Minmetals out of Equinox race April 26, 2011 CHINA’S Minmetals Resources bowed out of the battle for copper miner Equinox Minerals yesterday, saying Barrick Gold’s C$7.3bn (£4.65bn) bid was too rich to justify a counter-offer. Canada’s Barrick, the world’s largest gold miner, announced its agreed deal for Equinox on Monday, seeking to tap surging demand from China and other developing economies that has [...]
Emerging markets help Air Liquide beat forecasts April 26, 2011 INDUSTRIAL gases maker Air Liquide has posted a better-than-expected 12.4 per cent rise in its first-quarter profit thanks to buoyant growth in developing economies and kept its forecast for net profit growth this year. The French industrial gases maker said yesterday that the number of contracts signed in the quarter continued at a strong pace [...]
Aegon sells reinsurance unit to Scor to help pay off its outstanding state aid April 26, 2011 FRENCH reinsurer Scor is to pay $913m (£554.6m) for most of Dutch insurer Aegon’s Transamerica Reinsurance operations, to make it the second largest life reinsurer in the US. Aegon, which has been winding down and selling operations after requiring state aid at the height of the credit crisis in 2008, said yesterday the disposal would [...]
Angel Trains refinances its debt to drive growth April 26, 2011 ANGEL Trains, which leases locomotives and rolling stock in the UK, has completed a long-term debt refinancing programme worth almost £1m. The final part of the group’s debt rescheduling was completed by a loan agreement which included a five-year £450m facility and a £400m seven-year facility, organised through its subsidiary The Great Rolling Stock Company. [...]
OFFICE SPACE FALLS TO PRE-LEHMAN LEVELS April 26, 2011 AVAILABILITY of office space in central London has fallen to 16.7m square feet, its lowest level since September 2008, according to research by real estate and property service firm Knight Frank.” This is a a quarter-on-quarter fall of nine per cent and a fall of 18 per cent over the last 12 months, leaving a [...]
Domino Printing buys US stake April 26, 2011 Britain’s Domino Printing Sciences said yesterday that it would pay $50m (£30.4m) in cash for a 15 per cent stake in a new US-based company to expand its footprint in the egg industry. Domino, whose printers are used for stamping barcodes and best-before dates on food and other products, would form the company with privately [...]
Hochschild halts San Jose mine April 26, 2011 Latin American precious metal producer Hochschild Mining said yesterday that production had been halted at its core San Jose mine in Argentina because of industrial action by workers. Hochschild, which holds a 51 per cent stake in the San Jose joint venture, said the mine had stopped production due to a strike initiated by the [...]
Losses up at Argos Resources April 26, 2011 Falkland-focused oil discovery company Argos Resources yesterday reported pre-tax losses of $309,000 (£187,600) for the year to the end of December – up from $175,000 at the same time last year. The firm also said that it has cash and cash equivalents of $32.1m compared with $447,000 last time. It said that it expects to [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 26, 2011 IMS Group The regulatory compliance provider has strengthened its consultancy offering following the acquisition of compliance consultancy MMS in February. Jonathan Mott joins as a consultant from the Financial Services Authority to work with a range of companies in the asset management and securities sector, including hedge fund managers and private equity firms. In addition, [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS April 26, 2011 HEINEKEN Citigroup maintains its “buy” rating on the brewer, but raises its target price from £46 to £47 after increasing its earnings-per-share forecast for 2011-13 by around two per cent. The broker expects organic growth of around three per cent following first-quarter results last week, when the company posted its strongest volume growth in three [...]
