Sands gets grip on higher costs June 28, 2011 WHEN Peter Sands unveiled Standard Charter’s full-year results in March, he said the bank was engaged in a “war for talent”. The demand for top flight bankers who can speak Cantonese or Mandarin is higher than ever, and StanChart is having to fight both HSBC and local rivals to sign the best staff. As the [...]
Directors at Rank resign June 28, 2011 BRITISH bingo and casino operator Rank Group said its chief executive and finance director both quit yesterday over the £586m bid approach by Guoco, the investment group run by Malaysian billionaire Quek Leng Chan. Ian Burke, chief executive and Paddy Gallagher, finance director stepped down a day after the board changed its recommendation yet again [...]
VOICE OF THE CITY June 28, 2011 Our readers’ panel with PoliticsHome.com lets you have your say on politics and the City. To answer the above question and more, including your views on whether the ongoing war in Libya is being handled correctly, apply to join at www.cityam.com/panel. You could be in with the chance of winning a free luxury weekend to [...]
Discount IPO for PhosAgro June 28, 2011 RUSSIAN fertiliser producer PhosAgro has priced its joint London and Moscow share sale at a deep discount, as it looks to raise up to $500m (£312m). The phosphate fertiliser firm has set a price range of $13 to $16.50 per global depository receipt (GDR), valuing the company at as much as $6.1bn. The listing price [...]
Vodafone ready to seal £1bn sale of its stake in Polish telco June 28, 2011 VODAFONE will complete the sale of its Polish assets by the end of this week, City A.M. has learned. It is understood the 24.4 per cent stake in Poland’s Polkomtel will be worth in the region of £1bn. Tycoon Zygmunt Solorz-Zak is understood to be ready to seal a deal to buy Polkomtel worth in [...]
Hiscox sees disaster losses above £200m June 28, 2011 LLOYD’S insurer Hiscox dismayed investors yesterday as it admitted its catastrophe losses for the first half of this year would be in excess of £200m. Hiscox’s shares closed 1.6 per cent lower after it said it would hold close to $150m (£94m) in reserves, at the top end of its estimated range, against claims from [...]
JLT takes majority stake in Chilean firm in an effort to add global reach June 28, 2011 INSURANCE broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson agreed to buy a controlling stake in Chile’s fourth-biggest broker yesterday in a bid to strengthen its presence in the fast-growing Latin America region. JLT will buy 50.1 per cent of Alta, the holding company of Orbital Corredores de Seguros, a broker that has been a member of its international [...]
Insurance stocks jitter as Goldman reviews ratings June 28, 2011 SHARES in the UK’s biggest life insurers moved significantly yesterday after stockbroker Goldman Sachs published a review of the companies’ ratings. Its analysis concluded that a massive upswing in demand for financial protection would not benefit listed life insurers as new alternatives such as the government-sponsored National Employment Savings Trust would grab market share. “Worryingly, [...]
Investors heed the broker’s wisdom June 28, 2011 Life insurance consolidator Resolution was the biggest faller on the FTSE 100 this morning after Goldman Sachs cut its rating to a “sell”, saying it was “effectively a shrinking business with little chance of significant uplift to cash generation”. It took most of the morning for traders to buy back in, but Standard Life took [...]
AXA bans use of referral fees June 28, 2011 AXA UK yesterday banned the practice of accepting referral fees from personal injury lawyers when its customers contacted them after an accident. AXA UK, the subsidiary of the French insurance giant, said it never sold customer details to claims firms but would stop accepting any fees from accident management firms and called for all UK [...]
