Ryanair embarks on a third bid to take over its rival Aer Lingus June 19, 2012 BUDGET airline Ryanair has made a third bid to take over Aer Lingus, claiming its €694m (£560.6m) cash offer is the best chance for its rival to remain in Irish hands. The offer of €1.30 per share represents a 46.7 per cent premium over Aer Lingus’s six month average. Ryanair believes there is a better [...]
JP Morgan boss defends bank June 19, 2012 JP MORGAN chief executive Jamie Dimon yesterday defended his firm against a grilling from US politicians, insisting that the firm has been upfront with investors on its multibillion-dollar trading loss. Dimon, appearing before a House of Representatives committee, tried to reassure irate Republicans that his bank would never ask taxpayers to foot the bill for [...]
China is set to fund UK nuclear June 19, 2012 CHINA may soon have a major stake in one of the UK’s biggest nuclear projects after two Chinese state firms teamed up with Western players to bid for the £15bn Horizon joint venture. Areva and Westinghouse are believed to have picked separate Chinese nuclear firms to help fund bids for Horizon, which was put on [...]
Julius Baer in talks for BAML wealth division June 19, 2012 JULIUS Baer is in talks with Bank of America about buying Merrill Lynch’s non-US wealth management unit, valued at up to $2bn (£1.3bn), in what would be a massive deal for the acquisition-hungry Swiss private bank. Consolidation in the wealth management industry has been a major theme since the 2008 financial crisis, as an increase [...]
Pension groups urge firms to listen to investors on exec pay June 19, 2012 INVESTOR groups complained yesterday that executive pay in the financial sector remains “wildly out of line” with the rest of the country. Speaking the day before business secretary Vince Cable is due to unveil his plans to tighten up executive pay rules, bosses from the National Association of Pension Funds and other investing bodies told [...]
Jefferies profit falls but fixed income shines June 19, 2012 INVESTMENT bank Jefferies Group posted a lower profit yesterday on weak equity trading volumes and lower earnings from its underwriting business, but the company’s bond trading business recorded a robust quarter. As the first US investment bank to report earnings, Jefferies is often viewed as an indicator for larger Wall Street banks such as Goldman [...]
SNR Denton earnings up 38pc June 19, 2012 CITY law firm SNR Denton said yesterday that cost cutting and strategic changes had helped it increase profits by 38 per cent in 2011-12, as profits per partner (PEP) rose by 48 per cent to £350,000. Though overall revenues dipped by six per cent compared to last year, the latest figures mark a significant change [...]
RBS axes financial planner jobs as cuts under Hester hit 36,000 June 19, 2012 STATE-BACKED lender Royal Bank of Scotland is making more than 600 staff redundant as a result of legislation due to come into force at the end of the year, bringing total staff reductions at the bank since its 2008 bailout to around 36,000. RBS, 82 per cent owned by the government, said the jobs would [...]
Walgreens puts on its Boots to look for profit overseas June 19, 2012 HAS Walgreens just secured exclusive rights to the elixir of youth? By joining forces with Alliance Boots, the US pharmacist gains the UK high street stalwart’s No7 Protect & Perfect anti-ageing cream, made famous by a BBC Horizon episode in 2007 and a clinical trial supporting its effectiveness in 2009. That’s a handy flourish on [...]
ADVISERS June 19, 2012 RICHARD GIRLING CENTERVIEW PARTNERS WALGREENS’ purchase of Alliance Boots involved two very different firms: Goldman Sachs and Centerview Partners. On this side of the Atlantic it represents an impressive coup for Centerview’s Richard Girling, a sector specialist who holds an MA in biochemistry from Oxford University. He helped set up Merrill Lynch’s European healthcare business in the [...]
