Investor in EADS urges a review of defence merger October 1, 2012 EADS shareholder Lagardère, which holds seven per cent of the defence and aerospace company, has voiced its concern over the proposed £30bn merger with BAE. The Paris-based publishing group, whose chief executive is also chairman of EADS, said yesterday that it couldn’t see how the merger would create value for the aerospace group. It said [...]
Hester says Libor scandal is the last gasp of old banking culture October 1, 2012 RBS CHIEF executive Stephen Hester yesterday called his bank the “poster child for what went wrong in banking,” due to its leveraged balance sheet and the bailout it needed when the financial crisis hit home. But Hester said that the “era of over-reach” was coming to an end, and the scandals surrounding Libor and PPI [...]
JP Morgan hit by lawsuit for Bear Stearns October 1, 2012 JP Morgan Chase was last night hit with a lawsuit for fraud over faulty mortgage-backed securities packaged and sold by the former Bear Stearns. The lawsuit, filed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, alleged a “systematic abandonment of underwriting guidelines” in the selling of home loans that went into securities offered by Bear Stearns. [...]
Revenues rise as profit dips at Ernst & Young October 1, 2012 BIG Four auditor Ernst & Young said today that spending on expansion has dented partner profits this year, though UK revenues have risen 11.3 per cent. E&Y said its turnover of £1.63bn for the twelve months to 29 June was the highest in six years. However, it conceded that profits per partner had suffered “a [...]
ING to close its emerging markets equities business October 1, 2012 THERE was further sign of retrenchment in the City’s financial services sector yesterday as ING Bank, which employs around 900 people in London, announced that it is closing its emerging markets equities business. ING, which acquired much of its expertise in eastern Europe when it bought Barings in 1995, is closing all its central eastern [...]
Balls criticised over plan to use 4G proceeds to build homes October 1, 2012 THE INSTITUTE of Directors (IoD) yesterday criticised shadow chancellor Ed Balls after he proposed using £4bn from the sale of 4G mobile phone licences to subsidise affordable homes. “The windfall from the 4G auction is a rare bit of good news for the public finances, and any money it raises must be used wisely,” said [...]
AA owner appoints bankers October 1, 2012 Acromas, the private equity backed owner of AA and Saga, has hired UBS and Lazard to help it draw up plans to sell, float or refinance the businesses. It follows the appointment of Ernst & Young at the end of last month to undertake due diligence to value its assets, as it mulls its options [...]
HSBC sells property advice unit October 1, 2012 Managers at HSBC’s property advisory unit Property Vision Holdings are set to buy the subsidiary from the bank, it was announced yesterday. PV Acquisition is expected to complete the takeover later this quarter. The unit has gross assets of $7.2m (£4.46m) at the end of June. HSBC did not disclose the purchase price, but did [...]
Workday IPO sets value at $3.85bn October 1, 2012 Workday, which provides cloud-based human resource software, said it plans to price its initial public offering of Class A shares at between $21 and $24 each, valuing the Silicon Valley company at $3.85bn (£2.4bn). Workday was co-founded by ex-PeopleSoft executives David Duffield and Aneel Bhusri, who left PeopleSoft in 2004. It confidentially filed for an [...]
Eurozone reels as jobless count surges to 18.2m October 1, 2012 DEVASTATING unemployment data cast a shadow over the Eurozone yesterday, while separate manufacturing figures also pointed towards the region’s economic decline. The number of unemployed people in the single currency area hit 18.19m in August, an increase of 2.14m compared to 12 months earlier. And factories throughout the euro area recorded their 14th straight month [...]
