PZ Cussons buys St Tropez for £62.5m September 27, 2010 Soap and shampoo maker PZ Cussons has bought tanning-products firm St Tropez from its private-equity owner LDC for £62.5m in cash. The maker of Imperial Leather soaps and Carex handwash said St Tropez was a good fit with its portfolio of premium brands, which includes The Sanctuary and Charles Worthington hair-care products. St Tropez sold [...]
Unilever in £2.3bn deal for US hair care group September 27, 2010 Consumer goods giant Unilever has agreed to buy United States based hair care group Alberto Culver Co for $3.7bn (£2.3bn) in cash. The Anglo Dutch group’s acquisition will add brands such as V05, TRESemme and Nexxus, and make Unilever the world’s leading company in hair conditioning, the second largest in shampoo, and the third largest [...]
3i in £18.3m deal for MIM September 27, 2010 Private equity group 3i is to buy debt management business Mizuho Investment Management in an £18.3m deal. 3i has agreed to but 100 per cent of the shares in business Mizuho Investment Management (MIM). MIM specialises in the management of funds raised to invest in senior and subordinated corporate debt, providing investment advisory services in [...]
Wolseley plans Swiss tax move September 27, 2010 Heating and plumbing company Wolseley said it was switching some of its tax obligations to Switzerland in a bid to slash its bill. Wolseley also reported revenues for the year to the end of July of £13.2bn, down from £14.4bn a year earlier. “Demand across our markets remains mixed and the economic outlook continues to [...]
Louis Dreyfus in merger talks with Olam September 24, 2010 Louis Dreyfus, one of the world’s top commodity firms, is in merger talks with smaller rival Olam International in what could extend Dreyfus’ global reach and open up its closely held family ownership. Olam confirmed on Friday it was in talks with Louis Dreyfus over possible cooperation, with a merger among the options, news that [...]
Euromoney predicts record profit September 24, 2010 Financial information group Euromoney said it expected to make record pretax profit this financial year after advertising and delegate numbers to its events recovered, lifting its shares on Friday. The first of the professional publishing and events groups to report this quarter, Euromoney said growth in subscription revenues had also picked up and it expected [...]
BHP clears first hurdle in Potash takeover bid September 24, 2010 BHP Billiton cleared the first regulatory hurdle in its bid for Canada’s Potash but the miner still has a long way to go to pass the deal with Canadian authorities and the target’s shareholders. BHP, the world’s largest mining company, said it received antitrust clearance from the US Federal Trade Commission to proceed with its [...]
Banks break-up still on agenda says ICB September 24, 2010 Britain’s banks will be subject to a wide-ranging probe that will examine the possible break-up of retail and investment banks and ways to boost competition, although no single option is favoured at present. The Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) was appointed three months ago by the government to assess the structure of the industry in [...]
Petrobras raises $70bn in record share offering September 24, 2010 Brazilian state oil company Petrobras raised $70bn (£44bn) on Thursday in the world’s biggest share offering, giving the company the financial muscle it needs to tap vast offshore oil reserves. The cash will help fund the world’s largest oil exploration plan, which at $224bn for the 2010-2014 period aims to turn Brazil into a major [...]
Mortgage approvals drop as housing market stalls September 23, 2010 The number of mortgages approved by banks for home buyers dropped in August for the third month in a row. Banks approved 31,767 home loans down from 34,219 in July, the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) said. The figures are another indication that the UK property market has stalled. A raft of data has shown that [...]
