BG considers $2bn gas sale March 7, 2012 British gas producer BG Group is offering up to a 20 per cent stake in its Queensland natural gas liquefaction facilities as it seeks to expand the $15bn project. BG will undertake a global roadshow to attract bidders for the 15-20 per cent stake, which could be valued at around $2bn based on past transactions. [...]
More banks join Facebook’s IPO March 7, 2012 Facebook added 25 banks to help underwrite the company’s initial public offering (IPO), meaning most of Wall Street will have a role in the share sale, according to an amended IPO filing last night. The new banks, including Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, increase the number of underwriters on the deal to 31, the [...]
Cameron: I’ll fight to keep Pru in UK March 7, 2012 DAVID Cameron has claimed he is “working extremely hard” to mitigate the impact of new European rules for insurers that could force the Prudential to quit London for Hong Kong. The Prime Minister said the so-called “Solvency II” rules were a “good example of ill thought-out EU legislation endangering a great British business that should [...]
Lawyers: Removing pension tax relief will hit savers twice March 7, 2012 LAWYERS and pension funds yesterday hit out at proposals to remove tax relief from high-earners’ pension contributions, arguing it would be unfair and overly complicated. Removing the relief on employee contributions for those earning over £150,000 a year could be a tempting move for the government, raising around £8bn per year for the Treasury. However, [...]
Deutsche plans reshuffle in investment banking March 7, 2012 DEUTSCHE Bank is shaking up its top management to give investment banking and emerging markets more prominence, and will oust risk officer Hugo Baenziger, two sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. It will elevate US banker William Broeksmit, currently head of risk at the corporate and investment bank, to its seven-member management board as [...]
US Federal Reserve is considering new methods of quantitative easing March 7, 2012 US FEDERAL Reserve officials are considering a new approach to bond buying that aims to avoid fuelling inflation. The Fed is considering new ways to buy bonds in order to boost growth. One possibility is that it could borrow back the money it used to buy those bonds for short periods of time at low [...]
Asian defence spending booms March 7, 2012 Asian military spending will top that of Europe in 2012 for the first time in centuries, a global defence survey said yesterday, pointing to high regional economic growth and an increasingly ambitious China. The International Institute for Strategic Studies said US military spending was also falling with withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan – although Washington’s [...]
US to offload $6bn AIG shares March 7, 2012 The US Treasury yesterday revealed plans to sell $6bn of American International Group (AIG) shares and struck another deal for the insurer to pay down $8.5bn more in obligations, in a bid to hasten its unwinding. AIG said the agreement would allow it to pay down what it owed in a special purpose vehicle, AIA Aurora, [...]
Treasury cool on Cable state bank policy March 7, 2012 TREASURY sources talked down the idea of a state-owned business bank yesterday as Vince Cable appeared to row back from the idea in a speech at Mansion House. A treasury source told City A.M. that the creation of a wholly publicly owned bank that channels cheap funds into small business (SME) is “not going to [...]
HSBC sells non-core insurance units to AXA for over $900m March 7, 2012 HSBC has agreed to sell its general insurance businesses to French insurer AXA Group and Australia’s QBE Insurance Group for $914m (£580m) in cash, as Europe’s biggest bank moves ahead with its plan to divest non-core assets. HSBC’s decision to exit the business could be a precursor to similar deals as lenders globally consider selling [...]
