Osborne unveils oil field tax breaks September 7, 2012 Chancellor George Osborne will offer new tax breaks for oil and gas fields in the North Sea, in a bid to encourage investment in older fields. The allowance is thought to shield up to £250m of income from some mature oil field sites, or up to £500m for projects in fields that pay petroleum revenue [...]
Glencore sweetens Xstrata deal September 7, 2012 Glencore has sweetened the terms of the Glenstrata “merger of equals” by upping the share ratio to 3.05 new shares for each Xstrata share, as it demands that its chief executive head the new company. The commodities giant had previously stuck to the 2.8 share ratio, but increased it this morning to win support for [...]
UBS sued by US regulator over mid-sold securities September 7, 2012 UBS is being sued by a US regulator over claims that the Swiss bank mis-sold mortgage-backed securities to two credit unions in the US. The securities later failed. UBS is being sued for $1.1bn (£689m) by two credit unions – US Central Federal Credit Union and Western Corporate Federal Credit Union – relating to securities [...]
Lufthansa hit again by cabin crew strikes September 7, 2012 Cabin crew of German carrier Lufthansa have begun a 24-hour strike, affecting around half of the 1,800 flights it usually carries per day. Previous estimates put the number of cancelled flights at around 1,200. Lufthansa is facing pressure from the UFO cabin crew union, which is demanding a five per cent pay increase and guarantees [...]
Grazie, Mario September 6, 2012 THE EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) is gearing up to spend billions of euros on supporting troubled governments, ECB boss Mario Draghi announced yesterday, sending markets soaring. As long as indebted governments ask the official bailout mechanisms for help and put in place strong plans to get their finances back on track, the ECB will consider [...]
Judgement day for mega-merger of Glencore and Xstrata September 6, 2012 GLENCORE’S proposed $34bn (£21.3bn) merger with Xstrata appeared to be heading for failure last night as investors lined up this morning to vote on the deal. Barring a last minute hike in the offer price from Glencore, leading Xtstrata shareholder Qatar Holding is expected to scupper the deal. Glencore, which owns 33.7 per cent of [...]
Affordable housing rules dropped to boost builders September 6, 2012 HOUSEBUILDERS and business organisations yesterday welcomed the government’s decision to temporarily relax planning laws as Downing Street announced it would scrap the requirement for private developers to build affordable housing in an attempt to kick-start a construction boom. Under existing rules builders are required to designate a set percentage of every development either for housing associations [...]
Draghi’s plan will merely buy a bit of time for the Eurozone September 6, 2012 THERE is nothing markets love more than a good dose of monetary activism, especially when they detect a hidden bailout, so it is no wonder that traders and investors reacted so positively to Mario Draghi’s bond buying plan. But the extent of the enthusiasm on the other side of the Atlantic was almost touching in [...]
JP Morgan gets a new boss as probe deepens September 6, 2012 JP Morgan Chase yesterday named senior mortgage executive Craig Delany as head of its chief investment office more than three months after the discovery of a wayward derivatives trade in the division that caused at least $5.8bn (£3.6bn) in losses. The 41-year-old banker most recently served as chief operating officer of mortgage banking, a job [...]
What the other papers say this morning September 6, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Investment banks eye Europe job cuts Big investment banks in Europe, including Nomura, Credit Suisse and UBS, are stepping up plans to cut jobs as they seek to adapt to a drastic slowdown in revenues and tighter regulation. Bank executives, headhunters and analysts say that the cuts are shaping up as the deepest [...]
