The budget airline that is taking off in poor economic conditions August 6, 2012 ANOTHER month, another sterling set of passenger figures from easyJet. Far from wilting in the heat of the Eurozone’s latest financial turmoil, the carrier has shone, with an almost unbroken spell of traffic growth this year. What’s more, a tight rein on costs has prevented the sort of runaway expenses seen at some of its [...]
Advent’s $3bn mattress deal gives buyout market a bounce August 5, 2012 A GROWING appetite for secondary buyouts was underscored yesterday as Advent International has agreed to acquire a majority stake in mattress company AOT Bedding Super Holdings, in a deal that values the firm at $3bn (£1.9bn). Current investors in the mattress manufacturer are Ares Management LLC and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which will retain [...]
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR August 5, 2012 SINCE City A.M.’s last awards ceremony in 2011, the legal sector has undergone one of the biggest shake-ups in recent years with the introduction of the Legal Services Act. The introduction of Alternative Business Structures (ABS) on 3 January was a formal acknowledgment of the ripples of change that have been spreading across the legal [...]
Big business could be more engaged August 5, 2012 BARCLAYS and Vodafone have recently announced investments in London’s Tech City. No doubt some good will come out of this, but if collaborations between big businesses and start-ups are going to make a real difference, leaders of companies should look across the pond to Silicon Valley for best practice. In the Valley, the culture of [...]
RBS confirms it has sacked staff over Libor affair August 3, 2012 State-controlled lender Royal Bank of Scotland confirmed today it had dismissed a number of employees for misconduct as a result of its investigations into the Libor interest rate rigging scandal and along with other banks is still under investigation by regulators. “The Libor situation is on our agenda and is a stark reminder of the [...]
RBS expected to announce costs for IT blunder August 2, 2012 ROYAL Bank of Scotland is expected to announce plans to set aside millions of pounds today to pay for costs related to its computer blunder in June, which left it unable to process customer transactions. The bank, which is 82 per cent owned by the taxpayer, will reveal its first interim results since the meltdown [...]
Vodafone and Barclays check in to Tech City August 2, 2012 A HOST of technology firms have announced new ventures in London today, with companies including Barclays and Vodafone investing in the government’s Tech City project. The companies are plunging money into accelerator programmes, designed to provide startups with funds and expertise, in the East London hub. Vodafone said yesterday it plans to have its operation [...]
New lending plan gets off to a shaky start August 1, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT’S latest plan to give banks cheap funds in an effort to boost lending to firms and households received a cautious welcome from banks when it opened yesterday. Majority taxpayer-owned RBS accessed the “Funding for Lending” scheme (FLS) immediately, and cut mortgage and corporate loan interest rates by up to 1.6 percentage points. Lloyds, [...]
Mouchel set to restructure August 1, 2012 MOUCHEL yesterday agreed to a restructuring that will give its lenders a majority interest in the British infrastructure firm and delist the company to avert an impending debt default. The restructuring – supported by Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays – will result in the lenders releasing £87m of Mouchel’s existing debt [...]
DEALMAKER OF THE YEAR August 1, 2012 INVESTMENT bankers have had a difficult year, with London’s IPO market virtually closed, and M&A deals few and far between. Our fourth short-list for the third annual City A.M. awards, though, highlights some superb individual performances in such difficult markets. Jonathan Rowley, for example, was on at least three M&A deals in just one week [...]