EU looks to adopt Britain’s tough bank capital rules August 5, 2013 EUROPE’S banks could soon face the same tough conditions as their British peers as the continent’s regulators yesterday said they would look at imposing a leverage ratio cap similar to that taking hold in the UK. British lenders such as Barclays and Nationwide have been caught by the three per cent cap, with both forced [...]
Barclays hires 13 banks to sell £5.8bn of shares August 5, 2013 BARCLAYS hired another nine investment banks yesterday to sell its shares, adding to the four already announced last week to bring a total of 13 on board for its multi-billion pound rights issue. The advisers will share a fee pot of around £130m for working on the £5.8bn issue. The shares are being issued as [...]
City Moves: Who’s switching jobs August 5, 2013 White and Case The law firm has announced the appointment of Ross Allardice as partner in its UK and European private equity team. He has 11 years’ experience working with private equity funds, and was most recently at Kirkland & Ellis. Barclays The bank’s corporate and employer solutions division has recruited Sean McGowan to its global stock [...]
Any Other Business – 06/08 August 5, 2013 City and rugby stars collided last week at the launch of rugby player-turned-broker-turned-entrepreneur Peter Winterbottom’s new venture, the specialist rugby communications agency Full Contact. Wints played rugby for both England and the Lions – before broking at Creditex – and the guests at City favourite, the central London rooftop bar Aqua, seemed to reflect his [...]
Barclays appoints banks to £5.8bn rights issue syndicate August 5, 2013 Barclays has announced the appointment of additional underwrites and joint bookrunners for a rights issue intended to raise £5.8bn (release). It's a long list, and will probably mean some hefty fees for Barclays to pay: BN AMRO Bank N.V., Banco Santander S.A., BNP Paribas, ING Bank N.V., J.P. Morgan Securities plc (which conducts its UK [...]
Boris Bike workers prepare for 48-hour strike over pay dispute August 4, 2013 WORKERS at the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme will go on strike for two days next week, transport union RMT confirmed yesterday. Around 63 workers will join the action, which begins at 9pm on Sunday, lasting 48 hours. The RMT is citing the imposition of a pay rise limited to two per cent, shift pattern changes [...]
Lloyds presents Osborne with a dilemma – is it time to return the bank to private hands? August 2, 2013 As Lloyds shares pass their true break-even point of 73.6p, is it now time for chancellor George Osborne to return the bank to private hands? Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets: he turnaround is working and profits have returned. Another 30 days at/above 73.6p, or a 1/3 stake sale >61p, and the [...]
Equistone takes a bite out of Charles & Alice August 1, 2013 EQUISTONE Partners, the private equity firm carved out of Barclays two years ago, yesterday backed a buyout of upmarket French dessert maker Charles & Alice Group. The deal, Equistone’s third French acquisition this year, will see the firm finance a secondary management buyout (MBO) led by Charles & Alice’s president Thierry Goubault. Terms were not [...]
Lloyds share price passes break even point for taxpayer as bank reports swing to profit August 1, 2013 Share prices in Lloyds Banking Group have surpassed what the City regards as the "real" break even point for the taxpayer as the group reports a swing to profit in the first half of the year. This morning, the Lloyds share price passed the 73.6p "real" break-even point, which represents the average price at which [...]
Before the open – 01/08 August 1, 2013 Asian shares were up last night on the back of unexpected good manufacturing data from July. The NBS purchasing managers’ index came in at 50.3 – up from 50.1 the month before and above expectations of 49.8 (above 50 indicates growth, below contraction). HSBC’s measure of manufacturing PMI, however, said the industry shrank, coming in [...]