Manhattan’s new breed of design hotels August 22, 2010 YOU could argue that New York does hotels better than any city in the world. Historic luxury landmarks, hipster crash-pads, fashionable design hotels, groovy boutiques, high-tech business places – it’s got more, and better, examples of each than pretty much all of its rivals. But even the best needs a shake up. The Big Apple [...]
MasterCard buys DataCash August 19, 2010 MasterCard will buy British payment services provider DataCash Group for £333m in cash to expand its e-commerce business. The world’s second-largest credit and debit card payment processer, said it will pay 360p per share, a 54 per cent premium to DataCash’s Wednesday closing price. MasterCard said the deal would increase its ability to process payments [...]
Wall St slips on fear growth has stalled August 19, 2010 US stocks plummeted to their lowest close in nearly a month yesterday as the latest batch of data amplified concerns the economy is stuck in neutral. The selloff was broad, with five stocks falling for every one rising on the New York Stock Exchange. Sectors most sensitive to growth were hit hardest. Manufacturers 3M, United [...]
GM files for IPO and plots dual listing August 19, 2010 General Motors took a big step towards repaying a controversial taxpayer-funded bailout by declaring plans for a landmark stock offering that represents a critical test for the Obama administration. The car maker said it planned to list the shares on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange in an initial public offering [...]
GM files for its historic flotation, expected to raise up to $20bn August 18, 2010 GENERAL Motors (GM) will press ahead with an historic initial public offering (IPO) that is expected to raise almost $20bn. The firm filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission last night that confirmed the long-expected flotation. Trading in GM shares is expected to start sometime between late October and the 25 November Thanksgiving holiday. [...]
FINANCE BOSS SAYS SORRY FOR HITLER GAG August 18, 2010 AN UPDATE on the saga of Stephen Schwarzman, the Blackstone Group chief executive who ruffled a feather or two recently by comparing the plight of the private equity industry to the Second World War. The ever-outspoken Schwarzman, peeved at the ongoing battle between US politicians and the sector over increasing its tax burden, claimed: “It’s [...]
Poison pill hits BHP’S $39bn bid August 17, 2010 CANADIAN fertiliser firm PotashCorp yesterday snubbed a mammoth $39bn (£25bn) indicative offer from mining giant BHP Billiton, moving swiftly to shield itself by invoking a “poison pill” defence outlawed in the UK. PotashCorp, which described the $130-a-share cash offer from BHP as “grossly inadequate”, launched a shareholder rights plan defence, giving it the ability to [...]
American Apparel in audit spat August 17, 2010 Retail group American Apparel said yesterday its operating losses may result in its breach of its debt covenant, and that it has received a subpoena from the US attorney’s office over changing accounting firms. Shares dropped by more than 25 per cent following the announcement, which revealed that previous auditor Deloitte told the firm its [...]
US wipes out gains on economic fears August 11, 2010 US stocks erased the year’s increases in the broadest sell-off in a month-and-a-half yesterday, as fears of sustained global economic stagnation caused investors to flee to safer assets. All three major indexes posted their worst percentage drop since 16 July following the Federal Reserve’s bleaker assessment of the economy on Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial [...]
KKR common unit sale is off August 9, 2010 PRIVATE equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co said yesterday it has cancelled plans to sell $500m of new common units, less than one month after it listed on the New York Stock Exchange KKR, one of the biggest private equity firms in the world, had announced plans to sell the units in May. The [...]