US shares crash over fears of Greek plague May 6, 2010 WALL Street suffered its biggest intraday stock market collapse yesterday as a trading error at a major firm reportedly exacerbated the reaction to fears of a sovereign debt crisis. In a frantic thirty minutes of trading, the Dow Jones plunged by more than nine per cent – its worse fall since 1987 – before starting [...]
Blackstone to buy Fidelity National in $10bn buyout deal May 6, 2010 PRIVATE equity firms led by Blackstone Group, together with TH Lee and TPG, are in talks to buy Fidelity National Information Services, which, if the deal goes ahead, would rank as the biggest leveraged buyout since the financial crisis, sources said yesterday. The groups, Blackstone, THL and TPG, would all invest equally in an offer for [...]
Andy Clarke set to land Asda chief executive role May 6, 2010 ASDA is tipped to promote its chief operating officer, Andy Clarke, to the top job next week following chief executive Andy Bond’s decision to step aside. Clarke is understood to have been selected ahead of several internal candidates including Darren Blackhurst, Asda’s punchy trading director. Blackhurst has now resigned after five years at the Wal-Mart [...]
Paulson and Geithner say complacency caused crisis May 6, 2010 The US was unprepared for the 2007-2008 financial crisis, underestimated its seriousness and lagged in coming to grips with the damage, ex-Treasury chief Henry Paulson and current Treasury chief Tim Geithner said yesterday. Speaking to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Geithner, who took over the Treasury in early 2009 after serving in the powerful position [...]
Iceland arrests former Kaupthing chief executive over debt crisis May 6, 2010 THE former chief executive of the collapsed Icelandic bank Kaupthing has been arrested. Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson is suspected of embezzlement, trading irregularities, and other breaches of banking laws, the special prosecutor’s office has said. Kaupthing was the largest of the three Icelandic banks which collapsed within a week in October 2008 under a mountain of [...]
Cadbury deal helps Kraft to boost profits May 6, 2010 KRAFT Foods posted higher-than-expected quarterly sales and profit after its acquisition of chocolate maker Cadbury as sales beat expectations. But the largest North American food maker also said yesterday it expected full-year earnings of $2 a share, below analyst estimates of $2.06 a share. Reported profit was $1.89bn, or $1.16 a share, including discontinued operations [...]
Fears of debt crisis hits UK May 6, 2010 BRITISH banks are at serious risk of falling victim to sovereign debt pressures should the Greek crisis prove contagious, ratings agency Moody’s warned yesterday amid continuing turmoil in the Eurozone. In a report on the consequences of the crisis for the banking systems of the four Club Med countries, Ireland and the UK, Moody’s said [...]
Greece approves tough £30bn austerity bill as riots continue May 6, 2010 THE GREEK Parliament has passed a bill containing proposed austerity measures that will see the country lay down heavy taxes and slash pensions in a bid to cut the country’s spiralling debt pile. A majority of 151 lawmakers, out of 300, voted in favour of the bill, despite an ongoing raft of violent protests by [...]
CITY VIEWS: HAVE THE CREDIT RATING AGENCIES PERPETUATED THE PANIC OVER SOVEREIGN DEBT? May 6, 2010 YASIR QURESHI | JEFFERIES “The credit rating agencies have to reflect the current situation and if they don’t reflect the liquidity situation for some countries then that will lead to other problems. They haven’t perpetuated the problem.” ADAM HOLBERY | ALLIED WORLD ASSURANCE “They have not increased the panic over sovereign debt because it is [...]
Cowdery may tap investors May 6, 2010 INSURANCE consolidation vehicle Resolution said its shareholders were ready to stump up £3bn to fund another acquisition as it released its first quarter numbers yesterday. Founder Clive Cowdery’s team held a round of meetings with major investors including Aviva and Legal & General in March, at which they reaffirmed their willingness to put up three [...]
