Blackstone and TPG line up to bid for troubled Egg bank November 17, 2010 BLACKSTONE and TPG are believed to be preparing a bid for US lender Citigroup’s online bank Egg. Citigroup bought the unit in May 2007 for £546m from British insurer Prudential. However binding offers are expected to fall well short of that level, at around £300m. Barclays bank is also believed to have an interest in [...]
Irish Life relaxed over capital levels if mortgage market falls November 17, 2010 IRISH LIFE & PERMANENT said yesterday it was confident Irish banks are adequately capitalised to deal with any downturn in the nation’s residential mortgage market. Investors are worried home loans could become a new black hole for Ireland’s banks, but Irish Life, whose permanent tsb banking unit is one of the biggest operators in the [...]
BETWEEN MURDOCH AND A VERY HARD PLACE November 17, 2010 FINALLY! A chance for harried BSkyB chief executive Jeremy Darroch to let his hair down: the Sky Christmas party – or “Winter Reception” – invites have been issued, the balloons blown up, the goose cooked. And it will be a well-deserved rest. The Capitalist hears that Darroch has had a stressful few weeks in the [...]
Now is a good time to get in to America for the long haul November 17, 2010 ACCORDING to the late Sir John Templeton, investors should “buy when there’s blood in the streets”. The streets are not as bloody today as they were two years ago, but the last week has certainly been violent. Hints of a sovereign debt crisis in Europe, policy tightening in China, and the hangover from the announcement [...]
THERE’S SCOPE FOR GOLD TO RISE FURTHER November 17, 2010 SENIOR ANALYST, ETF SECURITIES THE allure of gold is unmistakable in the current economic environment. Its attributes as a store of value have historically attracted investors during times of financial and economic uncertainty, and as a counter to inflation and sovereign risk. While inflation still appears a long way off, gold is being viewed as [...]
THE TIPSTER November 17, 2010 THE majority of European airlines are staging something of a rebound after the recent sell-off, yet EasyJet has really stood out. It posted some decent earnings news earlier in the week and announced – as widely expected – the payment of its first dividend in 2012. Traders have been using the opportunity to sell down [...]
LISTED PRODUCT NEWS November 17, 2010 DB X-TRACKERS LISTS FOUR NEW ETFS Deutsche Bank’s ETF division db x-trackers announced on Monday that it had listed four ETFs in London that give access to key Asian emerging markets. These swap-based ETFs track the MSCI China, MSCI India, MSCI Malaysia and MSCI Thailand total return equity indexes. The all-in fees for the Malaysia [...]
FTSE 100 gains on the back of Experian and financials November 17, 2010 THE top share index closed higher yesterday, led up by Experian after robust first-half results, while strength was seen among banks which have been weighed down by concerns over Europe’s debt problems. Experian rose 6.3 per cent after the credit information group hiked its interim dividend and said it would look at ways of returning [...]
Former CEO of Imaginatik demands vote November 17, 2010 CONSULTANCY firm Imaginatik could be heading for an explosive general meeting after its former chief executive demanded the right to air a string of embarrassing allegations. Mark Turrell, who left the firm by mutual agreement in June, has called for chairman Matt Cooper and director Shawn Taylor to be axed and wants shareholders to vote [...]
Centrica on track to meet profit forecast November 17, 2010 CENTRICA, which owns British Gas, continued to perform well during the third quarter it said yesterday. The group forecast operating profit for the year would be slightly ahead of market expectations of around £2.2bn although this would be slightly offset by interest and tax charges relating to several joint ventures. Centrica said interest charges were [...]
