Desmond closes in on Five July 22, 2010 Richard Desmond, the owner of the Express newspapers, is understood to have tabled a £104m offer for television channel Five, and could be named as a preferred bidder as early as today. Despite a last-minute approach from?Channel 4, owner RTL is understood to be much more interested in?Desmond’s offer, which is considerably higher. As the [...]
Auditor regulations may change July 22, 2010 Auditors need to be more transparent about pay and non-audit services they provide, according to the Auditing Practices Board. In its consultation paper out today, the APB calls for firms to have their say on whether auditors should be permitted to take on other work such as management consultancy, and if so how they should [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 22, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES TARGETFOLLOW SEEKS MPS’ HELP The owner of a large property portfolio that includes the Centre Point tower in London has enlisted the help of his local MPs to stave off administration after loans of more than £200m provided by Lloyds expired on Thursday. Targetfollow, the Norwich-based property developer managed by Ardeshir Naghshineh, has [...]
Deadline over for Ocado’s retail shares July 22, 2010 OCADO last night closed the window of opportunity for retail investors to cancel their application to buy shares in the firm. Analysts warned there could now be a backlash among small investors who do not realise they are over-paying on the market price. Customers and staff had been invited to buy stock as part of [...]
Boussard & Gavaudan trader sets up hedge fund boutique July 22, 2010 ONE of Boussard & Gavaudan (B&G)’s star traders has left to set up his own hedge fund, Occitan Capital, after just over three years at the company’s London office. Financials specialist Thomas de Garidel-Thoron stepped down as a partner of B&G earlier this month, according to a regulatory filing. De Garidel-Thoron, an ex-Goldman Sachs staffer, [...]
Taxpayers set to profit from bank asset protection scheme July 22, 2010 THE taxpayer should make a healthy profit from an insurance scheme set up to handle billions of pounds worth of toxic bank assets, the head of the body organising the scheme said yesterday. The Asset Protection Agency – which insures some £230bn worth of risky assets held by Royal Bank of Scotland — was set [...]
Smaller banks recover in US July 22, 2010 US REGIONAL banks, including SunTrust Banks and PNC Financial Services Group, reported improved quarterly results and said credit losses and funding costs are dropping, triggering hopes that banks are stabilising after years of pain. Shares of SunTrust, PNC, KeyCorp, Fifth Third Bancorp and Huntington Bancshares rose strongly after the banks reported quarterly results. BB&T shares [...]
Equitable Life policyholders hit by £400m cap on payouts July 22, 2010 POLICYHOLDERS of mutual insurer Equitable Life, which nearly collapsed a decade ago, face a £400m cap on compensation payments for their losses, the coalition government said yesterday. The figure produced by an independent review is less than a tenth of the £5bn of government compensation sought by policyholders. Britain’s oldest mutual insurer, with 1.5m policyholders [...]
SEC grants six-month reprieve on ratings for asset-backed debt July 22, 2010 ISSUERS?of asset-backed securities in the US have been given a six-month grace period that allows them to submit regulatory filings without credit ratings, amid fears they are unable to comply with President Obama’s tough financial reforms. Borrowers are finding it impossible to get rating agencies to allow them to use their ratings in public filings, [...]
Credit Suisse falls on weak client activity July 22, 2010 CREDIT Suisse shares fell yesterday after the bank disappointed investors with news of ongoing weakness in its private client division and crumbling investment banking income. Analysts had expected the slump in pre-tax corporate finance earnings, which more than halved quarter-on-quarter to SwFr784m (£492m), but were surprised by the poor performance from Credit Suisse’s traditionally reliable [...]
