Wood in £1.75bn sale of unit February 13, 2011 General Electric says its oil and gas business has reached a deal to buy the John Wood Group’s well support division for about $2.8bn (£1.75bn). GE said in a statement yesterday that the deal must be approved by Wood Group’s shareholders. It’s expected to close later this year. Wood said last week it was considering [...]
China to link Atlantic and Pacific February 13, 2011 China is in talks to build a “dry canal” linking Colombia’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts by rail, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was quoted as saying yesterday. The 220km project, dubbed as an alternative to the Panama canal, is one of a series of Chinese proposals that would boost transport links with Asia.
AIG wants sovereign funds February 13, 2011 AIG and the US government are hoping soverign wealth funds will buy a large trance of the insurer’s shares when it sells up to $20bn worth. With the government share sale expected to take place in May, AIG and the government have reportedly begun making contact with sovereign funds in Asia and Europe.
Egypt strikes force holiday February 13, 2011 EGYPT has been forced to declare today a bank holiday after workers emboldened by the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak and angered by low wages and poor working conditions disrupted operations at the country’s state banks. Banks were already due to be closed tomorrow to mark Prophet Mohamed’s birthday. Now the market is likely to [...]
Obama government vows to halve US deficit in a decade February 13, 2011 US president Barack Obama’s 2012 budget plan would slash the US deficit by $1.1 trillion (£688bn) over 10 years, officials said yesterday. However opposition Republicans were unimpressed and vowed to push for deeper cuts in spending. White House budget director Jack Lew said the proposal, to be unveiled today, puts the government on track to [...]
Violence breaks out in Bahrain as anti-government rallies begin February 13, 2011 VIOLENCE broke out in Bahrain last night on the eve of anti-government rallies spurred on by the success of the uprising in Egypt. Riot police clashed with youths staging a march in Karzakan, a Shiite village in western Bahrain, and set up checkpoints ahead of today’s “day of rage”, which has been largely organised through the [...]
KING’S SPEECH SWEEPS BOARD AT BAFTAS February 13, 2011 “The King’s Speech”, in which Colin Firth plays the stammering King George VI, won the British BAFTA award for best film yesterday, the seventh prize the picture picked up on the night. Firth won for best actor while his co-stars Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush also won the best supporting actress and actor respectively.
Weber: euro doves blocked ECB candidacy February 13, 2011 BUNDESBANK governor Axel Weber has been forced out of the running for the European Central Bank (ECB) presidency by Eurozone doves who would have marginalised his hawkish views, he said after quitting the Bundesbank presidency on Friday. Weber was the front-runner to replace outgoing ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet until last week, when he announced that he [...]
ECB could still pursue state clearing house February 13, 2011 THE nationalisation of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives trading in the Eurozone could still be on the table despite the exit of Axel Weber from the race for European Central Bank presidency. As City A.M. revealed, the proposal to create an ECB-run clearing house for OTC products such as collateralised debt obligations and interest rate swaps formed a [...]
Insurer JLT to shun City skyscrapers February 13, 2011 INSURANCE broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson is close to signing for office space in a new development at 80 Fenchurch Street, industry sources have told City A.M. The insurance firm, which is currently based at 6 Crutched Friars, had been linked with flagship City towers including the Cheesegrater, but is now understood to have ruled out [...]
