Mayer Brown ends talks with Simmons June 29, 2010 INTERNATIONAL law firm Mayer Brown has walked away from a potential merger with UK based Simmons & Simmons weeks after initial talks began. Simmons management had approached the Chicago based firm a few weeks ago with hopes to sign a deal that could have created a trans-Atlantic business with revenues over £1bn and 2,400 lawyers [...]
Telefonica faces a tight vote over its bid to buy out Vivo June 29, 2010 SPAIN’S Telefonica faces a tight vote by shareholders of Portugal Telecom over its attempt to buy out their joint venture in Brazil, after Portugal’s regulator dealt a blow to its strategy. Portugal Telecom, or PT, shareholders are scheduled to vote in Lisbon today on the Spanish carrier’s €6.5bn bid to buy out PT’s stake in [...]
National Express expects improved profits for first half after cost cutting June 29, 2010 TRANSPORT group National Express said it expects first-half pre-tax profit to improve year-on-year, while cost cutting measures will bolster its performance beyond this year. The group said it traded in line with expectations in the second quarter, with its business benefiting from improved margins at its rail business. “First half normalised profit before tax is [...]
Risk aversion will undermine euro June 29, 2010 DEMAND for risky assets has been undermined this week by concerns about both the strength of the US recovery and that Chinese growth may not be as rapid as had previously been thought. The euro has also started to wobble again, destabilised by a resurgence in fears about Europe’s banking sector. These worries about the [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 29, 2010 MICHELIN Bank of American Merrill Lynch (BoAML) said that it maintains a “buy” rating for Michelin and has raised its price to €67 (£54) to reflect its earnings estimate upgrade. The shares would trade on 0.85 times enterprise value on the 2010 estimates at BoAML’s new price, the bank said. LUFTHANSA UBS maintains a “buy” [...]
Tesla Motors shares surge in second-best US IPO of the year June 29, 2010 ELECTRIC car maker Tesla Motors saw its shares surge 41 per cent yesterday in the successful first day of its initial public offering (IPO). Even as other stocks plunged, Tesla sold 13.3m shares at a price above its expected range of $14 (£9.30) to $16. Its shares opened at $19 and closed at $23.89 on [...]
Life settlement is the ultimate diverse asset June 29, 2010 ONE of the steps to fund management nirvana is ensuring that your portfolio is fully diversified. And after the financial crisis, the life settlements market could be the perfect uncorrelated asset. The market works like so: people – typically who reside in the US – sell their life insurance policies to the secondary market, which [...]
Investors prefer bonds June 29, 2010 ALTHOUGH European institutional investors are recognising the fragile green shoots of recovery, fixed income remains their safe haven of choice, according to the annual European Institutional Asset Management Survey conducted by IPE and Invesco, which was published earlier this month. Unsurprisingly, asset allocators across Europe slashed their equity exposure in 2008 and 2009 and retreated [...]
DON’T SING JERUSALEM TOO SOON June 29, 2010 DICK TURPIN MANAGING DIRECTOR, ARTEMIS WHAT a relief. Saving £100m, three-quarters of the government’s 820 websites are to go. Whitehall is reluctant to name the doomed. But it is widely believed that www.lovechips.co.uk – run by the marketing department of the Potato Council – is unlikely to survive the cut. As in the body politic, [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS June 29, 2010 SOURCE LAUNCHES VIX FUTURES ETF European institutional investors will benefit from the launch of the first volatility-linked ETF in Europe to track the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Total Return index. The performance of the index does differ from the Vix but historically the two have had a strong positive correlation. Issued by Source in [...]
