New help for zombie firms as debts bite November 21, 2012 LLOYDS hopes it can save tens of millions of pounds by sending in turnaround experts to combat the horde of zombie firms plaguing the economy and bank balance sheets. But KPMG yesterday warned that thousands of struggling firms could starve to death, running out of cash over the next year if the economy does not [...]
Glencore set to win EU approval on Xstrata deal November 21, 2012 THE £56bn mega-merger between commodity giants Glencore and Xstrata looks set to clear another hurdle today, as EU antitrust regulators are expected to approve the deal. Glencore is understood to have improved its offer to secure an approval from European Commission antitrust regulators, which is set to be officially announced today. The commodity trading powerhouse [...]
Our bureaucratic tax system is destroying jobs and growth November 21, 2012 If you are a glass half full type of person, the news that the UK’s tax system is now the 16th “best” in the world, rather the 18th, might be something to rejoice about. I prefer to despair about the complex and arbitrary nature of our tax code, about the fact that we were 11th [...]
What the other papers say this morning November 21, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Man Group gains from prototype Man Group, the world’s second largest hedge fund manager, has shifted $1.5bn (£940m) of its flagship computerised fund AHL into an experimental new portfolio to boost ailing returns. The new vehicle, which Man has internally dubbed “evolution”, has made 18 per cent so far this year, and made [...]
Hamas agrees ceasefire with Israel over Gaza November 21, 2012 ISRAEL and the Islamist Hamas movement agreed yesterday to a ceasefire to halt an eight-day conflict around the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 140 Palestinians and five Israelis. Announcing the ceasefire in Cairo, Egyptian foreign minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said it would come into force at 9pm (7pm GMT), which would give 1.7m [...]
Santander seeks US car loan IPO November 21, 2012 Santander is reportedly seeking to float its US car-financing unit just months after its successful Mexican IPO. The bank will seek a valuation of as much as $6bn (£3.8bn) people familiar with the matter said, according to the Wall Street Journal. The US car-financing unit, based in Texas, has a loan portfolio of around $18bn. [...]
Madoff victims appeal ruling November 21, 2012 A lawyer for the trustee seeking money for Bernard Madoff’s victims asked an appeals court yesterday to restore $30bn in claims against JPMorgan Chase and other banks, in a bid to overturn earlier court rulings that only Madoff victims, not the trustee, could sue third parties such as banks for damages. The trustee has said [...]
Morrisons wants new trading laws November 21, 2012 Morrisons, Britain’s fourth-biggest supermarket chain, yesterday joined Asda in lobbying government for Sunday trading laws to be relaxed on 23 December this year, arguing that the second day before Christmas is usually the busiest shopping day of the year. With the 23rd falling on a Sunday retailers are restricted by law to opening for a [...]
UK languishes down at 16th in PwC tax league November 21, 2012 THE UK’S tax system ranked just 16th in the world in 2012, according to a league table out this morning, even after climbing the table for the first time in seven years. The UK placed only just above Kazakhstan, and well below Mauritius and Oman in PwC’s measure of the burden of tax on medium-sized [...]
Government may miss deficit target as borrowing rockets November 21, 2012 PUBLIC SECTOR net borrowing soared between October 2011 and the same month this year, official data revealed yesterday, prompting some analysts to predict that the government would miss its borrowing targets for the year as a whole. The public sector borrowed £8.6bn in October, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), up [...]
