Genzyme receives $18bn letter August 2, 2010 Drug company Sanofi-Aventis has sent Genzyme a private proposal letter indicating its interest in buying the company for about $18.4bn (£11.6bn) and the two sides are discussing the offer, a source familiar with the situation said yesterday. Earlier in the week, Genzyme was said to be reluctant to accept a deal under $21.4bn. Sanofi had been [...]
HSBC profits soar as loan losses halve August 2, 2010 FALLING toxic loan charges, booming growth in Asia, and the second best ever performance by HSBC’s investment banking division have lifted the bank’s profits more than twofold since the first half of 2009. HSBC smashed expectations yesterday with a 121 per cent rise in first-half pre-tax profit to $11.1bn (£6.98bn), comfortably above forecasts of a [...]
Lehman ruling favours hedgies August 2, 2010 UK HEDGE funds celebrated yesterday after the Court of Appeal ruled that their money, held by the European arm of Lehman Brothers Holdings, was not protected when the bank went bust in 2008. The ruling will see a number of hedge funds gain access to a $2.1bn (£1.3bn) pool of cash, which was segregated by [...]
HSBC August 2, 2010 ACTIONS speak louder than words, but numbers are even louder. For all the talk of Eastern promise, as demonstrated by Michael Geoghegan’s recent emigration to Hong Kong, yesterday’s impressive results were more about dealing with the mistakes of the past. It was in the US, home of HSBC’s disastrous Household venture, where the recovery was [...]
BlackBerry is expected to shrug off ban August 2, 2010 THE BlackBerry ban in the UAE is unlikely to have a major impact on the firm, according to analysts. The row over its encryption of users data escalated yesterday, with Saudi Arabia indicating it would follow suit and block the firms Messenger, email and web browsing services. An estimated 1.2m users – or 2.6 per [...]
Enel eyes IPO of renewables unit as it hires bank advisers August 2, 2010 Enel, Europe’s most indebted utility, has picked three banks to coordinate floating part of its renewable energy unit, sources said, a sign this is the group’s preferred sale route to help cut debt. Italy’s largest utility aims to raise as much as €4bn (£3.33bn) from an initial public offering (IPO) of a minority stake in [...]
Brookfield bails out US firm August 2, 2010 Canadian asset manager Brookfield has bailed out US firm Fairfield Residential from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the States by promising to make $150m available for future investment. The group, along with a Canadian pension fund, had already agreed to stump up $29m to recapitalise the troubled property manager in exchange for a 65 per cent [...]
Global IPOs reach pre-crisis level August 2, 2010 Proceeds from initial public offerings (IPOs) in July soared on a global basis, hitting their highest level since before the 2008 financial meltdown, according to Thomson Reuters data. The $30.5bn (£19.2bn) that new issues raised globally in July was the most since November 2007 and exceeded the amount raised by follow-on issues for the month. [...]
ATKINS BUYS US FIRM PBSJ FOR £178M August 2, 2010 ENGINEERING group Atkins, led by chief executive Keith Clarke (above), said it would buy US engineering design firm PBSJ for £178m yesterday, filling a gap in its geographic coverage. Atkins, which helps design big building projects such as London’s 2012 Olympic site, will fund the purchase with cash reserves and a £150m four-year facility.
Tullett Prebon looks to growth markets August 2, 2010 TULLETT PREBON will focus on hiring in South America and Asia Pacific rather than replacing departed staff in the US, chief executive Terry Smith said yesterday. Smith said the world’s second largest interdealer broker had “certainly built people back into the main areas” affected by the defection of 10 senior brokers from its North American [...]
