Why crises are good news for the EU June 2, 2011 THERE are two kinds of organisations: those that are rewarded for failure with more power and greater budgets, including most regulators, and those that are punished for their mistakes, including private firms operating in a real free-market with no bailouts. The European Union is very much in the first camp. The proposal yesterday by the [...]
News Corp closes on deal June 2, 2011 RUPERT Murdoch’s News Corp has agreed a deal with regulators to buy the remaining shares it does not own of British Sky Broadcasting. Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, the minister with responsibility for the merger decision, will call a second, one-week consultation process. He will then decide whether to refer the deal to the Competition Commission [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 2, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES LIBYA BET $1BN ON SOCGEN SHARES Société Générale structured a $1bn bet on its own shares for Libya’s sovereign wealth fund after the Jérôme Kerviel fraud, the Financial Times has learnt.Documents seen by the FT show the transaction – the Libyan Investment Authority’s biggest investment in five years – had lost 72 per [...]
Chevron UK plant fire kills two June 2, 2011 A major explosion at Chevron’s oil refinery in Pembroke, Wales, has killed at least two people and injured more, according to local reports. The plant, which Chevron agreed to sell to Valero Energy for $1.7bn (£1bn) in March, was at the heart of an explosion and subsequent fire yesterday afternoon that was put out by [...]
Sony websites hacked again June 2, 2011 Sony suffered fresh hacking misery yesterday when the servers for its Sony Pictures Entertainment websites were accessed, compromising the personal details of more than 1m customers.
Templeman to head retail body June 2, 2011 Debenhams chief executive Rob Templeman will be announced today as the new head of UK’s leading retail industry body, the British Retail Consortium. He will replace Luke Mayhew, current chairman, in the autumn of this year. Templeman led high street giant Debenhams through its IPO in 2006, and was previously head of Halfords Group, Homebase [...]
Goldman files subpoenaed by prosecutor June 2, 2011 GOLDMAN Sachs yesterday admitted that it has been subpoenaed by the Manhattan district attorney as part of a US probe into wrongdoing during the financial crisis. The news caused its shares to plunge 3.4 per cent initially, with its peers Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase dropping 1.9 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively [...]
Buyout group fights back in care home crisis row June 2, 2011 THE PRIVATE equity industry yesterday hit back at claims it was responsible for Britain’s care home crisis. US private equity firm Blackstone, which owned Southern Cross from 2004 to 2006, has been criticised for the care home operators’ financial woes. But the British Venture Capital Association (BVCA) defended the firm yesterday, saying the accusations were “based [...]
Seven in UK hit by E.coli June 2, 2011 FOUR more Brits have been infected with a new and deadly form of E.coli, which has killed 18 people across Europe and made thousands more ill. The new infections, which were confirmed by the Health Protection Agency yesterday, bring the total number of British cases to seven. Of those, three have been contaminated with the [...]
Amnesty for asylum seekers as 160,000 immigrants stay June 2, 2011 A DAMNING report has accused the government of presiding over an immigration system that amounts to an “amnesty” for asylum seekers. The influential commons home affairs select committee report said it was clear that the UK Border Agency (UKBA) was “still not fit for purpose”, despite attempts to bolster Britain’s migration controls. Figures show that [...]
