Tullow finds crude again September 10, 2008 Tullow Oil, the Africa-focused explorer, said yesterday it had made another crude discovery at its Kigogole-1 well in the Butiaba region of Uganda. Tullow, which holds more exploration licences than any other British firm in Africa, said that the well was drilled to a total depth of 616 metres and found two oil zones. The [...]
BG concedes defeat over deal with Australia’s Origin September 10, 2008 BG group said yesterday it would not increase its hostile takeover bid for Australian Origin Energy after the company agreed to a joint venture with American oil giant ConocoPhillips. BG’s offer of A$15.50 (£7.08) a share, which expires on 26 September, will not be extended and is expected to lapse, BG said in a statement. [...]
Boerse: cash equities are not for sale September 10, 2008 A Deutsche Boerse supervisory board member said yesterday that the exchange is unlikely to sell its cash equities business to the London Stock Exchange, contrary to a report in Handelsblatt earlier this week. Citing unnamed financial sources, the German business daily had reported that UK-based The Children’s Investment Fund wanted the Boerse to pursue a [...]
British banks given access to Vietnam September 10, 2008 HSBC and Standard Chartered have become the first foreign banks to be given permission to set up wholly owned subsidiaries in Communist Vietnam, the country’s state bank said yesterday. The two companies will be allowed to operate as commercial banks for a period of 99 years, according to a statement from the State Bank of [...]
Redrow cuts payout hit by housing slump September 10, 2008 Evidence of the housing market downturn became even more explicit yesterday as housebuilder Redrow announced a halving of profits and a new £450m debt facility to 2011. Shareholders are also losing out on a third dividend, due to an “unprecedented decline in the fortunes of the UK housing market in a very short period of [...]
More women make it to the top in City law profession… September 10, 2008 More women are landing top jobs at the UK’s leading law firms than ever before, according to a study released yesterday. The research, which was commissioned by The Lawyer magazine, showed that although men still outnumber females by four to one throughout the profession, ratios in the top ranks are slowly improving. Nearly 20 per [...]
…as 3i breaks glass ceiling September 10, 2008 Private equity firm 3i yesterday smashed through the City’s glass ceiling, announcing that it was appointing a female finance director. Julia Wilson, 41, will join the board at the end of the month to replace the outgoing finance director, Simon Ball. 3i chairman Baroness Sarah Hogg – who is the most powerful woman at a [...]
Tullet Prebon and GFI end merger talks September 10, 2008 Merger talks between GFI and Tullett Prebon ended last night after the two interdealer brokers failed to agree on the terms of a deal. Tullett, the second largest broker between banks, combined with GFI, the largest interdealer broker of credit derivatives, would have created a firm to rival market leader ICAP. This is the second [...]
Cowdery gets his man as Tiner joins Resolution team September 10, 2008 Cowdery assembles crack buyout team Clive Cowdery set up the first incarnation of Resolution in 2003 with £500,000 of his own money, after leaving General Electric’s insurance unit. The company began life as a closed life fund consolidator, before Cowdery transformed it into a FTSE 100 insurance behemoth through a series of tie-ups. A merger [...]
Thomas Cook loses EC case September 10, 2008 Travel company Thomas Cook yesterday lost its epic battle for compensation from the European Commission for preventing Airtours, now called MyTravel, from merging with First Choice Holidays in 1999. The European Court of First Instance said that Thomas Cook, which now owns MyTravel, was not due any compensation. This was despite its own landmark ruling [...]
