Obama criticises banks over lending December 14, 2009 PRESIDENT Barack Obama took top US bankers to task yesterday, telling them to lend more money to small businesses and to embrace financial reforms. A day after calling bankers “fat cats,” Obama said since they had benefited from taxpayer bailouts they owed “an extraordinary commitment” to help rebuild the economy. “Given the exceptional assistance banks [...]
Cadbury says Kraft is trying to steal firm December 14, 2009 CADBURY came out guns blazing against the hostile takeover from Kraft yesterday, warning the US giant that its £10bn bid would be “fiercely resisted” and telling shareholders they must not let Kraft “steal” their company on the cheap. The company’s defence document against the 727p cash-and-shares offer contained a unequivocal message for shareholders – that [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland wins EU support for restructuring December 14, 2009 THE EUROPEAN Commission approved a restructuring and impaired asset relief scheme for Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland yesterday, saying the measures fell within state aid rules. The Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, said RBS’s restructuring proposals should create a sustainable future for the bank, one of Europe’s largest financial services groups, which [...]
Neighbourly handout helps global markets December 14, 2009 MARKETS breathed a sigh of relief yesterday after news of Abu Dhabi’s $10bn (£6bn) lifeline to Dubai. The Dubai stock exchange closed more than 10 per cent higher while the Abu Dhabi market climbed nearly eight per cent. European and US stock markets also rose. UK banking shares rallied on the news as investors’ worries [...]
Abu Dhabi gives Dubai a $10bn bailout December 14, 2009 ABU DHABI’S surprise $10bn (£6bn) bailout of neighbouring Dubai has given the debt-laden emirate some breathing space to restructure its troubled Dubai World conglomerate. Yesterday’s move prevented an embarrassing debt default by Nakheel, the property arm of Dubai World, and went some way towards reassuring investors. Abu Dhabi’s intervention, which investors had been waiting for [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF December 14, 2009 Barclays cheers Lehman assets Barclays boss Bob Diamond claimed yesterday that the assets the bank gained from Lehman Brothers are healthier than originally anticipated. Diamond made the comments at a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, over a year after Barclays bought up the US operations of Lehman Brothers, which fell [...]
Shipping industry fears Copenhagen summit will agree on new green tax December 14, 2009 THERE were growing fears within the shipping industry last night that government ministers gathered at the Copenhagen climate change summit would impose a green tax on shipping. There was thought to be growing support at the talks for a global tax or an emissions trading scheme for shipping and aviation. The British government favours emissions [...]
Shareholders back Lloyds in cash call December 14, 2009 LLOYDS Banking Group has hailed its £13.5bn rights issue as a success after shareholders took up more than 95 per cent of the shares on offer. The move came after a rights issue in June last year saw 13 per cent of shares on offer ignored by investors. The latest issue was part of a [...]
Unilever to appoint ex-Bristol Myers man as next CFO December 14, 2009 UNILEVER, the company behind Marmite, Magnum ice creams and Dove soap, is poised to appoint Jean-Marc Huet as its next chief financial officer, City A.M. can confirm. Sources said Unilever will announce the appointment either today or tomorrow. Huet resigned as finance chief of Bristol-Myers Squibb yesterday. The pharmaceutical company said he would leave at [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF December 14, 2009 Galleon boss asks for lower bail Lawyers for Raj Rajaratnam, the Galleon hedge-fund founder accused in a coast-to-coast insider trading probe, yesterday asked a New York judge to reduce his bail from $100m to $20m, taking aim at the government’s reliance on a cooperating witness. His lawyers took issue with the government’s reliance for proving [...]
