HSBC raises $580m for fund March 30, 2010 HSBC has raised $580m (£384m) for a new infrastructure fund to invest in public-private partnership projects such as hospitals, prisons, offices, transport and housing. HSBC put $150m towards the fund, which will concentrate on investing in projects in their early stages, then selling them once they are up and running. The fundraising target is $1bn.
Car scrappage scheme ends March 30, 2010 The vehicle scrappage scheme brought in last year to boost consumption and protect jobs ends today after contributing to a fifth of new car registrations since its launch, the government said. The scheme gave motorists £2,000 to trade in cars more than 10 years old for new, more fuel-efficient vehicles. The £400m initiative has helped [...]
IRENE’S SWEET PICKINGS March 30, 2010 KRAFT Foods chief executive Irene Rosenfeld, who led the successful takeover of Cadbury earlier this year, saw her pay package rise by 41 per cent to $26.3m (£17.4m). Her pay partly reflected her role in leading the bid which transformed the group’s portfolio creating the world’s largest confectioner.
Investec buys up remainder of Rensburg March 30, 2010 SOUTH African bank Investec yesterday said it will stump up a hefty premium to acquire the remainder of Rensburg Sheppards, the fund manager in which it already holds a 47 per cent stake. Investec, which merged its private-client stockbroking business Carr Sheppards Crosthwaite with Rensburg in 2005, will pay 1.63 new shares of its own [...]
GDP rebound even stronger March 30, 2010 BRITAIN staged an even stronger rebound out of recession than had previously been thought, official revisions to fourth quarter GDP data showed yesterday. The Office for National Statistics raised the quarterly growth estimate to 0.4 per cent from 0.3 per cent at the second revision and 0.1 per cent at the initial publication. While the [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS BRITAIN ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY? March 30, 2010 EDWARD LONG | AMLIN “The recovery is still not as quick as it should be. Although the rise in GDP is encouraging, the government should be focusing on issues that are important to the public rather than what’s popular, like bankers’ bonuses.” STEVE HARRY | MARSH “Although things are ok at the moment, there is [...]
House prices rise but double dip fears persist March 30, 2010 HOUSE prices managed to rise 0.7 per cent in March on the previous month, mortgage lender Nationwide reported yesterday. However, the gain did little to dispel fears of a double-dip in the housing market as buyers exercise caution ahead of the election. Martin Gahbauer, chief economist at Nationwide, said: “The last two months are consistent [...]
Top manager in Gartmore investigation March 30, 2010 GUILLAUME Rambourg, the high-flying European equities fund manager suspended by Gartmore for breaching the firm’s internal trading procedures, is no stranger to controversy. Rambourg and a former Gartmore analyst, Vanni Vecchini, were fined €300,000 (£267,280) by the Italian financial regulator in 2006 for buying stock in Banca Italease with his hedge fund ahead of a [...]
Google facing blocks in China March 30, 2010 google searches in China have been blocked following its decision to shut the country’s mainland portal. For the past two days services have become unpredictable and searches have often resulted in error messages and blank pages being returned. It is not proven that this is a result of the Chinese Government but Google’s decision to [...]
Aer Lingus revenues drop as it begins to slash costs March 30, 2010 AER Lingus saw a double-digit drop in revenue last year after the Irish airline felt the bite of the global recession. The Dublin based company saw revenue for the year ending 31 December fall by 11 per cent to €1.2bn (£1bn). Aer Lingus also posted an operating loss of €93m during the first half of [...]
