Vodafone boosted by improved chance of payout from Verizon October 22, 2012 VODAFONE is a lot more confident of a healthy payout from the telecoms company’s stake in US mobile operator Verizon Wireless (VZW) after figures showed VZW to be in ruder health than expected. Thursday’s release of results from VZW majority owner Verizon Communications showed that VZW significantly outperformed the parent company. Sources say this raises [...]
PayPal founder close to Airbnb investment October 22, 2012 Peter Thiel, the PayPal co-founder and Facebook’s first outside investor, is close to investing roughly $150m (£93.7m) in Airbnb in a deal that would value the lodging rental start-up at about $2.5bn, according to people familiar with the matter. Details of the investment round, which has not yet closed, were first reported by the Wall [...]
AIM declines as market slump hits small firms October 22, 2012 THE ALTERNATIVE Investment Market (AIM) shrank last month, with more firms leaving the index than joining, according to analysis published today by Allenby Capital. Seven firms listed on the market in September, while 10 left, leaving the size of AIM at 1,106 at the end of the month. And only one of those companies left [...]
Hammerson to present revised proposals for Whitgift Centre October 22, 2012 HAMMERSON will this week reveal revised plans for the redevelopment of Croydon’s Whitgift Centre, stepping up its battle with rival Westfield over the highly-contested shopping mall. The developer will return to Croydon council’s strategic planning committee with amended proposals for the tired 1960s mall on Thursday before submitting a planning application in December. Westfield submitted [...]
Why investing in obesity is a safer bet than equity markets October 22, 2012 A FEW weeks ago I was interviewing Sarbjit Nahal, an equity strategist from BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research. Nahal had helped put together a new research report called Globesity – The Global Fight Against Obesity, which outlines the increasing efforts to tackle obesity as a new investment theme for fund managers. BofA Merrill Lynch think [...]
Canada blocks $5bn Petronas bid for Progress October 22, 2012 CANADA insisted over the weekend that it still invites foreign investment in natural resources despite its surprise rejection of a C$5.17bn (£3.25bn) takeover of Progress Energy Resources by Malaysia’s Petronas, a deal that had been expected to pass muster easily. The rejection late on Friday of the buyout of Progress, a natural gas producer, has [...]
Regulators dominate list of top women October 22, 2012 AS THE coalition and other governments around the world push through reforms to address the last financial crisis, a new survey lists the women at the forefront of the decision making and trying to shape the regulatory environment. The annual table of the 100 most influential women released today by Financial News is dominated by [...]
Sign of the changing times at LME’s annual traders’ dinner October 22, 2012 TO the London Metal Exchange, where last week the historic British institution welcomed its new owner – Charles Li of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) – to its annual dinner. At a glamorous affair at the Grosvenor Hotel, packed to the rafters with around 2,000 traders, Li rather stole the limelight from guest speaker [...]
Pension fund protector sees stellar returns October 22, 2012 THE PENSION Protection Fund (PPF) will today announce that it made a surplus of more than £1bn in the last financial year, providing greater security for its 128,000 members. The statutory body looks after the defined benefit pension schemes of companies that have been declared insolvent. The fund’s annual report shows total assets under management [...]
Hong Kong authorities weaken currency to maintain price cap October 22, 2012 THE HONG KONG Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold off domestic dollars in an effort to weaken the currency on Friday after the Hong Kong dollar appreciated strongly. It is the first time in almost three years that the HKMA has had to step in to defend its currency cap, which allows the currency to trade at [...]
