US growth revised down June 22, 2011 AMERICA’S economy will grow by 2.7 per cent this year, the Federal Reserve announced last night, revising down its previous forecast of 2.9 per cent. Yet despite admitting to a confusingly gloomy economic outlook, chairman Ben Bernanke yet again refused to suggest that the Fed would embark on a controversial third programme of quantitative easing [...]
Mystery Misys bidder named as FIS Global June 22, 2011 US banking technology group FIS Global has been named as the mystery bidder for software firm Misys. FIS, an S&P 500 component, has lined up BofA Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank to advise on its advances for the FTSE 250-listed firm. Misys revealed takeover talks earlier in the week following reports of a bid, but [...]
UBS BRINGS OUT IPADS TO SECURE €7BN FLOAT June 22, 2011 IT IS bigger than Glencore and the largest lottery IPO in history. So it is little wonder the global investment banks are pulling out all the stops to be appointed as advisers on the multibillion-euro float of the Spanish national lottery. The Spanish government hopes to raise between €6.5bn and €7.5bn by issuing 30 per [...]
Clegg calls for bank shares for taxpayers June 22, 2011 DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg has given his backing to a scheme that would see Lloyds and RBS re-privatised by handing their shares to taxpayers. Speaking during a trade mission to Rio de Janeiro, Clegg said that doling out the shares to the public would help to placate anger about bank bailouts. “It is psychologically immensely [...]
Ophir advisers settle on price range for flotation June 22, 2011 BRUSHING aside the current fragility of London’s IPO market, the African explorer Ophir Energy yesterday settled on a price range that will value the group at around $925m-$1.05bn (£575m-£650m) before new money. The group decided to offer investors shares at a price range of between 250-280p after a board meeting last night. Ophir is backed [...]
LSE and TMX sweeten deal for merger June 22, 2011 THE LONDON Stock Exchange and Toronto bourse operator TMX Group have agreed to pay a special dividend of C$660m (£415.8m), in the latest scramble to win over shareholders. TMX shareholders must decide next week whether to back the friendly deal between the two exchanges and a hostile bid from the Maple consortium of Canadian banks [...]
THE HUMBLE ONE June 22, 2011 NEW CHELSEA manager Andre Villas-Boas admits he will never be able to avoid comparisons with Jose Mourinho but insists his tenure will be underpinned by a focus on the team rather than self-promotion. The 33-year-old’s career has mirrored that of his mentor, who announced his arrival at Stamford Bridge in 2004 by anointing himself as [...]
Bold choice demands a bold response June 22, 2011 IT GOES without saying that Chelsea have made an extremely bold decision in paying a world record sum to hire a 33-year-old with less than two years’ management experience. But what fascinates me about the appointment of Andre Villas-Boas is how bold he is going to be in putting his stamp on a Blues set-up [...]
Easy does it for on song Murray but it’s heartache for wounded Watson June 22, 2011 FOURTH seed Andy Murray made serene progress into the third round of Wimbledon after a straight sets win over Germany’s Tobias Kranke, but it was an otherwise mixed day for British hopes, encapsulated by Heather Watson’s galling defeat against Sweden’s Mathilde Johansson. After beginning his campaign in less than commanding fashion against Daniel Gimeno-Traver on [...]
Daley to help City AM team June 22, 2011 THE Laureus / City A.M. team is busily preparing for one of their big moments in the build-up to the London leg of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship – their first training session this weekend with double decathlon Olympic gold medallist Daley Thompson. As global charity partner of the International Triathlon Union, Laureus [...]
