BP’s £4bn Pan Am deal fails November 6, 2011 BP’S long-awaited deal to sell a majority stake in Argentina’s second-largest oil producer Pan American Energy for $7bn (£4bn) collapsed in acrimony yesterday after the buyer walked away. Bridas, the oil and gas firm owned by Cnooc of China and Argentina’s Bulgheroni family, said BP was to blame for the collapse of the deal because [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 1, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BIG AREAS STILL LACK 3G, SAYS OFCOM Nearly 90 per cent of the UK’s land mass and a quarter of buildings are unable to receive all five 3G phone networks a decade after the introduction of the mobile licences, according to the telecoms regulator. In its first report on the UK’s communications infrastructure, [...]
Best month in 37 years for the S&P October 27, 2011 US stocks surged three per cent yesterday as an agreement by European leaders to help contain the region’s two-year debt crisis lifted a cloud hovering over markets. Optimism that a deal would be struck to prevent widespread financial distress fueled the market’s rebound in October. The S&P 500 is up more than 13 per cent [...]
Barclays to offer 90pc mortgages October 26, 2011 BARCLAYS launched a new bid to entice prospective house-buyers back to the market yesterday by offering no-fee mortgages needing only a ten per cent deposit. The bank has refused to offer 90 per cent loan-to-value mortgages since 2008 when it pulled them during the financial crisis, but is now following rivals such as NatWest and [...]
LIBERTARIAN LEAFLETERS HIT OUT AT ANTI-CAPITALIST PROTESTS October 17, 2011 SNEAKING among the protesters outside St. Paul’s Cathedral over the weekend was a pack of intrepid pro-capitalist activists. Their purpose? To reform and educate the anti-corporate revolutionaries on the beauty of an unimpeded free market. “We distributed more than 100 leaflets to protesters,” ringleader Simon Gibbs told The Capitalist. “One third of protesters, mostly young [...]
More time for takeover talks October 17, 2011 THE Takeover Panel made the first extensions to its new “put up or shut up” deadline imposed on buyers of UK companies yesterday, granting several potential bidders more time to put their proposals together. Entertainment rights company Coolabi, the home of children’s TV favourite cat Bagpuss, is one of four firms that have been granted [...]
Rail fares wipe benefit of commuting October 2, 2011 The projected eight per cent rise in rail fares next year looks set to tip the balance of affordability against young professional families and first time city buyers seeking to move out of London. Research from home finders County Homesearch found the combined cost of travel season tickets and mortgage repayments for homeowners in commuter [...]
Plotting the growth of the market October 2, 2011 WHEN spread betting started in 1974, it was set up to get around the strict price controls that were in place in the UK – at the time it was illegal for retail investors to speculate on gold. Unemployed stockbroker Stuart Wheeler hit upon the idea of creating an index giving investors a way of [...]
Loans to businesses increase September 29, 2011 LENDING to non-financial companies increased over August, though banks reduced their holdings of corporate securities by a greater amount, the Bank of England announced yesterday. Businesses borrowed £800m more in August than in July. However, overall lending from banks fell by £2.7bn as banks reduced their holdings of corporate securities. The Bank of England’s figures [...]
US businesses boost spending September 28, 2011 US businesses shrugged off an uncertain economic environment and stepped up orders for capital goods in August, a sign the economy was not falling back into recession. The Commerce Department has said non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending, increased 1.1 per cent after falling 0.2 per cent in [...]