Avon calls on McCoy to be its new chief exec April 9, 2012 COSMETICS company Avon yesterday named Johnson & Johnson executive Sherilyn McCoy as its new chief executive, ending a four-month outside search for a fresh face to refocus the company and turn around sales at home and abroad. The news comes a week after the world’s largest direct seller of cosmetics rejected a $10bn (£6.3bn) takeover [...]
LLOYDS TO SLIM SAVOY DEBT EXPOSURE April 9, 2012 LLOYDS will shrink its exposure to the growing debt of London’s luxury Savoy Hotel in its new round of refinancing this year. It is understood that when the hotel seeks to roll over £230m of its debt following an expensive refurbishment, it is planning to tap up a syndicate of investors rather than going back [...]
Brasserie Bar wins £6m injection April 9, 2012 Brasserie Bar Co, the restaurant group fronted by celebrity chef Raymond Blanc has secured a £6m facility from Barclays to fund its expansion. The company, which recently acquired eight former Chez Gerard sites, plans to grow its French eatery chain Brasserie Blanc from 11 to 19 restaurants by the end of the year and a [...]
Hedgie boost in the first quarter April 9, 2012 Hedge funds enjoyed their best quarter since 2006 at the beginning of the year, according to the Hennessee group of advisers. Hennessee announced yesterday that its hedge fund index was up 0.6 per cent in March, although funds still “lagged equity markets as managers were conservatively positioned”, the group said.
The man with the Big Four in his sights April 9, 2012 THERE is much that separates BDO, Britain’s number six accountancy firm, from the so-called Big Four. One of the lesser known differences is that Simon Michaels, the managing partner of BDO, didn’t go to university, instead taking a training place at the accountant immediately after his A-Levels in 1987. It certainly hasn’t held him back. [...]
Dubai Duty Free picks banks for $1.1bn loan deal April 9, 2012 AIRPORT retailer Dubai Duty Free has mandated banks for a $1.1bn (£692m) multi-tranche loan facility to help fund the expansion of Dubai’s international airport, the company said in a statement yesterday. Citibank along with Dubai Islamic, HSBC and Emirates NBD have been hired to arrange and coordinate the debut international transaction, the company said in [...]
KSL Corp has another bite at Great Wolf April 9, 2012 PRIVATE equity firm KSL Corp has raised its bid for Great Wolf Resorts by 12 per cent to $234m (£147m) as it works to top rival buyout group Apollo Global Management in their battle to acquire North America’s largest operator of indoor water parks. Great Wolf said it had received an unsolicited letter from KSL [...]
Mervyn’s magical money machine April 9, 2012 ROBERT Chote, chief of the Office of Budgetary Responsibility, recently revealed his – and the Treasury’s – favoured means of estimating the chances of a Eurozone breakup: looking up the odds on William Hill (it’s a 1/5 shot against, by the way). But there is another burning question on bankers’ lips: who is going to [...]
MY SUBWAY’S BIGGER THAN YOURS April 9, 2012 THEY might look like webs woven by confused spiders, but these strange squiggles are in fact to-scale maps of subways systems in global cities, as drawn by graphic artist Neil Freeman. But can you guess which name matches which scribble? London, second from the left, and New York, to its right, should be easy. And [...]
OLYMPIC MEDIA BUZZ LONDON 2012 PARTNERS April 9, 2012 IN ASSOCIATION with Repskan.com, City A.M. is measuring the relative Olympic media buzz around the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games partners, week by week. The leaderboard, right, reflects their ranking over the past week, in this case from Wednesday 28 March to Wednesday 4 April. British Airways has had a bumper Olympic news week, [...]
