Maple Group goes hostile with its offer for TMX May 25, 2011 MAPLE Group, a consortium of Canadian banks and pension funds, last night decided to go hostile with its C$3.7bn (£2.3bn) bid for the TMX, the Toronto exchange group. Its bid was rejected in favour of the London Stock Exchange’s friendly C$3bn bid, a move that Maple said was “disappointing”. But Maple has the support of [...]
OECD downbeat over UK growth outlook for 2011 May 25, 2011 HIGH inflation will squeeze UK household budgets well into next year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said yesterday. The OECD cut its forecast for British growth to 1.4 per cent this year, down from March’s estimate of 1.5 per cent. Back in November it was still expecting 1.7 per cent growth for [...]
Euro tycoons flee to London May 25, 2011 TYCOONS in Europe’s troubled southern periphery are buying up homes in London’s most affluent postcodes and shifting cash to the City’s banks as they flee the Eurozone debt crisis, according to new research. The proportion of non-British western Europeans buying prime residential property in London has risen to 14 per cent this year from 11 [...]
Nationwide grows despite tough market May 25, 2011 NATIONWIDE Building Society gained market share and grew underlying profits by almost a third in the past year despite ongoing housing market stagnation, it said yesterday. Nationwide, the UK’s biggest building society, turned a £276m underlying profit in the year to April, up from £212m in April 2010, against a backdrop of low growth in [...]
Suitors sweeten up offers for the state-owned Tote May 25, 2011 LAST-ditch efforts by the bidders for the Tote, the state-owned bookmaker, have been made, as the government gears up to reveal its preferred offer. High street bookmaker Betfred has sweetened its offer for the betting pool, after it appeared to have lost out to a bid from former Liverpool Football Club chairman Sir Martin Broughton. [...]
Sage starts the search for its second broker May 25, 2011 SAGE, the business software and services group, has invited banks to apply to become its second broker alongside Deutsche Bank. The group, which has recently been the subject of takeover speculation, is one of the only FTSE 100 companies to have just one broker advising it. A number of banks are believed to be interested [...]
RETURN TO SENDER: ROYAL MAIL SPINNER POSTS P45 TO ITV’S PR May 25, 2011 ALL GOOD things come to an end, and so it is that ITV is parting company with Tulchan, its financial public relations adviser of four years, The Capitalist can reveal. The commercial broadcaster, whose new press chief is former Independent and Sunday Telegraph journalist Mary Fagan, has told Tulchan it wants a regime change among [...]
DP World set for its London debut in June May 25, 2011 DUBAI-BASED ports operator DP World said yesterday it expects to list shares on the London Stock Exchange on 1 June, as it seeks to boost its liquidity by attracting a wider range of investors than from its listing on Nasdaq Dubai almost four years ago. DP World shareholders earlier this month approved a one-for-20 share [...]
Esure founder meets banks to discuss a float May 25, 2011 PETER Wood, chairman of UK motor insurer Esure, has been meeting investment banks to discuss its path to a stock market flotation, the company confirmed yesterday. Wood, an insurance industry sage who founded Direct Line in 1985 and Esure in 2000, has met bankers for very early stage talks over listing it on the London [...]
Zynga eyes market float May 25, 2011 SOCIAL games designer Zynga could file for a multi-billion dollar IPO as soon as next month. It is understood the firm is eager to cash in on the vociferous investor appetite for technology stocks following the bumper flotation of LinkedIn last week. The professional social network saw its shares surge 171 per cent during its [...]
