Lawsuit sinks Henderson shares December 7, 2011 Shares in asset manager Henderson Group dropped 3.4 per cent to 114p yesterday, after sinking to 112p during the day, after it was revealed a group of pension funds is suing the firm over the handling of its investment in construction firm John Laing in 2006. The group is thought to include the BBC, Tesco [...]
BP hit by new Gulf spill censure December 7, 2011 The US offshore drilling safety agency yesterday slapped five more citations on BP for its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year. The new citations, which BP plans to appeal, mean the oil giant faces fines of up to $35,000 a day per incident. They focus on the failure to conduct an accurate [...]
Texas and Bahrain keep F1 races December 7, 2011 FORMULA ONE: Next season’s calendar will include races in Bahrain and the United States, despite ongoing doubts about the two dates. Civil unrest continues to jeopardise the Bahrain Grand Prix, due to take place in April, while a deal for November race in Texas remains in the balance after the initial agreement was scrapped. The [...]
Lone Star top of bid list for Lloyds £1bn property debt December 7, 2011 PRIVATE equity firm Lone Star is the preferred bidder for Lloyds Banking Group’s £1bn Project Royal portfolio of UK commercial property debt, one source familiar with the matter said. A deal between Lloyds and Lone Star has yet to be signed, the source said. Lone Star’s bid is understood to have been backed by about [...]
McIlroy ‘more gifted than Tiger’ December 7, 2011 GOLF: English world No1 Luke Donald has branded Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy “more talented” than 14-time Major winner Tiger Woods. Donald is aiming to fend off US Open champion McIlroy’s late charge to pip him to the European Tour title at the Dubai World Championships, which tees off this morning. “In terms of talent I [...]
Banks buy own debt to raise new capital December 7, 2011 EUROPEAN banks are turning to buying back their own debt in order to raise some of the billions in extra capital required by regulators. At least six major banks have launched debt buybacks in the last two weeks and investment bankers say more are likely. Barclays announced the repurchase of £2.5bn of its own debt [...]
ING to book up to €1.1bn US insurance cost December 7, 2011 DUTCH insurer and banking group ING said it would take a charge of up to €1.1bn (£942m) on a US insurance portfolio yesterday and may exclude the business from its planned insurance listings. ING plans to list its insurance and investment management operations in two IPOs as part of European Commission approval for state aid [...]
VINCE CABLE CALLS FOR FAIR EXEC PAY December 7, 2011 Business secretary Vince Cable yesterday firmly backed the Association of British Insurers in its bid to curtail top pay packages. In a letter sent to top investors and FTSE 100 chairmen, he widened the focus on bank bosses and urged all big companies to make sure their top execs’ deals “are not just proportionate, fair [...]
Citi slashes thousands of jobs globally December 7, 2011 CITIGROUP is to cut 4,500 jobs globally, with its London capital markets division shedding dozens of staff. Speaking in New York late on Tuesday, chief executive Vikram Pandit said that the bank has already made $1.4bn in savings this year but needs to respond to slow markets by reducing costs further. City A.M. understands that [...]
Barclays scales back £1bn retail presence in India December 7, 2011 BARCLAYS said yesterday it has decided not to book new retail loans in India, while maintaining its deposit business as part of a restructuring to focus on its corporate banking, wealth management and investment banking businesses. UK-based Barclays plans to sell its retail loan book of more than $580m (£369m) in the next six months [...]
