Premier makes North Sea find December 1, 2011 Premier Oil yesterday announced another discovery in the North Sea. The FTSE 250-listed oil producer said its Erne well hit oil with a drilling at 5,562 feet. Premier, which owns a 50 per cent interest in the well, said the column included 20 feet of net oil and ten feet of net gas.
Afren in Nigeria block deal December 1, 2011 First Hydrocarbon Nigeria, which is partly owned by London-listed Afren, confirmed yesterday the purchase of a 45 per cent stake in Nigerian oil block OML 26 for $147.5m (£94m) from Shell, Total and Eni. FHN, a Nigerian firm set up by Afren, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and Guaranty Trust Bank, to purchase local energy [...]
BP sells off Canadian assets December 1, 2011 BP has agreed to sell its Canadian natural gas liquids business to Plains All American Pipeline for $1.67bn, as it seeks to raise $45bn to pay for last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The business, which includes pipelines and processing stations that remove valuable crude-like liquids from gas, owns or has rights to more [...]
DRAGHI TAKES A NEW APPROACH TO BACKING THE EURO IN ECB PROMO December 1, 2011 AS European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi stood in front of the European Parliament yesterday and delivered a gloomy outlook on the future of the euro, a very different Draghi was doing the rounds on YouTube, in the latest piece of pro-euro propaganda released by the ECB. In a video introduced by soft focus images [...]
Yahoo jumps as takeover looks likely December 1, 2011 PRIVATE equity firms Blackstone Group and Bain Capital are looking to make a bid for full ownership of stagnating internet giant Yahoo, after days of speculation surrounding the company’s buyout. The deal, made alongside Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba and Japanese telecoms corporation Softbank, is expected to see Yahoo sell for as much as $20 a [...]
Clarity looks a bit Better December 1, 2011 JON Moulton’s investment vehicle has won the battle to buy software firm Clarity Commerce after winning backing from 62 per cent of shareholders. Yesterday Enigmatic Investments declared the £10.36m bid unconditional, only weeks after Clarity’s board rejected the improved offer as “undervalued”. Enigmatic, which is controlled by Moulton’s Better Capital, remains well short of the [...]
Investors heap pressure on beleaguered Olympus board December 1, 2011 INVESTORS in scandal-hit technology firm Olympus are demanding an emergency meeting after the former chief executive launched a campaign to sack the board. Southeastern Asset Management, the main foreign shareholder with about five per cent, said Olympus needs a new board with a majority of independent directors. “The incumbent board must promptly announce an emergency [...]
Vodafone catches a little Bluefish in takeover deal December 1, 2011 VODAFONE Global Enterprise, the mobile giant’s communication management business, yesterday acquired IT consultancy Bluefish Communications for an undisclosed fee. Bluefish will form the nucleus of Vodafone’s new Unified Communications and Collaborations unit, which will advise multinational companies on getting more from their telecoms services and on new technology such as cloud services. The assets being [...]
Disney boss buys Apple stock December 1, 2011 Apple’s newest board member, Walt Disney co-chief executive Bob Iger, bought about $1m (£640,000) worth of the iPhone maker’s shares earlier this week, a symbolic gesture of confidence in the prospects of the company. Iger, who was appointed to Apple’s board in November, bought 2,670 Apple shares on the open market on Tuesday at an [...]
France ready for digital books December 1, 2011 Regulation and a devoted book culture look set to cushion the impact on French publishers and booksellers of the impending digital revolution that has transformed markets in the US and Britain. Arnaud Nourry, the chief executive of Hachette Books Group, predicted that e-books would take off in France this year and that the market would [...]
