Bankia to hive off its toxic assets April 6, 2011 BANKIA, Spain’s biggest savings bank, said yesterday it would create a bad bank for toxic assets such as repossessed land, ahead of a stock market listing expected later this year. Bankia, formed from seven regional banks including heavyweight Caja Madrid, said it would seek a stock market listing with a net book value of €12bn [...]
Japan relief plan to issue no debt April 6, 2011 THE Japanese government is planning to provide an additional three trillion yen (£21.4bn) to finance the country’s reconstruction without issuing new bond debt “to maintain market trust”, a blueprint for the budget said. To fund it, the government will use money previously assigned for basic pension benefits, as well as scrapping other premiums that were [...]
WHAT THE PAYBACK PLAN MEANS April 6, 2011 Q. How is Commerzbank arranging this? A. It is converting €2.75bn of the ‘silent participation’ non-voting stock held by the German government into ordinary shares, and asking investors to buy €8.25bn of new shares in different forms. Q. How will it be structured? A. The bank will offer investors conditional mandatory convertible notes (CoMEN), a [...]
Chime Group moves into sport April 6, 2011 Advertising business Chime Group yesterday announced that it has bought London-based sports marketing company Icon, whose customers include football regulation bodies FIFA and UEFA, for £11m ($17.7m). The transaction will be financed by a vendor placing of £7.15m and cash placing of £5.1m at 260p a share. The group is also in talks to buy [...]
Shire files to block infringement April 6, 2011 Biopharmaceutical company Shire has filed a lawsuit for patent infringement and breach of contract against their US rival Watson Pharmaceuticals which intends to produce generic versions of the Aderall XR drug before its patent expires. The lawsuit follows Watson’s new drug application with the US Food and Drug Administration to market generic versions of Aderall [...]
India blow for Cairn-Vedanta April 6, 2011 CAIRN ENERGY’S £5.9bn deal to sell most of its Indian business to Vedanta suffered another setback yesterday when the Indian government referred the deal to a panel of ministers for further scrutiny. The Indian cabinet unanimously said the royalties related to the deal need to be looked at before the purchase can be approved, and [...]
Monaco remains the most expensive city for top homes April 6, 2011 MONACO has kept its title as the world’s most expensive place to buy a high-end house, according to research out yesterday, though cities in Asia are quickly climbing up the leader board. For $1m (£612,442), a property investor can expect to buy just 15 square metres of luxury real estate in Monaco, according to Knight [...]
More Riversdale investors accept Rio Tinto deal April 6, 2011 RIO TINTO edged closer to sealing its planned takeover of Australian coal group Riversdale Mining yesterday after it secured acceptances from 49.49 per cent of shareholders. In order to mop-up more than 50 per cent of the shares, Rio has extended its bid, which had been due to close last night, until 20 April. Rio [...]
Jitters hit Edwards as listings struggle April 6, 2011 DEMAND for shares in Edwards, the vacuum technology group that intends to float in London, is too low to guarantee an initial public offering (IPO) will go ahead, sources said last night. Edwards is due to price its shares before the end of the week, but there have been concerns over the appetite for stock. [...]
JP returns to weather another investor storm April 6, 2011 AS chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline for eight years, Jean-Pierre Garnier, known as JP in the industry, is no stranger to activist shareholders. In 2003 he became the target of Glaxo investors’ wrath over his pay award, in one of the biggest shareholder rebellions in UK corporate history. Despite Glaxo’s profits falling by a quarter, Garnier’s [...]
