New City flats on St Bart’s site December 8, 2011 Property group Helical Bar hopes to attract City staff to live closer to work with its latest development. The firm has released plans for 225 new flats and 230,000 square feet of offices on the St Bartholemew’s Hospital site near Little Britain. The firm and its joint venture partner Baupost hope to have formal plans [...]
Ford brings back dividend December 8, 2011 Ford has turned the ignition on its dividend for the first time in five years, with a quarterly payout of five cents a share that the number two US automaker said it could maintain during any future downturn. The dividend, payable in March, will cost Ford about $760m (£485m) a year. The company last paid [...]
Draghi: I will bail out banks but not states December 8, 2011 THE EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) cut interest rates to record lows and vowed to step up efforts to keep banks afloat – but will not fulfil hopes that it will bail out indebted governments, bank boss Mario Draghi (pictured) announced yesterday. Acknowledging the credit crunch sweeping the Eurozone, banks can now access unlimited amounts of [...]
German banks told to find €11bn more in new capital December 8, 2011 EU banks need to raise €114.7bn (£97.9bn) to shore up their stability, the European Banking Authority (EBA) said yesterday, revising up its estimate of German banks’ shortfall by €11bn. The total in new capital required for the continent’s lenders was revised up from its €106bn estimate in October, but all of the increase was due [...]
Why did markets fall? December 8, 2011 Q. Why did markets react so badly? A. Politicians, led by Merkel and Sarkozy, proposed a plan to cut deficits and reform their uncompetitive economies, stopping a crisis like this happening again. However, to work this long-term plan, politicians need short term help. They wanted the ECB to buy the debt of troubled nations. ECB [...]
LSE defends City in floats blame game December 8, 2011 CONCERNS that fund managers are overpaying for newly-listed shares and investment banks are charging extortionate fees are unfounded, the London Stock Exchange said yesterday, in a report recommending improvements to the IPO market. On a series of key areas, from pre-IPO engagement with the investor community and investment bank fees to the number of banks [...]
Horta Osório could return to Lloyds if the board agrees December 8, 2011 LLOYDS Banking Group chief executive António Horta Osório is having one-to-one meetings with board members with a view to coming back to the firm from sick leave. Horta Osório, who stepped back last month due to “extreme fatigue”, will also be checked over by an independent panel before he can return, City A.M. understands. Independent [...]
Russians join FTSE 100 December 8, 2011 EVRAZ, the Russian miner and steelmaking group part-owned by Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovitch, yesterday said it was “delighted” to be included in the FTSE 100 index. A second Russian group, gold and silver miner Polymetal, was also added to the blue-chip index after the quarterly review by the FTSE committee on Wednesday. Evraz [...]
MRSK lists on LSE to attract new investors December 8, 2011 RUSSIAN power grid company MRSK listed its shares in London yesterday in a move it hopes will boost the liquidity of its stock and enable it to raise funds in the future, its chief finance officer told City A.M. The technical listing, in which no money is raised, will see MRSK list 25 per cent [...]
Linklaters to make cuts to partner count December 8, 2011 MAGIC circle law firm Linklaters is planning cuts to its headcount that could see up to 35 equity partners leave in the next year, sparking fears a second round of redundancies could be about to hit the City. It follows confirmation last week that Allen & Overy is restarting its annual equity management – which [...]
