Collins Stewart’s Smith nets £7m October 25, 2010 Terry Smith, the outgoing deputy chairman of stockbroker Collins Stewart, has sold his entire beneficial holding of nearly 9m shares in the firm to net around £7.1m. The sale, which represents 3.6 per cent of the firm’s shares, comes less than two weeks after Smith announced his retirement.
Brit set to announce takeover October 25, 2010 Brit Insurance is expected to announce its £870m sale to private equity pair Apollo and CVC Capital today, at the same time as its third-quarter results. The Lloyd’s of London insurer and sponsor of the England cricket team agreed a deal in principle in September, with the joint buyers paying £10.45 a share.
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 25, 2010 FIANACIAL TIMES DEBT MARKETS TAKE UNUSUAL TURN The abnormal state of credit markets came into focus yesterday as the US Treasury sold bonds with negative interest rates for the first time and Goldman Sachs prepared to sell its first 50-year debt deal. Both sales highlighted the difficult choices facing investors at a time when interest [...]
Diamond: Let bad banks go bankrupt… October 25, 2010 BARCLAYS president Bob Diamond yesterday said no bank should ever again have to fall back on the taxpayer for a bailout, as he argued that the future stability of the banking system lies in the successful implementation of “living wills”. “Strong banks want strong regulation,” Diamond said, referring to the raft of regulatory changes currently [...]
…as King calls again for total banking split October 25, 2010 BANK of England governor Mervyn King called again yesterday for radical reform in the banking sector that would see some large institutions dismantled. King used a speech in New York to outline several options for the industry, including a capital ratio far above the levels set by the Basel III agreement last month, and a [...]
BP chief says rivals created fear over spill October 25, 2010 BP’s new chief executive said its rivals and the media had helped cause a climate of fear during the summer when the oil giant’s blown-out Gulf of Mexico well caused the worst ever oil spill in the United States. The comments by Bob Dudley represented the latest volley in BP’s battle to rebuild its battered [...]
Myners brands tax policy nonsensical October 25, 2010 FORMER?City minister Paul Myners yesterday urged bank shareholders to press management not to award “unreasonably high” bonuses in an effort to avoid a public backlash. Myners said that shareholders still had time to take action. But that if they did not, he feared that the perceived shortcomings in corporate governance would lead to the placing [...]
G20 meeting pushes US dollar to a 15-year slump October 25, 2010 THE US dollar fell to a 15-year low against the yen yesterday in the first day of trading after the G20 meeting of finance ministers in South Korea agreed to avoid a currency war that could derail the global economic recovery. The meeting however failed to convince traders who continued to sell the dollar while [...]
Russian web venture weighs up $876m float October 25, 2010 MAIL.RU, a Facebook investor and web business, is looking to raise up to $876m (£558m) by offering a 16 per cent stake in a planned London initial public offering (IPO) which could pave the way for other Russian internet firms to float. However, most of the money will go to the current shareholders rather than [...]
LVMH makes €2bn on stake in rival Hermes October 25, 2010 LVMH, the luxury goods giant, has made a paper profit of around €2bn (£1.8bn) after it revealed at the weekend it has built up a 17 per cent stake in rival Hermès International. Shares in Hermès, which makes silk scarves and Birkin handbags, rose as much as 17 per cent yesterday. The stock closed up [...]
