Ensco buys US oil driller in £4.5bn deal February 7, 2011 LONDON-BASED drilling rig operator Ensco has agreed to buy US rival Pride International in a $7.3bn (£4.5bn) deal to create the world’s second-largest offshore driller by number of customers. The cash and stock transaction is valued at $41.60 per share based on Ensco’s closing share price on Friday last week and represents a 21 per [...]
Harbinger sells last shares in Inmarsat February 7, 2011 ACTIVIST American hedge fund investor Harbinger Capital is to sell its entire holding in Inmarsat, the British satellite operator. Controlled by Philip Falcone, the fund holds 64.3m shares, or 14 per cent of the company. The sale brings to a close several years of Harbinger investment in Inmarsat, a company it once considered as a [...]
Watchdog finds excess Sky profit February 7, 2011 BRITISH Sky Broadcasting has made “excess profits” on its Sky Movies service, according to the Competition Commission. The company, which is the subject of a takeover bid from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, has an exclusive deal with the six big Hollywood studios and may now be forced to lower its wholesale price to other broadcasters [...]
Deutsche head in gender row February 7, 2011 HEAD of Deutsche Bank, Josef Ackermann, waded into a gender war yesterday by saying that appointing more women to its executive board would make it “prettier and more colourful.” Amid a debate on whether Germany should set quotas for women on the boards of major groups, Ackermann acknowledged there were none on the bank’s executive [...]
Lord Myners takes fresh job in the City February 7, 2011 EX-CITY minister Lord Myners this week added a second non-executive role to his portfolio, with his appointment as a partner and chairman of Autonomous Research, the independent research firm. And he is thought to have a third on the way as chairman of billionaire Nicolas Berggruen’s new acquisition vehicle which is seeking to raise around [...]
US backs Brazil in currency war with China over yuan February 7, 2011 THE US and Brazil will work together to pressure China on its undervalued currency, US Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner indicated yesterday in comments that reinforced an emerging alliance between the Western Hemisphere’s two biggest economies. In his one-day visit to Brazil, Geithner avoided mentioning China by name. Yet Geithner attributed some of Brazil’s recent trade [...]
Investors call for changes at Alliance February 7, 2011 ACTIVIST investor Laxey Partners renewed its calls for change at Alliance Trust yesterday, describing the board’s approach as a “poison pill” for its share price. Laxey, which has a 1.3 per cent stake in the £2.5bn investment trust, has demanded the board reduce its persistently large share price discount to its net asset value. Laxey [...]
Santander in £3.6bn deal February 7, 2011 SANTANDER will splash out 16.58bn Polish zloty (£3.6bn) on a full buy-out of Poland’s third-biggest banking franchise, Bank Zachodni WBK, the bank announced yesterday. Santander, led by chief executive Alfredo Sáenz, confirmed that a formal offer of 227 zloty (£49) per share in cash has been accepted by Allied Irish Banks, which owns 70 per [...]
Danish banks play down Amagerbanken exposure February 7, 2011 DENMARK’S biggest financial institution Danske Bank and Nordic bank Nordea said yesterday they had little exposure to Amagerbanken, which fell into state hands on Sunday. Jyske Bank and Sydbank also said they were not exposed to Amagerbanken, which failed to meet solvency requirements and is to be wound up by state administrators. But Denmark will [...]
Julius Baer to return £325m to shareholders in buyback February 7, 2011 SWISS private bank Julius Baer will buy back up to Swfr500m (£325m) of shares and raise its dividend, returning excess capital to investors after an unsuccessful acquisition hunt. “There is nothing to say we won’t make further share repurchases unless we do an acquisition and use the capital for that,” chief financial officer Dieter Enkelmann [...]
