Government accused over fuel fear March 29, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT was accused of being “totally irresponsible” yesterday, after its response to the threatened strike by tanker drivers stoked a run on petrol supplies. Although 2,000 truckers have voted to strike for better pay and conditions no dates for any action have yet been set and they must give seven days’ notice before any walkout. But [...]
Treasury: we were unprepared to deal with the financial crisis March 29, 2012 THE TREASURY was severely unprepared and ill-equipped to deal with the financial crisis, according to a damning internal report it published yesterday. The core government department was too reliant on inexperienced staff – who had an average age of 32 – and appeared to be working under the assumption that a financial crash was not [...]
Stansted baggage handlers set to strike over Easter weekend March 29, 2012 PASSENGERS using Stansted airport may face travel chaos over the Easter period after baggage handlers voted to press ahead with strike action next weekend. Around 150 employees of Swissport – who provide luggage services to airlines including Ryanair, Monarch and Thomas Cook – are set to strike for four hours on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and [...]
Co-op chief concedes Lloyds deal is in doubt March 29, 2012 THE chief executive of the Co-operative Group has admitted its planned takeover of 632 Lloyds branches could collapse, but launched a fierce defence of the mutual’s ability to run a bank. Peter Marks said the Co-op will decide in “weeks rather than months” whether to go ahead with the £1bn-£1.5bn deal but declined to say [...]
Queen’s reign over after 25 years at 3i March 29, 2012 SHARES in 3i jumped almost three per cent yesterday on hopes of a more aggressive strategy after Michael Queen announced he would stand down as chief executive. The stock closed 5.7p higher as analysts said “fresh blood” could be good for 3i, Britain’s oldest private equity firm and the owner of stakes in architecture firm [...]
City rainmaker with taste for drama could be leading man March 29, 2012 THE hiring of Greenhill & Co chairman Simon Borrows in July was seen as a coup for 3i. Now, less than nine months later, the City rainmaker could be on the verge of taking over from Michael Queen. Borrows, currently 3i’s chief investment officer, has advised some of Britain’s biggest companies, including G4S, Tesco, Informa, Inchcape and [...]
FSA warns City over failure on bribery control March 29, 2012 A NUMBER of City firms face fines from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for failing to sufficiently tighten their safeguards against bribery and corruption. The regulator yesterday warned that nearly half of the banks it visited failed to mitigate their risks adequately and it is considering further action against “certain firms”. It carried out spot checks on [...]
Arden gets offer to go private March 29, 2012 SMALL company broker Arden Partners has received a £9m bid approach from a former director, as tough market conditions spur consolidation among many of the UK’s smaller investment banks. Arden said former non-executive director Grahame Whateley had made a preliminary cash offer of 37p per share for Arden, representing a one-pence premium to the company’s [...]
AnaCap snaps up IFG arm for £70m March 29, 2012 IRISH financial services group IFG has sold its international division to private equity fund manager AnaCap for £70m. The division, which offers trustee and corporate services in countries including Jersey, Cyprus and Switzerland, has gross assets of £64m and represented £8m of IFG’s 2011 adjusted operating profit of £22.6m. IFG will hold an extraordinary general [...]
GDF in $9.5bn International Power swoop March 29, 2012 FRENCH energy giant GDF Suez yesterday made a $9.5bn (£5.9bn) offer for the 30 per cent of International Power that it does not already own. The non binding offer is at 390p a share for the FTSE 100-listed UK firm. GDF Suez is now required by market regulations to either announce a firm intention to [...]
