HGCapital sells SHL for $660m July 3, 2012 PRIVATE equity group HgCapital has sold employment consultancy SHL to larger rival Corporate Executive Board for $660m (£420.6m), having quadrupled the value of the firm within six years. HgCapital, which bought the firm for £100m in 2006, has sold out from SHL after helping to almost double the firm’s revenues and treble its earnings. HgCapital [...]
Man Utd unveil IPO in New York to pay off debts July 3, 2012 MANCHESTER United last night filed documents for an initial public offering (IPO) of shares to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The size of the offering has initially been listed at $100m yet analysts expect that the figure could change significantly, with the price and quantity of shares yet to be decided. The [...]
Asia Pacific growth helps give Clifford Chance bigger profits July 3, 2012 CLIFFORD CHANCE, the UK’s biggest law firm by revenues, yesterday raised the bar for its magic circle competitors as it announced a seven per cent rise in turnover. Revenues at the firm were £1,303m in the year to 30 April, up from £1,219m in the previous 12 months. Profits per equity partner also grew by [...]
Icap launches jobs monitor July 3, 2012 ICAP, the world’s largest inter-dealer broker, has unveiled a jobs tracker, in the latest example of brokerages aiming to offset weak trading with new services. Icap said yesterday it had launched its UK Labour Market Indices, offering investors, traders and researchers guidance on employment, vacancies and salaries. The broker said the new service will be [...]
Police search Sarko’s home July 3, 2012 POLICE raided the home and offices of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday as part of a judicial inquiry into financial relations between his political camp and L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. Sarkozy’s lawyer said the raids, a day after his client had left for Canada on holiday, would show nothing and that he had already [...]
KNIGHT VINKE TURNS UP HEAT ON GLENCORE July 3, 2012 Activist fund Knight Vinke, a top-20 shareholder in miner Xstrata, yesterday backed a surprise call from fellow investor Qatar for better terms in a takeover offer from commodities trader Glencore, led by Ivan Glasenberg (pictured).Knight Vinke yesterday said the deal does not represent fair value for Xstrata on current terms and also objected to the [...]
JP Morgan in US energy probe July 3, 2012 US energy regulators have subpoenaed JP Morgan Chase twice in the past three months as part of a probe into whether the bank manipulated power markets. Authorities have asked the firm to produce emails from 2010 and 2011 as part of a probe into JP Morgan bidding practices.
Kinetic boss returns to outdoor ads July 3, 2012 Former Kinetic boss Eric Newnham has returned to the out-of-home advertising business by investing in specialist agency Talon Outdoor. Newnham, who sold Kinetic to WPP in 2010 and left the firm a year later, said he was keen to work with Talon to use new technologies in outdoor ads.
Backing Bob backfires badly July 3, 2012 Heaven knows, we’ve all been there before, but imagine Ian Gordon’s reaction at breakfast time yesterday morning as he digested the news that Bob Diamond had resigned. Not 24 hours earlier, Investec analyst Gordon had published a research note entitled: Back Bob! “We urge investors to back Bob, and take full advantage of Barclays’ recent [...]
Recession blow as construction activity drops July 3, 2012 CONSTRUCTION sector output fell in June, influential survey data showed yesterday, raising further fears that the UK economy will remain in recession for another quarter. Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 48.2 in June from 54.4 in May – below the crucial “no change” mark of 50. That represents the fastest contraction in output [...]
