Nat Express thrashes out deal’s details September 10, 2009 TRANSPORT group National Express was last night close to agreeing to a $1.3bn (£1bn) takeover bid, although the level of due diligence has yet to be settled. The bus and rail operator last week received an improved offer of 500p a share from a consortium that includes Spanish shareholder the Cosmen family and CVC Capital [...]
City warns that EC directive on hedge funds will hurt EU September 10, 2009 THECITY of London will warn today that the European Commission’s proposed directive on alternative investment fund managers (AIFM’s) is protectionist and risks hampering economic revival throughout the EU. Speaking at a conference organised jointly by Policy Exchange and Open Europe, the City’s policy chairman Stuart Fraser will warn that an attack on the AIFM industry [...]
Ex-Morgan Stanley MDcharged September 10, 2009 A former Morgan Stanley managing director has been arrested and charged in Hong Kong with insider dealing linked to trades in CITIC Resources Holdings. Du Jun was detained at the Hong Kong International Airport on Thursday after arriving from Beijing and appeared in court on Friday, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said in [...]
Hapag-Lloyd set for state bailout September 10, 2009 Hapag-Lloyd is set to be rescued by the state, the first time that a big shipping line has been granted a bailout by a government. German transport secretary Wolfgang Tiefensee said he agreed in principal with shipper’s application for €1.2bn (£1.05bn) in state-backed loan guarantees was justified. The move could put pressure on other states [...]
SEC apologises over Madoff September 10, 2009 Contrite US Securities and Exchange Commission officials last night apologised for bungling five probes that should have uncovered Bernard Madoff’s $65bn fraud, and its internal watchdog told top regulators to be more aggressive in investigating tips. A scathing report issued last week by SEC inspector general David Kotz found that the agency missed numerous red [...]
Probe tangles sport retail web further September 10, 2009 ALLEGATIONS of anti-competitive behaviour at JJB Sports and Sports Direct are the latest to ripple a very murky pool. In 2003, JJB – then led by founder Dave Whelan – had to cough up £6.7m in fines after Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley, the owner of Newcastle United, alerted the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) [...]
Investors grab Arcandor stake in Thomas Cook September 10, 2009 CREDITOR banks of insolvent German retailer Arcandor yesterday completed the placing of a 43.9 per cent stake in travel firm Thomas Cook in one of the biggest share placings in Britain in recent years. The placing removes uncertainty about future ownership of the stake and lifted the company’s share price. It was a further sign [...]
House prices still going up September 10, 2009 HOUSE prices rose 0.8 per cent in August, reducing the annual decline to 10.1 per cent, new figures from mortgage lender Halifax revealed yesterday. This marks the second successive monthly increase and the fourth so far this year, supporting the now widespread belief that the UK housing market has stabilised. More encouragingly, the less volatile [...]
Housebuilder Redrow unveils its worst ever annual results September 10, 2009 HOUSEBUILDER Redrow yesterday announced its worst ever yearly trading results, after its revenue dropped by more than half to £301.8m. The company may now be forced to launch a rights issue to boost its capital and finance land purchases. Group revenue fell from £650.1m for the same period a year ago, in line with tough [...]
Bank of England sticks with the status quo as rates stay on hold September 10, 2009 THE Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) unsurprisingly kept interest rates at 0.5 per cent and quantitative easing on hold at £175bn yesterday. The Bank has purchased almost £146bn worth of assets and said it expects the programme to take another two months to complete. Although there were calls last month to extend QE [...]
