Games consoles meet a chainsaw massacre July 2, 2012 WHAT would you rather do: harvest corn, or chainsaw a zombie in the face? That’s the question asked by the Facebook app for Gaikai, the cloud gaming company just bought for $380m (£242m) by Sony, which clearly believes the chainsaw is mightier than the scythe. It’s probably right, too. Just a few minutes of experimenting [...]
Monex adopts Schneider as European HQ July 2, 2012 FOREIGN exchange service Monex Group yesterday planted its foot firmly in Europe with the acquisition of Schneider Foreign Exchange. The $100m (£63.7m) deal makes Monex one of the largest deliverable commercial FX specialists in the world, turning over an annual $125bn in currency transactions. Schneider will be renamed Monex Europe and will be the company’s [...]
WPP expands in South Korea July 2, 2012 ADVERTISING giant WPP yesterday snapped up South Korean media planning agency Alchemedia for an undisclosed sum. Alchemedia has been valued at around 10bn won (£5.6m) and will be absorbed into WPP’s Korean arm GroupM. The purchase is the latest purchase in Sir Martin Sorrell’s shopping spree, following the takeover of French consultancy I&E and the [...]
Arqiva set for hotspot deal July 2, 2012 COMMUNICATIONS firm Arqiva has made an agreed £23.4m bid for Wi-Fi operator Spectrum Interactive, which would create one of the UK’s largest internet hotspot providers. The deal is set to put Arqiva in control of hotspots in over 2,100 locations. It will compete with the likes of BT and Virgin Media, although unlike its rivals [...]
Serco offloads German unit to look for growth July 2, 2012 OUTSOURCER Serco yesterday announced that it was disposing of the majority of its German interests in pursuit of growth elsewhere. The FTSE 100 company said the local management team would take over the German business. Serco sees little chance to extend revenues in Germany and is to focus its efforts on other territories. But the [...]
ANALYST VIEWS | WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF SERCO’S STRATEGY? July 2, 2012 KEITH BOWMAN HARGREAVES LANSDOWN With growth at Serco largely emanating from emerging markets such as Africa and Asia, a retreat from more pedestrian regions is understandable. Despite the recent half year trading update, which placed greater investor faith on the second half, consensus opinion remains favourable. TONY SHEPARD CHARLES STANlEY Serco is looking to focus [...]
Credit Suisse sells Aberdeen July 2, 2012 CREDIT Suisse sold its seven per cent stake in fund manager Aberdeen Asset Management yesterday as part of its efforts to substantially increase its capital. The Swiss bank planned to sell 80.4m shares for 245p to 255p each, raising as much as £205m. A source close to the deal confirmed the shares were snapped up [...]
Poundland’s in the money July 2, 2012 POUNDLAND has continued to prosper in the economic downturn as shoppers flock to the retailer in search of bargains. Europe’s biggest single price discount retailer reported record sales of £780m in the 53 weeks to April – a 21.6 per cent jump – and a 22.2 per cent leap in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation [...]
HarbourVest buys portfolio July 2, 2012 GLOBAL private equity firm HarbourVest Partners said funds under its management will buy Conversus Capital’s investment portfolio for $1.4bn (£900m). Guernsey-based Conversus, a publicly traded portfolio of third-party private equity funds, said it will appoint a liquidator to wind up its operations after the closing of the deal. HarbourVest said the funds, along with HarbourVest [...]
APPLE PAYS $60M TO SETTLE DISPUTE IN CHINA July 2, 2012 APPLE has paid $60m (£38m) to Proview Technology (Shenzhen) to end a dispute over the iPad trademark in China that saw the world’s most valuable technology company engaged in a protracted legal tussle with a near-bankrupt Chinese firm. The lawsuit had hampered some sales and delayed the launch of the new iPad in China.
