Terra Firma bid goes on October 18, 2005 The Takeover Panel told financier Guy Hands yesterday that his investment vehicle Terra Firma could not back out of a £453m bid to buy power business East Surrey Holdings. Kellen Acquisitions, which is wholly owned by Terra Firma, had been trying to back out of an offer that it made on 8 April to buy [...]
Alstom tube contract under threat October 18, 2005 Transport for London, the body responsible for public transport in the capital, will seek legal advice this week in a bid to break the French company Alstom’s 20-year, £429m contract to build and maintain trains on the Northern Line. The Northern Line was suspended last Thursday after unions raised safety concerns about the emergency braking [...]
BSkyB makes its move into broadband October 17, 2005 Satellite broadcaster BSkyB is getting ready to make its play against cable rivals by acquiring high-speed internet provider Easynet this week for around £150m. The purchase will allow the broadcaster to offer what observers call the “triple play” of services into the home: broadband, video-ondemand and telephony, setting it in direct competition against rivals such [...]
Steady jog at Adidas October 13, 2005 German sporting goods company Adidas-Salomon said it was on course to meet its full year targets, despite its proposed €3.1bn (£2.1bn) acquisition of rival Reebok. Adidas chairman and chief executive Herbert Hainer told investors yesterday that the group remains on course to produce a 20 per cent increase in net income, operating margins of 11 [...]
Peter Dubens splashes out on Monument July 2, 2005 Oakley Capital, the Aim-listed private equity vehicle founded by serial entrepreneur Peter Dubens, has bought derivatives, equities and fixed income broker Monument Securities for an undisclosed amount. The broker was acquired from Dutch firm Insinger de Beaufort, who bought Monument three years ago for £15m. Martin Burton, who founded Monument in 1991, will remain in [...]
