Reflections on the Philip Green saga August 16, 2010 MY first contact with Sir Philip Green came around two decades ago when he was running a small public company called Amber Day. I had written a two paragraph story for the Independent newspaper which provoked the retailing tycoon to scream down the phone at me the following day. “I cut out your article out [...]
Sir Alan Budd regrets leak August 16, 2010 SIR Alan Budd, the former head of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), yesterday admitted he regretted the impact of a leak that dogged his short tenure at the independent fiscal forecaster. “I enormously regret the effect it had on our reputation… That was in some sense the most harmful event in terms of the [...]
Citi blocked in $75m SEC payoff August 16, 2010 Citigroup’s $75m (£48m) settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission over its alleged failure to disclose up to $40bn in sub-prime securities has hit an obstacle after a federal judge refused to approve the payment. US district judge Ellen Segal Huvelle said she did not have “sufficient information” to green-light the deal. The SEC [...]
BP gets $5bn loans on oil sales August 16, 2010 Beleaguered energy giant BP?has secured $5bn (£3.2bn) fresh financing by securing debt against its revenues from oil sales for the first time. It is understood the debt will be used to ease BP’s general liquidity position rather than to fund the $20bn escrow account set up to pay for damages caused by its gargantuan oil [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 16, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES TOUGH TARGETS FOR BENEFIT REFORMS The Treasury has required Iain Duncan Smith, work and pensions secretary, to find about £5 of savings for every £1 he spends to simplify the benefits system, setting tight financial conditions on dramatic reforms. The fiscal parameters mark an uneasy truce in a cabinet row that gives Mr [...]
Aviva told to deliver or see itself split up August 16, 2010 INVESTORS piled pressure on Aviva to come up with a credible alternative to being broken up yesterday as the insurer formally knocked back rival RSA’s “unacceptable” £5bn approach for its general insurance business. Shareholders are disgruntled at Aviva’s decision not to consult them before rejecting the offer for the group’s property and casualty operations in [...]
Video streaming site Hulu sounds out $2bn flotation August 16, 2010 ONLINE video site Hulu could become the biggest internet IPO of the year after its owners began sounding out the market for a potential $2bn (£1.3bn) listing yesterday. The joint venture between Disney, News Corp, NBC Universal, who all own 27 per cent of the firm, and Providence Equity Partners, was launched to combat the [...]
RSA August 16, 2010 RSA’S offer was politely described as “speculative” when it was leaked on Friday. In fact, it looked downright odd: a £5bn proposal, made out of the blue from one chairman to another, swiftly rebuffed. But no-one in Aviva’s boardroom will be feeling comfortable this morning. RSA has skilfully turned the nascent takeover battle into a [...]
NatWest 3 put the spotlight on extradition August 16, 2010 LAWYERS have warned that the spirited defence mounted by two of the “NatWest Three” against their prosecution in the US should act as an eye-opener for the government ahead of a planned review of extradition policy. David Bermingham and Gary Mulgrew, two of the former NatWest bankers convicted two years ago of cooking up an [...]
Dell to buy 3PAR for $1.5bn August 16, 2010 Dell plans to buy data storage company 3PAR for $1.15bn (£730m) in cash, expanding its cloud computing business to compete with other technology services companies like IBM. Dell said it would pay $18 a share for 3PAR, an 87 per cent premium over Friday’s closing price. The deal would further expand Dell’s presence in technology [...]
