CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 23, 2009 AvivaMatt Saker is to join the savings, investment and insurance group as its new chief actuary for Europe. Saker joins from Watson Wyatt, where he worked for over 18 years, becoming a partner in 2003. In his new role, he will be responsible for capital management, life and general insurance reserving and market-consistent embedded value [...]
Anglo braced for more bids from abroad June 23, 2009 ANGLO AMERICAN’S share price recovered from initial losses yesterday on market speculation that China’s Chinalco and Brazil’s Vale could emerge as potential suitors and make a bid for the company. Investors had started to dump their Anglo shares, following its rebuttal of rival miner Xstrata’s all-share, nil-premium bid for it earlier this week. “We were [...]
THE LONDON REPORT June 22, 2009 THE FTSE 100 ended 2.6 per cent, or 111.88 points, lower at 4,234.05 yesterday as falling commodity prices pressured miners and oil majors. Bucking the trend, Anglo American was the biggest blue chip gainer, rising 4.6 per cent, after rival Xstrata said it wanted talks about a proposed merger of equals. Xstrata shed 6.7 per [...]
ANGLO SAYS NO TO XSTRATA MERGER June 22, 2009 ANGLO AMERICAN, led by chief executuve Cynthia Carroll, snubbed rival miner Xstrata’s takeover approach last night, calling its rival’s terms “totally unacceptable”. Anglo said Xstrata’s £40bn plus merger proposal was “unattractive” and would hurt its interests in the platinum, iron ore and diamond markets. Xstrata has strong coal and copper interests. Anglo added that its [...]
What obstacles would an Xstrata / anglo tie-up face? June 22, 2009 ALAIN WILLIAM SOCIETE GENERALA merger of Xstrata and Anglo American would make strategic sense. We don’t think the deal will raise competitive concerns. However, we believe the deal carries significant execution risk given potential political headwinds in South Africa, home to around 50 per cent of Anglo’s assets. RONNIE CHOPRA FALCON SECURITIESIf the merger does [...]
MINERS PLOT A 40BN MERGER June 21, 2009 COAL miner Xstrata is eying up Anglo American – owner of the world’s biggest platinum producer – for a £41bn marriage, City A.M. can confirm. A tie-up between the two titans would create one of the world’s leading natural resources companies, and comes as a wave of consolidations sweeps over the mining industry. Xstrata is [...]
Jilted China slates BHP’s Rio marriage June 17, 2009 CHINA slammed the proposed tie-up between mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton yesterday, saying it had “a strong monopolistic flavour,” and threatened to use its new antitrust laws to derail the venture. “The deal between Rio and BHP should be subject to Chinese anti-monopoly law,” the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said. [...]
Electric Shock June 16, 2009 CAN you imagine plugging your car into a three-pin plug in the wall, leaving it for eight hours and then driving for up to 70 miles on that single charge? Well, that is what the Smart Fortwo electric drive will do for you, from a flat battery to full charge. I drove this and two [...]
Metals lose their shine and oil slips on the strong dollar June 15, 2009 LOWER commodities stocks and the firm dollar took the FTSE 100 lower yesterday, losing 2.6 per cent, or 115.94 points, to close at 4,326.01. Volumes were about 76 per cent of its 90-day average daily volume, but the index has risen 25 percent since hitting a six-year low on 9 March. “The fundamentals of the [...]
M&A sector to dine out on Rio Tinto venture June 14, 2009 THE JOINT venture between mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto is to pay dividends for the revenue-hungry investment-banking sector, with Morgan Stanley, Gresham Partners, Goldman Sachs and Lazard lining up to benefit from the deal. The deal, the second largest so far in a year where mergers & acquisitions (M&A) activity is down 43 [...]