AG Barr and Britvic deadline day October 2, 2012 Soft drink giants AG Barr and Britvic could announce details of their proposed £1.4bn merger today as a deadline set by the Takeover Panel expires. The proposal, which first appeared on 5 September, would see Britvic shareholders own 63 per cent of the new business and AG Barr shareholders take 37 per cent. A new [...]
Governments row over defence HQ October 2, 2012 The £56bn merger between defence giants BAE and EADS came under new pressure yesterday as it is understood that France and Germany are wrestling over the site of the headquarters of the merged firm. It is thought France wants the base in Toulouse, home of EADS’ subsidiary Airbus, but Germany prefers headquarters near Munich. Also [...]
EU reveals new crackdown on biggest banks October 2, 2012 BANKS across Europe will be split by new ringfencing rules, and be forced to hold more capital against mortgages in EU plans outlined yesterday. The new plans are aimed at making banking safer, but lawyers warned they will increase banks’ costs, hitting consumers and the wider economy, as well as causing confusion as they do [...]
Colleague of UBS rogue trader Adoboli weeps in London court October 2, 2012 A FORMER UBS trader wept in a London dock yesterday after reading an email in which alleged rogue trader Kweku Adoboli, a former colleague accused of fraud, admitted to unauthorised trades that risked undermining the Swiss bank and colleagues. John Hughes, 30, one of the most senior former traders on the bank’s Exchange Traded Funds [...]
Regulator set to tackle London listing loophole October 2, 2012 TOUGH new corporate governance rules are in the pipeline to stop dodgy firms taking advantage of a loophole that allows them to list in London through a reverse takeover, without going through rigorous checks first. But although investors welcomed those proposals, they rejected Financial Services Authority plans to reduce the minimum free-float requirement, arguing it [...]
JP Morgan tops league table as investment bank fees drop October 2, 2012 INVESTMENT banks have endured a torrid 2012, with worldwide fees down 14 per cent on the same point last year, according to data released yesterday by Thomson Reuters. Total income across the sector – which includes everything from M&A advisory to capital markets underwriting – was just $51.9bn (£32.1bn) for the first nine months of the [...]
Gross: US risks becoming new Greece by 2020 October 2, 2012 AMERICA’S government debts are severe enough that the world’s top economy could “resemble Greece before the turn of the next decade”, Pimco’s outspoken founder Bill Gross said yesterday. Urging Washington to address its mammoth debt and annual deficits, Gross compared the US to “an addict whose habit extends beyond weed or cocaine and who frequently [...]
Rates hiked at Santander October 2, 2012 BORROWERS who have a mortgage at Santander face higher repayments from today, when the lending giant raises its standard variable rate (SVR). Santander will raise its SVR 0.5 percentage points, to 4.74 per cent, blaming increasing funding costs, which it says drove competitors’ SVRs up five months ago. It also laid the blame on liquidity, [...]
Barclays promotions signify cultural shift towards retail October 2, 2012 BARCLAYS yesterday gave two top executives from the retail end of its business seats on its executive committee, as new boss Antony Jenkins realigns the bank’s management toward high street banking. Valerie Soranno Keating, chief executive of Barclaycard, and Ashok Vaswani, chief executive of UK retail and business banking, will report directly to group chief [...]
Wolseley hands out £350m divi October 2, 2012 WOLSELEY yesterday announced it will reward shareholders with a £350m special dividend after a strong performance in the US and Canada helped the plumbing and builders’ merchant post a 10 per cent rise in full-year profit. The group, which owns the Plumb Centre and Ferguson chains in the UK, said it has generated £317m over [...]
