world’s biggest economies gathered in France for a G20 summit set to be dominated by the threat of Greece falling out of the Eurozone. The leaders of France and Germany, angered at Greece’s shock move to call a referendum on its latest bail-out plan [...]
Service sector growth slows November 3, 2011 Britain’s dominant service sector grew at a far slower pace than expected last month despite firms cutting prices to drum up business, adding to signs that the country may slip back into recession, a survey showed. The Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the service sector slumped to 51.3 in October from 52.9, falling short [...]
Man Group sees fewer clients pulling funds November 3, 2011 Man Group , the world’s largest listed hedge fund manager, saw clients pull out cash at a slower pace in October than September, raising hopes it may be able to staunch exits of client cash despite the euro zone’s deepening debt crisis. Man said its assets under management fell by $1bn (£626m) to $63.5bn during [...]
