Chinese make a bid for Kalahari March 8, 2011 A $1.23bn (£761m) potential takeover offer by a Chinese state-run group for Kalahari Minerals may prompt Rio Tinto to consider its own bid for the uranium miner. The 290p per share offer by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding would allow China’s government access to uranium to boost its atomic generation efforts. Rio Tinto owns 14 [...]
AIG pays $6.9bn to US Treasury March 8, 2011 AIG has repaid a further $6.9bn (£4.3bn) of its debt with the US Treasury, as it attempts to recover from its crisis-era troubles. The payment brings the total amount recovered by the US government from its $411bn Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to 70 per cent. AIG paid the money from the proceeds of its [...]
No safe haven for HSBC if it leaves London March 8, 2011 BANKING regulators in Hong Kong would face a huge challenge to scale up their operations if HSBC were to abandon the City in favour of its former home, raising questions as to whether it would be welcomed into a rival jurisdiction with open arms. With HSBC’s chairman Douglas Flint warning that the UK bank levy [...]
Horta-Osorio makes his mark in Lloyds boardroom reshuffle March 8, 2011 LLOYDS Banking Group will this morning announce a boardroom shake up that will see two senior board directors exit. Amongst the casualties are retail banking chief Helen Weir and insurance boss Archie Kane, sources have told City A.M. Weir will leave with immediate effect and Kane will stay with the bank until its annual meeting. [...]
RAJARATNAM TRIAL BEGINS March 8, 2011 THE CRIMINAL trial of hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, at the centre of the biggest US insider trading probe in decades, began yesterday in New York. One-time billionaire Rajaratnam, 53, whose Galleon Group hedge funds managed $7bn at their peak, is charged with insider trading that netted him $45m in illegal profit.
Japanese food chain Wagamama to be sold for more than £200m March 8, 2011 JAPANESE noodle chain Wagamama is expected to be sold to private equity firm Duke Street Capital within the next two weeks, in a deal worth over £200m. The chain’s current owner, Lion Capital, is currently in talks with the firm with a view to striking a deal. Lion had looked to sell Wagamama earlier last [...]
Dresdner bankers set for bonus case March 8, 2011 COMMERZBANK faces a high-profile lawsuit from 104 of its investment bankers over a bonus dispute, after the Court of Appeal yesterday rejected the bank’s request to dismiss the case. Current and former bankers, who worked for Dresdner Kleinwort before Commerzbank took it over in 2009, are suing to recover €52m (£44.7m) in bonus payments from [...]
David Cameron’s ad man gets top job at Havas March 8, 2011 THE ADVERTISING executive behind David Cameron’s election campaign has been given the top job at French advertising group Havas. David Jones, who helped hand Cameron the keys to Number 10 as his ad man, will become chief executive of the firm following the shock resignation of its chief executive yesterday. In an unexpected move, Fernando [...]
Lloyds TSB unveils 5.5 per cent bond for retail investors March 8, 2011 LLOYDS TSB launched a five-year corporate bond for retail investors yesterday, following its first offering to private bond investors last June. The bonds will pay 5.5 per cent interest at a fixed rate until the notes mature in September 2016. Lloyds and Royal Bank of Canada are underwriting the scheme. Lloyds expects to raise at [...]
Oil prices fall on output negotiations as Gaddafi launches attack on rebels March 8, 2011 OIL prices fell yesterday after the oil minister of Kuwait said that OPEC was in talks about an output increase. The commodity has surged on unrest in the Middle East, most recently driven by Colonel Gaddafi’s brutal oppression of anti-government protests in Libya. OPEC said it was considering an official hike in production for the [...]
