MPs: Labour wasted £1bn on PFI projects December 8, 2010 ALISTAIR Darling, the former chancellor, wasted over £1bn by using the private finance initiative (PFI) to fund a series of vote-winning projects in the run up to the election, according to a report by an influential group of MPs. The Public Accounts Committee found the taxpayer had to pay an extra £1bn for PFI deals [...]
CSC clashes with investor over mall bid December 8, 2010 A ROW between Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) and one of its biggest shareholders boiled over yesterday over the property firm’s plan to buy the Trafford Centre. Simon Property Group, which owns five per cent of CSC, has slammed the bid and says it will rethink its plans to make an offer to buy the whole [...]
Government backs down as limits private pensions cuts December 8, 2010 NEW rules that would have significantly reduced the pensions of millions of private sector workers were abolished yesterday after the government backed away from plans to reduce the inflation-proofing of retirement benefits. In an abrupt U-turn to plans announced just six months ago that private sector pensions could be tied to the consumer price index, [...]
Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe in deal December 8, 2010 ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN miner Rio Tinto and Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines said yesterday they had reached agreement on the joint development of the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project in Mongolia. The agreement ends a dispute between the two companies dating back to 2006 and will also see Rio Tinto increasing its stake in Ivanhoe to 49 per [...]
HK insider deal enforcer leaves December 8, 2010 THE head of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will leave the job next summer after five years. Martin Wheatley, formerly the deputy chief of the London Stock Exchange, joined the SFC in 2005 and took over the chief executive’s role in 2006. Some say he might be a contender to head up the [...]
Tensions flare between euro leaders over bonds December 8, 2010 THE interest on core Eurozone gilts was showing signs of a spreading crisis of confidence at Europe’s heart yesterday, as German 10-year yields spiked to a seven-month high at three per cent. The pressure is telling on the region’s leaders, with Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker lashing out at German chancellor Angela Merkel for what [...]
IMF: Act faster December 8, 2010 THE head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dominique Strauss-Kahn yesterday criticised European countries for reacting too slowly to the debt crisis. Speaking in Brussels, where finance ministers were debating whether to enlarge the Eurozone’s temporary emergency fund and how to set up a permanent one, Strauss-Kahn said: “It is not a good approach that [...]
Cowen will cling on until election defeat December 8, 2010 IRISH Prime Minister Brian Cowen looks set to see off opposition from party rebels, barring an unlikely cabinet revolt, and lead his Fianna Fail party into an election drubbing that could halve its parliamentary presence. Cowen, whose popularity has plunged into the single digits since his debt-stricken government had to request an EU/IMF bailout, has [...]
Flowers still keen on Spain December 8, 2010 US private equity firm JC Flowers said it still wanted to invest in Banca Civica once the Spanish savings bank completes its merger with domestic CajaSol. Interest from Flowers in the deal was seen to have cooled when its founder said he was not interested in investing in the bank until Spain had restored faith [...]
Irish banks will offer to restructure December 8, 2010 NATIONALISED lenders Anglo Irish and Irish Nationwide Building Society will submit a joint restructuring plan to the European Commission proposing they be merged and run down over time. The plan, which must be completed by the end of March, was one of the demands the IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank made as a [...]
