EUROPE GETS ANOTHER SCROOGE: OSBORNE NOW JOINED BY MERKEL December 20, 2010 LAST time The Capitalist reported on the activities of Evolution Securities’ head of fixed income Gary Jenkins, he was fantasising about taking over ratings agencies and hiring Natalie Portman as his PA. He has been putting his wild imagination to other productive uses recently, it seems, churning out a re-imagining of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas [...]
Bundesbank: CDS did not cause crisis December 20, 2010 GERMANY’S central bank said yesterday that speculative trading in sovereign credit default swaps (CDS) was not to blame for the Eurozone debt crisis. In its December report, the Bundesbank said that a spike in the cost of insuring sovereign debt using CDS was not down to excessive speculation by traders. Instead, movements in CDS prices for [...]
Hedge funds play an important role in society December 20, 2010 ONE of the biggest popular misconceptions about the hedge fund industry is that it is unregulated and wishes to stay that way. Not only are managers vigorously and effectively regulated at a UK level, but they will soon also be subject to EU regulation, with the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) soon to be [...]
KKR’s £1bn bid for Perpetual is called off December 20, 2010 AUSTRALIAN wealth manager Perpetual has called off talks with private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts over a $1.7bn (£1.09bn) takeover saying the approach undervalued the company, knocking its shares down by nearly 15 per cent. KKR made an indicative bid of A$38 to A$40 per Perpetual share in October, eyeing a slice of the $1.2 [...]
Groupon hires new CFO from Amazon December 20, 2010 GROUPON has brought in a former Amazon executive as its new chief financial officer, the discount coupon provider said yesterday. Jason Child, a former vice president of finance for Amazon’s international business, took on the new role with Groupon yesterday. Groupon turned down a $6bn (£3.86bn) buyout offer from Google earlier this month. The Chicago-based [...]
Aggreko wins Olympics deal December 20, 2010 AGGREKO, the Scottish power specialist, has sealed a £37m deal to supply electricity to the London 2012 Olympic Games. The Glasgow-based company will provide about 220 megawatts of power – some 60 megawatts more than it supplied at the Beijing games in 2008. Aggreko has also provided power for the football World Cup in South [...]
Ingenico dips after deal fails December 20, 2010 FRENCH payment services provider Ingenico’s shares fell yesterday after a takeover offer from a US buyer was scuppered by opposition from its top shareholder, state-backed defence group Safran. Safran, 30 per cent owned by the French government, holds 22.5 per cent of Ingenico. It blocked the €1.44bn (£1.22bn) offer as a result of political pressure [...]
Ladbrokes to bid for online gaming firm December 20, 2010 BETTING firm Ladbrokes is in talks with 888 about a potential £240m takeover bid that sent shares in the online gambling group soaring. Britain’s biggest bookmaker and 888 both confirmed weekend media speculation about the possible tie-up, saying they were in “very preliminary discussions”, although they declined to give details. Ladbrokes, led by chief executive Richard [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS LADBROKES ON A WINNER WITH 888? December 20, 2010 SIMON DAVIES| Collins Stewart We believe that a 70p per share offer should be a slam dunk for [888] investors, but see significant regulatory risk to a successful transaction given that 888 has not procured a non-prosecution agreement with the United States Department of Justice, which represents a potential poison pill. NICK BATRAM| PEEL HUNT 888 [...]
Coalition rejigs high speed line December 20, 2010 THE government has caved in to pressure from Conservative backbenchers by changing the planned route of the UK’s new high speed rail line from London to Birmingham. Transport secretary Philip Hammond said the changes would “significantly mitigate” the impact of the 250mph trains on towns and villages bordering the railway. The proposed line passes through [...]
