Ex-HBOS staff charged over £35m of loans January 8, 2013 FORMER senior bankers at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) were yesterday charged with corruption over £35m of loans made while they were at the bank. Lynden Scourfield, 50, and Mark Dobson, 52 are among eight people accused of making the fraudulent business loans through a turnaround consultancy in exchange for “high-value gifts” between 2003 and [...]
JPM investment chairman joins Whale-hunting US hedge fund January 8, 2013 JP MORGAN’S investment bank chairman Jes Staley announced his resignation yesterday, ending 34 years at the giant firm to become a partner at hedge fund Blue Mountain Capital. Blue Mountain was set up by a former JP Morgan banker Andrew Feldstein in 2003 and is believed to have made hundreds of millions of dollars betting [...]
Aviva sells off its Delta stake January 8, 2013 AVIVA is to sell its remaining stake in Dutch company Delta Lloyd, a disposal that forms part of a shake-up to turn around a flagging share price at Britain’s second biggest insurer. Aviva plans to sell all its 34.3m shares in Delta Lloyd, an amount equivalent to around 19.4 per cent of the Dutch insurer’s [...]
Alcoa positive about 2013 January 8, 2013 THE US’S biggest aluminium producer, Alcoa, kicked off the country’s fourth-quarter results season yesterday, beating expectations on revenue and forecasting an improved 2013. The company, seen as a bellwether for the country’s economy, swung to a profit of $242m (£151m) after a loss in the previous quarter, and said it sees global aluminium consumption to [...]
Funding threat to $10bn HSBC insurance sale January 8, 2013 THE SALE of HSBC’s stake in a major Chinese insurer could be at risk of collapsing, it emerged yesterday, as the bank funding the purchaser could pull out of the deal. Thai conglomerate Charoen Pophand (CP) Group is part way through acquiring HSBC’s 15.6 per cent stake in Chinese insurer Ping An for $9.4bn (£5.96bn). [...]
Vodafone shares up as Verizon eyes buyout of US joint venture January 8, 2013 SHARES in Vodafone rose as much as 2.7 per cent yesterday on suggestions the company could reap a £50bn windfall from the sale of its stake in its US joint venture, Verizon Wireless (VZW). The jump comes after the chief executive of Verizon Communications, which owns 55 per cent of VZW to Vodafone’s 45 per cent, [...]
Markets lap up Irish debt as state recovers January 8, 2013 THE EUROZONE’S bailout fund raised funds successfully yesterday, issuing three-month debt at negative yields, indicating strong support for the paper. And Ireland’s government took a big step towards recovery, easily covering a €2.5bn (£2.04bn) issue of debt maturing in 2017. It received orders totalling over €7bn, a strong reception for the state’s first long-term issuance [...]
Network Rail’s £37.5bn plan to improve trains January 8, 2013 NETWORK Rail yesterday set out its £37.5bn plan to improve Britain’s railways in the five years to 2019, including a 20 per cent rise in seats for London’s peak time commuters. The investment plan, if approved, will be funded by a combination of subsidy, more borrowing and above-inflation fare increases. The money spent on upgrading [...]
African Barrick Gold plunges as talks finish January 8, 2013 SHARES in London-listed miner African Barrick Gold (ABG) plummeted more than 20 per cent yesterday, as its Canadian parent Barrick Gold said it was no longer in talks to sell the unit to a national Chinese gold company. The talks with China Gold regarding the London-listed gold producer, which is 74 per cent-owned by its [...]
Market welcomes Cutifani as new Anglo American chief January 8, 2013 THE MARKET reacted well to Anglo American’s official appointment of incoming chief executive Mark Cutifani yesterday, with the miner’s shares closing up 1.37 per cent. Cutifani, currently chief executive of South African-focused gold producer AngloGold Ashanti, will begin his tenure on 3 April. “He is a seasoned miner, with broad experience of mining operations and [...]
