CITY VIEWS: DO YOU TRUST THE EU TO RESOLVE ITS DEBT CRISIS? August 17, 2011 NIGEL O’NEILL | AMICUS CONSULTING “No, I think they will continue with delaying tactics, which won’t work. The effect is likely to be huge on us. Many people are suggesting that we withdraw away from the EU. It isn’t looking particularly good right now.” NICK SUTTON | DWF “Not really, I don’t think they are [...]
SABMiller in hostile bid for Foster’s August 17, 2011 SABMILLER yesterday went hostile in its bid for Foster’s after the brewer’s board rejected a £6.1bn offer and flatly refused to enter negotiations. The owner of brands including Peroni and Grolsch has not raised its offer but is directly approaching shareholders to convince them to back a deal. Foster’s immediately rejected SABMiller’s offer in June, [...]
Family businesses see sales hike August 17, 2011 THE economy may be weighed down by high inflation and unemployment but family owned businesses appear to be weathering the storm. The top 10 family owned firms all increased their sales in the last year. Total sales for the UK’s biggest family-owned businesses rose 10.2 per cent to £35.5bn, driven by a strong performance from the [...]
Sage is front runner in race for MYOB in a takeover that could cost it $1.4bn August 17, 2011 SAGE is understood to be the front runner in the bid to acquire Australian business software group MYOB. It has placed a final bid for the firm, alongside Bain Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). The winning bid is expected to be as high as $1.4bn (£850m), based on the price of similar deals, according [...]
Lehman shelves Lamco asset management plan August 17, 2011 LEHMAN Brothers will not turn its asset management unit into a long-term business after creditors of the bankrupt investment bank objected. Lamco, or the Legacy Asset Management Co, instead will continue on its path to liquidate Lehman assets over the next few years to pay back creditors, and will no longer look for a partner [...]
Bakers sees revenues hit record levels August 17, 2011 CITY law firm Baker & McKenzie regained its position as the world’s largest law firm by revenues yesterday, reporting a record global income of $2.27bn (£1.37bn), a rise of eight per cent from last year. The growth in revenue was led by strong performances across the firm’s Asia Pacific and Latin America offices, particularly in [...]
Kodak soars as its patents hit £1.8bn August 17, 2011 PHOTOGRAPHIC film-maker Eastman Kodak saw its stock soar by almost a quarter yesterday after its portfolio of digital-imaging patents was valued at up to $3bn (£1.8bn) by MDB Capital Group. In the wake of Google’s $12.5bn patent-led acquisition of Motorola, patents have become hot property. The valuation means Kodak’s patents could be worth five times [...]
Insurers warn on capital adequacy rules August 17, 2011 TOUGH new capital requirements to be imposed on European insurance companies could restrict them from investing in bank debt, a think tank said yesterday. The Institute of International Finance said new Solvency II rules being brought into force in the next two years could prevent them from buying large tranches of long-dated bank bonds despite [...]
BarCap star trader quits August 17, 2011 Todd Edgar’s arrival at BarCap from JP Morgan in 2009, along with his highly-prized team, was seen as a coup for the bank. But just two years later he and the team have decided to quit to set up their own hedge fund. The 39-year-old trader, known for his nerves of steel and Midas touch [...]
Henderson: turmoil will last all year August 17, 2011 GLOBAL political paralysis will hit markets for the rest of this year, the head of Henderson warned yesterday as he hailed the fund manager’s swift integration of its latest acquisition. Andrew Formica, chief executive, said investor confidence had been damaged by the UK riots, the Eurozone crisis and squabbles over raising the US debt ceiling. [...]
