Commodities merger falls apart February 15, 2011 Merger talks between top flight commodity group Louis Dreyfus and smaller Singaporean rival Olam have failed, reviving speculation about the strategy of Dreyfus. Talks with Olam were announced in September last year and Dreyfus has been reported to have held merger talks with other rivals, including Swiss-based Glencore. A merger would have created a firm [...]
Obama faces Congress spat over budget February 14, 2011 US PRESIDENT Barack Obama yesterday pledged to halve the US deficit by 2013 and axe $1.1 trillion (£686m) of spending over the next decade in an effort to contain the budget deficit, but expects to run up a record $1.6 trillion deficit in 2011. Republicans said the President had not gone far enough in curbing [...]
Wheat and copper surge February 14, 2011 COMMODITY prices surged yesterday with copper touching a record high, and wheat prices nearing a two-and-a-half year high on expectations that demand from China could outstrip supply. The rise in prices followed data from China indicating imports surged in January as its trade surplus shrank to $6.5bn from $13.1bn in December, marking its lowest level [...]
Foster’s Group aims to list its wine offshoot February 14, 2011 AUSTRALIAN brewer Foster’s Group said it will go ahead with plans to split up its beer and wine businesses yesterday, as it revealed lower-than-expected half-year profit. Foster’s said yesterday that the split should be completed in May, in a move that could attract suitors for its A$10bn (£6.3bn) beer operations. The wine business will be separately [...]
Kremlin kicks off sale with VTB offering February 14, 2011 RUSSIA has kicked off a massive $60bn?(£37.4bn) privatisation drive with the sale of part of its stake in the country’s second biggest bank VTB, raising $3.26bn. The Kremlin sold a ten per cent stake in the lender, which it stepped in to rescue at the height of the financial crisis. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin [...]
Ronald Cohen opensn a Big Society account February 14, 2011 SIR Ronald Cohen was yesterday unveiled as an adviser to David Cameron’s Big Society Bank, which will support social enterprises. It also sees the deepening involvement in social investment of the man credited with inventing the British private equity industry some 40 years ago. After Oxford and Harvard Business School, followed by a short stint [...]
Truckers hit France for cheap fuel February 14, 2011 BRITISH hauliers are filling up their vehicles in France in a bid to avoid soaring diesel costs at home, losing the UK an estimated £1.2bn in tax every year, petrol retailers claimed yesterday. Truck manufacturers are even building vehicles with bigger tanks so that drivers can fill-up with as much foreign, cheaper diesel as possible. [...]
London Capital faces £7.7m bill February 14, 2011 Spread-betting firm London Capital Group could be forced to pay £7.7m by the financial ombudsman. The regulator ruled that the company, which provides online gaming platforms for Paddy Power and PartyGaming, must repay £100,000 to clients who lost money on a third-party currency fund. The fund, provided by London Capital yet sold by Integrity Financial [...]
CHALLENGE FOR CITY FIRMS TO GO OFF ROAD February 14, 2011 FOR frustrated finance workers who fancy themselves as a bit of a Bear Grylls-type come the weekend, CARE International’s Finance Adventure Challenge might be just the opportunity to show your colleagues what you’re made of. City A.M. is supporting the Challenge this summer, giving City professionals a chance to ditch the suits and prove their [...]
Credit Suisse co-cos a go-go February 14, 2011 CREDIT Suisse has tapped its investors for an extra SFr6bn (£3.85bn) by issuing contingent convertible bonds (co-cos), in order to get halfway towards Switzerland’s new capital requirements. The issuance could herald a new era of popularity for co-cos on the back of regulators’ enthusiasm for the instruments. The buyers in the Credit Suisse deal are state-backed [...]
