February will need a new set of equity buyers January 29, 2012 NEW buyers, please. One month down, 11 to go. It has been a nice January so far for most of the long equity brigade, with markets putting in a respectable performance. The problems are the same that have blighted the upside momentum for the past two years. Already I hear some of the smart money [...]
New SNB chief to be named soon January 29, 2012 The new Swiss National Bank chief could be named in February after the resignation of chairman Philipp Hildebrand earlier this month, a Swiss newspaper said yesterday. Finance minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said finding a successor could take until May, but Der Sonntag reported that the announcement could come as early as February.
Costa wreck could sit for months January 29, 2012 The wreck of the cruise ship Costa Concordia could remain where it lies near the Tuscan island of Giglio until the end of the year before it can be broken up or salvaged, the official in charge of the recovery operation said yesterday. Civil Protection agency chief Franco Gabrielli said that it could be another [...]
House prices stagnate as activity stalls January 29, 2012 HOUSE prices have stagnated under the weight of economic troubles, according to two separate studies released this morning. The average price of a British home fell by one per cent in December leaving prices virtually unchanged through last year, as recorded by an aggregate of several price surveys. And a new report from Hometrack says [...]
Campaigners angered as 400 are prosecuted over census January 29, 2012 FOUR hundred people are being prosecuted for refusing to complete last year’s government census, according to a group that objected to the survey. Outsourcing part of the census to Lockheed Martin UK – a British wing of an American arms manufacturer – provoked opposition from pacifist campaigners. Activist group Count Me Out says that the [...]
Carrefour puts Plassat at top January 29, 2012 THE board of Carrefour last night approved the appointment of retail veteran Georges Plassat at the helm of the world’s second-largest retailer following months of turmoil, a source close to the matter said. Plassat, 62, head of private-equity backed retailer Vivarte, replaces Lars Olofsson, who had been living on borrowed time after a string of [...]
Merger plan to save Fondiaria January 29, 2012 ITALIAN insurer Unipol said yesterday it has agreed a four-way merger plan to rescue insurance company Fondiaria-SAI with its parent company Premafin. Under the planned deal, which also includes Fondiaria’s unit Milano Assicurazioni, Unipol would launch a capital increase of up to €1.1bn (£924m), Unipol said in a statement. Unipol said it expected the four-way [...]
London trails behind rest of UK for 3G January 29, 2012 LONDONERS are some of the most poorly connected urbanites in the UK, with 23 other main British cities receiving faster mobile internet speeds than the capital, according to a uSwitch survey. Of the 30 largest UK cities by population, Portsmouth tops the chart with an average download speed of 3.554 Megabits per second (Mbps) – [...]
G4S poised to replace bankers January 29, 2012 SECURITY group G4S is set to replace its corporate advisers and brokers this week after it failed to buy Danish cleaning company ISS. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Jefferies and Citi will be among those pitching to replace Deutsche as corporate advisor and broker and Hoare Govett as broker, with Deutsche expected to [...]
Hands set to buy garden centres January 29, 2012 TERRA Firma, the private equity house owned by Guy Hands, is close to snapping up Garden Centre Group, it is understood. It is expected to enter exclusive talks later this week with the sellers, which include Lloyds Banking Group. The deal is said to value the business at around £300m. Formerly called Wyevale, GCG delivered [...]
