RBS severs ties with brokers May 31, 2009 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has dismissed its corporate brokers Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, thereby distancing itself from the two key advisors of the Sir Fred Goodwin era. RBS has appointed Hoare Govett, the advisor owned by RBS’s ABN Amro unit, according to reports. Merrill Lynch was the advisor to RBS on the takeover [...]
LCH.Clearnet bid talks continue May 31, 2009 LCH.Clearnet, Europe’s largest clearing house, will commence talks today with the consortium which has put forward a £727m bid for the business. The 13-strong consortium – made up of 11 banks, inter-dealer broker ICAP and existing shareholder the London Metal Exchange – outbid US clearer Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation earlier this year. But the [...]
Labour faces disaster as voting looms May 31, 2009 THE LABOUR party’s European election hopes suffered another blow yesterday, as an opinion poll showed it lagging behind both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats for the first time in 22 years. According to the ICM poll, Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s party is set to suffer a significant defeat in the European elections on Thursday [...]
Hopes dim for Weavering investors’ cash May 31, 2009 LIQUIDATORS of Weavering Capital’s main hedge fund, at the centre of the UK’s first ever hedge fund fraud probe, have said there is likely to be no money available to return to investors. Experts at accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) believe it now looks certain a massive fraud has taken place and the only way investors [...]
Mandelson is reassured on GM’s sell-off May 31, 2009 BUSINESS SECRETARY Lord Mandelson said yesterday he had been given further assurance from just-sold GM Europe that Vauxhall production would not leave the UK, as fears grow over job security at British car plants. As Canadian-Austrian Magna International buys up Opel and Vauxhall, the European arm of ailing carmaker GM, there are fears that sites [...]
Russian support has allowed Magna to rise above the rest May 31, 2009 OUTBIDDING rivals Fiat, Brussels-based IHJ International and Beijing Automotive Industry Corp (BAIC) to secure the acquisition of Opel and Vauxhall was a coup for Magna’s owner, Frank Stronach. It takes him back to his European roots, and gives the company the opportunity to milk the ever-expanding Russian car market. Stronach is an Austrian émigré who [...]
Lords committee to call for Bank to play a stronger role May 31, 2009 THE tripartite system of financial supervision is fundamentally flawed and should be revised, a report by the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee will say this week. The committee, which has been probing the role played by the Bank of England, the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the banking crisis, is expected [...]
Expenses scandal masks big issues May 31, 2009 You may have seen the email doing the rounds a few weeks ago that gave a visual representation of what a trillion pounds would look like if it was stacked in £100 notes. The image is breathtaking – and largely surreal. I mention this because I’m increasing frustrated with the energy devoted to the scandal [...]
IBERIAN INFLUENCE May 31, 2009 THE UK chief executive of Santander, António Horta-Osório, is one of three heavyweight names to win an appointment to the Court of the Bank of England. He will be joined by outgoing chief executive of Prudential Mark Tucker and Harrison Young, who sits on the board of Australia’s Commonwealth Bank.
CVC trumps TNT as Royal Mail bidder May 31, 2009 CVC PARTNERS, the private equity group, has offered to pay around £2bn for a 30 per cent stake in Royal Mail, it emerged yesterday, as the controversial bid to part privatise the franchise nudges ahead. The group’s offer beats a bid from rival logistics group TNT, but is less than the government has hoped to [...]
