World Gold Council summit set to reform shaky gold fix process June 18, 2014 Gold industry experts will meet next month to discuss reforms to the gold fix, after a series of setbacks for London’s historical price-setting organisation. The World Gold Council announced the sector’s summit yesterday, with a first meeting scheduled for 7 July. The group said that bullion banks, refiners, central banks, exchange-traded fund and miners would [...]
ABN Amro hikes pay to dodge EU’s cap on bankers’ bonuses June 18, 2014 THE TOP 100 bosses at Dutch bank ABN Amro would receive a 20 per cent pay hike to get around Europe’s bonus rules, the lender said yesterday. New EU rules will cap bonuses at 100 per cent of salary, or 200 per cent if shareholders agree. And ABN Amro is preparing to but bonuses to as little [...]
Shell Midstream files for IPO in bid to buy stakes in US pipelines June 18, 2014 Shell Midstream Partners, a master limited partnership (MLP) formed by Royal Dutch Shell, yesterday filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in a bid to raise up to $750m (£443m). Shell Midstream, based in Houston, Texas, said in its IPO prospectus that it planned to use proceeds from the offering to acquire stakes in some [...]
UK inflation rate fell to lowest level in five years last month June 17, 2014 Inflation fell to its lowest level in five years this May, coming in at just 1.5 per cent, despite the continued strength of the economic recovery. A 3.2 per cent drop in air fares between April and May, driven by a spike around the Easter school holidays, helped to trim CPI to its slowest growth [...]
WPP snaps up Dutch outfit June 17, 2014 WPP yesterday said it was taking over Dutch marketing strategy consultant EffectiveBrands for an undisclosed sum. The deal, made through WPP’s media research arm Millward Brown, would see EffectiveBrands combine its client list of Pernod Ricard, Barclays, Unilever and PepsiCo with the WPP firm to create a new unit called Millward Brown Vermeer. EffectiveBrands made [...]
Daisy Group is on the hunt for more deals with new warchest June 17, 2014 DAISY Group, the Aim-listed telecoms provider, is targeting further acquisitions and has renegotiated its £200m borrowing facilities to fund new deals. Yesterday the firm reported its operating loss had widened 6.5 per cent to £17.9m during the year to 31 March, due to the increased costs associated with its recent purchases. “We’re highlighting that we [...]
City Moves for 18 June 2014 | Who’s switching jobs June 17, 2014 Edison Investment Research Peter Lynch has been appointed UK oil and gas analyst at the investment intelligence firm. He joins from Tell Investments. Lynch has also previously held positions at Citigroup, where he was a sell-side analyst, Merrill Lynch, and Arthur Andersen. Utilyx The energy consultancy has appointed George Pitt as finance director. He joins [...]
Morgan Stanley emails exposed in bid battle June 16, 2014 THE dark arts of investment banking were brutally exposed yesterday as Allergan, the US healthcare group fighting off a $53bn (£31.2bn) hostile bid from a rival Valeant Pharmaceuticals, released emails designed to embarrass Morgan Stanley, the US investment bank that is now advising its unwanted suitor. The emails show that just a few weeks ago, [...]
Wizz Air grounds London float June 16, 2014 HUNGARIAN low cost airline Wizz Air yesterday ditched plans to float in London due to turbulence in the airline industry, the second company to this year to shelve a market listing. The firm blamed “market volatility” in the airline sector for pulling the initial public offering of shares, which would have raised €200m (£160m) to [...]
Mitchells & Butlers pulls off £266m Orchid deal June 16, 2014 HARVESTER and All Bar One owner Mitchells & Butlers yesterday announced it has acquired rival pub operator Orchid Group for £266m in cash, in a deal that the firm expects will lead to a double digit boost to earnings. Orchid’s 173 pubs will join Mitchells & Butlers’ existing estate of 1,592 managed pubs and 52 [...]