Commerzbank revamp near end July 26, 2009 The restructuring of Commerzbank’s investment banking operations is progressing ahead of schedule, the head of the firm’s corporate finance division Roman Schmitt said yesterday. Schmitt said the reorganisation of the German bank’s London arm could be completed by September, beating an earlier target of the end of 2010.
BarCap expands Japanese arm July 26, 2009 Barclays Capital (BarCap) has beefed up its Japanese operations, adding around 200 staff ahead of a possible move to larger headquarters in Tokyo. The increased headcount is part of BarCap’s efforts to generate 50 per cent of revenue from outside the UK. Eiji Nakai, chief executive of BarCap in Tokyo said: “To be truly global [...]
IMF predicts more bad debts July 26, 2009 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts seven per cent of European consumer debt will turn bad. Much of that will be in the UK, the continent’s biggest nation of borrowers. IMF estimates say that of US consumer debt totalling $1,914bn (£1,166bn), 14 per cent will turn bad. For Europe, it expects 7 per cent of [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 26, 2009 VOLKSWAGENSociete Generale said the merger between Porsche and Volkswagen (VW) looks to be back on track and reiterated its “Buy” recommendation on the latter. Analyst Eric-Alain Michelis said the deal should allow VW to buy out the sports car giant without taking on its €10bn debt pile. If speculation of the group’s €8bn price tag [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 26, 2009 ExecutionThe agency broker has appointed Bruce Howitt, formerly a director of Merrill Lynch’s fixed income business, to head up its newly created agency credit division. Howitt, who will become head of European credit at Execution, previously spent six years with Merrill Lynch, where he managed the non-financials trading desk. He has also formerly held senior [...]
No pain, no gain for banks in return to normality July 26, 2009 The recent announcement by the European Commission on guidelines for restructuring aid to banks exposes the difficult decisions, not to mention the pain, that the whole of our banking system still has to go through to return to normality. Competition is good, but policy to ensure it is a minefield, especially at a cross-border level. [...]
City cash calls dominate EU July 26, 2009 EQUITY issues in the UK have accounted for 46 per cent of the total issuance in Europe this year so far. The City scramble to raise capital meant giant offerings from HSBC, Rio Tinto and Lloyds Banking Group. Thomson Reuters data shows that of the $129.5bn (£78.8bn) of equity capital market activity seen in Europe [...]
Jury’s Inn gets financial backing July 26, 2009 Hotel chain Jury’s Inn has secured financial backing for a £60m capital raising from the Oman Investment Fund and investment firm Quinlan Private, to fund its growth in the UK and continental Europe. Each of the investors have injected £15m of capital into the company, while banks Allied Irish and Anglo Irish have also put [...]
RHJ may sell Opel back to GM July 26, 2009 RHJ International , a bidder for carmaker Opel, is not ruling out selling Opel back to U.S. parent General Motors after returning it to health. RHJ’s chief executive Leonhard Fischer told a German paper, “Let us be pragmatic. It won’t work without General Motors.” RHJ and Canada’s Magna submitted bids to acquire Opel on July [...]
Fox-Pitt ponders market listing July 26, 2009 Investment bank Fox-Pitt Kelton is thought to be considering listing on the stock market later this year, in a transaction that could net millions of pounds for its management. The group, headed by chief executive Giles Fitzpatrick, is thought to be keen to list the firm on London markets in a move that would also [...]
