Feisty, fun, and a little confused August 24, 2010 THE Mazda3 MPS was once the most powerful front-wheel-drive hot hatch you could buy, an accolade that now belongs to Ford’s Focus RS. Even so, it’s quite possible you may not even be aware of its existence because the model before this one was so understated there was literally nothing about the way it looked [...]
POTASH IN TALKS TO BLOCK BHP BID August 23, 2010 CANADIAN fertiliser producer PotashCorp is courting a range of potential “white knight” partners in a determined attempt to see off a $40bn (£25.5bn) hostile bid from mining giant BHP Billiton, the company confirmed yesterday. The world’s largest potash producer said it had been approached by and had initiated contact with a number of third parties, [...]
PotashCorp hunts for a white knight August 23, 2010 THIS is shaping up to be a classic takeover wrangle. First came the unsolicited bid – at $39.6bn (£25.5bn), BHP Billiton’s offer is a 20 per cent premium to PotashCorp’s undisturbed share price – which was immediately knocked back. Then came the anguished rhetoric from PotashCorp about the “grossly inadequate” level of BHP’s approach. The [...]
TRADERS SEX UP THE DULL WORLD OF FOREX August 23, 2010 THE THINGS that bored traders get up to when they get a minute, eh? The Capitalist chances upon an, err, enterprising website set up by a pair of forex traders, who claim to have cracked the conundrum of how to dispense a barrage of information to their peers while simultaneously holding their interest – by [...]
THE TIPSTER August 23, 2010 POLITICAL turmoil and the prospect of a hung parliament pushed the Australian dollar to its lowest level in more than a month against the greenback yesterday. Independent MPs have now become the kingmakers and the uncertainty as to whether they will lean more towards the Conservatives or Labour has weakened the Aussie dollar. Will the [...]
M&A activity saves FTSE from fourth day of losses but volumes remain thin August 23, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading share index ended a three-session losing run yesterday, helped by a spate of corporate takeover activity, though trading was thin. HSBC said it was in talks to buy up to 70 per cent in South Africa’s fourth-largest bank, Nedbank, in which insurer Old Mutual has a controlling stake. HSBC added 0.8 per cent [...]
US investors rush for safe havens as tech shares fall August 23, 2010 US stocks slipped in one of the lightest volume sessions of the year as investors took refuge in defensive shares after the latest corporate M&A failed to soothe concerns the recovery is stalling. Technology shares weighed on the broad market and sent the Nasdaq composite lower as a possible bidding war over data storage company [...]
BHP FACES RISING BID DISCONTENT August 22, 2010 MINING giant BHP Billiton could be left with a diplomatic crisis on its hands if it does not move swiftly to address growing investor disquiet over the cost of the company’s mammoth $40bn (£26bn) hostile bid for Canadian fertiliser giant PotashCorp. BHP will this week attempt to calm shareholder fears at a gruelling series of [...]
AUSTRALIAN MARKETS August 22, 2010 THE Australian dollar fell one per cent and bonds eased in early trade this morning after an inconclusive election appeared to have delivered investors’ worst fears — a minority government with power thrust on a handful of independent MPs. With neither of the major parties winning an overall majority in Saturday’s election to form a [...]
BHP deal to hand Potash CEO $400m August 19, 2010 POTASH chief executive Bill Doyle stands to make more than $400m (£257m) from the firm’s sale to mining giant BHP Billiton if the controversial takeover goes ahead, as BHP ramps up its efforts to persuade its shareholders a $40bn hostile bid is worthwhile. Doyle, head of the Canadian fertiliser firm, could make even more if [...]