Brown agrees to TV debates with rivals December 21, 2009 PRIME Minister Gordon Brown will go head-to-head with opposition leaders David Cameron and Nick Clegg in a groundbreaking series of US-style televised debates. The party leaders yesterday agreed to three live discussions before the 2010 general election that will hand each of them an unprecedented set of pitfalls and opportunities. After wrangling between Labour, the [...]
Bankers must get act together December 21, 2009 IT SEEMS an age away now but back in July, on one of those long summer evenings that makes London such a marvellous place to live in, a group of the country’s foremost politicians, business leaders and bankers gathered at the home of Roland Rudd. Rudd, the founder of the City’s foremost public relations firm [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 21, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES BONUSES FOR LEHMAN LONDON STAFF Lehman Brothers, the collapsed Wall Street investment bank, is hiring bankers and paying generous bonuses in London to stop employees defecting. Lehman’s European business is recruiting middle and back office staff to help administrators PwC wade through the millions of transactions that must be reconciled with clients and [...]
OFT to announce on bank charges December 21, 2009 The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) will say later today if it is going to continue its test case against banks over the fairness of their overdraft charges. It follows the banks’ successful appeal on the issue to the Supreme Court. It ruled last month that the OFT could not use a part of the [...]
Toyota plans to slash costs December 21, 2009 Carmaker Toyota plans to cut auto parts procurement costs by around 30 per cent over three years to help it regain profitability, according to Japanese reports yesterday. Toyota has asked its suppliers to cut prices of some parts by 30-40 per cent for cars that will hit the market by 2013, the Asahi daily said. [...]
Goldman may win top spot as dealmaker December 21, 2009 GOLDMAN Sachs is on track to steal the top spot in a league table of global M&A advisers in 2009 with $624bn (£388bn) worth of deals. Morgan Stanley in line for second place. Figures to be released by Dealogic tomorrow are thought to show Goldman Sachs has advised on 266 deals this year, giving it [...]
Eurostar launches probe as limited services resume today December 21, 2009 EUROSTAR yesterday launched an independent investigation into the problems which forced it to cancel all train services for three days in a row. The review will be led by Christopher Garnett, former chief executive of GNER and the former commercial director of Eurotunnel, and Claude Gressier, the French inspector general of bridges and roads. Eurostar [...]
BA ordered to give up slots for Oneworld alliance December 21, 2009 BRITISH Airways, Iberia and American Airlines have been told they must surrender slots at congested airports including London Heathrow if they are to extend their Oneworld alliance. The airlines are among five Oneworld partners who have applied for immunity to anti-trust cases, which would let them jointly price and market international flights without fear of [...]
ManTech in $242m Sensor deal December 21, 2009 ManTech International said it agreed to buy privately owned Sensor Technologies for $242m (£151m) in its biggest deal to expand its presence in the high-end defence and intelligence market. Sensor Technologies, a Red Bank, New Jersey-based provider of IT services to the US Army, is expected to see revenue growth of about 32 per cent [...]
Banks with politics got bailouts December 21, 2009 US banks that spent more money on lobbying were more likely to get government bailout money, according to a study released yesterday. Banks whose executives served on Federal Reserve boards were more likely to receive government bailout funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Programme, according to the study from Ran Duchin and Denis Sosyura, professors [...]
