Pru bosses to buy shares to bolster deal May 23, 2010 PRUDENTIAL chief executive Tidjane Thiam has said he will use his own money to back the insurer’s giant $21bn (£14.5bn) rights issue to raise funding for the acquisition of AIA. Thiam and his board of directors came under fire after reports emerged they may not back the bid out of their own pockets. According to [...]
Standard Chartered aims for £406m from India share sale May 23, 2010 STANDARD Chartered plans to raise up to $588m (£406.4m) in an India share sale to be launched tomorrow. The figure is far below the initial target of as much as $750m. London-based StanChart, which is also listed in Hong Kong, intends to use the IDR issue to raise its profile in its second-largest market. The [...]
BarCap expects to shed private equity business by the autumn May 23, 2010 BARCLAYS CAPITAL is expecting to shed its private equity arm by the autumn while at the same time raising £1.8bn from an independent fund, it is understood. The move is thought to have been agreed at Barclays Private Equity’s annual meeting and will see the business spun off from its parent company with no further [...]
African billionaire joins the race to buy Arsenal May 23, 2010 AN African billionaire has joined the race to take control of Arsenal. Manufacturing mogul Aliko Dangote, worth over £2.5bn, is understood to be keen to snap up the 16 per cent stake in the club held by Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith. Speculation has been mounting that a bid may be forthcoming from one of the club’s [...]
First Queen’s Speech will target banks May 23, 2010 FINANCIAL services and the economy are set to take centre stage when the first Queen’s Speech of the new Liberal-Conservative coalition is read tomorrow. According to a leaked draft of the speech, the government is planning to introduce a flurry of legislation during its first 18 months, putting at least 21 Bills on the statute [...]
Tories visit Afghanistan May 23, 2010 Foreign secretary William Hague has visited Afghanistan for the first time since taking office, accompanied by defence secretary Liam Fox and development secretary Andrew Mitchell. Fox caused some controversy on the visit, when he suggested the military would have a narrower role in the future, focusing on Britain’s security rather than nation building. He said Britain was [...]
Cameron facing backbench anger May 23, 2010 David Cameron could face a vote of no confidence just weeks into his premiership, amid rumbling dissent over the coalition with the Liberal Democrats. Several Tories are angry at having lost out in the race for middle-ranking and junior government posts while the Lib Dems were awarded a disproportionate number of jobs. He is also under pressure after [...]
Brown eyes top job at IMF May 23, 2010 Gordon Brown has his eye on the top job at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to a friend. Tom Brown said that the former Prime Minister, who remains a constituency MP, had “one big job” left in him, and wanted to take over from Dominic Strauss Kahn when his term as head ends in 2012.
Wealthy are pessimistic on growth ahead May 23, 2010 WEALTHY investors in the UK are among the most pessimistic in the world, according to a survey by Barclays Wealth due to be published today. Just 16 per cent of people in the UK with more than £1m to invest believe the global economy will grow in the next five years, compared to four in [...]
The new age of austerity offers some upside May 23, 2010 HINDSIGHT is a wonderful thing . Had we known, we could have saved ourselves a nine per cent loss on the FTSE since the beginning of May. At least the weather’s finally turned nice. GET A GRIP If only those politicians in Europe and the US could get a grip, I hear you say, we’d all be [...]
