Investors pile into stocks February 2, 2011 UK INVESTORS have flocked to equities in recent months, with net sales of stocks and shares funds hitting levels not seen since April 2000, said data out yesterday. Investors added £1.7bn in equities to their portfolios in December, pushing total funds under management to an all-time high of £577.6bn, according to research by the Investment [...]
Sherborne raises its F&C stake February 2, 2011 Activist shareholder Sherborne Investors yesterday raised its stake in F&C Asset Management further on the eve of a board meeting to determine who will chair the company. The purchase, which took Sherborne’s stake to 18 per cent, appears designed to cement its position as F&C’s leading investor in the closing hours before it meets its [...]
SEC plots derivatives overhaul February 2, 2011 US regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to open up the $600 trillion (£371 trillion) swap trading market under a plan put forward yesterday to implement parts of the Dodd-Frank financial reforms. Institutional investors would get the chance to see the price of swaps trades, either on a traditional exchange or a new [...]
Weber plots state clearing house for ECB February 2, 2011 BUNDESBANK governor Axel Weber has ramped up his campaign to become the next governor of the European Central Bank, with a proposal for a Eurozone government-run clearing house forming a major plank of his platform, City A.M. can reveal. Weber told a closed-door gathering in Davos that he plans to advocate the creation of a [...]
Citi may break up EMI February 2, 2011 CITIGROUP executives are considering plans to break up iconic record label EMI, despite its chief executive’s wish to keep it whole, sources told City A.M. yesterday. The bank, which has taken EMI out of private equity hands after declaring its £3.4bn debt unsustainable, will not fight to keep the company in one piece if buyers [...]
JD in talks to buy troubled retailer JJB February 2, 2011 JD Sports is in talks to buy troubled retailer JJB Sports, sending shares in the Wigan-based firm soaring 17 per cent. The news comes as JJB confirmed it will raise £31.5m from shareholders through the placement of 630m new shares, with sources close to the firm warning it may need further help within weeks. The [...]
BP’s Russian ally snubs TNK February 2, 2011 A SENIOR executive at BP’s newest Russian partner Rosneft said yesterday that TNK-BP is not big enough to join its Arctic exploration efforts. “They have neither the technology, nor the experience, nor the personnel,” Rosneft chief financial officer Peter O’Brien said of TNK-BP, which is owned by BP and Russian billionaires under the name AAR. [...]
Smaller finance firms are creating more City jobs February 2, 2011 SMALLER financial firms are growing faster than the bigger banks since the recession and now employ more than 350,000 people in the UK, according to research seen by City A.M. FSA-registered finance firms with fewer than 250 staff now employ around 45 per cent of the market up from 43 per cent in 2007, says [...]
IFS: Osborne must stick to austerity cuts February 2, 2011 THE coalition must protect confidence in the UK by delivering a reduction in the deficit, the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said yesterday. Loosening fiscal policy “risks undermining investor confidence,” the thinktank warned in its green budget. “Having set out his fiscal consolidation plan, it is important that chancellor Osborne resist the temptation to [...]
British building sector picks up after the December freeze February 2, 2011 BRITISH construction bounced back in January, after a snow-hit slump in December, according to data released yesterday. The sector’s performance exceeded the forecasts of economists, by jumping to 53.7 in the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) conducted by Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS). In December the industry had recorded 49.1, indicating [...]
