Helicopter company is latest Russian to seek London float April 12, 2011 STATE controlled JSC Russian Helicopters yesterday confirmed its intention to raise $500m (£308m) in a joint flotation in London and Moscow. The offering is expected to consist of the sale of existing shares, primarily by the firm’s major shareholder Oboronprom, as well as up to $250m of primary shares in the form of Global Depository [...]
MEET THE ADVISERS April 12, 2011 BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH BANK of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) is joint global coordinator and joint bookrunner on the IPO of Russian Helicopters, alongside BNP Paribas and VTB Capital. Leading the team is Riccardo Orcel, BofAML head of CEEMEA corporate & investment banking. Riccardo is the brother of Andrea Orcel, BoAML’s head of emerging [...]
MAM Funds increases profits as it starts on the road to recovery April 12, 2011 FUND management firm MAM Funds showed it was on the road to recovery yesterday, with a 39 per cent increase in pre-tax profits in its preliminary results for the year to 31 December 2010. The firm, which had suffered at the hands of the financial crash, increased pre-tax profits to £4.4bn, on revenues of £20.4m. [...]
Alliance hits back at Laxey April 12, 2011 EMBATTLED investment firm Alliance Trust reported a 16 per cent rise in net asset value in 2010 and raised its dividend as it rallied support for its battle with activist investors yesterday. Net asset value reached a three-year high of 439p per share by the end of January, almost 17 per cent more than its [...]
Break-up for National Express looms as Elliott gains support April 12, 2011 TRANSPORT Group National Express edged closer to being broken up yesterday after an activist investor claimed a crucial shareholder supported its cause. Hedge fund Elliott Advisors, now the largest shareholder with 17.5 per cent of National Express, said it expected second-biggest investor the Cosmen family to vote for its bid to add three new directors [...]
A new man to bear the Southern Cross April 12, 2011 TROUBLED healthcare group Southern Cross has appointed a new chairman, the second reshuffle within the company’s top ranks in just three weeks. Ray Miles, who was chairman of the group for three years, has been replaced by Chris Fisher (right), as the company continues its restructuring. Fisher has over 25 years experience in investment banking. [...]
Fighting talk signals time is running out April 12, 2011 “THE fight starts today”. Stirring words from Alliance Trust chief executive Katherine Garrett-Cox yesterday, but is the hyperbole justified? Management has launched a series of rather overblown arguments against Laxey’s demands, resisting a buyback commitment once its shares slip below a 10 per cent discount to net asset value. It’s what (some) shareholders want but [...]
Japan nuclear crisis deepens April 12, 2011 THE NUCLEAR crisis in Japan was yesterday upgraded to the maximum level of severity, on a par with the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. The problems centred around the Fukushima Daiichi plant are now classed as “a major release of radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects”, the International Atomic Energy Agency said yesterday. The [...]
Internet Explorer: the best known browser but not most popular April 12, 2011 Arecent addition to BrandIndex has been internet browsers and the data tells us an interesting story about how the dominance of Internet Explorer is not matched by perceptions of it. If we take the impression measure and look at total impressions – i.e., people expressing both positive and negative views – we can see that [...]
Omega expects £25m losses so far this year April 12, 2011 CATASTROPHES in the first three months of 2011 are expected to cause losses of $40.7m (£25m) Lloyd’s insurer Omega Insurance, said yesterday. Omega believes losses from Japan’s dual earthquake and tsunami catastrophes will reach $23.6m, but stressed that the “significant uncertainty surrounding the total market loss of this event” meant it was hard to assess [...]
