Goldman loses top Europe exec August 16, 2011 Goldman Sachs’ EMEA chief operating officer Glenn Earle is to retire after serving 25 years at the investment bank, it was revealed yesterday. Earle has agreed to remain as an advisory director until the end of the year. The Harvard MBA graduate joined Goldman in 1987, before becoming partner in 1996 and taking the COO [...]
OFT probes concrete industry August 16, 2011 Competition watchdog the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has warned the UK aggregates, cement and ready-mix concrete markets to prepare for a prolonged investigation, after an initial study raised concerns about the conduct of major firms towards smaller operators. It has emerged that the sector, a £3.4bn a year industry, is set for a referral [...]
SINKING FEELING FOR MAROONED TECH MOGUL August 16, 2011 TRAGEDY was narrowly averted on Monday night, after the sea almost claimed the life of American businessman George David in the Rolex Fastnet Race. Shortly after rounding Fastnet Rock, David’s yacht Rambler 100 capsized in high seas after the keel broke off with a “sickening sound”, sweeping the former United Technologies chairman into the Irish [...]
Profits and dividend rise at Resolution August 16, 2011 RESOLUTION, the life insurance consolidator, yesterday said it had returned almost £100m of cash to shareholders and was on track to redistribute a further £400m in the next year after a successful first half. Resolution said it made an underlying £189m profit in the first half, up from £151m in the first half of 2010, [...]
Oakley’s investments pay off August 16, 2011 TIME OUT owner Oakley Capital saw its funds grow by £16m in the first half of the year as the value of its investments were revised upwards, it said yesterday. Oakley, which acquired a controlling stake in Time Out America for a total $18.2m (£11.1m) in May, said its net asset value per share rose [...]
Aegon sells £7.4bn life insurance and pensions book to Cinven for £275m August 16, 2011 DUTCH insurance group Aegon sold its closed life insurance and pensions business Guardian Life to European buyout firm Cinven for £275m yesterday in a widely-trailed move. Cinven will acquire Guardian’s £7.4bn assets and run off the portfolio of existing policies. The Guardian sale is the latest disposal of non-core assets by Aegon as recovers from [...]
Banks set to create spin offs when regulations hit August 16, 2011 PRIVATE equity analysts expect to see a wave of large investment banks reshaping their in-house private equity businesses as a result of new regulation restricting their investment activities. Investment banks are increasingly spinning out all or parts of their captive private equity arms, research group Preqin said, in response to new regulation such as the [...]
JP Morgan private equity buys up £56.5m portfolio August 16, 2011 JP MORGAN’s private equity division bought a portfolio of mid-market investment assets from the suspended Arch Cru funds for $91.9m (£56.5m) yesterday. The package of 38 mid-market co-invested companies are being bought from three of the fund cells now run by Spearpoint, the fund manager appointed to take charge of the funds after their suspension [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW IS RESOLUTION’S STRUCTURAL OVERHAUL GOING? August 16, 2011 MARCUS BARNARD | ORIEL SECURITIES These results look fine and the decision to separate the heritage book will focus management’s responsibilities in the right areas. One highlight was the dividend, as Resolution said it would pay the same amount of dividend following the buyback across the lower number of shares in issue. TREVOR MOSS | [...]
US housing starts edge down August 16, 2011 US housing starts fell less than expected in July as builders broke ground on new multifamily units likely to meet demand for rental apartments, while permits for future construction dropped, a government report showed yesterday. Housing starts were down 1.5 per cent to 604,000 in July from a downwardly revised 613,000 in June. Meanwhile, import [...]
