Carlyle looks to sell stake in RAC July 24, 2011 US private equity firm Carlyle Group is looking to sell part of its equity in RAC, the roadside rescue business it bought from Aviva for £1bn a month ago. The firm is looking to sell up to £200m of equity in RAC. GIC, the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund, is understood to be one of the [...]
RBS Aviation sale underway July 24, 2011 BANK of China has emerged as a leading contender in the race to snap up the aircraft leasing business being sold off by Royal Bank of Scotland. The bank said its aircraft leasing division RBS Aviation Capital was on the block again, a year after it shelved a previous sale attempt. Bank of China, General [...]
News Corp is not a fit or proper owner of a British broadcaster, says our panel July 24, 2011 VOICE OF THE CITY NEWS Corp is not a “fit and proper” owner of a UK television broadcaster following the phone hacking scandal, according to the City A.M./PoliticsHome Voice of the City panel. Under the Broadcasting Act 1990, media watchdog Ofcom must ensure that owners or shareholders of broadcasting companies are “fit and proper” to [...]
Directors to discuss future of James Murdoch chairmanship July 24, 2011 THE directors of BSkyB will discuss James Murdoch’s position as chairman of the satellite broadcaster at a board meeting on Thursday. City A.M. understands that a number of independent directors want Murdoch (pictured below) to step down, at least until the police investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World has been completed. [...]
Cable calls for an end to influential media moguls July 24, 2011 VINCE Cable, the business secretary, yesterday vowed to stop firms or individuals from owning a similar share of the media as Rupert Murdoch. “You know there are other big media companies who could have the same influence in future [as Murdoch] and we’ve got to stop that happening,” he said. Cable was stripped of his [...]
Ackermann lined up to be Deutsche Bank chairman July 24, 2011 DEUTSCHE Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann will replace Clemens Boersig to become the bank’s supervisory board chairman when he steps down from his role as chief executive, a German newspaper has reported. Boersig is ready to vacate the role for Ackermann and will likely step down at the next annual general meeting (AGM) in May [...]
The City needs to think global July 24, 2011 THE hacking scandal has dominated the headlines in recent weeks, but unfortunately that does not mean the challenges facing the global economy have disappeared – far from it. Concerns continue over the UK recovery, the Eurozone crisis, and the protracted discussions on raising the US debt ceiling remain, even if the media spotlight has shifted [...]
Twitter fundraising gives it valuation of over $8bn July 24, 2011 A NEW round of funding is set to value microblogging site Twitter at a staggering $8bn (£4.9bn). It is understood Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies (DST) will take a stake of around $400m, with another $400m being split between other investors. US fund manager T Rowe Price will invest up to $90m in the [...]
Why glasses must be half full July 24, 2011 IT’S a gloomy business being gloomy and it gets me down. Markets may have risen substantially since the market low in March 2009 but there’s still no shortage of doomsayers out there. They soberly point out that we have just spent two years shuffling debt around the global economy, point to inherent weaknesses in a [...]
Tightest squeeze on income since 2009 July 24, 2011 BRITONS’ incomes faced their tightest squeeze in two and a half years in July, as the rising cost of living and high personal debt weighed down on household budgets. Over a third (38 per cent) of people reported a deterioration in their household’s finances compared to just a month earlier, according to a poll by [...]
