Poison pill hits BHP’S $39bn bid August 17, 2010 CANADIAN fertiliser firm PotashCorp yesterday snubbed a mammoth $39bn (£25bn) indicative offer from mining giant BHP Billiton, moving swiftly to shield itself by invoking a “poison pill” defence outlawed in the UK. PotashCorp, which described the $130-a-share cash offer from BHP as “grossly inadequate”, launched a shareholder rights plan defence, giving it the ability to [...]
Ex-Lehman boss could be charged August 17, 2010 FORMER Lehman Brothers chief Dick Fuld could face civil charges as early as this week in connection with the firm’s collapse. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is understood to be organising a series of meetings with big players involved with the bank before its demise almost two years ago, according to reports in [...]
Eurozone debt sales succeed August 17, 2010 INVESTORS snapped up €1.5bn (£1.2bn) of Irish debt at auction yesterday, though the Dublin government was forced to offer high yields to tempt buyers. The auction attracted bids of €5.1bn yesterday, the strongest demand in an auction so far this year, in part due to yields far above the German gilt benchmark. Ireland will pay [...]
BHP’s bid provokes poisonous reply August 17, 2010 JUST as the markets were drifting into the final few days of summer – traditionally one of the quietest times of the year for corporate news – up pops mining giant BHP Billiton with a near $40bn proposal to takeover the Canadian fertiliser and animal feed group Potash. Although all sorts of things are possible [...]
Soros shuns US equities August 17, 2010 LEGENDARY investor George Soros has slashed his investments in US stocks including AOL, Pfizer and Google, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. Soros moved swathes of his fortune into gold companies over the last three months, as the man who bet against the Bank of England sold off more than 95 per cent of his [...]
US to keep mortgage guarantee August 17, 2010 The US Treasury Secretary said yesterday the government will continue to guarantee residential mortgages, despite the demise of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Tim Geithner admitted at a White House summit on the future of the collapsed mortgage giants that the state still has a role to play in backing loans, in order to minimise [...]
American Apparel in audit spat August 17, 2010 Retail group American Apparel said yesterday its operating losses may result in its breach of its debt covenant, and that it has received a subpoena from the US attorney’s office over changing accounting firms. Shares dropped by more than 25 per cent following the announcement, which revealed that previous auditor Deloitte told the firm its [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 17, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CRIMINAL GANGS TARGET INSIDER DEALING Organised criminals in the UK are becoming increasingly involved in financial frauds including insider share dealing that they see as lucrative and low risk, investigators have warned. A long-term trend of prosecutions in the US has shown the same shift by crime gangs to more sophisticated frauds. FUNDING [...]
Osborne says austerity is only option August 17, 2010 GEORGE Osborne yesterday said he would not shy away from ambitious plans to slash public spending, insisting the economy would fall into a tailspin unless Britain’s yawning deficit is dealt with. The chancellor was attempting to take on critics – both in the Labour party and in the coalition government – who say the austerity [...]
Accounting rules set for shake-up August 17, 2010 CHANGES to lease accounting rules are set to increase debt loads on company balance sheets by billions of pounds if regulators get the go-ahead for new measures. The overhaul to how rented assets appear on balance sheets is intended to improve transparency, according to a joint proposal by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)?and US [...]
