Torrid summer boosts LSE September 29, 2011 LONDON Stock Exchange chief Xavier Rolet highlighted the group’s diversification agenda yesterday as he said equity trading volumes were up 12 per cent due to the market turmoil over the past five months. The LSE Group made £190.2m in revenues in the three months to the end of June, 14 per cent higher than a [...]
Citi set to return cash to shareholders, says Pandit September 29, 2011 CITIGROUP chief executive Vikram Pandit said he expects to return significant amounts of capital to shareholders over the next two years. Pandit, speaking in Singapore on an emerging markets push, also said the bank will begin to see benefits of its Asian investment, 85 per cent of which has been in retail banking. “By the [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW IS CURRENT MARKET VOLATILITY AFFECTING ICAP? September 29, 2011 JAMES HAMILTON | NUMIS We believe its earnings are protected from the ravages of declining equity markets and weakening economic environment. Given that the volatility is driven by structural debt and competitiveness problems, we do not see either an easy or quick solution, so believe Icap will continue to benefit. SARAH ING | SINGER CAPITAL [...]
…while Icap eyes London metal bourse September 29, 2011 ICAP has emerged as a contender in the race to buy the London Metals Exchange (LME), after its chief executive Michael Spencer said he was “very, very interested” to learn it was up for sale. Spencer said the LME was a “very good business” and pledged to “do a bit of research and give it [...]
Global IPO proceeds slump to 2009 lows as investors lose appetite for risk September 29, 2011 GLOBAL IPO activity fell off a cliff in the third quarter as extreme volatility in capital markets collided with low summer trading volumes, Renaissance Capital said yesterday. The 55 global IPOs floated in the three months to September raised just $19bn (£12bn), the lowest since the second quarter of 2009 and almost a 60 per [...]
Santander chief expects three year chill on profits September 29, 2011 SPANISH bank Santander expects it will take three years for profits to return to normal as higher regulatory and funding costs bite while the credit cycle gradually improves. The Eurozone’s biggest bank expects its return on equity (RoE) to improve by between three and six percentage points over the next three years and sees profits [...]
Commodities on track for dire quarter September 29, 2011 COMMODITIES, which are on course to close on their worst quarter since 2008 amid concerns over a global slowdown, gained some breathing space yesterday after the German parliament backed plans to expand the Eurozone’s bailout fund. Copper – often seen as a bell-weather for economic growth – as well as other industrial metals have been [...]
BlackRock mulls takeover bid for Axa Private Equity September 29, 2011 BLACKROCK is among a host of global buyout funds considering a bid for the private equity arm of Axa. The world’s largest money manager by assets could make an offer of around £300m, but has not got as far as opening talks, City A.M. understands. French insurer Axa confirmed on Wednesday that it had begun [...]
Possible bidders eye insurance arm of HSBC September 29, 2011 GERMAN life insurer Allianz and French giant AXA are among potential bidders for HSBC’s non-life insurance division, which could fetch more than $1bn (£640.7m) when sold, sources said yesterday. HSBC has sent out information memorandums to potential bidders for the sale of its non-life insurance business, as its chief executive Stuart Gulliver streamlines the bank [...]
Levene’s bank confirms bid for Lloyds arm September 29, 2011 LORD Levene’s British bank venture NBNK confirmed yesterday it had put in a formal bid for the 632 branches that Lloyds Banking Group is selling, with the amount on the table believed to be around £1.5bn. The NBNK offer is the only formal bid for the Lloyds’ branches so far, with Hugh Osmond’s Sun Capital [...]
