Quilter bolts on Cheviot Asset Management November 13, 2012 PRIVATE equity owned wealth manager Quilter yesterday confirmed it had bought investment firm Cheviot Asset Management to create one of the biggest independently owned wealth managers in the UK. Quilter, owned by mid market European private equity firm Bridgepoint, will acquire Cheviot using cash provided by Bridgepoint. The amount paid for the firm was not [...]
Afren tops $1bn revenue mark November 13, 2012 Revenue at energy firm Afren smashed through the $1bn (£630m) barrier for the nine months to September, up 245 per cent on last year. Pre-tax profit soared 264.7 per cent, coming in at $411.8m over the period. The record results were driven by year-on-year increase in production from two fields offshore Nigeria. Production started at [...]
Petra Diamonds agrees new debt November 13, 2012 Miner Petra Diamonds has agreed new debt facilities of $244m (£154m) to finance the expansion of two South African mines. The new facility will be used to expand the Finsch and Cullinan mines in South Africa, as well as helping the group’s working capital needs. In the three months to September, revenue rose 188 per [...]
Anglo says Brazil project costs soar November 13, 2012 Mining giant Anglo American warned yesterday that its Brazilian Minas-Rio iron ore project was unlikely to cost less than $8bn (£5bn), more than three times the original estimate. The 26.5m tonnes a year project, which has faced licensing challenges, is under review to assess the impact of the delays. Minas-Rio has suffered a string of [...]
Kazakhstan’s Kcell says City is a key IPO hub November 13, 2012 VEYSEL Aral, the chief executive of Kazakhstan’s largest mobile telephone operator, Kcell, said yesterday his group was planning a public listed offering in London because the UK capital had a “sophisticated investor base” and was a “key hub for emerging markets companies”. Kcell’s decision to list its shares here and in Kazakhstan is a boost [...]
Third G4S director stands down after Olympics contract fiasco November 13, 2012 SECURITY firm G4S said yesterday that a third director has left the company following its Olympic Games contract blunder. It is understood Mark Hamilton, a former bodyguard to Beatles star Sir Paul McCartney and the man who led G4S’s Olympics team, left the world’s biggest security firm by mutual consent. Chief operating officer David Taylor-Smith [...]
US firms set to hike dividends before tax rise November 13, 2012 COMPANIES in the US could unleash a wave of special dividends before the end of this year in order to avoid forthcoming tax rises, according to research released yesterday. President George W Bush cut taxes on dividend payments in 2003 but this is due to expire at the end of December. As a result the [...]
Punters back Tucker in race to be governor November 13, 2012 THE BANK of England’s deputy governor Paul Tucker is now widely expected to take the top job next year, after Sir Mervyn King steps down. Chancellor George Osborne will announce the next head of the Bank of England in his Autumn Statement on 5 December. The winning candidate will take on a role far more [...]
Bank of England is hit for using old data to push for capital hike November 13, 2012 THE BANK of England’s finance sector models are hopelessly out of date, leading the central bank to wrongly push for banks to hold more capital even though the sector has made enormous progress since the financial crisis, a top analyst warned yesterday. Policymakers at the Bank have repeatedly said banks will see the cost of [...]
Royal Mail deliver the goods with profit leap November 13, 2012 ROYAL Mail yesterday fuelled government hopes of delivering the firm into private sector hands next year after posting a jump in profits on the back of the boom in online shopping. The group, which is 100 per cent owned by the taxpayer, posted operating profits of £144m for the six months ending 23 September this [...]
