Food Standards Agency scrapped July 11, 2010 Britain’s coalition government will abolish its food watchdog, set up to protect consumers after the mad cow disease crisis, and reassign its duties elsewhere, a government source said yesterday. The cost-saving move will fulfil a pre-election pledge by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to strip the Food Standards Agency of its responsibilities for nutrition and diet [...]
GOOGLE BACK IN CHINA July 11, 2010 China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has renewed the Chinese operating licence of internet giant Google. Guxiang, Google’s China operator, has reportedly agreed that government regulators will have the right to supervise all the content provided by the firm.
Dubai World set to update over debts July 11, 2010 BELEAGUERED state-owned investment vehicle Dubai World is to meet its creditors later this month to update them on its multi-billion dollar debt restructuring plans. It follows an agreement made in principle in May with the creditors’ coordinating committee for the government-owned conglomerate to restructure $23.5bn (£15.6bn) of debt, which left the emirate uncertain about its [...]
Financial companies left behind in upturn July 11, 2010 STRESS levels are mounting at financial services firms even as corporates across the board begin to recover, according to the latest monthly City A.M./Begbies Taynor health monitor for the Square Mile. While companies in Greater London showed a marked improvement in June, with 23 per cent fewer suffering from serious problems, woes continued to pile [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 11, 2010 WILLIAM HILL Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoAML) has upgraded William Hill to a “buy” rating and said it believes that the stock is high quality and at good value. Strong trends online and improvement in machines are key catalysts for 2010, according to BoAML, which said that execution risk is believed to be low. [...]
KKR switches to NYSE July 11, 2010 Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co’s long-awaited listing on the Big Board brings a wide investor audience to the iconic private equity firm and could be a bellwether for rivals looking to follow suit. The buyout firm will switch from Amsterdam-based Euronext on July 15 to the New York Stock Exchange, joining rival Blackstone Group, which [...]
BC Partners in $3.1bn deal July 11, 2010 Private equity firms BC Partners and Silver Lake Partners are set to buy US healthcare services firm MultiPlan from two other buyout shops, the companies announced, in a deal worth about $3.1bn (£2.1bn) They are buying it from rival buyout firms Carlyle Group and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.
New cartoon leads box office July 11, 2010 A new family cartoon, “Despicable Me”, featuring the voice of Steve Carell, easily took the top spot at the weekend box office in North America yesterday, virtually assuring Universal Pictures of a lucrative franchise with its first foray into 3D animation. The film earned an estimated $60.1m (£40m) across the United States and Canada during [...]
PROPERTY BIGWIGS GET OUT THEIR WALLETS FOR A DAY AT THE RACES July 11, 2010 FOR STARTERS, let’s head down to Ascot racecourse – always a pleasure – for the annual Property Race Day, playground of the suited and booted doyens of the property world. This year marked a change of scenery for the charity event set up by Parkwood Asset Management founder Derek Lucie-Smith, which moved from Sandown Park [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK July 11, 2010 A RATHER civilised 50th birthday celebration for these four City types last week as they headed to the riverside High Timber restaurant for a slap-up meal. The group pre-ordered their food with the chef, plumping for whole truffles baked in choux pastry, a whole rib of beef with foie gras, and strawberries and cream for [...]
