Insurers to post upbeat numbers October 31, 2010 TWO of the UK’s biggest insurers are set to announce an upturn in business when they update the market on trading this week. Aviva is expected to unveil a £1bn increase in life and pension sales to £25bn when it reports figures for the first nine months of the year tomorrow. And Standard Life, which [...]
Three cheers for the stars of the Square Mile October 28, 2010 LAST night was truly an exciting and exceptional occasion: City A.M.’s inaugural awards celebrating the best and brightest of London’s business, financial and investment communities. Our inaugural awards ceremony saw more than 450 guests in their finery roll up at the Grange Hotel at St Pauls. Our winners, unique in that each was initially chosen [...]
Brit insurance has accepted £888m offer October 26, 2010 BRIT Insurance yesterday accepted a formal offer from private equity firms Apollo Management and CVC Capital Partners, which values Brit at up to £888m. The offer from Apollo and CVC, which have formed a new company called Achilles to make the offer, values the Lloyds of London insurer at £10.75 per share but includes a [...]
CITY VIEWS: SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT STEP IN TO PROTECT BRITISH COMPANIES FROM OVERSEAS TAKEOVERS? October 21, 2010 ANINDYA ROY AVIVA “It’s not a fundamentally bad idea to allow overseas companies to buy British ones. We live in a globalised world. The inflows are good for the economy, but there is a balance to be made to protect the national interest.” CHARLES OPPENHEIM LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY “I have mixed feelings. When you think of [...]
Henderson sees its assets grow by 5pc October 21, 2010 FUND management group Henderson saw its assets under management rise five per cent over the third quarter of the year due to market and foreign exchange gains, despite cautious investors pulling a net £100m out of the firm’s funds. Assets under management grew £2.8bn to a total of £59.2bn over the quarter, pulling them up [...]
CITY VIEWS: SHOULD UNIVERSITIES BE ALLOWED TO CHARGE WHAT THEY WANT? October 11, 2010 DHUGAL ROBERTSON | AXE “No. If you are going to pay for university, then you should be provided with job opportunities at the end of your degree and not with a load of debt.” GABI MASON | TESTPLANT LTD “University fees should be capped. If they aren’t, we’ll end up with a large division of [...]
CITY VIEWS: WAS THE BANK OF ENGLAND RIGHT TO KEEP INTEREST RATES ON HOLD? October 7, 2010 ALEX WINSTANLEY | AVIVA “I am happy the Bank is keeping interest rates at the current level. We’re in a challenging period at the moment. I am confident with what the government is doing but we need to take stock and possibly look at what Europe is doing.” LAWRENCE CHIR | BLACKROCK “At the moment [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE THE CUTS TO CHILD BENEFIT FAIR? October 5, 2010 SHAREENA RASHID | AVIVA INVESTORS “I don’t disagree with the changes, but I think the flaw in the plan is the limit on individuals rather than households. It’s sending out half a message to families who want to return to work, and works against single parents too.” KAMRAN MIRZA | INTERPRO EUROPE “I disagree with [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 5, 2010 NATIONAL GRID JP Morgan Cazenove considers the Ofgem decision on the framework for the next transmission and gas distribution to be a friendly move for National Grid’s shareholders. The broker gives the energy giant a “neutral” rating and says the new finance director may offer a fresh look at the financing challenges facing National Grid [...]
RSA buys Canada’s GCAN to create fourth-largest insurer October 4, 2010 insurer RSA said it had agreed to buy Canada’s GCAN for 420m Canadian dollars (£259m), underscoring its takeover ambitions with a deal that creates Canada’s fourth-biggest general insurer. RSA, best known in Britain for its More Than home and motor insurance business, said the deal would boost earnings immediately, and would generate a mid-teens investment [...]