LA billionaire targets The O2’s parent company September 25, 2012 BILLIONAIRE American investor Patrick Soon-Shiong is preparing a bid for Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), owner of The O2 complex on Greenwich Peninsula, reports suggested last night. Soon-Shiong is expected to join forces with financial services group Guggenheim Partners to launch a bid for the company, which operates entertainment venues across the world and in most [...]
Tesco displaying recovery signs after its shock profit warning September 25, 2012 TESCO, the world’s third biggest retailer, said a recovery plan to recapture home market share was making an impact after a shock profit warning, backing up industry data showing evidence of success in its fight-back against rivals. Once one of the most consistent British companies in terms of earnings growth, Tesco stunned investors in January [...]
JJB Sports calls time as it hires administrators September 25, 2012 AILING retailer JJB Sports yesterday confirmed it will appoint administrators after failing to receive an offer for the entire company, putting up to 4,000 jobs at risk. Shares in the group – which were worth a total of as much as £1bn a decade ago – were suspended yesterday and remaining investors, including US tycoon [...]
Watchdogs call for wider power September 25, 2012 GLOBAL financial authorities yesterday moved to extend their reach beyond regulated institutions and into all parts of major financial groups. The officials warned that problems building in lightly regulated units of financial conglomerates could slip under the radar and threaten the stability of the overall entity. The Basel Committee, the International Organisation of Securities Commissions [...]
Credit Agricole faces obstacles to sale of Greek unit Emporiki September 25, 2012 FRENCH bank Credit Agricole could pay an extra €600m to €700m (£478m to £558m) into its Greek Emporiki unit before it can sell it, according to reports yesterday. The French lender, which is trying to exit Greece after the country’s banks were badly hit by the sovereign debt crisis across the single currency, has already [...]
EC wants ING repayment September 25, 2012 THE EUROPEAN Commission (EC) wants ING to commit to lay out a firm plan to repay €3bn (£2.39bn) of the bailout money it received from the Dutch government in 2008, it emerged yesterday. The bank was bailed out to the tune of €10bn in the financial crisis, but has only paid back €7bn of those [...]
Euro sinks after German firms’ morale worsens September 25, 2012 THE EURO tumbled against the dollar yesterday after a widely regarded measure of business confidence suggested that the single currency’s largest economy could be heading for recession. Germany’s Ifo Institute revealed that its latest business climate index declined for the fifth straight month in September. Coming in at 101.4, down from 102.3 in August, the [...]
Portugal mulls higher income tax in bid to control its deficit September 25, 2012 PORTUGAL’S government yesterday threatened it would have to hike income taxes after bowing to increasing pressure from protesters to scrap increases in workers’ social security payments. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said his administration is forced to find ways to achieve budget targets that are conditions of the debt-burdened country’s ongoing bailout programme. “As long [...]
Brussels will lure private cash to bulk up bailout mechanism September 25, 2012 GERMANY’S government yesterday played down reports that Europe’s new rescue fund could be leveraged four-fold to €2 trillion. Yet a spokesman acknowledged that discussions were underway in Brussels on giving the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) certain instruments to lure private investors and thus boost the fund. German weekly Der Spiegel BY CITY A.M. REPORTER reported [...]
Michel Barnier calls for a tough crackdown in the wake of Libor September 25, 2012 EUROPEAN commissioner Michel Barnier called for jail terms for interest rate manipulators yesterday, while a top US regulator called for the benchmark interest rate to be based on real transactions, not estimates. Barnier told a European parliament hearing that “an EUwide ban on manipulation” would “get rid of this ‘everything is allowed’ attitude.” “Any manipulation [...]
