A tale of two property developers January 25, 2012 BUILD it and they will come. That was the mantra which underpinned speculative developments during the boom years. These days it’s more like “show me the tenants and I’ll show you the money”. Without a confirmed pre-let, it’s awfully difficult for smaller developers to get funding, hence why work on the so-called Helter Skelter has [...]
Citi cuts put London bank jobs at risk January 25, 2012 CITIGROUP is considering further cuts to its securities and banking division, raising the prospect of more redundancies at its London offices. The bank’s finance chief John Gerspach told investors that losses in the division were “disappointing and unacceptable” and that the firm is “not oblivious to the fact that our cost structure cannot be justified [...]
Revenues fall 15 per cent at broker Charles Stanley January 25, 2012 INVESTMENT manager Charles Stanley has suffered a drop in revenue from £32.2m to £27.3m for the three months to 31 December. The 15.5 per cent decrease was largely a result of low trade volumes, which meant commission income fell from £16.6m to £10.6m. The firm managed to boost fee income by 5.8 per cent to [...]
3i spin-off still upbeat despite market gloom January 25, 2012 THE HEAD of 3i Infrastructure yesterday opened the way to spending more cash despite the chill gripping the deals market. Cressida Hogg, managing partner, said the firm is “developing the investment pipeline for the coming months”. It also said its portfolio is “performing well” and delivering a good yield. The firm reported a cash balance [...]
Bankers bid for €50m in bonus battle January 25, 2012 GERMAN investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort scrapped plans to pay €50m (£42m) in bonuses to its London traders even though the City regulator had been “breathing down its neck” over the loss of staff, a court has heard. Bankers were jumping ship to Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Unicredit/HVB and the Financial Services Authority had become concerned [...]
Goodwin’s gong under threat from civil servants as pressure grows on Hester January 25, 2012 A KEY Whitehall committee will meet this week to discuss whether Sir Fred Goodwin should be stripped of his knighthood, David Cameron has said. The Honours Forfeiture Committee will consider “all of the evidence”, the Prime Minister said yesterday. The evidence will include the FSA’s damning report on the near-collapse of Royal Bank of Scotland. [...]
FORMER LLOYDS BOSS ERIC DANIELS JOINS STORMHARBOUR January 25, 2012 ERIC Daniels, the former group chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, is joining StormHarbour as principal and senior adviser with immediate effect. Daniels, who retired from Lloyds a year ago, has the highest profile yet of any of the professionals that have joined the independent boutique investment bank, which was formed early in 2009. Picture: REX
How Project Beetle sent a City rain maker and a US fund manager scuttling January 25, 2012 PROJECT Beetle was the name used for a £350m fund-raising in 2009 that led to a critical reduction in Punch Taverns’ £4bn debt pile. Those who worked on the ultimately successful transaction, which included bankers from Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) and Goldman Sachs, and lawyers from Slaughter & May, had every reason to [...]
Wall crossing at centre of FSA’s probe January 25, 2012 THE PUNCH Taverns case hinges on the interpretation of a term used by investment bankers: wall crossing. A company or one of its advisers will ask a shareholder to wall cross for the purposes of marketing a deal to them, like an acquisition or a fund-raising. If a shareholder agrees to be wall crossed it [...]
CITY INVESTORS TAKE STOCK OF SMALL-CAP SUCCESS STORIES January 25, 2012 FORGET the FTSE 100 – it’s the companies further down the stock market that will lift the country of recession, says Grant Thornton partner Philip Secrett, who last night called on the government to abolish stamp duty for Aim- and Plus-listed firms. Secrett was addressing a roomful of the City’s small-cap businesses, the fund managers [...]
