Barclays private equity unit in management buyout November 11, 2011 Barclays Private Equity is being bought out by its own management team and will be relaunched as Equistone Partners Europe, it said, adding that the value of the gross assets being sold off was expected to be around £45m. Barclays, which last month posted higher profits as gains in its retail banking and credit card [...]
Bond markets target France November 10, 2011 CONFIDENCE in France’s and Spain’s ability to pay back their debts weakened yesterday as investors piled into UK and German government debt. Yields on 10-year French bonds rose 0.3 percentage points over the day, to 3.47 per cent. Spain’s yields too have risen steadily, hitting 5.95 per cent for 10-year bonds, before falling back to 5.86 [...]
HSBC to axe hundreds of bankers in London and Hong Kong November 10, 2011 HSBC is to make hundreds of bankers redundant this week in London and other financial centres such as Hong Kong and the US, it emerged yesterday, as it struggles to get back to bumper profits in the current troubled economic climate. City A.M. understands that staff in HSBC’s City offices were told about the cuts [...]
City’s chief to stand down November 10, 2011 STUART Fraser, the City of London Corporation’s policy chairman – its chief executive in all but name – yesterday said he would step down to the deputy’s seat to free up more time to experience “a very special year for London” in 2012. Fraser (pictured) – also a City A.M. columnist – will step aside [...]
Britain’s safe haven status won’t last November 10, 2011 SOMETHING seemingly astonishing is happening. Despite suffering from a gigantic budget deficit of at least £120bn, out-of-control inflation and an economy that has ground to a halt, investors are giving Britain the thumbs-up. The cost at which the government can borrow keeps on falling, and reached its lowest level since the 1950s yesterday. In real [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 10, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES EXXON SIGNS KURD EXPLORATION CONTRACTS ExxonMobil has become the first of the “supermajor” oil companies to venture into Kurdistan, in a controversial move that will be seen as a huge vote of confidence in the semi-autonomous region of Iraq but could spark a backlash in Baghdad. Exxon, the largest international oil company, signed [...]
City A.M.’s trading show November 10, 2011 City A.M. has joined forces with IG Index, the UK’s largest spreadbetting firm, to launch a major new retail trading show, with IG as headline sponsor. Active Trader 2012 will take place on Thursday 24 May 2012, with speakers drawn from top industry experts and City A.M.’s regular commentators. IG Index managing director Tim Hughes [...]
UBS settles short selling case November 10, 2011 UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, paid $8m (£5m) to settle a US case that it had failed to keep accurate records on its short selling business. US markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission had investigated its selling practices and alleged that since at least 2007 UBS’s records showed it had claimed to borrow stock to [...]
Disney and Viacom profits up November 10, 2011 US film groups Viacom and Disney both reported growth in their quarterly revenues and profit yesterday, as big-ticket films continued to do well. Viacom, the company behind MTV and Paramount Pictures, said the success of “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” pushed its revenues up 22 per cent to $4bn (£2.5bn) while Disney said its profits [...]
Banks pitch £4bn credit easing plan November 10, 2011 BANKS have pitched a credit easing scheme that would flood small businesses with up to £4bn of new loans within a year of being launched, City A.M. has learned. In a confidential policy paper sent to HM Treasury last week and seen by City A.M., Britain’s biggest lenders have proposed a plan that would see [...]
