Cowdery will chase Friends July 13, 2009 CLIVE Cowdery’s buyout vehicle, Resolution, is prepared to launch a hostile bid for Friends Provident, the life assurance firm led by Trevor Matthews, if it fails to agree a takeover. Cowdery and Matthews may end up battling it out if a friendly deal can’t be struck, with Resolution prepared to ignore the Friends board’s recommendations [...]
House prices boosted by fall in stock July 13, 2009 THERE were more definitive signs yesterday that the UK housing market is beginning to recover, according to June data from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). The seasonally-adjusted balance of surveyors reporting falling rather than rising prices improved to -18.1 in June from -43.8 in May, the highest reading since September 2007. Housing market [...]
Neonet to offer dark liquidity July 13, 2009 Neonet, Sweden’s largest broker, yesterday announced it has started to offer access to “dark liquidity”, thereby strengthening its buy-side offering further. Neonet is the most recent member of SmartPool, the multi-lateral “dark pool” trading facility launched by NYSE Euronext in partnership with JP Morgan, HSBC and BNP Parabis five months ago. A dark pool is [...]
Stanford CFO to change his plea July 13, 2009 Former Stanford International Bank chief financial officer James Davis plans to plead guilty over conspiracy and obstruction charges relating to a $7bn (£4.3bn) fraud. Davis formally pleaded not guilty at a court appearance, but his lawyer David Finn told the court his client would change his plea to guilty within two weeks as part of [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 13, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES GOLDMAN SACHS EXECUTIVES SOLD $700M OF STOCKExecutives at Goldman Sachs sold almost $700m worth of stock following the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Most of the sales occurred during the period in which the investment bank enjoyed the support of $10bn from the [...]
Virgin knew of price fixing July 13, 2009 VIRGIN ATLANTIC chief executive Steve Ridgway admitted yesterday he was aware his airline had conspired to fix the price of fuel surcharges between July 2004 and April 2006 with rival British Airways (BA). Ridgway said in a statement: “Although I did not have any direct contact with BA in relation to passenger fuel surcharges I [...]
Teenage media habits: no need for panic July 13, 2009 SO now we know what banks should do if they want some publicity: ask a teenage scribbler to write one of their research notes. That is what Morgan Stanley has just done, getting an enterprising 15-year old intern to write about his friends’ media habits. But while his findings make sense – they don’t have [...]
RHJ back in the running for GM July 13, 2009 PRIVATE equity firm RHJ International yesterday re-emerged as a strong contender to buy GM Europe saying it would keep Vauxhall’s two UK plants open and would make the European unit profitable by 2011. The firm said it is has been in “advanced” negotiations for several weeks with GM and now felt it was “appropriate to [...]
UKFI loses 11bn on its bank stakes July 13, 2009 UK FINANCIAL Investments (UKFI) – the company set up to manage government stakes in banks – has suffered paper losses of £10.9bn from its investment in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group, it said yesterday. Speaking as the organisation published its annual report, chief executive John Kingman said the value of its [...]
BA PILOTS AGREE TO TAKE PAY CUT July 13, 2009 BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA) pilots agreed to a 2.6 per cent pay cut yesterday, as part of a package of measures designed to save the ailing airline £26m. The move comes as the firm’s directors prepare themselves for what is expected to be a stormy annual meeting today. The pilot’s union Balpa said 94 per cent [...]
