Compass continues £140m acquisition spree with more European buyouts May 3, 2011 CATERING firm Compass Group yesterday announced the latest in a string of acquisitions of small food services businesses as part of its £140m overseas expansion plan. The firm said it will buy BGP Resurs, based in northern Sweden, for SEK16m (£1.6m). BGP posted revenues of 26.5m SEK in 2010. “The acquisition of BGP provides a [...]
Trustee for Thornburg Mortgage sues five of its banks for $2.2bn May 3, 2011 THE trustee for home loan provider Thornburg Mortgage is suing Goldman Sachs, Barclays and other banks for a total of $2.2bn (£1.3bn), blaming them for the company’s bankruptcy. The trustee filed four separate lawsuits, one of which blames a “collusive scheme” by units of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse and UBS [...]
IT’S BACK: APPRENTICE RETURNS WITH FRESH BAIT FOR LORD SUGAR May 3, 2011 THE STAKES are higher than ever on series seven of The Apprentice with more pressure, more risk and even more difficult challenges for the 16 hard-nosed contestants. Gripping viewing – but no-one will be watching the opening episode of this year’s series (next Tuesday) with more interest than the employees of Scottish & Southern Energy [...]
Economic optimism highest since last August May 3, 2011 THE latest Bloomberg/YouGov Household Economic Activity Tracker (HEAT) results released today show that optimism about the economy is at its highest level since August 2010, recovering from an all-time low of -36 in March (positive minus negative) to stand at -24 in April. This improvement is likely to have been driven by three main factors: [...]
Oz entrepreneur sells start-up to WorldPay May 3, 2011 LONDON-based entrepreneur Phil McGriskin (pictured) is set to sell his internet payment business Envoy Services to WorldPay, the global payments provider, in a deal believed to be worth £70m, just five years after launching it. Australian Phil McGriskin, 37, a surfing fanatic who moved to London in 1996, set up Envoy Services in 2006 with [...]
MEET THE ADVISERS May 3, 2011 ROTHSCHILD is advising Envoy Services on the offer from WorldPay, with Hedley Goldberg, managing director heading the team. Goldberg has led the Rothschild team advising Royal Bank of Scotland on the £925m sale of the Priory Group to Advent and advised Bridgepoint Capital on its £424m bid for Care UK. Goldberg joined Rothschild in 2001 [...]
Fall in sales at Pfizer as drug patents loom May 3, 2011 US PHARMA giant Pfizer yesterday reported lower-than-expected quarterly revenue on a decline in sales of its prescription drugs, exposing the risks the company faces if it were to it divest its better performing animal health, consumer products and nutritional products units. Sales of Pfizer’s core business of prescription drugs fell two per cent to $14.2bn [...]
Delays hit new insurer rules May 3, 2011 TIME is running out for the implementation of Solvency II, the new regulatory capital regime for insurance companies, according to accounting firm KPMG. The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) is required to supply proposals for the technical details of the regime by the end of this year, but has been repeatedly pushing back [...]
Experian pays $416m for the majority of Computec May 3, 2011 EXPERIAN, the Dublin-based credit information group, has agreed to buy a controlling stake in Computec, a leading Columbian credit services company, in an all cash deal valued at approximately $416m (£252m). Experian said yesterday morning that the acquisition will further strengthen its Latin American presence and build on its strong market position in Brazil. In [...]
Catastrophes put a dent in Hannover Re’s forecast May 3, 2011 REINSURANCE giant Hannover Re yesterday slashed its profit outlook for the year after a glut of expensive claims linked to the recent earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand. The downbeat news, largely expected by the market, saw the firm cut its net profit forecast from €650m to €500m (£585m to £450m) for the year, providing [...]
