Tide of executive defections continues apace at Nomura March 21, 2010 JAPANESE bank Nomura has lost another of its top executives to a major rival, continuing the steady trickle of talent out of the bank in the wake of its acquisition of Lehman Brothers’ Asian and European businesses. Colin Banfield, Nomura’s co-head of investment banking for the Asia Pacific region, is thought to have agreed last [...]
Skype duo launch $165m fund March 21, 2010 Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis are making a comeback with a new investment fund for European technology start-ups. The pair are reported to have raised $165m (£110m) to launch a second fund under their Atomico Ventures umbrella. The vehicle will look to pick out the future Googles and Facebooks – young companies that are [...]
Ocado beefs up board for IPO March 21, 2010 Online retailer Ocado will boost its plans to float today when it announces it has reinforced its board with David Grigson, former finance director of Reuters and Ruth Anderson, the former vice-chairman of KPMG UK as non-executive directors. The 10-year-old internet firm will also say gross sales grew by a quarter to £427.3m in the [...]
Greenberg sells AIG shares March 21, 2010 The former chief executive of American International Group, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, reached a deal to sell most of the shares he holds in the insurer to a unit of Swiss bank UBS. Greenberg’s investment vehicle, Starr International, entered into a so-called variable prepaid forward-sale agreement with UBS Securities last week under which it will pocket [...]
GERMAN AND FRENCH BATTLE FOR ARRIVA March 21, 2010 Arriva boss David Martin could this week see a rival bid for the company made by SNCF as the French rail operator looks to muscle in on the takeover situation sparked late last week when German operator Deutsche Bahn tabled a £1.2bn offer.
Babcock close to VT merger March 21, 2010 ENGINEER Babcock International is expected to seal a takeover of rival VT Group this week after a prolonged tussle between the companies and their respective advisers. Price is understood to be the final hurdle for Babcock, which was granted access to VT’s financial information at the start of March. Friendly talks between the defence services [...]
Four Labour MPs embroiled in cash for influence scandal March 21, 2010 FOUR Labour MPs – including thee ex-ministers – have become embroiled in a cash for influence scandal. Stephen Byers, Patricia Hewitt, Geoff Hoon and Margaret Moran allegedly offered to lobby colleagues on behalf of a private firm in exchange for thousands of pounds. An undercover reporter posed as an executive at an American company, and [...]
Bharti ties up funding for Zain deal as deadline for talks nears March 21, 2010 TOP Indian telecoms firm Bharti Airtel said it has tied up the entire financing requirement of $8.3bn (£5.3bn) for its planned buy of Kuwaiti telecom Zain’s African assets, in a sign of progress as the deadline for talks nears. Bharti and Zain are in exclusive talks until 25 March, marking the third time the Indian [...]
City fears UK banking levy March 21, 2010 ALISTAIR Darling will signal the government’s support for a new tax on banks in this week’s Budget – but the levy will only come into force if he can secure international backing. The chancellor wants to use the tax system to change the behaviour of banks that engage in “risky” activities, but he will not [...]
Insurers urge Darling not to increase taxes in the Budget March 21, 2010 THE Association of British Insurers (ABI) has urged the chancellor to protect savers in the upcoming budget by refraining from increasing taxes. Research by the ABI shows that companies and individuals have been hit hard in recent Budgets by the change to capital gains tax, which impacted on insurance bonds, and also the higher rate [...]
