Ireland may sell Aer Lingus stake September 7, 2011 IRELAND is considering the sale of its 25 per cent stake in airline Aer Lingus as it no longer considers it a strategic asset, the transport minister said yesterday. The government’s stake would be worth €84m (£74m) at yesterday’s share price. “It’s certainly under consideration, it’s definitely one of the candidates,” Leo Varadkar said yesterday. [...]
HSBC deal to settle Madoff case rejected September 7, 2011 A US court yesterday rejected HSBC’s proposed $62.5m (£38.8m) settlement with investors in an Irish fund that lost money in Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. District Judge Richard Berman said the accord announced on 7 June “is not fair, reasonable or adequate — even at this preliminary stage” to investors in Thema International Fund. HSBC said [...]
Groupon boss in spotlight as IPO halted September 7, 2011 THE SPOTLIGHT has fallen on Groupon boss Andrew Mason as news of the deal website’s postponed float begins to sink in. Its ambitions of achieving a $20bn valuation have been put on indefinite hold, with Mason’s souring relations with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) thought to be among the reasons. Tensions have been simmering [...]
Vallares shows the art of the possible September 7, 2011 IN A MARKET for corporate deals as dead as this one, there are plenty of investment bankers sitting on their hands, not knowing where the next IPO, merger or rights issue is coming from. But not the ones, like Goldman’s Mark Sorrell and JP Morgan’s Ian Hannam, who work for Nat Rothschild, Julian Metherell and former [...]
Genel buy-out nets Rothschild $100m September 7, 2011 FINANCIER Nat Rothschild is in line for a $214m payout after his cash shell Vallares signed a deal with Turkey’s Genel valuing the firm at $4bn (£2.5bn). Vallares’ four founders are set to receive 6.67 per cent, or $286m worth, of the company’s share capital after the merger with Genel, in return for injecting a [...]
LORD FINK WARMS UP FOR PARTY MARATHON September 7, 2011 HE HAS survived running the world’s largest hedge fund and managing the books for the Conservative Party. But the test that will really prove the making of Lord Stanley Fink is a 24-hour, country-hopping bender from London to Spain. Next Thursday, Fink and his business associate David Johnstone, who co-founded the luxury brands holding company [...]
Green shoots for PhosAgro September 7, 2011 THE chief executive of PhosAgro said he did not plan to cash in his shares in the fertiliser group, as it announced its maiden results since its $538m (£337m) listing in London in July. Maxim Volkov told City A.M. he was “not inclined” to sell his stock after PhosAgro went public, in a float that [...]
NS&I closes inflation-link saving plans September 7, 2011 FOUR months and half a million transactions after putting inflation-linked bonds on the market, National Savings and Investments (NS&I) has withdrawn the product to new customers. On 12 May the five-year certificates – offering a tax-free interest rate of retail price index (RPI) inflation plus 0.5 per cent – became available. They were part of [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE YOU HAVING TROUBLE FINDING AN ATTRACTIVE SAVINGS OPTION? September 7, 2011 MIREILLE DOLONEN | RSA “I meet a lot of people in the City whose employer takes care of investing money for them so I don’t think it worries everyone. Personally, though, I am struggling to find an attractive rate at the moment.” GAVIN BROWN | BEAZLEY “I think the fact that the NS&I has removed [...]
Yahoo faces struggle after sacking Carol Bartz September 7, 2011 CONTROVERSIAL Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz was unceremoniously axed yesterday, ending her strained tenure at the helm of the struggling internet giant. In typically frank style, she informed staff by sending a mass email saying the chairman had just fired her over the phone. Few employees will shed tears for their notoriously ruthless former boss, [...]
