BlackRock up as profits top expectations January 27, 2010 INVESTMENT manager BlackRock yesterday cheered the market with forecast-topping fourth quarter profits, although its acquisition of exchange-traded funds (ETF) business Barclays Global Investors (BGI) took some of the shine off the figures. The world’s biggest asset manager reported net income of $256m (£158m), or $1.62 a share, in the quarter to 31 December, up 392 [...]
Rusal off to a slippery start January 27, 2010 RUSAL, the Russian aluminium producer owned by oligarch Oleg Deripaska, suffered a rough debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday after its $2.2bn (£1.4bn) float. The company’s shares tumbled 11 per cent to HK$9.66 from their listing price of HK$10.80. Analysts attributed the poor performance to market worries over Rusal’s $14.9bn debt pile and [...]
Political fears cast shadow on earnings January 26, 2010 US stocks slipped late yesterday due to trepidation over churning political and regulatory developments, offsetting solid earnings and improved consumer confidence data. Gains faded late as investors turned cautious before the Federal Reserve’s policy announcement and President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address today. US stocks fell 5 per cent in a three-day span [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 25, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CHAIRMAN OF HSBC HITS AT BIG BONUSES Stephen Green, chairman of HSBC and British Bankers’ Association, has hit out at the inflated level and distorted structure of bonuses, predicting future pay-outs will be lower and more rationally calculated. In a video interview with the FT, published on the eve of the World Economic [...]
Blackstone on UK bank trail January 24, 2010 AMERICAN investment group Blackstone is examining the possibility of entering the UK banking market, its chief executive Stephen Schwarzman said yesterday. Last week sources familiar with the matter said that Blackstone, one of the world’s leading buyout firms, had applied for a British banking licence and was working alongside fund manager Cambridge Place on a [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 18, 2010 Piper Jaffray The mid-market investment bank has poached Ian Wainwright from Canaccord Adams to join its corporate broking team as a principal. Wainwright has been a managing director at Canaccord since 2007, and was instrumental in building the firm’s life sciences franchise. Prior to that, he was in specialist biotech, medtech and pharma sales at [...]
Barclays buys New York market maker LaBrance in a $25m deal January 14, 2010 BARCLAYS is buying New York Stock Exchange market maker LaBranche for $25m (£15.3m). The move means the bank can strengthen its position as the biggest market maker on the index. The deal will also reduce the number of designated market makers (DMM) on the NYSE to just four with electronic systems becoming more widely used. [...]
Barclays buys NYSE market maker for $25m January 14, 2010 BARCLAYS has announced a $25m (£15.3m) deal for New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) market maker LaBranche & Co. The move means the UK bank can make even stronger its position as the biggest market maker on the index. The deal will also reduce the number of designated market makers on the NYSE to just four [...]
Aviva buys US equities house January 5, 2010 AVIVA Investors has bolted on a US equities operation through the takeover of River Road, a Kentucky-based boutique asset manager, for an undisclosed sum. The British insurer’s funds arm said the acquisition would complement its existing fixed income presence in the US and help it win more institutional mandates in North America. River Road has [...]
Giant Towers Watson listed January 3, 2010 TOWERS Watson begins trading as the world’s largest employee benefits consultancy today, pushing Mercer into second place. The firm, the fruit of a $4bn (£2.5bn) merger between Watson Wyatt and Towers Perrin, listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq this morning. In a statement, Towers Watson said it would issue $200m [...]