Xstrata close to investor deal for its merger September 23, 2012 XSTRATA hopes to thrash out the final terms of its merger with Glencore this week, using its extension from the Takeover Panel to address concerns from agitated investors. Some shareholders in the mining giant are unhappy with retention packages for directors at the firm, which have already been watered down. BlackRock and Legal & General [...]
Liam Fox in surprise support of tie-up of defence giants September 23, 2012 THE FORMER defence secretary Liam Fox yesterday came out in support of BAE Systems’ merger with EADS, dashing hopes in the right wing of the Conservatives that he would fight against the defence tie-up. Fox said BAE would go into a “slow, managed decline” without a merger that gives it access to new markets. “Falling [...]
Russian bank targets $500m in London float September 23, 2012 ADVISERS to Promsvyazbank, one of Russia’s largest privately owned banks, will today start pre-marketing a planned initial public offering in London aimed at raising up to $500m (£307m), two sources close to the placement said. The bank asked Russia’s local market regulator earlier this month for permission to list its shares on the London Stock [...]
Pension funds face long battle to plug deficits September 23, 2012 FIRMS face a longer struggle to fill the holes in their troubled pension funds, a study from PwC showed today. The average pension scheme will need some 11 years to plug the deficit, PwC predicted, up from the eight years it predicted in 2011. The time firms needed to balance their schemes’ books had shrunk [...]
Outsourcing could save UK £23bn, says CBI September 23, 2012 THE CBI has urged the government to open public services up to competition more quickly, arguing it could save the taxpayer nearly £23bn a year. Despite the row over G4S’s performance at the Olympics, the UK’s largest business group said opening up service contracts to private businesses, mutuals, charities and social enterprises would make huge [...]
Spain to learn extent of bank bailout needs September 23, 2012 SPAIN will on Thursday find out how large a European Central Bank bailout its besieged banking sector needs, when consultancy Oliver Wyman publishes the details of its investigation into the sector. This report, which looks into the 14 banking groups constituting some nine tenths of the sector, is expected to produce a figure of around €60bn [...]
France calls for more time for Greece to meet deficit targets September 23, 2012 GREECE should be allowed more time to meet deficit targets set by international lenders provided it is sincere about reforming its economy, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said yesterday. Near-bankrupt Greece needs the European Union and International Monetary Fund’s blessing on spending cuts worth nearly €12bn (£9bn) to unlock its next tranche of aid, without [...]
Eurozone rescue fund aims for full capacity of over €2 trillion September 23, 2012 EUROZONE states are preparing to allow the bloc’s permanent bailout fund to leverage its capital in the same way as its predecessor so it can reach a capacity of more than €2 trillion and rescue big countries if necessary, Der Spiegel said yesterday. The weekly news magazine said that the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) would [...]
AA owner gears up for mooted insurance sale September 23, 2012 ACROMAS, the private equity backed owner of AA and Saga, has taken the first step in a possible break up of its portfolio after appointing Ernst & Young to value its business – opening the door for a sale of the firms. The heavily indebted investment house has to liquidate or refinance its assets by [...]
Scottish finance MP speaks out September 23, 2012 SCOTLAND’S finance minister John Swinney has claimed that an independent Scotland would be able to take on the state-backed liabilities of Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group. Speaking at the Institute of Chartered Accountants conference the SNP minister said that if Scotland had been independent at the time RBS and HBOS, now Lloyds, [...]
